The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-05-20
The Combinations Used in
Manufacturing Ii. :
How Marble is Utilized in the
Popular Beverage.
The Ingredients In the Syrups and
the Effect of The Whole.

Only n few persons understand what
soda water is. Tho majority OF the patrons
of the dispensing counter merely know
that when they order glass OF the bever-
age the clerk in attendance gets tnm-
bier, puts something in 10 from this bottle
and something from that, PLAYS with 1t
awhile under the marble apparatus. and
finally holding it under the faucets, he
turns half dozen wheels hair dozen
times each, and then hands out the iouip-
inQ glass of soda water What the uGycr-
aye is made of or how it finds its WAY into
the tuinbler is more tnan most persons
could tell.
Here and these. IL is true, you will come
across one of those mon who know every
thing and something besides, and he VIII
conplacently inform you that soda water
Is no secret TO him: tnat IL H. mercit u
mixture of powdered marble and oil Of
vitriol, and be Will further explain that
this oil of vitriol is the Identical substance
which jealous women use 20 throw mo
the facv of rival when they wish 10
spoil her looks for life.
III this is not sufficient be Will 90 on 30
say that the oil OF vitriul Is - deadly poi
son. "A small dose of il being all that is
r.uuirrd to send one Co the other world.
He will, moreover, chcertully add that in
order To disguise the taste ot the pow
dered marble and oil OF vitriol the manu-
facturers flavor the compound win iusol
oil and aniline, two other substances
known TO be poisonous ii taken in suiii-
cient quantities.
Meinherr Ignoramus does not under
stand what he is talking about. Ho has
vaguely caught certain facts Ia regard To
the .Hanufacture OF soda water ana, not
Icing of scientific turn of mind, he has
altered them TO suit his own peculiar
ideas
Asa matter OF fact soda water is "A mix
turc of carbonic acid gas and pure water
Now the carbonic acid gas IL Is true, is
obtained by mixing suiphuric acid and
marble dust together but these two in
gradients do not In any way enter into the
beverage. Ii would be as wise to say that
you must not eat cooked meats because
the red hot Goals of the fire would not
agree with you, as tn say that you must
not drink soda water because marble dust
and acid are used In its manufacture. In
fact, it would bo as impossible To take
mouthful Of the sulphuric acid or marble
dust as to swallow Few live coafs from
the kitchen range.
Parts Played by Oil and Marble.
The question then arises as to what
In the production of soda water, and we
here come TO very curious chemical
fact. Marble when we look MT IL or touch
IL appears n most solid substance and yet
IL Is half gas--or more properly speaking.
ne-ha1 of IL is composed of "a substance
which ut ordinary temperatures is las
II you have marble mantlepiece In Cour
parlor or bedroom, and it weighs q
couple OF hundred pounds, You may rest
assured that il contains at least 100 pounds
of carbonic acid gas-enough probably To
keep you in soda water all your liio. Yet
in the marble this gas Is compressed 20
such a degree that when liberated from
the solid matter IL occupies 300 times rs
much space as before. In other words,
one gallon of ground marble will produce
800 gallons of gas.
Now soda water Is made merely by mix
ing this gas with pure cold water, and
this mixture Is not only harmless, but
IL exercises beneficial effects upon the
human system.
This admitted, let us look little into
the manner In which the gas is liberated
from the marble. Marble may DO said
TO be principally carbonic acid gus and
lime closely joined together But the
lime Is tickle wencn, and when
stronger fellow comes along she leaves
her old love and clings To the new ona.
This new love is sulphuric acid or, as it
is popularly called, oil of vitriol Poor
Carbonic Acid is thus turned adrift. ana
the soda water manufactures can now use
him as he pleases
II may be interesting to know In this
connection that when the New York
Cathedral was built all the chips of mar
BILE left over from the work were utilized
in making soda water. Millions of glasses
OF the sparkling beverage were obtained
from this source. and it has oven been
calculated how long IL would take New
York women TO drink the whole Cathe-
dral.
lis Great Force.
The carbonic acid and gas Is shalcn up
with the water so rs Co form plain SODA
in steel tank that holds about ten gal
Ions Of soda water, the tank being then
PLACED on rocker and rocked like a baby.
Now, the carOonic acid gas, when liberated,
occupies about three hundred times as
much space as the marble ia which IL
was imprisoned. But II rs not allowed To
expand 10 its full limit, and hence IL
presses strongly against tho walls Ot the
tank i'm which it is imprisoned
20 great Is this pressure that If "a hole
woro cut In the tank one iECh square and
weight Of $50 pounds placcu over the
hole the gas in the fountain would issue
will, sufficient force TO iift the weight. lt
is. therefore, easy To imngiho how
strong these steel tanks must bo To stand
such n strain.
Nevertheless. this pressure IS of great
advantage when 10 comes 20 emptving tho
tanks. fer otherwise the soda water would
have 90 be poured out instead 81 coming
out In "A strong jet as it does at present
but just here arises peculiar difficulty.
The gas Is much lighter than the water
aud rises 20 the top OF the stool tank. II,
therefore. the tank were opened az the top
all the gas would escape and the water
would remain I'm che tank In the early
davs Of soda water this difficulty was
obviated by turning the tank upside
down, so rs 20 bring the outlet under
meath. Then. when the stOpcock was
oyencd, the water was forced out In "a
stioDg stream by the pressure Ol gas from
above. But a much moro convenient
method Is I'm use today. The TANKS are
made exactly on the same principle as tho
glass syphons containing mineral waters.
A long tube, reaching from the top e. the
bottom of the tank. is the simple though
L. -. IL .N