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erful gas well in the section. In 1875 it was purchased by the National Gas Company, limited, and piped 17 miles through a 6-inch pipe made of iron 4 inch thick, to the mill of Messrs. Spang, Chalfant & Co., at Era, near Pittsburgh. The gas was turned into the pipe in October, 1875, and traversed the 17 miles in 20 minutes, the pressure at the wells observed being 119 pounds. The first use of gas in glass making appears to ! have been at the Rochester tumbler works, at Rochester, Pennsylvania.

In 1883, Mr. J. B. Ford, at the Pittsburgh plate-glass works, at Creighton, Pennsylvania, succeeded in securing a supply of gas for his glass works, since which time these works have been run entirely by natural gas. The quality of the glass it is said has been considerably improved.

It was not until 1883, with the piping of the gas of the Murraysville district to Pittsburgh and the striking of gas in the Westinghouse well, at Homewood, Pittsburgh, that natural gas began to be used extensively as fuel. Prior to this time its use had been exceptional and at isolated works, but with the piping of this gas, and the striking of the Westinghouse well, the extension of its use became instant and well-nigh universal for manufacturing purposes in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its introduction into the rolling mills of Wilson, Walker & Co., and Shoenberger & Co., and the flint-glass furnace of the Fort Pitt glass works, was rapidly followed by its adoption in other establishments, until now few of the important manufactories of Pittsburgh, that are so situated as to obtain a supply of gas cheaply, use any other fuel.

From the Pennsylvania fields the search for gas extended to portions of New York, Ohio and West Virpinia resulting in the discovery of large areas of gas-producing territory in each of these States. A very productive gas-territory has been opened some 6 miles south of East Liverpool, in West Virginia, the gas from which has been piped to this town and is being used in the potteries for fuel and light.

In the Caucasus oil territory, especially in the Apscheron

oil-field, enormous quantities of gas issue from fissures and crevices. In the Surachani district this gas has for some time been used by the Tartars for burning lime, and recently it has been utilized on a large scale for this purpose, all the lime employed in building in Baku and its vicinity being burned with it in the neighborhood of Surachani. Engler, on his visit to the Apscheron district, saw along the railroad from Surachani to Balachani, at least 70 piles of limestone placed free upon the ground, the flames entering these piles from small holes in the ground. When the lime is sufficiently burned the holes are stopped up. Fresh pieces of limestone are then piled up, the holes again opened, and the gas is ignited. The gas is also used in some refineries at Surachani, the most productive wells of this district being enclosed in the immense yard of the Kokoreff refinery. Pipes of quite large diameter driven in the ground supply the gas for lighting the yard. The gas is also used in the houses within the limits of the refinery and for heating the stills. Forty large sheet-iron boxes connected by pipes have been placed in a large square pit for the collection of gas. From this reservoir pipes lead to the still of the illuminating oil refinery. Mirzoeff also uses the gas for lighting and for heating iron in the machine shop. The gas issues from a slit-like vertical shaft and the flame about 3 feet wide passes into a horizontal reverberatory furnace into which the iron to be heated is brought.

In the fifties Admiral Wassiljeff made the attempt to conduct the gas issuing from the ground in the island of Swatoi into a chimney and use the latter as a light-house. However, the flame was constantly extinguished by explosions, which were very probably caused by the diameter of the chimney-flue being too large or not sufficiently air-tight.

According to analyses by Bunsen and Schmidt the Caucasus natural gas consists of:

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According to Sadtler the gas contains only from 60 to 90 per cent methane, and only traces of carbon monoxide, but from 5 to 22.5 per cent. hydrogen. From the odor he also presumes the presence of sulphurous gases as an admixture.

It remains to say a few words regarding the utilization of natural gas, especially for industrial purposes.

The considerable pressure which prevails at the well and in the principal conduits renders the use of the gas difficult, and hence it has to be endeavored to reduce this pressure to a minimum to make economical consumption possible. The older method of regulating the pressure consisted in an ordinary reservoir-system in which the high pressure of the principal conduits was reduced by a large hydraulically closed reservoir to the minimum of one pound for the so-called low-pressure conduits for streets and houses. This system, however, did not prove satisfactory, its action varying under varying conditions of consumption, as well as with the pressure of the atmosphere. Greater security was offered by the method introduced in 1883 and 1884, by George Westinghouse, Jr., which consisted in an independent and automatic reduction of the gas pressure for private and factory use. The Westinghouse regulator for house use is so arranged that not only the pressure in the conduits is reduced to a safe and economical limit, but in case of disturbances in the principal conduit, an automatic safety valve is closed and cuts off the connection between the principal and house conduits, which is of great importance.

By reducing the gas-pressure these combined regulators and safety-valves also regulate automatically the consumption of

gas.

Fig. 259 shows a Westinghouse regulator in cross-section. It consists of a capsule C, diaphragm D, safety-valve B, the latter with inlet-opening A, and outlet-opening E. The gas enters at A, and when the pressure becomes too strong, the diaphragm D is raised and the supply of gas regulated by leverage upon the valve B. With insufficient pressure the weight G, and consequently the diaphragm D goes down,

FIG. 259.

C

D

whereby the valve is entirely closed and connection between A and E is cut off. Fig. 260 is an exterior view of the apparatus.

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For factory purposes the regulator is arranged as follows: A, Fig. 261, is the actual regulator, B and C the loaded lever with weight. At D the gas enters the regulator, which can be regulated by the valve G, and at A it leaves the regulator through the pipe F. 7 indicates the prevailing pressure. The excess of gas passes out through E. These regulators have been generally introduced in Pittsburgh.

Figs. 262 to 276 represent a series of furnaces fitted for natural gas, the direction in which the gas and air enter the

combustion-space being chiefly shown. One of the greatest difficulties in the use of natural gas is the deposit of carbon in the flues, a badly constructed furnace becoming choked up in a

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few hours. Such deposit is always caused by an insufficient or incorrect supply of air.

Fig. 262 is an ordinary puddling furnace originally arranged for coal, but now fitted for gas. The gas enters through four 81⁄2 inch pipes, is ignited, and after playing around the walls A and B passes into the hearth. The air enters at b through a 291⁄2 inch pipe and is mixed with the burning gas. The furnace works 8 to 9 tons of iron in 10 hours with a gas pressure of 10.58 ozs.

Fig. 263 is a directly-acting puddling furnace with an inclined wall A, in which a better mixture of the gas and air is effected.

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