Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-31


was not until their efficiency began to
acouaint the peorle with possibilities OF
lighting that they had not thought OF be-
fore, that the volume Of trade was re-
stored.
The final result Of the Improvement was
Just what always happens when public
service company puts in an Improvement
The first expensive step IL paid for many
times over in the later addition to patron
age. When consumers saw the cheapness
and the availability OF these new lamps
they were put In everywhere and the gas
industry continued TO grow.
1t il not by any means illumination alone
that makes gas 20 useful, IL IL used as
fuel in thousands of homes and factor
les. The old fashioned coal range has been
replaced by the modern gas range, which
does the cooking more quickly and cheaply
and saves the housewife work, worry ana
dirt. The boy Of the household has well
coined its introduction for it saves him
the old chore Of carrying coal and in fact
has made the coal hod no longer a neces-
sary household implement. And it Is not
only the gas range, but the gas iron' the
gas conveniences of every sort that are
adding to the comfort of homes.
In industry the use Of gas has become
a recognized factor. In newspaper offices
It is used in the composing and electrotyp-
Ing rooms to keep molten the lead that 10
used in up-to-date printing. In the Dis
wholesale grocery houses 1t is used Tor
coffee roasters and such machinery one
of the largest wholesale grocery companies
In the west that has Its main offices and
factories in Omaha uses 100000 feet Of gas
year for Its coffee roasters
Gas supDIants Coal.
Although gas is used only to very
small extent to replace fuel for generat-
ing power It has very largely supplanted
coal in furnishing fuel for machines that
require heat directly.
The gas company in Omaha has been one
OF the most influential factors in the city's
DEVELOPMENT. Omaha has grown in such a
way that companies have had to assume
heavy burdens in order to give anything
like complete service.
For a long time the progress OF the city
was slow and tmid. 1t did not seem to
have even the ordinary vitality OF western
towns. Then came a sudden burst OF energy
and the town began to expand. Specula-
ton and forced real estate booming TOOK
nossesston of everybodys mind and the
true business good OF the town was entirely
forgotten, without the slightest regard tor
the possibilities Of future collapse or the
disaster that was certain to follow Omaha
went ahead to make big city OF herseil'
The gas company, as we'll as some other
public service corporations, was called upon
10 help When some speculator would
choose a spot in the woods upon which to
locate q new city addition he would swing
every possible influence to get gas main
extended out to him. Then, as things
changed rapidly his tenants or his buyers
might be gone from that part OF the city
by the time the gas was readily for them.
SO when the crash came and the town
found itself spread over four or five times
as much territory as 1t could really take
care Of, the gas mains that the company
had extended were absolutely useless.
But since the exposition year the growth
of the city and the growth of industry in
general has been steady and substantial
The unused mains Of the gas company have
been gradually drawn upon by the ever
growing suburbs and the open spaces In
the city's territory are being filled with
homes.
Many street Lamps.
The public as a whole gets the benefit OF
street lamps as we'll as house lighting and
heating from gas. When the gas lamps
were first installed in the streets they were
fishtail burners, but since the introduction
Of Welsbachs they have been used alto
zetber. There are now 1,22s such lights in
the streets with a candle power per light of
1882.
The street lamps are not as powerful or
useful as electric arcs, but special sort
OF gas arc called a Humphrey light Is used
In offices and gives q more powerful IL
Elimination than electric lamps. There were
S,S6S OF these and similar Welsbaeh arcs
/ in use last year.
The gas mains OF the Omaha company,
II put end to end, would reach half way to
! Chicago, and ticking away at regular inter
walls along their ranifying length are 24,12S
| meters.
To the consumer the gas meter is the
embodiment and incarnation of all the
diebolical schemes ever invented to beat
| him out OF his money. Perhaps there is
psychological reason why he hates the
meter, since 1t is a machine and is per-
fectly impassive and unhurt by all the
abuse it gets, but the fact OF the matter
is that the meter is almost infallible The
! experiments OF the gas commissioners
| office show that most meters vary about
2 per cent from exact measurement. 1t Is
impossible to make them any better than
that and more than that much they very
beluOH 81 WINS
They will wear out in time, but the
wearing out results altogether in the favor
OF the consumer. They are constructed Of
leather diaphrams and as the leather wears
out they let more and more gas through
without registering It, Many a consumer
sees his gas bill going down rapidly until
II stops altogether. Scarcely ever does he
say a word about It, although he knows
that he is burning as much gas as ever.
but II It is ever a dollar more than he
thinks Il ought TO be he Immediately raises
a complaint and wants his meter tested.
How Gas Il Made.
Omaha gas is made from the combustion
OF coke and crude oil by what is known
as the Lowe process Of manufacture. The
main factory. with its generating plant, its
purifying tanks and its enormous storage
tanks is at Twentieth and Center streets.
At night the factory is a very picturesque
and Interesting sight. As the flames are
taken off OF the burning oil and coke they
are allowed TO shoot up into the air and
at regular intervals at the gas plant the
whole sky is III up with a miniature pillar
OF fire.
The storage tanks number three and the
biggest one will hold 900 cubic feet OF
/ Ras The con1nanv maintains nfhar tanLs