The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-08

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far as gas is concerned, solely by in
.eandeseent lamps; while these are
largely employed in nearly all the CEN
tiers of population in the United King
dom. All the Crystal Palace district
company's street lamps are fitted with
mantles, as are large proportions OF
those supplied by the other metropolitan
companies.
Even under the present system, with
prices In London ranging from Is. Sd.
to IS. per thousand feet. the consump-
ton Of gas for cooking and heating
purposes has increased enormously Of
late years. 1t is now unusual to find a
suburban kitchen without "a gas stove,
and it is the same everywhere. Of the
4, 4S0, 7S9 gas consumers in this country
no fewer than 1,17O,S19 also use a cook
ing stove.
In 1902 the total was 99S,S7s, so that
since last year there has been an in
crease of IL per cent. The eleven COM
panies in the metropolitan district sup
ply 752.201 consumers, large proper
ton of whom also possess gas cook
ers"
Take the South Metropolitan Gas
company. While the number of its
meters is 247,794, the number of stoves
rented by the company reaches the big
total of 1S2,562. Cookers are supplied to
consumers at an average rent of los.
per annum, or on the -the-slot
system. the latter being the more mod
ern and apparently the more popular.
Gas fires" are much less numerous,
though many houses now burn little or
no coal. and in bathrooms and bedrooms
this method of heating is obviously the
least Troublesome as we'll as the most
economical.
Therefore, although old-fashioned
people, with old-fashioned ideas of COM
fort, still cling to the coal fire, a con-
siderable stride has already been made
in the direction of a smokeless Lon
don.
With gas at Cd. per 1000 feet it is OBJ
vious that the development would be
enormous. AS yet however, no such
gas is available. Hitherto cheap gas,
which may be manufactured from slack
and similar by-products, has been con-
sidered, in this country, at any rate,
chiefly as a power producer. 1t is only
in the case of the new product, known
as Mond gas. in connection with which
bill passed through parliament last
season, that a wider application had
been proposed .....-z..- s..g
According to the manufacturers, this
gas can be supplied at the ridiculously
low fgure of 3D. per 1000 feet 1t is
produced in much the same way as
carburetted water gas. which in some
American towns is itself employed for
Illuminating purposes, but which in this
country is used only in conjunction
with ordinary coal gas. The production
of water gas Is a comparatively simple
operation. Steam Is passed through a
deep bed of red-hot coke, the result be-
ing mixture of carbonic acid gas and
hydrogen, which in turn is passed
through another red hot chamber where
oil is sprayed into it to produce the IL
Illuminating power Being capable Of
rapid manufacture, it can be used very
promptly, either TO supplement the reg
ular supply of coal gas or. in cases
where the proper quality Of coal gas Is
not available, to bring that gas up to
the required standard. It's unrestricted
use is, however, dangerous to health,
and 1t was expected, as the result of
the board of trade inquiry held two or
| three years ago, that legislation would
before this time have been introduced
| to limit what some engineers, at all
events, regard as the adulteration Of
coal gas. -
AS yet the new product, considered as
a domestic agent, Is very much in the
air. Apparently all the information yet
available is based upon what it has
achieved at Messrs. Drummer, Mond &
Co.'S works at Ndrthwich, where it is
used for generating electric light The
great feature of Mond gas Is it's cheap
ness, rendered possible by the fact that
it is made from what are practically by
products, and also because its manu-
facture produces ammoniacal liquor
from which is derived sulphate of am
monia. u.s..
| Twopence per thousand feet is GER
tainIy marvelously cheap, but after all
| it is only q relative figure. Coal gas
has four, some say six, times the heat
| ing power of Mond gas, and hence, If
six times as much is required to pro-
duce the same effect, the price would
be, not twopence, but O. shilling. OF
course, this is still far less than the
price of coal gas In London, but, on the
other hand, 1t is extremely doubtful II
Mond gas could be produced in the met
ropolis at so low a figure as twopence;
and, moreover, 1t must not be forgot.
ten that at Widnes, in Lancashire, or
binary coal gas Isl now being supplied
at Is. 4d. and even Is. Cd. per thousand
fleet. rTE
| A great, although, of course, not ar
masquerade, difficulty would be the in.
stallation of the system. There are
thousands of miles Of gas mains ir
London, and to duplicate these would
a a colossal work. Further, owing tc
the low quality of the gas, the mains
would no doubt have to be of much lar
ger size, even with increased pressure
Finally, the sanction of parliament
would have to be obtained in the teeth
of the existing companies before the
new heating agent could be supplied tc
lhouseholders. .-.
The probability, of course, is that the
existing companies would themselves
undertake the supply, and 1t is inter-
esting to note that at the last meeting
of the South Metropolitan company the
|chairman, abiding to the Mond gas
lstated that they had asked for powers
to acquire additional land SO that they
might he rrera rcd To SUNNY a. low.