The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-01-31
- Thought II -.

very young man at the time, but my
AaJher was one of the recognized ola
guard or the coal gas men.
First Thought It Useless.
When the water gas was first intro
duced, or nrst pTOD0sld. he rather look
ed upon it as useless thing. He did
not think any consideration ought to be
given 20 IT, and the reason was, as MT
Barker has said. that all Over the United
States. as I'm Massachusetts, the OppOsi-
ton was m ore to the method of promo
ton, the method adopted by the pro-
mOteTS sd. the process than II was to
the process itself. Ia other words. the
promoters OF the Water-gas process
started In the wrong way They would
so into "a town and say. 1--WE have "a
process. We know IL is TO your adj
vantage TO use IT, ana we are going TO
force YOU to use IT, If You do not do
1t voluntarily we VIII organize another
Eas company and YOU viii suffer-
Mr.. TAALoR-That as, they would
say that TO the existing gas company
It Aroused Antagonist.
Mr. FORSTALL-Yes That naturally
aroused considerable autagonism. and
the managers Of the existing companies
could see no good i'm such a process.
That was begun i'm the late seventies.
There were quite @ number OF plants
put in I'D TO 1880, but after 1885 the
tactics OF the owners of the water-gas
patents changed somewhat the COM
pany controlling the patents got diff
1erent management and the methods
changed the method Of approaching
eas companies changed, and from that
time on there was a very rapid increase
ia the amount OF Carburetet water gas
made and distributed i'm the United
States.
In 1886 my father put in a water-gas
apparatus in the works he was then in
charge OF. and iu 1883, just before he
died he wrote paper for a gas society
showing now much better the caFguTeL-
ca Water-gds plant was for the public
IMAM the cOal-gas plant was.
Merit Of Water-Gas Process.
The reason for that rapid progress in
the face OF the adverse opinion that had
been excited was simply the greater
merit OF water gas process. The points
In which the process has greater merit
have been touched ON and / think there
Bre also others which need a little more
ampIihcation. in the hrst place the con-
sumner uses less carbureted water gas
10 do the same amount of work than he
does with coal gas. That is not a. mat
fact.
I have been connected with two Gas
companies which changed from coal
gas TO d mixture. The CHICAGO COM
pany changed from coal gas 10 straight
water gas while / was with them, and
the Newark gas company changed from
straight coal gas 20 q mixture OF 50 8T
30 per cent water gas. lu both cases
lhe year in which the change was made
there was practically no Increase over
The preceding gas in sales, while for
zen years past we had been increasing
from 10 10 20 per cent
1t cut out entirely our normal in
crease in sales just put us back
year. That Is pretty conclusive evil
deuce that less carbureted water gas
IS used by the consumer than coal gas
To do the same amount of work. He
gets a higher CandlepOWeI- and there
IS another reason FOR IT.. Even without
his being conscious OF 1T, with the same
appliances he cannot use as much care
pureJed water gas az he can ccal gas
on account OF the difference in the spe-
clio gravity.
The amount of flow from given
oritlce. with given size and d given
pressure behind 10, is iuveTseiy proper
EIOual TO the square of the specific
gravity 50 that the higher the specific
gravity of the gas the less flow YOU I
get through an or.dce If given Size /
with given pressure and the SPECIFIC +
gravity or carDureted water gas is F.
considerably higher than that of coal
gas.
There Is Another Merit.
Then another merit is. It is also pos
BibIe to make a higher candIcpuwer
satisfactorily. on that point OF candle
power Mr.. Tucker raised the question
as 10 the different methods of sestiug
There is a point which 1 am glad he
brought up, because } have made a.
note or 1T as he spoke of it, The legal
testing Of c0li gas as III is done i'm
Massachusetts and in England ls
specified TO be done by the burner NOT
having q mantle, 10 give the light
which gives the largest amount OF light
from the gas and IS practical Tor use
LF the consumer.
Under these specifications, the testing /
Of coal gas OF the ordinary Quality Il TO /
rs C8udlepOWer. IS entirely done By Ar
sand burners. and those ATgaud burners /
are not used 20 any great extent log gas 4
consumers. Before rle WalzDaCh burn f
or came iu there used TO De am ArEH.a 1
burner in the library where people read, /
and possibly one over the table II you /
were TO test that coal gas DE a. La- /
fame burner instead OF getting i' you I
might get Is or H. I'm the caFu-l -le4 4
water gas CaudlepoWcE I- tested Dy Cd
liat-fame burner. The gas is burned ll 1
taL-fame burner and there ts 100 /
earthly reason why tie consumer can I
not ger just as good CandIepoWeT Ll F.
his house, In EfE roJU-s as Is shown tl Z
the gas examiner test. SD the -ompa'- +
ls0u Is not between les eaHdlau1WeT iu /
one case and % or % rU tine other
really. &C. is between aHuu. I4. as artg-
ally used by the consume. and -. o. or /
~ That is one of EH. merits of rarHur-
eted water gas.
Requires Smaller Investment
Then another merit. from laa s.aud- .
point Of the consumed au treating
those merits fTst-i= that 10 requires 81
smaller investment tor "a given amount
Of gas. and. therefore there Is less
capital TO pay interest 0u whom a. COM
pauv is making carbuetod water gas
pose the TWO gases can aa made at /
the same price