Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-09-08
LIQUID AIR.
why This Marvellous Agent Has Dee.
Commercial Failure.

why Thta Marvellous Agent Has heaH
"a Commercial Failure.
Charles Z. Tripler, the man who did
most to exploit hQuld air and to SIM
pllfy the process Of Its reduction, nm
ished bis career after earning success
that be could not make commercial,
saws the Schenectady Union. He was
not the first to accomplish the liQue-
faction OF the atmosphere. Professor
James Dewar of the Royal institute
In London and Professor Oleszewski
are rival claimants for the honor.
Trlpler's apparatus was more pracu-
cal than the others. He used triple
engine Of which the FIRST piston brought
the air to q pressure Of sixty pounds
per square inch, cooled 1t and reduced
the temperature still more by allowing
II to expand again in a closed chamber.
second piston brought 1t to pres
sure of 100 pounds. and again 1t was
cooled by expansion. at the third COM
preston 1t was brought TO pressure
of 1000 pounds per square inch. From
this state II was released into regen-
Grating chamber, where a portion was
allowed to flow through coil OF pipes
while the remainder was diverted to
expand In q closed compartment sur
sounding the pipes, thus reducing the
temperature to 820 degrees below zero,
as commonly expressed. At this ten
perature the compressed air In the pipes
was reduced to liquid and could be
drawn of through tap.
Here was wonderful product pos
sessed Of interesting physical properties
and capable Of imparting new proper
ties to other substances. Any cellulose
substance, sponge, sawdust or even
wool saturated with liquid air, becomes
at once powerful explosive. Hubber
gum dipped in 1t becomes as unelastc
and as friable as so much chalk. Sneet
iron and steel can be crumbled In the
hand after being subjected to the low
tempera ture moment A pint OF
LIQUID air expanded IN coll or pipes
could reduce an area OF many cubic
feet to zero temperature.
Tripler was a man Of large expert
ence In physics, but he seemed to lack
mechanical intuition, for he expected
this agent to become a source OF power
and useful in thousand different
WAYS But after an experimental Pc
Rod of about sixteen years liquid air
IL still of little use outside q physical
laboratory. Although IT Is said to IN,
crease the electrical conductvity OF
copper fifteen times while it Is in the
solution, that property is useless ex'
cent as demonstration Of a phe'
nomenon. In a liquid state it repre-
seuts q substance having about 500 vol
umes of the medium Of which 1t II
| composed. Az the air at the earth'f
surface represents a pressure Of nearly
| fifteen pounds to the inch, 1t Is evident
| that an agent requiring q retainer
capable of withstanding q pressure OF
more than $4,000 pounds to the square
inch would be rather unmanageable
1t would be transported about the eoun
try in open containers protected from
heat by vacuum chambers, thick fell
and Its own vapors, but evaporation
was rapid under the most favorable
conditions. The fatal defect, however
is the lack Of economy In production
even by Tripler's method. A fifty
horsepower engine and apparatu'
working ten hours could only produc'
between forty and fifty gallons of liz
uid air. Even If this did not require
retainers of prohibitive cost 1t woul'
be an economical failure as a sourc'
Of power, which Tripler and his back
ers seemed to overlook.
In a pound Of liquid air are stores
$4,000 foot pounds Of energy. Thu
looks large, but it is merely the equiva
lent Of four and one-half horsepowe
exertsd for one minute. II the wor
Of q fifty horsepower engine workin
ten hours could produce only 400 pint
of LIQUID air it is mathematical Gel
tainty that the power realized woul
be but fraction Of the power require
to produce the liquid air.-Buffal
News.