Page 1 Advertisements Column 2

Waipa Post, Volume V, Issue 223, 24 June 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

TE AWAMUTU TOWN i^IUHTHMU. ACETYLENE SPECIAL.

L'imu 5* .K'.VrXvfrlsS m. . x ■ II tml. VC-: JT.is® M ’it'?. v l is® 3 S*gi §p fm M. 1 •r f : •'■ H ■, 1 s &n n MU? i v: M is® S K SHj# UJ A Lti %S 1 tet :. 9 >■:- mi '■tP J? Slag? 1 sss* ii :- ■:••• s H ifTrS* m Murray’s Standard Automatic Acetylene Town Plant. GENERATOR AND HOLDER. As specified for in Te Awamutu estimate. Letters Patent Granted —Dominion of New Zealand, No. 27587. Commonwealth of Australia, No. 19802. THE CHAIRMAN, Town Hoard, Te Awamutu. 14th May, 1913. Dear Sir,—From information received we understand that you are contemplating the lighting of Te Awamutu with gas. We have pleasure in herewith forwarding you our estimate of cost for supplying and erecting one ol our STANDARD TOWN PLANT Generators and Holders for Acetylene. This machine, as you will perceive from the blue print herewith, lends itself to the manufacture of Acetylene in any quantity to suit the demands of a town up to 20,000 population. You will notice that the entire plant is built on the lines of ordinary coal gas plants used in large cities. DURABILITY.—The "STANDARD ACETYLENE TOWN LIGHTING PLANT." as we install it, is i.racLca.l indestructible, as our generators and gasometer tanks, etc., are built of reinforced concrete, the half of which is placed under the ground. This part of the plant can never wear out. Those parts which are movable are made of heavy steel plating rivetted together, and are made of sufficient strength and weight to correspond as nearly as possible with the wearing qualities of the cement parts. MAINTENANCE—The cost of maintaining a. STANDARD ACETYLENE PLANT is practically nil, as once installed it requires no expert attention and little attention at all. Any man of ordinary intelligence, spending -i.-; hours a week in the care of the plant, is all that is required. COST OF REPAIRS—Under the head of maintenance comes also the Cost of Repairs, and here again a, STANDARD ACETYLENE PLANT shows considerable advantages over ordinary Acetylene Generators. A properly installed Standard Acetylene Plant costs nothing for repairs. There are no working parts to get out of order—absolutely none. As will be seen by the enclosed blue print, the Generator and Gas Holder Tanks are placed wholly below the floor level of Generator Houses; the floor of Generator House is set three teet above the ground, dray high; thus no difficulty is experienced in the handling of the barrels of carbide, and no difficulty in the charging or cleaning of the Plant, and the Gas House need be but half as high as would be required if the Gas Tanks were wholly above ground. The Carbide used is of that description known as 50 x 80 or " Lump Carbide," 31 x 2J, which can be purchased cheaper and produces more gas than finely ground Carbide, and therefore a larger percentage of profit is obtainable from a Standard Plant than can be obtained from Ordinary Carbide Feed to water Generators, which use Granulated Carbide. The Gas Plant is usually built on the edge of a ravine or depression in the land. Tlie lime residue (in the form of sludge) is deposited therein. No manual labour whatever is required to clean out the sludge. There is no overheating of the gas by this system of generation, as the carbide is plunged into a very largre quantity of water, anti only acetylene is produced. The s*as after veneration is thoroughly washed, scrubbed, condensed, and cooled before it passes to the Gas Holder. Thence it is passed by pipes to a Chemical Purifier, and delivered to the street mains in a thoroughly clean and chemically pure state, so that no moisture or other impurity remains in the gas. Such a tiling as clogged burners is impossible by this system of manufacture. Incandescent Mantle Burners can lie used, materially reducing the cost of upkeep to users, as an Incandescent Acetylene Burner (which only Imrns g cubic foot of gas per hour) will give more light than any ordinary Bray's Elta Burners of Ift capacity. This is one of the reasons which goes to make Town Lighting by Acetylene so satisfactory to users. Incandescent burners CANNOT be used successfully with the ordinary forms of House Generators, as the pressures are continually varying, causing Carbon to he deposited on the mantle, with unsatisfactory results. The gas from our STANDARD PLANT, having been chemically purified and dried, can lie used in the home for cooking and heating, as well as for light. One of the greatest advantages of this system of Gas Plant is its simplicity of construction, and that its lighting capacity can lie increased up to one-third more of its rated capacity to keep pace with growing demands ot a town at an additional outlay at any time, of about £IOO to £125, in the sizes up to 2,000 lights; larger sizes at a slightly greater additional expense. Having now submitted our estimate for lighting Te Awamutu with Acetylene, it is our intention to show you how easy it will he to make such a Town Lighting scheme pay not only interest on investment, but will earn for the Borough substantial revenue. We will suppose that the Town people require 500 Acetylene Burners to supply their wants, which would be n moderate demand. These 500 Acetylene Burners of, say, 35 candle-power each, used for 5 hours per night, would require 1,875 cubic feet of Acetylene to supply them. This amount of gas sold at the same price as is customary for Acetylene viz., 6s per 100 feet, would show gross nightly earnings of £5 12s. 1,875 cubic feet of Acetylene can be produced in our Standard Town Plant from 3cwt 561 b of Lump Carbide, which will cost, laid down at the works, £2 19s; which shows a gross nightly profit of £2 13s. NOTE. —The above cost of production lias been computed buying Carbide at 17s per cwt laid down at the works. The amount of profit would inercass in proportion to any fall in the price of Carbide. NOTE.