American inventions and inventors . arekept vigorously burning. The gasespass out of the coaland, rising, enter aseries of long coal which isleft in the retortsis called coke. Thisprocess is called dis-tillation. Many substancespass off with the gas,from which it mustbe cleaned. Tar andammonia become liq-uids when cooled, and are left behind as the gas passes through cold series of iron pipes in which this process is carried onis called the condenser. Then the gas is carried through thepurifier, in which all other impurities are removed. When thoroughly purified the gas pas
American inventions and inventors . arekept vigorously burning. The gasespass out of the coaland, rising, enter aseries of long coal which isleft in the retortsis called coke. Thisprocess is called dis-tillation. Many substancespass off with the gas,from which it mustbe cleaned. Tar andammonia become liq-uids when cooled, and are left behind as the gas passes through cold series of iron pipes in which this process is carried onis called the condenser. Then the gas is carried through thepurifier, in which all other impurities are removed. When thoroughly purified the gas passes into the gas-ometer. This usually consists of two round iron cylinders ofnearly the same size, one inside of the other. The outsidecylinder has no roof; the inside has no floor. The sides ofthe inner one go down into a trench filled with water. Itstop is held up by the gas, which comes into it from thepurifier. The roof of the inner cylinder presses down heavily uponthe gas, pushing it into the large main pipes, which run from. 84 AMERICAN INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS. the gasometer through the principal streets. Smaller mainsconnect with these and the gas is pushed into the service pipes,which enter the houses. When a stopcock is opened in anyhouse the pressure of the gasometer pushes the gas through,it may be, miles of pipes, and out through the burner, whereit may be lighted. Many houses have a simple electric-lighting attachment,so that by merely turning a stopcock the gas is turned on,and by pulling a chain an electric spark sets the gas on fire,flooding the room with light. Within a few years illuminating gas has greatly diminishedin price. It costs a little more than kerosene, but it is moreconvenient in many ways. The danger of carrying lampsfrom room to room is avoided, as well as the disagreeabletask of filling them. Still the gas flame is less steady thanthat of the kerosene lamp, and is therefore less serviceablefor reading. For the poor man the kerosene light is a
Size: 1588px × 1573px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpubli, booksubjectinventions
