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.

Food Oil Is Derived From Seed of Grape

1919

Newly Discovered By-product May Rival Olive Oil.

From the grape, source of wine now under a ban extra dry, is being derived a new food oil. It is pressed from the seeds which formerly were discarded. This recently discovered by-product has been tested by scientists who say that it is edible and nutritious and may become a rival of olive and cotton-seed oils for cooking and for salad dressing. The news has given comfort to growers of the vine in California, Ohio and New York State, as the preparation of the oil on a large scale may increase the profits from grape juice. Even after the oil has been pressed out the residue of the seeds is found to be of value as a feed for animals.

Dr. J. H. Shrader, who is connected with the bureau of plant industry, United States Department of Agriculture, has investigated the commercial utilization of grape seed. In a paper read before the division of industrial chemists and chemical engineers of the American Chemical Society, he suggested that all waste of this character from the vineyards and canneries be assembled at a center, so that there would be enough tonnage to make its fabrication profitable.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 9.

Puny Children Need Vinol

Read this doc on Scribd: Puny Children Need Vinol

Train Arrives Three Years Late

1910

A train of a railway system in the southwest once arrived at its destination nearly three years late. The circumstances were these:

The train left Bolivar. Just across Galveston bay from Galveston, on September 8, 1900, and was caught in the great storm that so nearly destroyed the Texan city. Bolivar is 75 miles from Beaumont, which was the point of the train's destination. Before the train had traveled far on its journey it was caught in the storm. Thirty miles of the track were washed away, and the train was left stranded on a sandy waste. Many persons who lived on Bolivar peninsula were saved from death by taking refuge in the train. After the storm subsided they walked to Bolivar with the passengers; but the abandoned train was left on the prairie.

The storm bankrupted the railway, and no effort to rescue the engine and cars was made until 1903. Had not the road suffered so seriously in that storm the property would have proved of great value a few months later, when oil was struck at Beaumont. In 1903, however, the road underwent repairs, when the train was drawn into Beaumont, where it was greeted by a cheering crowd.