The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-11-12

Form-It Then Looks Great Deal
Like Water with 1t Even Mercury
May Be Frozen.
By next summer. possibly, or at any
rate In the very near future, said Pro-
lessor A. Metz, the city chemist, people
in New Orleans and elsewhere will keep
them warmly closing the doors and
windows. The temperature inside will
be as low rs desired, and the whole thing
will be done by little vessels. hung up in
the ventilators, and filled with liquid air,
considerably colder than three hundred
degrees below zero.
I .There is nothing extravaganza about
my prediction refer, of course, to the
method of producing liquid air on COM
mercial scale, because the product itself
is not new. Made cheaply and easily as
it is now, it is destined, in my opinion,
to play tremendous role in the future of
civilization, and will closely rival cleo
tricity in It's effects upon the economic
conditions of the world. =
New Orleans will see its first specimen
of the new scientific marvel soon. Pro-
lessor Metz will go to New York for a
brief visit next week, and he proposes 10
bring about TIVE MT five gallons OF the
air. That is to say, he will start with
twenty five gallons, but the loss from
evaporation is SO great that it is doubtful
whether he win arrive with more than
six or eight. This will be ample, how
ever, for series of experiments which
he has projec led for his class at Tulane
University.
Everybody knows in general way
that there is such thing as liquid air,
but few are familiar with the details of
the subject. A gas is composed of atoms
of molecules widely separated. If they
are pushed together to a certain extent
the gas becomes a liquid; push them a
little closer and they will become solid.
Solid gas seems like part of the ma
chinery of fairy tale, but it is very
much of a reality. as anybody may dis
cover By simply visiting the laboratory at
Tulane University. In one corner is
steel cylinder about the size of fye-inch
shell with a turn.cock in one end. 4 Pick
il m and shake 1t and faint tinklingts
heard, like the sound made by pieces of
bros en- glass striking against each other.
It is full of crystals that were once some
hundreds Of cubic feet of chlorine gas,
actually made solid by compression.
AS far back as 1896 Faraday, the great
chemist, produced liquid chlorine gas by
but it was in very small
quantities. Later on other gases were
liauified as laboratory curios, and In
1877 two Frenchmen named Caillat and
Pictet. working independently. exhib ed
liqnlfied oxygen and nitrogen before tie
Academy of Science at Paris None of
these experiments were on practical
scale, but they paved the way, and in
1884 a Russian named Olszewski succeed
ed in making small amount of liquid
ali. He was followed by Professor
Dewar IL this country, who liquiiied sew
eral qy.arts of air in lis laboratory in
1896, but the process was far too expsn-
sive to permit of commercial use.
1t was reserved for Professor Charles
e. Tripler, chemist living in Brooklyn,
to solve the problem and devise an APP
paratus that would work oheaply and
ties This he did firsr in 1891, bat his
machine required too many improve
m nts, and the process has really been
perfected only within the last year. All
the liquid air that had been made before
was merely scientific toy like the
minute artificial diamonds that cost ten
times as much as the natural gem; but 1t
L. III +,f N
vast quantities at ridiculously small ex.
pense.
Tripler's process might be roughly de-
scribed as follows: lie subjected the air
in tanks to three compressions; the lrsg
Of sixty pounds to the inch, the second or
$50 and the third of 1000 pounds These
three squeezes brought it to high pitch
Of compre ssion, but it WAS not yet a
LIQUID. He then released little OF the
air into q chamber surrounding the tank,
and in suddenly expanding 1t absorped or
drew out an enormous amount or neat
from the confined mass, leaving 1T almost
cold. BY merely repeating
this refrigeration he reduced its tenpera-
ture to 100 degrees centigrade, or rather
more than 300 degrees below zero, upon
which it suddenly became fluid. In brief
what was started by squeezing was COM
pleted by congealipg, and the product run
mt of tap like water, compressed to
hundredths of it's original vol
ume and infinitely colder than the chilli
sst night that ever fell upon the boreal
pole.
One naturally asks why it was that
gas under such tremendous pressure did
not instantly diffuse itself in space like
an explosion of dynamite. The answer is
chat the atoms were locked together, SO
+, speak, by the intense cold and only
separated gradually, so, instead of blow
ing up, the liquid slowly evaporated in a
gray vapor, and in that way re turned to
air. And here arose the chief difficulty
in the practical utilization of the process.
The evaporation, while gradual, had I'M
limited power behind it, and no vessel was
sver devised of sufficient strength to con-
fine the liquid under seal. 1t would rsnd
the toughest steel like an egg shell. and
to put it in an ordinary gas cylinder,
such, for instance, as is used for laughing
gas, would be like setting pound of
powder in paper sack. I5 was absolute
" necessary to leave it exposed and al,
low it to dissipate itself as it would.
hence the problem of transporting it for
any considerable distance.
AS already said. Professor Metz expects
TO leave New York with twenty-five gall
Ions, and will consider himself fortunate
should he reach here with eight. Recent
ly eighty gallons were sent from New