THE GAS INDUSTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16559, 25 May 1914, Page 4

THE GAS INDUSTRY.

ITS RELATION TO CIVILISATION

LECTURE BY MR TEMPLE.

An instructive lecture on “The Gas Industry and its Relation to Modern Civilisation ” was given by M r Temple, assistant engineer of the Christchurch Gas Company, in the lec-ture-room of the Canterbury College Engineering School on Saturday evening. The president of the Canterbury College Engineering Society (Mr E. N. Webb) occupied the chair, and there was a good attendance. Mr Temple was briefly introduced by the chairman. The history of the manufacture of gas was first described by the lecturer, who used n number of lantern slides which illustrated tlio various kinds of machinery, from the earliest and simplest forms in use in the infant days of the industry down to the moic scientific processes of the present age. liom that, ho dealt with gas and its byproducts in an interesting wav, and demonstrated how it affected the people of the present time. There was, lie said, very littlo that lie could tell about raw coal, for the simple reason that there was very little known,about its composition. Coal bad played the part of <n most important factor m the history of civilisation of man, as it was by its many uses that he had been able to reduce tho various metals from their ores.. The chief use to which gas was put, said tho lecturer, was in connection with lighting, and for that purpose it was unsurpassed by miy other luininaut. In some of the,cities of German}, notably in Berlin, tho electric lighting cable for the street illumination had been taken up and high-power gas lamps installed- In tho city of London. where the electric light was in the hands of the London County Council, and where tho gasworks were owned by private companies, exhaust.vc tests had been made, and gas bad been adopted for the lighting of the most imnoftant streets and places. As a direct fuel in many industrial processes, gas was fast supplanting' tho uso of solid fuels, on account of . its greater control and cleanliness. Iho Birmingham Corporation sent out daily as much as two billion cubic feet of high pressure gas, solely for metallurgical work, and > it was used largely by brass, and metal founders and manufacturing jewellers. The arduous labour necessary in the. large coal or coke furnaces for clinkering, and the irregular heats duo to tlio firing and varying conditions of the fires, wore entirely obviated by the use ot gas, and the temperature could be more readily controlled and maintained at tho desired point. Tho field of application of gas in modern times to the- needs of man was a wide one, continued Mr Temple, but it was ratlier more noticeable when the question of the other products of coal, that were separated at the gasworks, were considered. Some of the main substances produced from, f gas were ammoniacal liquid, tar, coke, retort carbon, spent oxido and cyanides. Ammoniacal liquid was a dirty, evil-smel-ling solution, but it was a substance, which helped to support one of New Zealand’s greatest industries, the freezing woriis, as by means of this substanco the necessary low temperature was obtained. Sulphate and nitrate of ammonia were used by agriculturists as . fertilisers, and the chloride was.familifir in the use of the Leclilancho battery-for electric bells. The aqueous solution, too. was largely used in homes under the guise of smelling salts or sal volatile. All ammonia in commerce camo from the distillation of coal. Referring to the products of tar, tho lecturer stated that there were more than two hundred different substances found to be present, but tho number or | compounds that ’ could be obtained was practically infinite. Tho first distillato that was collected from tar up to a temperature of 170 degrees Centigrade contained all the water and ammoniacal liquid in suspension. It contained also valuable compounds, such as benzine, which was the starting point of all fine chemicals, as, for instance, aniline and all its multitudinous derivatives. Between the temperatures of 170 degrees Centigrade and 230 degrees Centigrade the principal yield of oil was phenol or carbolic acid and naphthalene. Phenol was a very powerful antiseptic, and it also entered largely into the preparation of manj dyes. Naphthalene in tho commercial form was sold under tho name of albo carbon, and it was used for preserving furs. The remaining oil contained creosote, which in a refined form was used in medicine as a valuable treatment for consumption in certain stages, while the crude oil was used for the preservation of timbers that were exposed to weather, especially railway sleepers. In conclusion, Air Temple said.that there were a largo number of modern perfumes of very high quality that were prepared from coal tar, as well as tho majority of flavours and essences, which in many cases were advertised, as being obtained from pure flowers or fruit, when in reality their origin was from coal tar. People little realised how much they were dependent upon the gas industry for the little refinements of luxury as well as the preparation of tlieir food, the colours that were put into their clothes, and tho remedies which were used to combat disease! For instance, sufferers from diabetes coukl not take sugar, but they could take saccharine, winch was 7GO times sweeter than sugar. A vote of thanks was accorded Mr Temple at the conclusion of his address.