Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-09-11
GASLIGHT FROM GARBAGE.
lFrom the New York Herald. !

! From the New \ orK ltcrillul
A successful experiment was tried recent
ly in the presence of a number Of experts
and newspaper reporters which seemed tt
demonstrate the feasibility Of a scheme OF
which the inventor had been working hard
for q long time. This is nothing less thar
utilizing the garbage Of the city for the
manufacture of Illuminating gas He pro-
poses at once to proceed with experiments
on a large scale, by means of which tc
demonstrate more fully the fact that in the
city garbage there is sufficient gas to supply
the entire city with light.
Nothing could be simpler or more salts
factory than the demonstration which was
made OF the correctness of the theory. The
apparatus was crude and simple. At one
end was Il rctort over q furnace. At the
other end were two gas pipes, one with an
open end and the other with an ordinary
gas burner affixed, and at each of these
pipes was jet of burning gas which at q
glance could not be told from the ordinary
illuminating gas Of commerce Between
the two ends were half q dozen jars and u
small tin box Theoretically sealed, but com
municating with one another by means Of
short gas pipes. In these ars and in the
box were simply the cleansing agents en-
ployed to take up the impurities of the gas
Other links in the chain of communication
between the retort and the two jets of flame
and light were u small receiving tank and
an ordinary gas meter. The tank was con-
sructeG in miniature similarly to the great
iron tanks which render the yards Of the
gas companies of the city so unpicturesque.
4 tall tin kettle with three uprights around
its top was partially filed with water A
smaller tin kettle was inverted and set in
side TO the bottom (which was now the
top of tbs smaller kettle were attached
three cords with weights appended These
cords ,vrrn Iaesod Tho wright ..-i
served to balance the toy gas holder while
the water in the outer vessel served as an
impassibie barrier to the imprisoned gas.
in five OF the six jars mentioned werc wa
ter and siaked lime. 1n the sixth one was
charcoal, and in the sealed box was small
quantity of dry unslaked lime. These COM
pleted the channel through which tho gas,
liberated from the garbage by heat in the
retort, was 10 pass 10 the two burners, the
connection being made by open cocks and
small rubber tubing.
When the company had gathered, and all
was ready, the garbage, which had been
picked up at random from Il casual barrel
on the sidewalk, was weighed and put into
the retort. 1t weighed just seventeen ounces,
aud was rs choice an assortment of waste as
could be desired There was bit oil leather
and rubber, torn from an Old galter; some
crusts of bread, Il piece of fat meat and one
of lean corned beef, a beet, a cigar stump,
some egg shells. q rag, banana stump, a
potato, a fragment of pine apple peel, leat
Of cabbage and some mint. All was rapidly
approaching putrefacton.
This being put into the retort, the retort
was sealed and put into jewellers blast
smelling furnace. The fire was started at
| exactly halfpast five p. m., and for ten
minutes the steam and gases from the gar
| bagc were allowed TO escape. Previous ex-
periments had indicated that these first pro-
ducts We're practically useless. Then at
twenty minutes to six p. m, the attachment
was made with jars, &C., describe above,
and almost Immediately the top of the gas
holder began to rise. 1t was suffered to rise
a few inches, and then a weight was put
upon it. and at seventeen minutes to six the
gas was lighted at the burner.
At first the presence of the atmospheric air
| in the pipes made the flame flicker, but
| this was only for a few moments 1t was
not long before the blaze was similar to
| that from the average gas burner IN any
city house. The gas gave q good, clear
light, apparently Of the same quality as that
commonly used in New York houses. That
which was lighted at the burner had the
same blue centre and yellowish white flow
er which is ordinarily seen, while that
which was lighted at the open pipe had less
:. of the blue and more of the white than is
noticed when ordinary coal gas is lighted at
a similar aperture.
One regularity was noticed which the in
yentor explained by saying that his cleans
ing processes were very imperfect, and thai
therefore the gas had considerable amount
of impurity about it, Above the yellow OF
white flame there was narrow rim OF pea
Green flame. 1t was evident enough that
this was made by some part of the gas which
was not perfectly combusted, and the ex
planation was accepted as being satlstac
tory. IN.
Two further experiments were made with
view to seeing whether it would be practlcable U
enrich the garbage gas in the same way that Goa
gas is ordinarily enriched. First, connectlo'
| was made with second rctort in which hao Deei
| placca half IN ounce oe chorate OF potash an'
| half an ounce of oxide of manganese flre wa
started under this retort. and almost lmmealatei.
a very perccptiblc increase was noticed IN IN
white lisbt Mt the TWO burners. This lasted onl.
short time and the second connection was dis
continued The next experiment consisted Q
directing the current between tho retort ana IN
two flames through sealed tin box, in whlc
was about quart of benzine. This was to sec
the gas emanating from the bcnzine would anna
ganatc readily with the gas that was burning
1t did so amalgamate, and the same increase !
the white light was noticed as had been when th
oxygen from the second retort had been blende
with the garbage gas.
The burning of the gas from the seventce
ounces of garbage described continued for exactl
half an hour. Then the two lights went out, an
an examination of the meter showed that twenty
!, On opening the retort that had held the garbae