Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/652

 64:0 GAS GASCONADE cherry-red heat it is converted into a gas rich in heavy hydrocarbons, mostly of the character of those made in using crude petroleum. The gas is conducted into a reservoir common to it and the coal gas, where the two mingle, in ac- cordance with the law of the diffusion of gases. Oil Gas. The fixed oils are excellent gas ma- terials. Rape oil, according to Lefort, has the formula CioHi e 2 ; hemp oil, CisHasOa. All the fatty oils yield by dry distillation princi- pally olefiant gas, a small quantity of carbonic acid, and no sulphuretted hydrogen; and if .pure oil were used, it would require no purifi- cation, and apparatus only of the simplest kind. Under such circumstances perhaps a lamp is the most economical ; but the gas may be made of impure oils and fats, in which case some purification is required. On the conti- nent of Europe gas is made from suint, or the fatty materials contained in the soap suds after washing wool and yarns. The liquid is mixed in cisterns with milk of lime and left to stand 12 hours, when a kind of lime soap is formed, which is made into bricks and dried. These are subjected to dry distillation, and yield a gas of high illuminating power. The wash water of a woollen mill of 20,000 spin- dles will yield annually enough of this sub- stance to produce over 1,100,000 cubic feet of gas ; and if the time of burning is 1,200 hours, this quantity will supply 500- burners, each consuming nearly two cubic feet per hour, and giving a light more than sufficient for the mill. Water Gas. When steam is forced through retorts containing red-hot coke, char- coal, or anthracite, there are produced hydro- gen, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, and a small amount of light carburetted and of sulphuret- ted hydrogen gases. The carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen may be removed by lime, or lime and oxide of iron. The remain- ing gases, principally hydrogen and carbonic oxide, may be used for heating purposes, or may be made available for lighting in two ways: 1, by heating coils of platinum wire in the flame ; 2, by impregnating it with the va- pors of various hydrocarbons, as benzole or naphtha, or mingling it with permanent hy- drocarbon gases, the latter being preferable, as it has been found very difficult to convert the lighter hydrocarbon oils into products which will not cause a deposit in the distribu- ting pipes. Many hundred patents have been issued to inventors for making this kind of gas. That of Selligue, a French gas engineer, pro- posed to him by Jobard of Brussels, consisted of a furnace and three vertical cylindrical re- torts, the first two filled with charcoal or coke. Steam was passed into the first, causing evolu- tion of the gases above mentioned, which were Eassed into the second retort, where the red- ot coal or coke converted the carbonic acid into carbonic oxide. The gases were then passed into the third retort, which was two thirds filled with red-hot iron chains, upon which a stream of oil from bituminous shale was made to flow. Mr. "White of Manchester patented several years ago a process by which the water gas was passed into another retort, in which illuminating gases were being gener- ated, in such a manner as to sweep the latter out of the retort as quickly as possible, to re- move them from the decomposing action of the intense heat. The retorts and settings were similar to those in use for ordinary coal gas, except that the retorts had a horizon- tal partition, dividing them into two cham- bers, extending to within a foot of the back. White's method is known as the English hy- drocarbon process. Experiments which have been made in the United States show that anthracite can be used with greater advantage in producing water gas than coke or charcoal. The citizens' gas light company of Brooklyn are now (March, 1874) making gas according to what is known as the Gwynne-Harris or American hydrocarbon process, one of the patents of which was issued to W. H. Gwynne in 1863. Steam from a boiler is first passed through a superheater which is raised to a temperature of about 600 ; thence through false bottoms into retorts containing incan- descent anthracite coal, where it is completely decomposed, forming hydrogen and carbonic oxide. This is conducted into the hydraulic main, where it mingles with the gas generated from bituminous coal or naphtha, and which, being rich in heavy hydrocarbons, produces sufficient illuminating power. GASCOIGNE, George, an English poet, born about 1537, died in Stamford, Oct. 7, 1577. He was educated at Cambridge and began to study law ; but having fallen into irregular hab- its, he was deprived by his father of as much of his inheritance as possible, and took service in Holland under the prince of Orange, where he remained two years and distinguished himself for his courage. He made a free translation of / Suppositi of Ariosto, which was per- formed by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn in 1566 under the name of " The Supposes." Use was made of it by Shakespeare in " The Taming of the Shrew," and it is the earliest extant prose play in the English language. In 1575 Gas- coigne joined the court of Queen Elizabeth, and wrote an account of the pageantries exhibited at Kenilworth, entitled " The Princelye Plea- sures of Kenelworth Castle." His satire in blank verse, "The Steele Glasse," first printed in 1576, and his other poems, were collected and published with the title "The Whole Workes of George Gascoigne, Esquyre" (4to, black letter, London, 1587). GASCONADE, an E. county of Missouri, bound- ed N". by the Missouri river, and intersected by the Gasconade river; area, 540 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 10,093, of whom 80 were colored. The surface is much broken, but well timbered, and there is good water power. Iron ore is found in abundance, sulphur and saltpetre are obtained, limestone and buhrstone are quarried, and cop- per has been discovered on Bourbeuse creek.