The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-15
(Drug Topics.)

If it takes a little longer to boil your coffee, scramble your eggs or brown your toast on that gas range of yours, don't get mad at the gas man-cuss the Kaiser.
 If that luminous 22 candle power light in your hall grows suddenly dull as you return home and deceives you into kissing the cook in mistake for your wife, blame William Hohenzol- Tern, architect of all your troubles.
 These tribulations are part of your war cross-accept them with good grace smile. As one of your con- trtbutions to the war, the difference between your bright gas light of yes terday and your duller light of tomor- row is to be sent to the Kaiser with your compliments, wrapped up in nice steel pills, by your Uncle Samuel.
 With the aid of skilled American chemists, every home in the land is to actively help blaze the way for the triumph of democracy. Though you cannot go to France yourself, you will be represented there by two formida- bl9 agents, extracted from your store and home gas, that will speak and act for you more eloquently and vitally than you could if you were there your self personally. Oshkosh will be there with Detroit, Chicago with Bos- ton, St. Louis with Baltimore, Phila- delphia with Frisco, New York with Seattle.
 These two agents are toluol and benzol.
 ToiuoI is the essential ingredient Y73 CT, explosive. Toluol and benzol together form the "filler' of the army and navy's great shells In normal and semi-normal times, the coke ovens of the country supply all the toluol and benzol ordinarily needed. To furn- ish the increased requirements of the army and navy for these shells and explosive, the government has built vast additional works with nitratins capacity of 100000 lbs. of IN. T. .'' a month but there is not toluol enough to supply them. Still more plants for TT. N IT. are desired but until the toluol is in sight, these will be held up.
 To find and produce the enormous extra quantities of toluol and benzol needed, the government has turned to the American chemist for help.
 He's going to get lakes of it and if need be seas. Out of your gas, my gas, and your neighbors' gas, he esti- mates he can recover in the first year, 1000, 900 gallons of toluol and IS 900, 900 gallons of benzol-some going for a starter
 In peace times, the government has
 
 any city gas works, because the re- mo~al of these two chemical elements from gas lowers it's illuminating and heating properties. But in the pres ent emergency, Uncle Sam can be no fine chooser of his market-he has a mans size job to perform and must seek his supplies wherever they car be found most easily and most abund- antly, even if it means that the heal in your gas range make it necessary for you to wait a trifle longer for youI shirred eggs to shir, your coffee tc grow aromatic and your soup to sizzle it's part of your bit
 Under the direction of expert chem fists gas plants in approximately 111 cities will ultimately be tapped to yielC the precious toluoL These 112 plant! produce annually 135, 100000, 900 GU bic feet of gas, of which about 97,000, GOO, GOO are water gas, 25,000, ,00O, ,00t coal gas and 13,0o0, 0,000,000 oil gas From this vast production of gas, thu chemists estimate they can obtain 0.0i gallons of toluol per 1000 cubic fee of gas. This average will easily in sure the recovery of about 100000 1.FH HaJ,, oI7o ists estimate that at the same tim they can recover from this quantit, of gas, a minimum of 18,00O, ,000 gal Ions of benzol- more if necessary.
 Toluol and benzol are present in al city gas as condenSable vapors o light oils Special stills and delicat scientific apparatus to remove thes oils have already been installed at tn Astoria plants of the Consolidated Ga Co. in New York and at plants il other cities. Shortly it is expecte, that similar apparatus will be in op eration in each of the 112 cities f which large gas plants are maintain ed, the nature of the apparatus vary ing according to whether the plan produces coal, water or oil gas. Tn treatment employed in the separatio of the toluol and benzol from the ga is highly technical, requiring skill an care of exceptional character. Be sides large quantities of washing oil, tons of sulfuric acid and soda wi be used in the recovery. It is esti mated that for every gallon of 1igl oil containing the toluol and benzc recovered from the gas, 0.3 to 0. ID. of sulfuric acid and about 1-10 a much soda will be required, makin the cost of materials employed i the recovery about 1.9 cents per ga lon of light oil produced. In additio to these materials, considerable quar titles of lubricating oils, etc., will | utilized in the process.
 Estimates differ on the percentag by which the heating and lightin value of the gas will be lowered by tt extraction of the toluol and benzol. ] candle power it is said the compile removal of the light oils from the g; reduces the open flame glow about per cent. In other words if the ope flame candle power is 22 candles, in New York, Philadelphia, New o leans, Omaha and other cities, it W bring it down to around II and candle power. In other cities whe the gas has been 20 to IS candle po1 er as in Detroit Los Angeles, Ric mond, Atlanta, Providence, Jackso vile, Houston, Charleston, East { Louis, etc, it will make it equal to and 10 candles. This can be repai