Evening star., 1927-08-25

resulting from the condensation of
the soffioni steam." "Soffioni" is the
name given to the Tuscany geysers.
The geysers differ from ordinary gey.
sers because they emit steam instead
or alternate jets of steam and water.
Ihey are typical steam springs, and
water is only incidentally mixed with
or carried by the steam itself. The
peculiar kissing noise of these springs
has caused them to be called by the
name of 'soffioni.' which can be
roughly translated by the words
vents or blow holes.
X + X
The soffioni are in eight groups. all
within an area of 100 square miles.
These spots, which can almost be
styled negative cases. are surround.
ed by ordinary vegetation" SAYS the
prince. The steam coming out of
crevices Is superheated and contains
some gases. The princes first experi.
ment In harnessing this steam was
MADE July 4. 1904, with very small
steam engine driving little dynamo
llghtlng a few electric lamps. In the
1oIowlng year he rfgged up a larger
engine to larger steam spring, with
the view or observing how the engine
would run and the effect of the gases
upon it.
He reports: This engine. an old
Gail, stood the test bravely, and for
over 10 years has been steadily work
ing, day and night. giving about Is
horsepower and driving a DYNAMO"
In 1916 he installed a turbine unit
and has since enlarged it and added
two other units, with additional steam
wells drilled to a depth of 625 feet.
with the result that he now gets
l2o,ooo kilos of steam per hour from
the one sof1ione-blow hole-with 12
wells. He uses the natural steam
Tor drilling additional wells, and the
deeper the wells. the hotter and more
abundant is the steam. Some later
drilled wells produce p. 900 kilos o of
superheated steam per hour for each
wen. 1t is believed that the origin of
the steam Is very deep, and that It
oozeS through the strata and emerges
from the many soffloni, but all comes
from the one deep source.
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Speaking of the possible develop
ment of natural steam power, outside
or Italy, Prince Cont said:
The splendid geysers of Iceland are
well known. They have been studied
merely from a geological point of
view, but / believe that it would be
extremely interesting to ascertain
their physical characteristics, espe.
claiiy as to the quantity of steam
with view to separating the actual
steam from the water, on the lines I
have followed at Larderello.
I'm America, the whole of the
bone of that continent is of volcanic
origin and several of the most impor
tant volcanoes actually existing are
to be found in the Andes.
AT the extreme northwest of that
continent, in Alaska, a violent erup-
tion OF the katmai Volcano, in 1912.
covered q large valley with cinders
and lava.
1.-THE Valley of Ten Thousand
Smokes IS perhaps the most impos-
ing example in existence of post-vol-
canic phenomena. The region
| is too remote from the Industrial zones
OF America to encourage any pros.
i poets of immediate development, but
consider that the future progress Of
electrical engineering may perhaps
alter the methods of transmitting cleo
trio power in such q manner as to
| render feasible the conveyance of
power from very large distances.
california is certainly better situat.
ed from the point Of view of actual
industrial development and possesses
volcanic district in Sonoma County,
about rs miles north of San Francisco,
| where geysers and springs are nu-
merous."
n 4 X "
1t is in these Sonoma County gey-
sers in the Lassan National Park that
| experiments have been conducted
since 1922. Drilling operations in the
geysers develop, at depth Of 500 feet,
a temperature of from 1870 to 1855 de-
grees centigradeas(One hundred de.
grass centigpeds ! the boiling point