The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1901-02-21
LIQUID AIR..
Comprehensive Article Relative
to the New Element.

Written expressly for McClure's Mag
azine.
Charles E. Tripler, of New York CITY,
reduces the air of his laboratory to
clear, sparkling liquid that boils on ice,
freezes pure alcohol, and burns steel like
tissue paper And yet Mr.. Triplef dips
up this astounding liquid in an old tin
saucepan and pours it about like SO
much water. Although fluid, it is not
wet to the touch, but it burns like
white hot iron, and when exposed to the
open air for few minutes, it vanishes
in cold gray vapor, leaving only bit
OF white frost
All this is wonderful enough but it is
! by no means the most wonderful of the
| inventors achievements. | saw Mr.. Trip
| Ter admit quart or more of the hqui1
| air into small engine. A few seconds
I later the piston began to pump vigor
| ously. driving the fiy-wheel as if under
| a heavy head of steam. The liquid air
| had not been forced into the engine
| under pressure, and there was no per-
| ceptible heat under the boiler; indeed
| the tube which passed for boiler was
soon shaggy with white frost. Yet the
! little engine stood there in the middle
of the room running apparently without
| motive power, making no noise and CIV
| ing out no heat or smoke and producing
no ashes. And that is something that
can be seen nowhere else in the world
| it is a new and almost uncomfortable
marvel.
IF | can make little engines run by
| this power. why not big ones?" asks
/ Mr.. Tripler "And if / can produce Ii
| quid air practically without cost-and
| will show you that really can-why
| shouldn't we be able soon to do entirely
| away with coal and wood and all other
fuel?"
| And run entirely with air?"
"Yes, with liquid air in place of the
| water now used in steam boilers, and
| the ordinary heat of the air instead of
| the coal under the boilers. Air is the
| cheapest material in the world. but we
have only begun learning how to use it..
We know little about compressed air,
but almost nothing about utilizing the
heat of the air For centuries men have
| been digging their source of heat out
| of the earth at enormous expense, and
then wasting ninety per cent. of it in
| burning. Coal is only the suns energy
stored no. What | do is to use the sun
| energy direct.
| 1T is really one of the simplest things
in the world Mr.. Tripler continues,
when you understand it. In the case
| of steam engine. you have water and
coal You must take heat enough out of
the coal and put it into the water to
change the water into gas-that is,
steam The expansion of this gas pro-
| duces power. And the water will not
| give off any steam until it has reached
L fl,s hn, t1t nf Fol
heit.
Now. steam bears the same relation
to water that air bears to liquid air.
| Air is a liquid at .3I2 degrees below
| zero--a degree of cold that we can hard
" imagine. If you raise it above 3I2
| degrees below zero it boils, just as wa
ter boils above 2I2 degrees Now then,
we live at temperature averaging say,
seventy degrees aboze zero-about the
present temperature Of this room, In
other words, we are ,382 degrees warmer
than liquid air Therefore, comnared with
the cold of liquid air. we are living in a
burning fiery furnace. A race of people
who could live at 3I2 degrees below
| zero would shrivel up as quickly in this
room as we would Il we were shut up
| in baking-oven Now then, YOU have
L s
| zero. You expose it to the heat of this
furnace in which we live. and it boils
| instantly. and throws off a vapor which
expands and produces power That's
simple. isn't it1'
| 1t did seem simple: and YOU remem-
bered. not without ave. that Mr.. Trip
Ter was the first man who ever ran an
engine with liquid air, as he was also
1 Ia ErE L.
ing liquid air in quantities, a machine
which has by the way, been passed up
on as original by the patent Office in
Washington. But these two achieve
ments. extraordinary as they are. form
merely the basis for more surprising ex-
periments.
MANNER AND COST OF PRODUCING LIQUID
| AIR.
1t is easvN enough, after obtaining a
supply of liquid air. to run an engine
with it: but where is there any practi-
cal advantage in using steam power to
make liquid air and then using the Ii
nuid air for running engines? Why not
use steam power direct, as at present?
Mr.. Tripler always anticipates this
question after examining his engine
which is still running smoothly before
our eyes.
you have seen how I run this en-
CINE with liquid air." he says "Now, if
can produce power by using liquid air
in my engine, why not use that power
for producing more liquid air? A liquid
air engine, if powerful enough, will
compress the air and produce the cold
in my liquefying machine exactly as we'll
| as a steam engine. Isn't that plain?"
YOu look at the sneaker hard and a
bit suspiciously. Then you propose
making liquid air with liquid air?"
81 not only propose doing it, but this
machine actually does it."
| you pour liquid air into your en-
CINE. and take more liquid air out of
| your liquefier"
"Yes: it is merely an application of
the power produced by my liquid-air en-
CINE"
This all but takes your breath away.
That is perpetual motion" you OBJ
| ject.
No" says Mr.. Tripler sharply. "no
/ perpetual motion about it. The heat or
the atmosphere is boiling the liquid air
in my engine and producing power just
| exactly as the heat of coal boils water
and drives off steam. / simply use an
other form of heat. get my power from
the heat of the sun; so does every other
| producer of power. Coal. as | said be-
| fore, is only form of the suns energy
! stored up The perpetual motion crank
tries to utilize the attraction of gravi-
tation. not the heat of the sun"
Then Mr.. Tripler continues more
| slowly: But | go even further than
that. II / could produce only two gal