An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Gas-lighting |
Other editions - View all
An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Gas-Lighting William Matthews No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
accident Accum advantages afford ammonia applied Argand Argand burner Argand lamp ascertain asphaltum atmospheric air average Brick Lane burners burning bushels of coal calculation carbon carbonic acid carburetted carburetted hydrogen circumstances Clegg coal gas coke combustion Committee common air compared considerable contained cubic feet cubic foot danger discovery effect employed equal erected establishments evidence examined experiments explosive mixture favourable feet of gas fire flame four gas lights gas produced Gas-lighting gases gasometer give gunpowder heat hour hundred weight hydrogen illuminating power improvements inch inflammable lamps lime London Manchester means ment Messrs mode Murdoch Nicholson's object obtained occasion oil gas Oil-Gas Company patent person Philosophical pipes pounds proportion purified purposes quantity of gas quantity of light rendered Report respect Royal Society Sir William Congreve Soho specific gravity statements Street substances sulphuretted hydrogen tallow tion vessel whole Winsor's
Popular passages
Page 301 - Lee, are lighted with the gas from coal. The total quantity of light used during the hours of burning, has been ascertained, by a comparison of shadows, to be about equal to the light which...
Page 14 - I observed that it catched flame, and continued burning at the end of the pipe-, though you could not discern what fed the flame. I then blew it out, and lighted it again several times; after which I fixed a bladder, squeezed and void of air, to the pipe of the receiver. The oil and phlegm descended into the receiver, but the spirit still ascending blew up the bladder.
Page 47 - ... applied to any useful purpose, I may omit further notice of it in this statement. The interest of the capital expended in the necessary apparatus and buildings, together with what is considered as an ample allowance for wear and tear, is stated by Mr. LEE at about £550. per annum : in which some allowance is made for this apparatus being made...
Page 14 - I then filled a good many bladders therewith, and might have filled an inconceivable number more ; for the spirit continued to rise for several hours, and filled the bladders almost as fast as a man could have blown them with his mouth ; and yet the quantity of coals I distilled were inconsiderable.
Page 407 - ... that shall be from time to time made by the directors. Application is intended to be made to parliament for an act to enable the company to sue and be sued in the name of one of its officers: and the said deed of settlement, when settled and approved by the standing counsel and solicitors, and the act of parliament, when passed, shall be the deed of settlement and act of parliament for managing the affairs of this...
Page 234 - Transactions of the Royal Society, so long ago as the year 1739, gave an account of some observations and experiments made by him, which clearly manifest his knowledge of the inflammable property of the gas, which he denominates the spirit of coals ; but the idea of applying it as an economical substitute for oils and tallow, does not appear to have occurred to this gentleman ; and I believe I may, without presuming too much, claim both the first idea of applying, and the first actual application...
Page 101 - ... by the gas containing more carbon in solution. As the proportion of light given out by the flame of a gaseous compound of carbon and hydrogen, is in common circumstances in proportion to the quantity of carbon present, it is evident that the gas which contains a greater proportion of olefiant gas, or supercarburetted hydrogen than coal gas, will yield a better and brighter light on combustion. It is necessary, in consequence of the abundance of charcoal in solution, to supply the gas when burning...
Page 234 - ... tallow. My apparatus consisted of an iron retort, with tinned copper and iron tubes through which the gas was conducted to a considerable distance; and there, as well as at intermediate points, was burned through apertures of varied forms and dimensions. The experiments were made upon coal of different qualities, which I procured from distant parts of the kingdom, for the purpose of ascertaining which would give the most economical results. The gas was also washed with water, and other means...
Page 13 - ... scarcely burn at all. It was after a long-continued season of rain that I came to see the place and make some experiments, and found accordingly that a lighted paper though it were waved all over the ditch the water would not take fire. I then hired a person to make a dam in the ditch and fling out the water in order to try whether the steam which arose out of the ditch would then take fire, but found it would not.
Page 258 - ... has hitherto been produced in bladders for philosophical amusement. The principle, that coal and other combustibles contained, among other products, a most beautiful and valuable flame, has been known by the most learned of the last century; but HOW to make the application — HOW to save and...