According to Murdock, the yearly cost of gas-lighting in this initial case was 600 pounds sterling after allowing generously for interest on capital invested and depreciation of the apparatus. The cost of furnishing the same amount of light by means of candles he computed to be 2000 pounds sterling. This comparison was on the basis of an average of two hours of artificial lighting per day. On the basis of three hours of artificial lighting per day, the relative cost of gas-and candle-lighting was about one to five. Murdock was characteristically modest in discussing his achievements and his following statement should be read with the conditions of the year 1808 in mind:
The peculiar softness and clearness of this light with its almost unvarying intensity, have brought it into great favour with the work people. And its being free from the inconvenience and danger, resulting from sparks and frequent snuffing of candles, is a circumstance of material importance, as tending to diminish the hazard of fire, to which cotton mills are known to be exposed.
Although this installation in the mill of Phillips and Lee is the first one described by Murdock, in reality it is not the first industrial gas-lighting installation. During the development of gas apparatus at the Soho works and after his luminous display in 1802, he gradually extended gas-lighting to all the principal shops. However, this in a sense was experimental work. Others were applying their knowledge and ingenuity to the problem of making gas-lighting practicable, but Murdock has been aptly termed "the father of gas-lighting." Among the pioneers was Le Bon in France, Becher in Munich, and Winzler or Winsor, a German who was attracted to the possibilities of gas-lighting by an exhibition which Le Bon gave in Paris in 1802. Winsor learned that Le Bon had been granted a patent in Paris in 1799 for making an illuminating gas from wood and tried to obtain the rights for Germany. Being unsuccessful in this, he set about to learn the secrets of Le Bon's process, which he did, perhaps largely owing to an accumulation of information directly from the inventor during the negotiations. Winsor then turned to England as a fertile field for the exploitation of gas-lighting and after conducting experiments in London for some time he made plans to organize the National Heat and Light Co.
Winsor was primarily a promoter, with little or no technical knowledge; for in his claims and advertisements he disregarded facts with a facility possessed only by the ignorant. He boasted of his inventions and discoveries in the most hyperbolical language, which was bound to provoke a controversy. Nevertheless, he was clever and in 1803 he publicly exhibited his plan of lighting by means of coal-gas at the Lyceum Theatre in London. He gave lectures accompanied by interesting and instructive experiments and in this manner attracted the public to his exhibition. All this time he was promoting his company, but his promoting instinct caused his representations to be extravagant and deceptive, which exposed him to the ridicule and suspicion of learned men. His attempt to obtain certain exclusive rights by Act of Parliament failed because of opposition of scientific men toward his claims and of the stand which Murdock justly made in self-protection. These years of controversy yield entertaining literature for those who choose to read it, but unfortunately space does not permit dwelling upon it. The investigations by committees of Parliament also afford amusing side-lights. Throughout all this Murdock appeared modest and conservative and had the support of reputable scientific men, but Winsor maintained extravagant claims.
During one of these investigations Sir Humphrey Davy was examined by a committee from the House of Commons in 1809. He refuted Winsor's claims for a superior coke as a by-product and stated that the production of gas by the distillation of coal had been well known for thirty or forty years and the production of tar as long. He stated that it was the opinion of the Council of the Royal Society that Murdock was the first person to apply coal-gas to lighting in actual practice. As secretary of the Society, Sir Humphrey Davy stated that at the last session it had bestowed the Count Rumford medal upon Murdock for "his economical application of the gas light."
Winsor proceeded to float his company without awaiting the Act of Parliament and in 1807 lighted a street in Pall Mall. Through the opposition which he aroused, and owing to the just claims of priority on the part of Murdock, the bill to incorporate the National Heat and Light Co. with a capital of 200,000 pounds sterling was thrown out. However, he succeeded in 1812 in receiving a charter very much modified in form, for the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Co. which was the forerunner of the present London Gas Light and Coke Co.
The conditions imposed upon this company as presented in an early treatise on gas-lighting (by Accum in 1818) were as follows:
The power and authorities granted to this corporate body are very restricted and moderate. The individuals composing it have no exclusive privilege; their charter does not prevent other persons from entering into competition with them. Their operations are confined to the metropolis, where they are bound to furnish not only a stronger and better light to such streets and parishes as chuse to be lighted with gas, but also at a cheaper price than shall be paid for lighting the said streets with oil in the usual manner. The corporation is not permitted to traffic in machinery for manufacturing or conveying the gas into private houses, their capital or joint stock is limited to £200,000, and his Majesty has the power of declaring the gas-light charter void if the company fail to fulfil the terms of it.
The progress of this early company was slow at first, but with the appointment of Samuel Clegg as engineer in 1813 an era of technical developments began. New stations were built and many improvements were introduced. By improving the methods of purifying the gas a great advance was made. The utility of gas-lighting grew apace as the prejudices disappeared, but for a long time the stock of the company sold at a price far below par. About this time the first gas explosion took place and the members of the Royal Society set a precedent which has lived and thrived: they appointed a committee to make an inquiry. But apparently the inquiry was of some value, for it led "to some useful alterations and new modifications in its apparatus and machinery."
Many improvements were being introduced during these years and one of them in 1816 increased the gaseous product from coal by distilling the tar which was obtained during the first distillation. In 1816 Clegg obtained a patent for a horizontal rotating retort; for an apparatus for purifying coal-gas with "cream of lime"; and for a rotative gas-meter.