The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-08-04
TESTING OIL AS FUEL.
Interesting Experiments Made in a
Los Angeles Foundry.
IRON LiOUEFIED IN FOUR MINUTES
No Blaze Seen When Furnace Door Was
Thrown Open--The Tests
Are Satisfactory

| Los Angeles. CAL August 1.-one Of the
most Interesting exhibitions ever made in
Los Angeles is at the Llcwelyn Iron
Works, where patented gas plant and
furnace has been Installed. II Is now man
ufacturlng and burning gas from California
distillate, which. at the retail price of
The distillate. costs hut IL cents thousand
feet, though of high grade for lllumlnat
ing as well az heat-producing.
| While the furnace was cold piece of
cast steel was introduced, the steel being
n foot and n half long and four inches in
width and half inch thick. On the steel
were laid small pieces of cast iron. TIL
| gas was turned on and lighted, and In -four
minutes the iron had been llquefed. whila
six minutes later drops of molten steel
were falling to the furnace floor. the TEN
perature of the inside OF the furnace be
ing estimated at 1000 degrees Fahrenheit
The conditions were remarkable In that
when the furnace door was thrown open
there was no sign Of blaze There was
nothing but an Intense white glow with
nothing in sight in the furnace To indicate
the cause of the heat Each little mark of
the glowing iircbrick seemed magnifed
and intensified by the heat, but throughout
uniformity of temperature. The condition
is brought about by introducing the ga
mt a number OF points so distributed about
the oval furnace as to produce revolving
heat currents
Aside from the novelty of this plant. by
which gas Is introduced Into large indus
tIial works as a competitor of other fuels.
III IL is to be as great success rs SCENE
to be the case when inspected yesterday,
there seems to be at hand something Ike
"A revolution of heal and prO1uctInu
on the coast. Similar plants are being
used In the gun factory of thu navy yard
az Washington and III n number of large
Eastern factories, but never until yester-
d9y. was California distillate used In one
of the plants.
member of the company Introducing
the plant said: The essential point is the
production Of fixed or permanent gas
from the hydrocarbons contained In pc
| ttolcum. ANY form of petroleum lac
used, whether crude or refined. hut as a
matter of convenience and sensible husi-
elements should be extracted before being
introduced. The solids carried In crude pc
troleum not only have no heat-produclng
power. but the heat energy Of the other
elements Is partially exhausted IN burning
the solids
1T is an axiom that any fuel must he
reduced TO gas before combustion Is posi-
Bile and II Is a matter of business saraci-
Is whether the fuel SHAH hp introduced to
the furnace before or after the fuel Is
ae turned into as we get eI' fuel that hat can
he burned In a closed retort or furnace.
No stack or vent is required in any of our
furnaces"
The plant now running has capacity of
about 7,o00,O00 cubic feet of gas month,
being the theoretical equivalent of about
100 horse power When reduced to steam
pressure and ia finding present use In fur
mace heat power through q Union gus en-
CINE. Its ILLUMINATING power Is shown ny
q series OF lncandcseent gas jets, while
ndaptability Of the gas for fuel use is wen
| Illustrated by other burners,
There is series Of six upright tanks,
tho first drawing iis supply of distilntc
from an underground storage tank. The
first of the six tanks Is filled partially with
gasolene. which is kept al temperature
of from l15 to H. degrees Fahrenheit. An
tank into the spc,sd where AT a lower tenn
perature q portion OF the gas Is prccpi-
tated and the remainder Is forced on to n
third, at still lower temperature, where
more of the gas Is precipltated, Thus
the gas is carried on from one tank to
another until IL reaches the sixth by which
time the gas Is practically beyond the
power of precipitation or has become a
fixed gas.
1t Is claimed that gas made In this way
has been used in factories a Chicago when
the temperature went below zero without
the slightest delay In ITS use after the
coolest nights, none of the gas having been
preclptated.
From the last tank the gas is plped to
the furnaces, the pipe from this tank being
Paralleled with another pipe from the air
compressor Through the yarlous tanks
oxygen mas hecn Introduced 10 the required
extent for Illuminating purposes, but at the
furnace more oxygen is required and the
air pipe Is TO meet this requirement. the
two stoncocks side by side making II posi-
bile for the operator OF the furnace Ia in
crease the amount of gas or air at pleasure.
and thus adapt II to the particular work
In hand