Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Shade Over The Burner; Others Have A Larger Pipe Enclosing The Gas-Pipe

For Ventilation,  The Tops Of The Two Pipes (Including The Burner) Being

Enclosed By A Globe Pierced With Holes For Fresh Air. There Is Said To

Result A Good Ventilation,  With Economy Of Gas,  An Increased Steadiness

Of The Flame And Power Of Light. A Better Arrangement Is A Third Pipe

Enclosing The Gas-Pipe And Enclosed In The Ventilating-Pipe,  Opening To

The Air,  Instead Of The Holes In The Globe,  Which In This Case Should Be

Air-Tight. This Plan Is Said To Have Reached Its Perfection When The

Three Pipes Are Filled With Wire Gauze To Some Extent. This,  Being

Heated By The Escape Of Hot Gases In The Ventilating-Pipe,  Sends Both

The Air And The Gas To The Flame Already Highly Heated. The Result Is

Said To Be Admirable As Regards Ventilation,  Steadiness And Power Of The

Light And Economy Of Gas.

"With These Lamps The Pressure Of The Gas-Current Is Of Great

Importance; And I Now Turn To That Subject. It Is A General Complaint In

Buildings Whose Rooms Are High That The Flow Of Gas On The Lower Floor

Is Deficient,  While On The Upper Floors There Is A Greater Supply Than

Is Necessary. This Inconvenience Arises From The Upper Stories Being

Subjected To Less Atmospheric Pressure Than The Lower,  Every Rise Of Ten

Feet Making A Difference In The Pressure Of About One-Tenth Of An Inch

Of Water; And,  Consequently,  A Column Of Gas Acquires That Amount Of

Pressure Additional. The Following Table,  Recording An Experiment Of Mr.

Richards,  Will Show The Result In Respect To Light:

  Gas Issuing From The Burner At A Pressure Of--

  1/10  Inch Of Water Gave The Light Of 12 Candles,

  5/10   "    "   "    "    "    "    "  6    "

  10/10  "    "   "    "    "    "    "  2    "

  40/10  "    "   "    "    No Appreciable Light.

Suppose A Building Of Six Floors Is Supplied From The Gas-Mains At A

Pressure Of Six-Tenths,  And That The Difference Of Altitude Between The

Highest And Lowest Light Is Equal To Fifty Feet: The Gas In The Highest

Or Sixth Floor Will Issue From The Burners At A Pressure Of

Eleven-Tenths; The Fifth Floor,  At Ten-Tenths; And So On. In Order To

Secure An Entirely Equable Flow And Economical Light A Regulator Is

Necessary On Each Floor Above The First. The Gas Companies Are

Frequently Obliged To Supply Mills At A Much Greater Pressure Than Is

Stated Above As Necessary,  In Order That The Ground Floors May Have

Sufficient Light."

"How About Incorrect Meters?" Asked The Traveller.

"Little Need Be Said Of Them,  As They Fall Within The Domain Of The

Companies And The Public Inspector Of Gas. Under Favorable Conditions

Gas-Meters Will Remain In Order For Ten Years Or More; And When They

Become Defective They As Often Favor The Consumer,  Probably,  As They Do

The Gas Company. Their Defects Do Not Often Occasion Inconvenience; And

When They Once Get Out Of Order They Run So Wild That Their Condition Is

Soon Detected,  When The Errors In Previous Bills Should Be Corrected By

Estimate Of Other Seasons."

"You Haven'T Mentioned The Apparatus (Carburetters) For Increasing The

Richness Of The Gas,  Which Can Be Applied By The Consumer Upon His Own

Premises," Said The Old Gentleman.

"There Is Little Need. The Burners Should Be Adjusted To The Quality Of

Gas Furnished. If There Were Any Real Gain In This Method Of Enrichment,

The Gas Companies Are The Parties Who Could Make The Most Of It: Indeed,

Many Of Them Do To Such An Extent As Can Be Made Profitable. But

Whenever The Temperature Of The Atmosphere Falls,  The Matter Added To

The Gas Is Deposited In The Pipes,  Sometimes Choking Them Entirely At

The Angles. No: Arrange Your Burners And Regulators To Suit The Gas That

Is Furnished,  Demand Of The Company That It Fulfil The Law And The

Contract In Regard To The Quality Of The Gas,  And Give All Gas-Improving

Machines The Go-By.[3]

"Light Having,  Perhaps,  Been Sufficiently Considered For The Present

Needs,  We Have Now To Note The Effects Of The Combustion Of Gas Upon The

Atmosphere,  And Through This Upon The Furnishing Of Rooms And The Health

Of The Persons Living Therein," Said The Chemist,  Again Taking Up His

Manuscript. "The Usual Products From The Combustion Of Common

Illuminating Gas Are Carbonic Acid,  Sulphuric Acid,  Ammonia And

Water-Vapor. Every Burner Consuming Five Cubic Feet Of Gas Per Hour

Spoils As Much Air As Two Full-Grown Men: It Is Therefore Evident That

The Air Of A Room Thus Lighted Would Soon Become Vitiated If An Ample

Supply Of Fresh Air Were Not Frequently Admitted.

"Remember," Said He,  Looking Up From The Paper,  "That Nearly The Same

Effects Proceed From The Combustion Of Candles And Lamps Of Every Kind

When A Sufficient Number Of These Are Burned To Give An Equal Amount Of

Light. Carbonic Acid Is Easily Got Rid Of,  For The Rooms Where Gas Is

Burned Usually Have Sufficient Ventilation Near The Floor By Means Of A

Register,  Or Even The Slight Apertures Under The Doors--Together With

Their Frequent Opening--To Carry Off The Small Quantity Emitted By One

Or Two Burners. But There Are Other Gases Which Must Have Vent At The

Upper Part Of The Room,  While Fresh Air Should Be Admitted To Supply The

Place Of That Which Is Chemically Changed."

