Connecticut western news., 1877-03-16
SCIENTIFIC.

HoaU to Test Kerosene .OI.-The fol- following is simple but infallible. test to ascertain exactly the quality and ex- plosiye points of any sample of kero- sene oil-no matter by what fancy, at tractive name it may be designated in spacious advertisements. Take cOm- mon tin pan of water, or any ordinary tin pail, say seven inches deep; fill the the vessel with water and place 1t on the stove or over 8 lamp, so as to heat very gradually; put an ordinary ther- mOmeter upright in the water. to lndl- cate the gradual rise of temperature. Take little pan, such as is used to bake small patties, sold for cent each. In the patty-pa put tablespoonful of kerosene and let it float on the surface of the gradually heating water. When you see the thermometer begin to indi- cate seventy, seventy-fve or eighty, apply a blazing match to the kerosene in the little pan. If the oil is safe no flash will ensue, but if it is impure. and therefore dangerous, a flash like ignition of gas will appear. In case a flash occurs while the thermometer in dicates temperature below 100 degrees it is safe to assume that the oil is highly dan ngerous and utterly unfit for use as we have said before, it is more dan gerous than gunpowder, which cannot be ignited by flame at such 8 tenn perature. No oil should be purchased whose flashing or igniting point is al all below 100 degrees, and it should be remembered that the greater the heal it will endure above that temperature the greater is the proportional increase in it's safety for burning in lamps.
 E While no degrees Fahrenhei it is fail test, it does not guarantee indiscrimin- ate or reckless handling. Even witt the best brands of oil lamp should never be filled while lighted or while near one that is lighted. As the oil pbarns down in the lamp highly in flammable gas gathers over the surface increasing as the oil decreases, and not infrequently forcing its way to the threatening an explosion.
 There are various tricks current among dealers in kerosene to prove that even naphtha is not explosive al seventy degrees. The usual test is tt hold lighted match over an open yes l sel containing it. But let small DOT tion be put in can and shaken up, anC a light introduced, when an explosion instantly occurs, showing that the in |. fiammable stuff becomes explosive upo1 mixing with the oxygen of the atmos phere. Indeed it may be safely said tha every lamp in the land, when burning in a room, steamboat cabin, or othe apartment whose temperature is 75 O 80 degrees, is liable to explosion, ever if burning the standard kerosene Q no degrees flashing point. Many sci entific men have been led into the fal lacy that thefash point of kerosene a no degrees is the point of safety; bu it has recently been demonstrated by an eminent chemist that 35 degrees be low the igniting point, oil, alter. burn
 ing twenty minutes or half an hour will generate an explosive gas. It ha also been demonstrated by the sam authority that oil with an igniting O flashing point of 150 degress is in al explosive condition when burned in
 closed in lanterns on shipboard ant railway cars. It is claimed that unti oil shall stand test of 300 degree there will be no guarantee against tn
 dreadful loss of life and property whicl it's use regularly entails.