The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-11-09
Steam From Petroleum.

| VI WHlIe SGedIH TOlleu away from uHo
pipe, but no coal was thrown upon the
fire below. 1t had the look of an effect
without a cause, but in reality there
was wonderful cause, and the effect
was a series of miracles.
The boiler room of the machine shop
was well filled with officers of the
Naval Bureau of Construction and
iron and glass manufacturers. "The
most wonderful sight l have ever
seen," the veteran Engineer Isherwood
said. at revolutionizes iron and steel
manufacture the world over" one of
the largest iron men of the country ex-
claimed. cit opens new era in glass
manufacture; we shall soon have glass
roofs on our houses and French plate
will be as cheap as common window
glass" said the largest glass maker in
the United States. &c only wish Fara-
day were here to-day" an active little
gentleman with gray hair and ruddy
countenance said, as he danced about
the fiery furnaces, and caught the first
breath of the triumph for which he
had been working more than twenty
years.
The cause of this demonstration was
the fact that the means had at last been
discovered of using petroleum for fuel
in producing steam, and the results
were so extraordinary in the perfect
combustion attained, in the intensity of
heat quickly produced, in the enormous
pressure of the super-heated steam, in
the astonishing evaporation of water,
in the freedom from dust, cinders, sui
phur, and all impurities, that these eX-
perts at once realized that revolution
in all departments where steam is used
must occur Immediately.
This invention consists of both the
liquid fuel and the appliances for using
it. The fuel is made of the residium
of petroleum and coal tar, which is
mixed to about the consistency of mo-
lasSes. 1t is conducted from the barrel
to the furnace by means of small gas
pipe. At the end of this pipe, as it eX-
tends into the door of the furnace, is q
funnel-shaped apparatus. AS the fuel
enters this funnel it comes in contact
with a current of highly super-heated
steam, which atomizes the liquid, so
that as it leaves the machine it induces
the required amount of oxygen to enter
and mix at the point of ignition. Thus
the atomized fuel shoots in a fierce but
delicate spray into the blazing furnace.
The brick arches'of the great furnaces
are kept at white heat, and a pure
white flame flashes along the whole
length, registering a heat of 1900 de-
grees, melting pig iron in ten minutes,
instead of two hours, and making liquid
glass in two hours, instead of sixteen.
All that there is to maintain this extra
ordinary heat is the slight spray dart
ing in from the little funnel, which
comes just within the door, while the
| grimy coal HEAVIER stands aside, looking
on with the air of one whose occupation
is gone,
81 can send this intense white flame
from the Battery to Grace Church if l
have a furnace arch that long" said
the inventor.
During the day many experiments
were made in the different processes of
iron and glass making. In fact, the
results described in this article have
been attained in continuous expert
ments covering period of several
weeks, but the secret was jealousy
guarded in order to allow Mr.. Isher-
wood to make the first announcement
in a report to the Navy Department,
which he is preparing.
The inventor claims also the follow
ing advantages: l. A saving of three
fourths of the labor now employed in
loading and handling the fuel. 2. The
fire doors are not opened from the be-
ginning of a voyage to its end, and the
draughts of cold air now so injurious
to boilers will be obviated. 3. Com
bustion being perfect, there will be no
carbonization of the tubes, and the
scraping that now wears out the tubes
so quickly will be done away with. 4.
The smoke being absolutely consumed,
the vessel will be cleaner, and the dan
ger from sparks will be entirely avoided
Sulphur and carbon, the two deteri-
Grating elements that are present in all
the wrought iron now made, are utter
ly cast out by this new process. In the
Salisbury furnace the pig metal is
melted to a thin liquid in fifteen min
utes. 1t is then drawn off into second
furnace, one foot lower than the first, and
which is melted by the waste heat of the
first. The second furnace is Immediately
charged with a continuous sheet of hot
air and super-heated steam of 1000 de-
grees and immense pressure, which
keeps every particle of the liquid metal
in agitation, and burns out the carbon
utterly in from eight to ten minutes,
when it is ready for the puddler. At
no time in this operation can any cold
air come in contact with the liquid, and
consequently every particle becomes
united. In the two melting processes
every trace of sulphur is taken up. The
instant the metal is run off into the Sec
ond furnace, the first is filled with pigs
when No. 2 is taken out by the puddler
the new lot is ready to run into the sec
ond furnace, and so on in ceaseless al
formation. Note some points in con-
trast with the methods where coal is
used as fuel a. 1t has always been
impossible to free the iron from carbon
and sulphur with the old methods. a.
Ten charges are run off in day and a
night with the present process; the same
number will be run in ten hours with
the new. One puddler will turn out in
ten hours the amount that four puddlers
and helpers now turn out in twentv-four
hours. CO. The furnaces will be kept hot
for three months continuously, as the fire
brick, becominginvitritied by the intense