Returning To His Manuscript,  He Continued: "The Burners Which Give The

Least Light,  Burning Instead With A Low,  Blue Flame,  Form The Most

Carbonic Acid And Free The Most Nitrogen. Such Are All The Burners For

Heat Rather Than Light. But The Formation Of Sulphuric Acid Gas May Be

The Same In each. In The Yellow Flame The Carbon Particles Escape To

Darken The Light Colors Of The Room,  Not Being Heated Sufficiently To

Combine With The Oxygen. This Product Of The Combustion Of Gas (Free

Carbon) Might Be Regarded As Rather Wholesome Than Otherwise (As Its

Nature Is That Of An Absorbent) Were It Not The Worst Kind Of Dust To

Breathe--In Fact,  Clogging The Lungs To Suffocation. In Vapor Gas--Made

At Low Heat--The Carbon Is In a Large Degree Only Mechanically Mixed

With The Hydrogen,  And Is Liable,  Especially In cold Weather,  To Be

Deposited In The Pipes. This Leaves Only A Very Poor,  Thin Gas,  Mainly

Hydrogen,  Which Burns With A Pale Blue Flame,  As Seen In cold Spells In

Winter. High Heats And Short Charges In The Retorts Of The Manufactory

Give A Purer Gas And A Larger Production. Gas Made At High Heat Will

Reach The Consumer In any Weather Very Nearly As Rich As When It Leaves

The Gas-Holder; For,  Thus Made,  The Hydrogen And Carbon Are Chemically

Combined,  Instead Of The Hydrogen Merely Bearing A Quantity Of

Carbon-Vapor Mechanically Mixed And Liable To Deposit With Every

Reduction Of Temperature. To Relieve The Atmosphere Of The Gases And

Vapors Proceeding From Combustion Is,  Of Course,  The Purpose Of

Ventilation. The Sulphuric Acid Gas And Ammonia Will Be Largely In

Combination With The Water-Vapor,  Which Also Proceeds From Combustion,

So That All Will Be Got Rid Of Together. The Vaporization Of Libraries

To Counteract The Excessive Dryness (Or Drying,  Rather) Which Causes

Leather Bindings To Shrink And To Break At The Joints,  Would Be Of

Doubtful Utility,  Since It Might Only Serve To Carry Into The Porous

Leather Still More Of The Gases Just Mentioned. The Action Of Both

Sulphuric Acid And Ammonia Is,  Undoubtedly,  To Destroy The Fibre Of

Leather,  So That It Crumbles To Meal Or Falls Apart In Flakes.

"In A Very Interesting Paper Read By Professor William R. Nichols Of The

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Before The American Association Of

Science At Its Saratoga Meeting In 1879,  The Results Of Many Analyses Of

Leather Bindings Were Given,  Showing The Presence Of The Above-Named

Substances In Old Bindings In Many Times Greater Quantity Than In New.

Still,  Their Presence Did Not Prove Them To Be The Cause Of The Decay;

And Professor Nichols Proposes To Ascertain The Fact By Experiments

Requiring Some Years For Demonstration.

"In The Hope Of Deciding The Question With Reasonable Certainty At Once,

I Have Made Careful Examinations Of The Books In The Three Largest

Libraries Of Boston And Cambridge,  Each Differing From The Others In age

And Atmosphere. The Bindings Of The Volumes Examined Bore Their Own

Record In dates And Ownership,  By Which The Conditions Of Their

Atmosphere In Respect To Gas And (Approximately) To Heat Were Made

Known For Periods Varying From Current Time To Over Two Hundred Years.

In The Public Library The Combined Influences Of Gas,  Heat And Effluvium

Have Wrought Upon The Leather Until Many Covers Were Ready To Drop To

Pieces At A Touch. The Binding Showed No More Shrinkage Than In The

Other Libraries,  But In Proportion To The Time The Books Had Been Upon

The Shelves The Decay Of The Leather Was About The Same As In The

Athenaeum. I Am Informed That Many Of The Most Decayed Have From Time To

Time Been Rebound,  So That A Full Comparison Cannot Be Made Between This

And The Others. In The Athenaeum Less Gas Has Been Used,  And There Is

Very Little Effluvium,  But The Mealy Texture Of The Leather Is General

Among The Older Tenants Of The Shelves. Numbers Of Volumes In The

Galleries Were Losing Their Backs,  Which Were More Or Less Broken Off At

The Joints From The Shrinkage And Brittleness Of The Leather. The Plan

Has Been Proposed Of Introducing The Vapor Of Water To Counteract The

Effects Of Dryness Upon The Bindings. In This Library The Atmosphere Has

The Usual Humidity Of That Out Of Doors,  Being Warmed By Bringing The

Outer Air In Over Pipes Conveying Hot Water,  While The Other Libraries

Have The Higher Heat Of Steam-Pipes. If,  Therefore,  Its Atmosphere

Differs From That Of The Other Libraries In Respect To Moisture,  The

Variation Is In The Direction Of Greater Humidity,  Without Any

Corresponding Effect On The Preservation Of Bindings. In Fact,  Proper

Ventilation And Low Shelves Seem To Be The True Remedies For These

Evils,  Or,  Rather,  The Best Means Of Amelioration,  Since There Is No

Complete Antidote To The Decay Common To All Material Things. The Last

Condition Involves The Disuse Of