A WONDERFUL LIGHT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1429, 15 February 1888, Page 5

A WONDERFUL LIGHT.

A demonstration was lately made at the Crystal Palace of a new illuminant of more brilliancy even than the electric light. So exceedingly powerful is it in effect, that ordinary manuscript can be read at a distance of 150 paces from a jet, which, it is stated, cost but 3d an hour. Yet the Lucigen light, as it is called— the invention of Mr J. B. Hannay— is produced from the cheapest and commonest substances, being purely the combustion of crude and waste oils, such as proceed from any gasworks. The Official Gas Analyst of Glasgow is cited as the authority for a statement that the cost of it is from onetenth to one-twelfth that of gas, and about one-twentieth that of electric light of the same actual candle power. The Lucigen light,notwithstanding,iß of a quality vastly more effective for working purposes. For engineering use the naked eye is employed, but for street illumination it is covered with an ornamental lantern. The French Government employed the light in their mobilisation experiments, and it haa been adopted by the Forth bridge engineers. Briefly stated, the method of producing this wonderful light consists of a- mixture of compressed air and minutely divided oil particles, resulting, when ignited, in a continuous steady flame of exceeding brightness. The flame is under perfect control with a tap similar to gas. The wonderful breadth and cheapness of the light has led the inventor to recommend it for lighting the Suez Canal, so that traffic could be maintained day and night, and the proposal to widen the canal would be totally unnecessary. Mr Hannay also turns his invention to a very practical use by coupling it with another invention, styled the Pyrigen, an apparatus for the heating of metals, likely to be of great use to engineers, as it performs its task with a cieanlineßS, economy, and certainty quite unattainable in the use of coal. The heat can be regulated to a nicety by merely turning a tap ; can be raised to white heat in a few minutes, and can be kept absolutely steady for any length of time. The experiments with the Pyrigen were almost successful at the palace, and the beauty of the Lucigen light astonished and captivated all spectators. Electric light was the dream of the future; but in face of tho Lucigen H^ht, the reality bodes to be a return to the fashion of our grandfathers in the employment' of oil, only in a vastly improved form.