The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-09-06
LlQUEFIED AIR.
Carried a Distance of Five Hun
dred Miles.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS.
Some Of the Marvellous Powers
of the Great Factor as
Seen by a Georgian.


he had just witnessed some expert
ments with liqueied air which were SO
wonderful that ! am sure your readers
will be interested l. hearing about
them. The liquid was brought from
New York city, where it was manufac-
tured, in large eight-gallon can, care
fully wrapped in non-conducting felt,
Just as ice is packed for transporta-
ton. 1t is the first time that this fluid
has ever been carried so far IL guam
titles large enough to be experimental
with, and SO we'll was it packed that
only two gallons evarorated IN the
transit-a distance Of about 800 miles.
When the cover was removed it imme-
diately began to smoke like cauldron
of furiously boiling water. The tenn
lerature of liquid air isso low-3l2 de
grees below zero-that contact Dot
merely with common air, but with
lump Of ordinary ice will set it to boil
ing just as water will do on contact
with fire or with a lump Ct redhot iroas.
There is no ordinary substance that IS
not redhot in comparison with TEN
perature Of f3l2 degrees belowzero, con-
sequently the liquid air, uoless care
fully protected by non-conductors OF
heat is in constant state ofebullltlon.
Yet, even while boiling, it's colder than
ice by many degrees, and will instantly
freeze whatever comes in contact with
it. AS the operator dipped it up from
the can the ladle would be immediate:
ly coated with frost, and when vessel
Of it was placed in cold water, the liquid
air at once began to boil furiousiy from
the heat of the water, and at the same
time the water around the vessel form
ing a crust of ice so hard that it could
be readily removed and used as tum-
bier. Into this ice tumbler more liquid
air was poured, which instantly began
to boil from contact with the ice. The
hydrogen of the air, being lighter than
the oxygen, evaporates more quickly,
and as every school boy knows that
oxygen is great promoter OF COM
bustion, the liquid air, after losing It's
hydrogen, becomes medium for pro-
duciHg the fercest heat, though itself so
intensely cold. Now you will be prepar-
ed to believe me when tell you that
piece of wire with carbon point, when
plunged into this ice tumbler filed with
LIQUID 312 degrees below zero, began
to burn with temperature OF nearly
5000 degrees above boiling water, and
burned away till the wire was con-
sumed like straw! On the same prln-
ciple a piece of wooden felt that could
not be made to burn when ignited in
common air, blazed up like rosin when
saturated with the liquid, and flock
of common cotton wool exploded like
gun cotton, leaving scarcely a pinch
Of ashes behind, so complete wasthe
combustion. Hence can be seen the
great possibilities Of this latest discov-
cry of science in the cremation OF gar
bage and the manufacture of explosives.
In color and consistency liquid air is
just like clear water, but evapo-ates so
quickly that it will not wet anything,
and being heavier than common air, It's
vapor, instead of rising like the vapor
Of water and like common smoke, falls
to the earth. Plunge your handkerchief
into it, and the handkerchief will smoke
as if on fire, while drops Of the chill
ing liquid fall to the floor, but there is
no sign of moisture. Pour bucket full
of it on the floor and there will be a
furious smoking as if every plank were
on fire, but when the vapor rolls away
not drop Of moisture is to be seen: A
bunch of roses immersed in. a vessel of
it retained their natural appearance, but
became frozen SO hard ID a few seconds
that they shivered like glass when
thrown upon the floor. The same thing
happened to a potato and a piece OF
beef, which had to be broken with
hammer like stones after remaining
about 20 seconds in the strange fluid.
Alcohol, which freezes at temperature
of something like 200 degrees below
zero became solid ice in about half a
minute, and mercury, in scarcely double
that time, froze so hard that it was used
as hammer to drive two large nails
into board.
Still more curious effects were pro
duced when little water was poured
into tea kettle filed with liquid air
and placed on lump of ice. The ket-
tie Immediately began to boil so rapidly
that it froze the water by evaporation
and left tia lump of ice in the kettle.
The experiment was then tried with
the kettle placed over the burner OF
kerosene stove and not only did the
water turn to ice as before, but the cold
produced by the evaporation OF the
liquid air was so much greater than the
heat produced by the stove that the
bottom of the kettle was heavily coated
with frost right over the flame OF the
burner!
This intense cold, | may remark IN
passing, is the great obstacle IN the
use Of liquid air as motor power.
While It's expansive force is twenty
times greater than that Of steam, the
intense cold produced by its expansion
| causes any ludCuluC4y " "AtN4.
applied to become so heavily clogged
with frost as to prevent its working.
No effective remedy for this difficulty
has yet been found, and until this prob
lem is solved l would advise all lnves-
tors to beware of the bogus companies
that are being formed to exploit Trip
ler's great discovery It's chief practl-
cal use at present would serve to be for
rcfrigeratiDg purposes, and the manu-
sacturc Of explosives. 1t also promises
great results in medical therapeutics
| am not sure that thisis the right word,
but it will 30 doubt mean just as mach
to most Of US as the right one would If
| knew it. In regulating the tenn
perature Of hospitals and destroying
the activity of disease germs 1t vii!
probably work revolution Is medical
practice.