—IOO feet of Acetylene being equal of 1,000 feet of coal gas (vide Notes on Acetylene Lighting published by the Midland Educational Company). We thus have;— £ s. d. Gross Profits of Acetylene Plant per night .. .. .. .. 213 C Now supposing we take 320 nights as the year instead of 365: multiply £2 13s by 320, which will give us the gross earning for the yeat 848 0 C Against this yearly gross earning must be set cost of upkeep, interest on investment, etc., which we will set out as follows: — 1 nterest on £2,900 at 6 per cent. .. .. .. . • £174 0 0 Repairs to machines, spare parts, etc., say .. 11 0 0 185 0 0 (No repairs would be necessary for at least 3 years, after which new Carbide Crates might be wanted, which would cost 30s each.) Office expenses, printing, and sundries .. .. 35 0 0 Salary for first-class gas-fitter, say, £3 10s per week .. 175 0 0 £452 0 0 NOTE.—The gas-fitter would also be earning profits for the Borough, so that although £175 has been set aside for his wages, two-thirds of his time would he paid hack to the Board by customers for his services as a gas-fitter. NOTE.—The plant could however, be served by any road man, not necessarily a tradesman. NOTE.—The upkeep for gas of 45 street lamps is provided for in the gross earning. £452 would he the lowest possible nett earnings on a sum of £2,900, after setting aside sufficient to pay interest and working expenses. These nett earnings have been computed upon the supposition that 500 Acetylene Burners would he wanted by the various tradespeople and private users served by the gas mains. The earnings might be reduced in proportion to the reduction in the price of the gas sold per lUO. I may >;iy that when in Te Awamutu last, 1 made a rough calculation of the possible requirements of the town, and I only allowed a moderate number ni burners for the various houses, shops, and hotels, viz., 597. 1 consider that after the plant would he in operation one year, quite 700 burners would lie supplied with gas by the Town Plant. in addition to the street lighting. In conclusion we are prepared to lay down an Acetylene Town Plant- as -perilled for the sum of £2,500 19s 6d. and will guarantee that on the completion of the work contemplated tlie Borough will have a thoroughly reliable and satisfactory Gas System suitable alike for street lighting, private lighting, cook in a-, and beating purposes. We will undertake to complete the installation as specified in the estimate within five months from the date of the signing of the contract. Trusting to hear from you in the matter, and assuring yon that we would he willing to meet your Board if required, and give any further information desirable. We beg to remain, Gentlemen, Faithfully yours, ACETYLENE CONTRACTING COMPANY, W. H. MURRAY, Manager. Enclosures : 2 Blue Prints 1 Estimate Schedule or Prices in detail 1 Specification PARTICULARS OF ESTIMATE FOR LIGHTING TE AWAMUTU With Acetylene by MURRAY'S "STANDARD TOWN PLANT GENERATOR AND HOLDER.” £ s. d. 1 No. 4 STANDARD TOWN PLANT GENERATOR AND HOLDER, as described and illustrated, such Plant to be complete in every detail, and including Chemical Purifier, Scrubbers, Station Meter, etc., having a charging capacity, 1.5001 b, and a storage capacity of 700 cubic feet; 2,000 light capacity .. .. .. 775 0 0 PIPE RETICULATION. 105 105 Chains, ljin, allowing for screwing and cutting, at £2 18s Ohaupo Road, 18 chains, do., lin. at £1 10s PIPE FITTINGS AND CONNECTIONS TO LAMPS. About 15 2x2 Tees 200 2 x >, Plugged Tees 50 2 x 3 And sundry other pipe fittings to connect to Lamps, and for private customers, too numerous to specify at present, say 888 0 0 306 12 0 27 0 0 50 0 0 LABOUR. Labour opening and closing trenches, laying pipes, fixing plugged tees every chain, and connecting to lamp posts, 345 chains at £1 345 0 0 LAMP UPSTANDS. 45 Cast Iron Lamp Upstands. at 47s 6d .. .. .. •- 106 17 6 45 " .Miner's Lamps," as per illustration herewith, complete with Frog and Frame, at 55s .. .. .. 123 15 0 (These Lamps are fitted with hinged tops, making it easy for attendants to take out the globes for cleaning purposes, and the globes are large enough to take 4 burners if required, callable of illumination up to 200 to 300 candle-power each.) Fixing 45 Cast Iron Upstands in concrete foundation, connecting and and piping same, painting (2 coats), and fixing Lamps and Burners, at 15s .. .. .. ■■ ■■ 33 15 0 Freight- and cartages on pipes anil material to site .. 120 0 0 Engineers, supervision, insurance on men and material for 6 months, approximately .. .. .. 125 0 0 £2,900 19 6 The above Estimate was compiled from a plan provided by Public Works Department. 1906 date, but this plan does not show all the new streets. However, we are prepared to do any extra chaining, gas mains, and sub-mains, at same rate as is charged in Estimate, or make any other alteration to tlie plant desirable. ports every year is another. “The last town in the Old World to install Acetylene is the ancient city of Antioch, in Asia Minor, whose history dates back 2,000 years, Antioch is famous as being the first place where the flag of Christianity was hoisted. ’ Vide the Acetylene Journal. Acetylene is not a sirle line with us, it is our sole business and study. THE ACETYLENE CONTRACTING CO., 41 VICTORIA STREET, AUCKLAND.