FIG. 2.
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3.
Gas, for lighting, is made from coal, by subjecting it to heat in iron tubes and collecting and purifying the gas which is produced; the following is a summary of the process:—The vessels in which the coal is put are called “retorts,” they are six or seven feet long, one-and-a-half broad, and one high, generally fitted up six to a furnace, in such a way that the flame may entirely surround them (see [fig. 1]); from each retort an iron tube passes, and these all dip into a large horizontal tube, reaching nearly to its bottom ([fig. 2]), this is the receiver for all the gas from the retorts; it is connected with a pit for tar and ammonical liquor, which copiously condenses from the hot newly-formed gas. The object of causing the tubes to dip nearly to the bottom of the receiver is, that the fluid in it may close the end of each tube, and so prevent the gas returning when any of the retorts are opened for a fresh supply of coal; from the receiver, the gas passes by tubes bent up and down inside of a great cistern of water ([fig. 3]) kept cold by a constant change of its contents; this is the condenser, it causes the separation of all the tar and ammonia that remain; but the gas is still contaminated with sulphur, and this is got rid of by causing it to pass into a broad iron cylinder perforated with holes and dipping into a reservoir of lime and water mixed together and stirred about with a machine contrived for the purpose; the gas enters this lime mixture in hundreds of bubbles through the holes, and the sulphur the gas contains is attracted by the lime with which it unites. The gas now rises to the top of this reservoir, which is, of course, air tight, and from thence passes for use to the gasometer; this is the store-house where the gas is kept to supply the service pipes b, c, under the streets.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 5.