Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-05-12
BACK TO COAL Gas AGAIN
That's One Effect Of the Rise Of the AristO-
cratic Automobile.
GOOD WORD FOR HARD WORKING METER
Increased Cost of Gasoline and
Nnpfha Causes water Gas 60 he
No Longer the Cheaper
Product.

very general use Of Illuminating gas in this
country an astonishingly small number OF
people seem 70 know anything about its
manufacture or the methods Of distribu-
ton. Ali that the consumers know about
the matter generally Is that the gas is sent
20 them through the mains and service
pipes in the street from big tanks that are
almost invariably located along the river
side, that It's flow is measured for them by
meters which nine out of ten patrons sus-
pect are swindiing machines and that the
bills come as regularly death and taxes.
Even some Of those who write about gas
IN the public prints often make curious
blunders. For instance a writer in a magn-
zine said recently that about three-quarters
Of the Illuminating gas now made in the
United States was water gas, which means
that II II made mostly not from COAL but
from water-which Is undeniably cheap"
This would give the impression to the ordl-
in so-called water gas is water. whereas
the truth is that steam plays only minor
part In the making OF = Sas.
As 70 the statemen. that three-quarters
Of All the Illuminating gas was made in the
United States is water gas, that might
have been true ten or a dozen years ago.
but conditions have so changed In the last
decade that It Is next 70 impossible TO make
water Ens AT a profit at the current prices
OF oil supplies, and for that reason many
Of the companies have returned wholly or
IN part to the old form Of making gas d.
rect from bituminous coal.
Thus the Consolidated Gas company In
this city, which manufactures 130O0.OO0.OOO
cubic feet Of gas every year and has been
credited by the United States Census
bureau with making and selling one-fourth
OF oil the Illuminating gas produced In this
country, is going back to coal gas as fast
~ construction will allow, and its new
100000 plant which is being erected at
Astoria will. when completed, be coal gas
plant with the exception Of a single unit In
which water gas will be manufactured
Gas Making Affected by the Auto.
The only reason why this provision for
water gas is made is that the candle power
OF the illumInant may be kept up to the
high standard required by the law here.
This standard is twenty-five candles, a
point OF efficiency practically beyond the
reach of coal gas, no matter how much
enrioher Is used. The product of the unit
tor producing water gas will be used simply
TO mix with the coal gas, thus giving the
required candle power.
the Consolidated and other big gas con-
Germs are going back 70 old fashioned coal
- is the very great and spreading popu-
Nv of the automobile for both pleasure
AMI business purposes. Both gasolene and
naptha.-commonly called gas oil by the
gas men--hgure largely in the making OF
so-caled water gaF. The price of this oil
was formerly as low as cents gallon
and Il was one Of the factors that made
the manufacture Of water gas so cheap
Chat the system was generally adopted
throughout the country.
/ But the increased demand for the fluids
caused by the enormous number OF autos
In use has sent the price scurrying up to
sonethinR like 20 cents. This, taken In
connection with the constantly advancing
value OF coal tar, coke and other byprod-
ucts of coal gas, has turned the scales In
its favor.
Theirs are no valuable byproducts TO
speak OF in the processof making water
gas, and It is quite a problem to dispose
OF the residualB In times gone by this
was true of coal gas. Coke could be had
almost for the asking and tar had no mar
ket at all.
For certain manufacturing purposes coke
Is now used almost exclusively, while the
numerous uses to which tar may be put
and the discovery VI Aile WbiANtANA W 49,
and coIoring matter which can be distilled
from II have made It one Of the most valu-
able byproducts in the world. so that the
volume OF water gas manufactured in this
country is diminishing instead of increas-
ing and II the price OF gas oil continues to
rise water gas will be eventually sup
planted by coal gas again, especially In the
big seaboard towns, where a ready market
is found for coke and tar.
The Consolidated company was never
swept of its feet by the popularity OF
water gas. The largest part OF all the
gas manufactured by the original com
panies In the consolidation has always
been coal gas. One FIRE under a section OF
retorts in the East Fourteenth street Goa
gas plant has been burning continuously
for nearly fifty years.
IN England, too. water gas has mad
little progress as an Aluminant. the ole
system being generally adhered to by al
the big London companies.
water Gas More Poisonous.
one Of the greatest objections 10 wate
eas--not commercially-is the deadlineBs o
its eject, even when used as a mixture
In It's manufacture the most poisonoui
agent IN Illuminating gas, carbonic acid
II Increased from to 80 per cent. That 4
why so many people who are overcome b!
Illuminating gas die quickly. 1t is ais
probably the reason why suicide by ga
is 80 popular with those who wish to llv'
no longer.
There is a radical difference in thu
initial processes Of manufacturing coal and
water gases. and yet when lighted thu
flames present precisely the same appear
ance to the ordinary observer. The OF
gas Is slightly whittier and more brilliant
but when the gases are mixed none bu
an expert can tell that It is q composite
flame
Coal gas l. produced by the direct de
structive distillation OF bituminous coal
whereas the carbonlzation in making waite
gas is produced through the use OF anthra
cite. = It was in l65s that Thomas shirle!
q England read a paper to the Royal so
eiety on an experiment ne had made witt
gas from a well In Lancashire, resulting
from the decomposition OF bituminous coal
,4but II was not until 1SS years later tina
the practical value OF coal gas Al
Aluminant was demonstrated by william
Murdoch. a seotchman who constructs
the apparatus for lighting his house ant
~ at Redruth, Cornwall, Later gas wa
introduced as an illuminant in the eottoi