Gilpin observer., 1899-04-06
LIQUEFIED AIR NOW
THE LATEST GREAT MARVEL
u go be Mads as Small Cost and H.:
+. No Llnit for UtlnC=Azy 1uppsan
i Sssan and Electricity.

The most extraordinary exhibit evci
given in Washington was witnessed al
the Arlington hotel few nights age
by the scientific circle of the city
members of the Cabinet, Supreme
Court, diplomatic corps and other pub
lie men. 1t was given under the aus
pices Of the National Geographical So
ciety, presided over by Professor Bell
the inventor Of the telephone, and fur.
nished an opportunity for Charles E.
,Tripler Of New York to show for the
hrst time In public the new motive
power which he has discovered and
calls liquid air. A description of this
remarkable fluid and its uses appears
in McClure's Magazine for March, and
a more elaborate account is given in
the April Century.
Briefly and simply stated, Mr.. Trip.
Ter takes 800 gallons Of ordinary air,
drawn from any window, and by com.
preston and cold reduces it to one
gallon Of n liquid that looks like gly.
cerine and retains its form Mt a tenn.
perature of 312 degrees below zero.
AS it warns 1t expands into vapor and
then Into air, just as water is expand.
ed into steam by heat. By controlling
this expansion Mr.. Tripler proposes to
furnish new motive power for the
use OF transportation companies on sea
and land, for factories, furnaces and
Tor every other purpose for which
steam and electicity are now used. The
expansive force is equal to 2,000
pounds square inch, and without an
exhaust pipe the pressure is so great
that there Is now no material of suffi-
cient strength to restrain 1t. In other
words, a pint or quart or a gallon of
this liquid will burst any vessel In
which it may be confined unless there
is an opportunity for Its gradual es.
cape.
Liquid air is manufactured by ap-
paratus which Mr.. Tripler has invent.
cd. The first gallon or two Is made by
the use of coal or any other ordinary
fuel, just as ice Is made in q factory,
but thereafter he Is able to reproduce
ten gallons of the fluid by the expendi-
ture of two. A railway locomotive or
steamship will, therefore, create its
own power from the atmosphere as II
passes along its way, and q factory
engineer will simply turn the key of a
ventilation pipe, start his machine and
manufacture fuel as he needs 1t. Mr..
Tripler insists that this energy can be
used with no more difficulty and at q
cost 70 per cent. less than steam, and,
having mastered the secret of its pro.
duction, he now proposes to apply II
to practical use.
Mr.. Tripler brought six gallons Of
liquid air with him from New York,
and in the presence Of four or nve hun.
ded persons performed the experiments
that are described in 'McClure's Maya.
zine. He dipped the stun out Of his
can with an ordinary tin dipper, just
as a milkman would dip milk. He
dropped a potato in 1t, lifted 1t out in
two or three minutes and threw It on
the floor, where 1t broke into n thou.
sand little crystals. He took a rubber
ball, immersed 1t in the liquid and
then broke 1t as IL 1t was glass. He
dropped in piece Of beefsteak and in
a moment 1t was broken into little
fragments that looked like petrified
wood. He immersed n tumbler of al
cohol and in a few minutes 1t was
frozen into n block Of ice. He filled a
pastaSoard box with mercury, which
when immersed In the liquid air be-
came as hard as steel, and he used 1t
as q hammer to drive nails in the ta-
BILE. He Immersed copper, tin, iron and
strips Of steel In the liquid air, and
they crumbled like piecrust,