Mineral Gas Plant

1895

Manufacturing Gas from Any Kind of Material That Contains Oil.

Manchester has a new apparatus for producing gas direct from oil bearing seeds, sawdust, or, in fact, from any solid matter in which a proportion of oil is present, which was invented by a Manchester genius.

The producer is, it seems, a simple cast iron cylinder, with a fire grate at the bottom and lined with fire clay. From the top of this furnace the retort, a deep cast iron vessel, hangs within, being held in position merely by a flange around its upper end. Upon the retort is placed a double elbow pipe or bonnet, which carries the gas away as it is generated, the joint being made by the rim of the bonnet lying in a small channel in the top of the retort, which is filled with molten lead. Suitable pipes lead from the bonnet downward to a hydraulic box of the simplest possible construction and from thence to the gas holder.

When in use, the fire is lighted and the retort heated to redness, the condition of the lead around its top being a good indication of the right temperature. The oil, which may be mineral, fat or vegetable, is then permitted to flow in a thin, continuous stream into the retort and is immediately converted into fixed gas, which passes successively through the bonnet pipe and hydraulic box, where it is cleansed from all tarry deposit and thence to the gas holder.

Between the hydraulic box and the gas holder a suitable cock is placed for testing the quality of the gas, and every provision is made for cleansing at all points where the deposit might settle. No attention is required beyond firing up or filling the oil tank. — Philadelphia Record.