Art. XXI. On a new Means of producing Heat and Light.
Art. XXI. On a new Means of producing Heat and Light, with an Engraving, by J. L. Sullivan, Esq. of Boston.
Boston, May 7, 1818.
To Professor Silliman.
Sir,
If the following account of a method of using tar and steam as fuel, recently invented by Mr. Samuel Morey, should be found sufficiently interesting to occupy a place in the Journal of Science, I am sensible its usefulness will be much extended through that medium of information.
The inventor, not unskilled in chemistry, and aware of the attraction of oxygen for carbon, conceived it practicable to convert the constituents of water into fuel, by means of this affinity.
Whatever may be the fact, chemically considered, the operation, in various experiments, promises to afford a convenient method of applying to use several of the most combustible substances, not hitherto employed as fuel. By the process I shall briefly describe, all carbonaceous fluids may be conveniently burnt, and derive great force from their combination with the oxygen and hydrogen gases of water or steam, before or at the moment of ignition.
NEW FIRE APPARATUS.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
A tight vessel, cylindrically shaped, was first employed, containing rosin, connected with a small boiler by a pipe which entered near the bottom, and extended nearly its length, having small apertures, over which were two inverted gutters, inclining or sloping upwards over each other; the upper one longer than the other, intended to detain the steam in the rosin, in its way to the surface. The rosin being heated, carburetted hydrogen gas would issue from the outlet, or pipe, inserted near the top of the vessel, and being ignited, afforded a small blaze, about as large as that of a candle; but, when the steam was allowed to flow, this blaze would instantly shoot out many hundred times its former bulk, to the distance of two or three feet.
It is presumed the steam was decomposed, and carburetted hydrogen and carbonic oxide, or carbonic acid, produced as the steam passed, very near the hot bottom of the vessel.
Another apparatus was constructed, consisting of two vessels, one within the other, having a cover common to both; the inner one to contain tar, (as a more convenient substance than rosin;) the outer vessel to contain water, which surrounds the other, and lies under its bottom; or, in other words, a vessel of tar set into a vessel of boiling water. The boiler has a lining of sheet copper, or tin, to promote the ebullition. The tar vessel being riveted to the cover, holes are made through its sides, near to the cover, to allow the steam to pass in, and act on its surface. The cover being secured on, a safety valve is provided for the steam vessel, and two cocks; one over the tar, the other over the water, are fixed contiguously; the first has a tube, or is elongated to reach nearly to the bottom of the tar, which ascends, and is driven out by the pressure of the steam on its surface. Both cocks conduct to a pipe, wherein is placed a large wire, or metallic rod, which about fills the tube, and is perforated obliquely, or zig zag, to increase the length of the passage, and to mingle the tar and steam more intimately. The gases, or vapours, issue from a small orifice at the end of the pipe; and, being ignited by a little fire, into which it is directed, an intense and voluminous blaze is produced, and continues as long as the materials remain unexhausted. A hot brick, instead of the fire, answers the same purpose.
This apparatus contained but about one quart of tar, (which must always be nicely strained,) and it lasted one and a half hour, and the flame was sufficient to fill a common fireplace, if not allowed to escape, by its violence, up the chimney. Its force will be according to the elasticity of the steam. I regret being unable, since, to make more exact and varied experiments, to demonstrate the economy of this fuel. This point, however, and the chemical facts, will be the subject of a future communication. And probably a form of a stove may be devised, wherein it may be used for the purposes of warmth, light, and cooking; and another apparatus to light streets.
But this invention will be of more special use as fuel for steam engines applied to navigation—the purpose principally for which I have purchased the patent right.
This may be the subject of another communication.