The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-02-05
THE GAS WORKS
NEED REPAIRS.
Mr.. H. [. Rice Makes An Interesting
Report.
NAPTHA TANKS MUST BE MOVED
They are Between Two Fires, and an
Explosion May Occur at Any Mo-
mcnt-He Makes Many
Recommendations.

| on Light Mr.. II. J.. Rice, superintendent
Of the Norfolk Gas Works, who spent
four Gays here examining into the opera
tons OF the Gas Works presented the
/ following interesting report.
Norfolk. Va, Jan. %, 1899.
/ Suo Committee on Light. Richmond, Va
Gentlcmen.-I have tho honor TO SUBJ
init t0 you the following rcort ass 10 the
rcilt OF nay recent investigations into
! the question of fnc manufacture Ol water
3 gas ln Richmond.
THE TROUBLE IN THE PAST
l.. Water gas has been made in yOur
works since about lhj when the present
plant was installed. The water gas plant
was joined ol 10 the present coal ga
and no provision for the separate regis
/ tratiOn of the sds made. The performance
of the plant IS therefore estimated from
day 90 day and from year 10 year ny
assuming the amount ol codi gas Moue
from the number OF tons or coal carbon
ized ana suDtra ting this from tho total
amount Of gas mctereu. luls method OF
obtaining the water Eas made Isl crude
and unsatisfactory. and ! could not ac-
cept the figures as reliable enough 10
base an exact opinion on From what
L could learn, however. the machine has
never given satisfaction. the candle
power has been hard tO maintain, the oil
results have been poor. the hourly make
Of gas Irregular, and the OH vapors have
passed away in am uniNed condition Let
me briefly explain this last statement. In
making water gas az uile uDu-lluWlual-
ing gas Us first obtained, which is then
charged with on gas lu 70 chamber or
hot checker brick The oil gas supplies
the niece -ary Illuminating power The
two gases next pass through hot fixing
chamber Of checker brick lihoui thlS
lasL liking process the oil would C0unen-e
ont of tIn Gdh ln iNe process OFT l0oIilE.
The gas machine iu your works is or
tvuo not generally used. and WhAc not
perhaps REGARDED with absolute disiaFor.
is not considered economical or efficient
iu comparison with later types Inc
chamber into which the on gas IS in
ircted ls small. and the fixing surface or
checker brick rs also less than demanded
by present practice. This machine would
not TX "a heavy oil. and even Win nap
tina the heats must be most carefully
carried 90 produce q well-hNed gas Al
the best 10 SIS an unecOnomical machine,
of which ] shall have more % say later
Orfratcd the machine for two DAYS
and demonstrated 90 my own satisfaction
that &c can Doe run with naptha 20 make
a good clean woll-nXed gas OF high cam
die power. AS the station meter was out
Of order and the coal gas plant run-
ming L could only estimate my results,
but should say that We obtained 70
candle power gas with shout gallons
of oil per thousand. To accomplish THIS
7 made radical changes in tho Methods
of operating The machine. Your supeflu-
tendent was made fully conyersant with
these changes. and ! left with The under
standing that the machine should be- rum
"a part of each day time for consider
able period and the general quality %
tine citv ras and tho purifying carefully
watched iu the meantime TO see lf FUR
thor trouble developed. II not then it
might be taken for granted that the ma
chino could he run To- make satisfactory
gas and one 10 Dee easily purified. Tho
ratification trouble this winter is. Of
course easily explained in tho light Of
what has already been said Tho heats
boiug carried wrong and the oil Napor
being thus not properly fixed. the on
continued 10 condcnso throughout the
works and city OH was deposited ON the
purifying material. coating 70 and rem
dering A. useless for ife purpose. The UNI
firing vigilance OF Your capable superln-
tendent saved YOU from absolute disaster.
but some days OF POOR gas were inevl-
table
THE CONDITION or TTE WORKS N
RELATION TO WATER GAS.
g. The gas machines As already stated
( believe that j hdye demonstrated that
satisfactory gas DO has tw0 Objectionable
features. however. first. ~ Is not eco
nOmicaI. second. 10 VIII not handle hedf!
oils To consider the second Hisi.
plant the size OF Richmond does not want
t0 DE dependent upon napina- Inc p.le-
II naptha has been known % go very
high. while gas Oll and crude OF remained
relatively low. your machine 1h1lli DE-
one that would enable you to use heavy
oil " prices made Do desirable. Again,
through some uuiutcntiOuai carelessness.
the oil delivered Oh your plant might ON
some occasions DE OF heavy DoQy = ouT
machine would not handle 10. and large
amount of purifying material might be
rufuod before the variation iu OF could Dee
dfs.oyered Gravity tests can not Doe de-
pended upon FOO such cases. Your chem
isr r,irht make out "a good case against
The o1 company. but this would not go
Gar with your consumers. VINO would
again have poor eag Possibly mat ls
what has happened THIS winter lh lhtt
the unnXed oil has been Iound ih SD ihu'H
rar.,or proportion that in past winters
You 90 not want machine that ls ON
the ragged edge Of disaster, however
well 40 may appear 10 creep along the
.-rr-r on ECONOMY
-NAi@N 49,,
Your books OF l>to ohp" " use on 80
gallons Of oh per thousaHh ah1 ~, OF
coke. Tho candlc power ls 'l"',u "s 80
but IS acknowledge 10 nav, pee" L,o-
quentil poor 49, ~, 5 -i i,r 80
ever, inns Us tio t"l"i' ~ ~ 7.''"'l ~.
oil Inc tohsti u,'3t Ul 5ii.', n.y. 800
Wei HNiI -".
ana frequently. ""tol" % "liu W.,
hcNe Your ih"'.iiHf az pit7'Itl WIZ ~" IVY
it the "iasl pre-, vl' ,'H '' illi 'cl',,..
You nave a eW""' Hiaue'i "e't ai" po.i -
arranged uloWlu5 pant NNi'h Sildi
presently consider. Let uS take the pest
figures for your machine as candles per
gallon. and for the improved double
~upcraeater type as B.. This VIII be- fair
TO both. Now let as assume that YOU de-
sire 10 make SUCH a proportion OF coal
and water gas as viii use up all OF your
surplus coke. ! estimate ilal You can
sell upwards OF Igy,vp 2usheis "a year az
=