A Practical Treatise on Gas-light / Exhibiting a Summary Description of the Apparatus and Machinery Best Calculated for Illuminating Streets, Houses, and Manufactories, with Carburetted Hydrogen, or Coal-Gas, with Remarks on the Utility, Safety, and General Nature of this new Branch of Civil Economy.

by Friedrich Christian Accum

Main pipe, leading from the gaslight apparatus, or station,
in Westminster.[36]

[34] The gasometer at this place is equal in capacity to 22000 cubic feet.

[35] The capacity of the gasometer here is equal to 15928 cubic feet.

[36] At this station the gasometer is equal in capacity to 14808 cubic feet.

* The gasometer at this place is equal in capacity to 22000 cubic feet.

† The capacity of the gasometer here is equal to 15928 cubic feet.

‡ At this station the gasometer is equal in capacity to 14808 cubic feet.

The [black lines] represent the gas-light mains, or largest pipes, from which the smaller pipes branch off: they are connected with each other at the places marked A B C; and the dotted lines represent the smaller mains, or collateral branches before-mentioned. The main pipes are all furnished with valves, or cocks, placed at about 100 feet distant from each other. Now let us suppose that a main pipe, in any part of the street marked in the sketch, Pall Mall, should break, it is evident, on mere inspection, that the gas which is passing through the main in the Strand, and which is also connected with the main in the Haymarket, Piccadilly, and Coventry Street, would continue to supply the broken pipe, and the valve nearest to the fracture being shut, would prevent the loss of any considerable quantity of gas, and the few lamps situated between the two valves and the fracture would therefore only become extinguished.

Further, let us suppose a main pipe should break in Piccadilly; in that case, the valve being shut on each side of the fracture, the gas would be supplied from the mains in the Haymarket and St. James’s Street. And the same effect would be produced in any part of the town, supplied with gas-pipes. Besides all this, in the statement thus far given, we have assumed that all the gas-light mains are supplied with gas from one manufacturing station only, but which in reality is not the case. The range of pipes that convey the gas is connected with three gas-light establishments, situated at different parts of the town; and the gas which is supplied from these stations is connected with the whole system of pipes in the streets.[37] If, therefore, one of the manufactories should be annihilated, it would make no difference, because the lights would be amply supplied from the other two manufacturing stations. Hence it is obvious, that the fracture of any of the gas-light mains, or even the total destruction of one or more of the manufactories themselves, would be attended with no serious consequence; and as the system of lighting with gas becomes more extended, the manufactories, or stations for supplying it, will also be multiplied, to give effect and security to the whole.