NEW PROCESS OF GAS MAKING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 349, 26 June 1869, Page 3

NEW PROCESS OF GAS MAKING.

(From the Argus, June 10.) A new method of making gas for lighting purposes has been largely applied iv New York ; and inasmuch as the only material used in its innnufacfcure ia ono which is fouud in considerable quantities ia Australia, the subject is one which possesses several claims on the attention of gas-pro-ducers hero. The object of making common air combustible, by adding to - it the necessary quantity of hydracarbon, has for sometime been pursued by experimenters in America, and the . end seems to have been effectually reached by Mr A. 0. Eand, who has taken out a patent for his discovery of a means for making what he calls " pneumatic gas." The method is a very simple one. Atmospheric air ia made to pass in fine btreams through a tank containing crude petroleum heated by Bteam, and in its passage the air takes up the warm vapours of the petroleum, together with a permanent gas which is always evolved by the petroleum when heat is applied in the ordinary process of distillation. The gaseous mixture thus obtained is treated by a condensing process which abstracts the petroleum vapour, leaving a permanent noneondensible gas, fit lor use. The cost is said to be less than one-half the coat of manufacturing coal gas where the petroleum and. the coal are of about equal accessibility. One great advantage is the simplicity of the means employed in the manufacture, by which the retort-houses, ground fcr Btoring coal, and other requirements of the present system, become unnecessary. To adapt tlie new process to a common gas manufactory but little chnnge is required. The new apparatus would have to be connected with the gasholders, and all is done. It is a high .tribute to the success of Mr Rand's invention that the extensive Metropolitan Gas Company, of New Torkj has purchased his patent, after Bubmitting-the process to a series

of very severe testa. The great object was to test thoroughly the non-con-densibility of the gas, and its capability of travelling for long distances without losing its illuminating power ; and the results appear to have been strongly iv favour of the new invention. The advantages claimed for the process are — tho production of a gas more uniform in quality than that made in any other mode, the dispensing with machinery and consequent freedom from any liability of the works getting out of ordor ; the impossibility of accident, no fire being required for its manufacture ; the simplicity of the process making skill i:i the operatoi-3 quite unnece?sary ; and, in addition, the great cheapness at which a gas of high illuminating power is made. Our main reason for referring to this process arises from tho fact that we have in this and the adjoining colony of New South Wales deposits of shale from which tho crude petroleum necessary for the production could be obtained. So far as the manufacture of oil !;as gone here, it appears that the coat of producing the oil approaches so near to its market price as hardly to leave sufficient margin to make the undertaking remunerative. This arises to a great extent, we believe, from the expenses attending the refining process ; and if the crude product could be utilised as in the mode adopted in Mr Band's gasmaking process, it would probably give a great stimulus to- the Hartley works, and might ultimately lead to the development of richer deposits than those yet opened. Altogether, in its various aspects, the subject seems an important one, and, as we before said, it is deserving of the attention and inquiry of those interested in the supply of light to the community.