Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-04-04
HEAT WITHOUT. FUEL.
An Astounding Claim Which Sets Al BEL
rncn ut Naugllt.


An Astounding Claim which Sets All Sci
cnce at Naught.
The accepted theories OF heat gen.
eratio,, limit the list OF materials from
which heat may be produced by artl-
fetal rscans; to the substances known
as fuels. And these fuels are almost
wholly confined to the various forms OF
carbon. organic or inorganic. vegetable
or mineral Not to enter on the qnes-
ton whether min eral carbOns, coal and
oil are derived from organic bodies or
not. we need only consider them as
,nineralized fuels. And as to organic
fuels, whether vegetable, as In woody
tissues, or as carbonaceous matter in
the form of animal oils. they burn and
give heat ia strict proportion to the
carbon they contain. We have, there
fore, in ot1r wisdom, been attempting
much lately in the way of keeping up
the STOCK of these organic fuels ny
planting forests, and by even making
straw UP into cakes, like the drled peat
OF the frugal Icelanders.
But there has now come 1or"aro INC
bold invention of a new source OF neat;
an ,evar-present material, and a SELF
act;uy- process of using it. almost 1t
Is "a heat generator that consumes l1b-
tie 81 any form of fuel, as we now de
fine that word. AT least, 1T requires
scarcelv more than the match that
Iie,ts gas jet TO set it going. 1t
does not produce or generate any dm-
portant quantitysof the ordinary prod
nets of ombustion-neither smoke,
nor carbonic acid, nor ashes 1t will
not be necessary to sell the reslduals
so carefully RS gas works do, nor Will
st be necessary to cumber the SIDE
walks with nash-boxes or ash-carts.
Yet the heat is as decisive and gen
uine as the heat from anthracite coal
in blast furnace. 1t will warm a
house thoroughly, and even heat it to
excess if rot carefully regulated. 1t
will melt iron or steel, and by: its own
se1f-action, when once started, it will
heat the containing drum or fre-box,
% a rediheat first and almost'a white
heat next. Its constant heat would
melt iroc or steel if not checked by a
slight mEnlpulatlOn.
Is thisa miracle or an 1Overwrought
mental strain, such as might reasonar
bly, be inferredp 1t is neither. 1t is g
literal and absolute fact, as plain and
practical as a large iron-heating drum
can be made. In this drum a slight
coal-fire is lighted, and the ordinary
fuel door above and the draft door be-
low being properly adjusted, the cumu
1ative heat generation begins instant
ly. If not stopped by readjustment o.
the doors it will go ON indefinitely. al
most to the full red heating of the con
tanning vessel or drum.
1t is clearly the air that is burned
the oxygen of the common atmosphere
constituting the fuel. There can b.
no exhaustion of the supply of air will
its contained oxygen. and, as no arti
fetal blast or other mechanical agency
is required to feed the air., it constitute:
a self-created flame. IL only requis
lite to check the supply of air so az
to avoid cumulative effectS-OtherwiSt
there would clearly be a steadily-in
creasing draft to feed the flame, and
degree of heat beyond any capacity tt
apply it. The com bustion in this case
gives an intense heat, but with little
visible flame. 1t forms little carbonit
acid gas. It would not deliver suffi
cient of such gases into the air of any
room to asphyXiate it's: occupants if al
the products of cornDustion were deliv
cred in and not outward through any
outgoing flue. At the moment of orig
inal ignition the small amount of Goa
or wood used to light the fire would
possibly make some smoke, but after
the lighting is effected the heat may be
kept up indefinitely iby simply regulat
ing the draft of air, and during tina
time the contained fuel used to ligh
the furnace remains without being
more than in part consumed.
This reads little like the record O
any experiment with ordinary fuels, OF
any record of the evolution of hear
units from weighed er measured frag
ments of coal, or Of syocd, or of Oil. L
. is in a great degree a mystery under
our accepted scientific definitions, anC
. its great significance is in the assur
"ance that the common air may be made
4; the adjunct fuel, alike for domestic
heating and for metallurgic uses.
1t will be blessing to the people o
the great interior to be able to substi
! tute the bitter north rind for the cost
F, ly fuel that coal is with them. It will
he grateful chance fer retaliation tt
{ burn the wind there as a fuel agains
tits own violence. All tiis is too strang O,
ITO be at once accepted, whether tru,
Ger not, and the writer hereof enters .
plea of pleasant enthusiasm to aver
too great antagonism. Yet it is tru
that the common air is burned in thi
self-acting furnace. with evolution O
intense heat -Lorrin Blodgett, il
Light, Heat and Power.
"A MIDNIGHT ENCOUNTER.