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Table of Contents
Learning Reactive Programming with Java 8
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more
Why subscribe?
Free access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the example code
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. An Introduction to Reactive Programming
What is reactive programming?
Why should we be reactive?
Introducing RxJava
Downloading and setting up RxJava
Comparing the iterator pattern and the RxJava Observable
Implementing the reactive sum
Summary
2. Using the Functional Constructions of Java 8
Lambdas in Java 8
Introducing the new syntax and semantics
Functional interfaces in Java 8 and RxJava
Implementing the reactive sum example with lambdas
Pure functions and higher order functions
 Pure functions
Higher order functions
RxJava and functional programming
Summary
3. Creating and Connecting Observables, Observers, and Subjects
The Observable.from method
The Observable.just method
Other Observable factory methods
The Observable.create method
Subscribing and unsubscribing
Hot and cold Observable instances
The ConnectableObservable class
The Subject instances
Summary
4. Transforming, Filtering, and Accumulating Your Data
Observable transformations
Transformations with the various flatMap operators
Grouping items
Additional useful transformation operators
Filtering data
Accumulating data
Summary
5. Combinators, Conditionals, and Error Handling
Combining the Observable instances
The zip operator
The combineLatest operator
The merge operator
The concat operator
The conditional operators
The amb operator
The takeUntil(), takeWhile(), skipUntil(), and skipWhile()
conditional operators
The defaultIfEmpty( ) operator
Handling errors
The return and resume operators
The retrying technique
An HTTP client example
 Summary
6. Using Concurrency and Parallelism with Schedulers
RxJava's schedulers
Debugging Observables and their schedulers
The interval Observable and its default scheduler
Types of schedulers
The Schedulers.immediate scheduler
The Schedulers.trampoline scheduler
The Schedulers.newThread scheduler
The Schedulers.computation scheduler
The Schedulers.io scheduler
The Schedulers.from(Executor) method
Combining Observables and schedulers
The Observable<T> subscribeOn(Scheduler) method
The Observable<T> observeOn(Scheduler) operator
Parallelism
Buffering, throttling, and debouncing
Throttling
Debouncing
The buffer and window operators
The backpressure operators
Summary
7. Testing Your RxJava Application
Testing using simple subscription
The BlockingObservable class
The aggregate operators and the BlockingObservable class
Testing with the aggregate operators and the BlockingObservable
class
Using the TestSubscriber class for in-depth testing
Testing asynchronous Observable instances with the help of the
TestScheduler class
Summary
8. Resource Management and Extending RxJava
Resource management
Introducing the Observable.using method
Caching data with Observable.cache
Creating custom operators with lift
 Composing multiple operators with the Observable.compose
operator
Summary
Index
Learning Reactive
Programming with Java 8
Learning Reactive
Programming with Java 8
Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the
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First published: June 2015

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ISBN 978-1-78528-872-2
www.packtpub.com
Credits
Author

Nickolay Tsvetinov

Reviewers

Samuel Gruetter

Dávid Karnok

Timo Tuominen

Shixiong Zhu

Commissioning Editor

Veena Pagare

Acquisition Editor

Larrisa Pinto

Content Development Editor

Adrian Raposo

Technical Editor

Abhishek R. Kotian

Copy Editors

Brandt D'mello

Neha Vyas
Project Coordinator

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Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

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Production Coordinator

Conidon Miranda

Cover Work

Conidon Miranda
About the Author
Nickolay Tsvetinov is a professional all-round web developer at
TransportAPI—Britain's first comprehensive open platform for
transport solutions. During his career as a software developer, he
experienced both good and bad and played with most of the popular
programming languages—from C and Java to Ruby and JavaScript.
For the last 3-4 years, he's been creating and maintaining single-
page applications (SPA) and the backend API architectures that
serve them. He is a fan of open source software, Rails, Vim, Sinatra,
Ember.js, Node.js, and Nintendo. He was an unsuccessful musician
and poet, but he is a successful husband and father. His area of
interest and expertise includes the declarative/functional and
reactive programming that resulted in the creation of ProAct.js
(http://proactjs.com), which is a library that augments the JavaScript
language and turns it into a reactive language.

First of all, I want to thank my wife, Tanya. I wrote this book

because she told me that I was capable of doing this. She was
with me all these months; I worked late at night and on
weekends, but she didn't mind that. She also helped me with the
content of this book. Thank you, Tanya; I love you and I dedicate
this book to you. I want to thank my baby girl, Dalia. She is the
one who makes me learn and do new things. One day, I want her
to be proud of me—she is my sun. I want to thank my colleagues
from TransportAPI, especially Dave, who helped me with my
English, and Jonathan and Martin, who gave me the courage to
finish the book.

I want to thank Astea Solutions, as they gave me space to write,

as well as my parents, Georgi and Dimana, who did the same for
me on weekends. Finally, I want to thank all my friends who
supported me—Simeon, Rosen, Deyan, Pavel, my sister, Marina,
and many more.
Thank you!
About the Reviewers
Samuel Gruetter holds a BSc degree in computer science from
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. As
a student assistant and member of the Scala team at EPFL, he
developed RxScala, which is a Scala adaptor for the RxJava
Reactive Extensions library. In this way, he contributed to RxJava.
He was also a teaching assistant for the Principles of Reactive
Programming massive open online course on Coursera, which is the
first online course on reactive programming.

Dávid Karnok is a research assistant and PhD student at the

Research Laboratory on Engineering and Management Intelligence
of the Institute for Computer Science and Control of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences.

He has been working with Java and related core technologies since
2005 to bring Java's benefits to manufacturing and logistic
companies.

He was the first to port Microsoft's Rx.NET framework to Java back

in 2010; however, the concept was so ahead of its time that his
library didn't catch much attention until Netflix came out with the
independent RxJava port in 2013. He joined the project not much
later and is a core collaborator and has contributed to about 30
percent of the code in the library over the years. With several years
of reactive programming experience and as a core developer of
RxJava, he frequently answers questions about the library on Stack
Overflow, where he reviews pull requests on the RxJava GitHub
project page and posts bug fixes and enhancements on a regular
basis.

Timo Tuominen develops large-scale software projects from

conception to completion for clients, including major telcos and
device manufacturers. As the technical lead, he has created dozens
of products and services both for consumer and business use.
Working with Futurice, he started using RxJava in 2013 and
designed one of the first pure RxJava architectures on Android. His
novel approach was a result of the uncompromising functional
reactive programming principles that he applied to an existing
platform. Several apps and thousands of code commits later, he is
now convinced that RxJava and FRP represent a new and better
way to build software.

I would like to dedicate this book to everyone who has put up

with my RxJava innovations.

Shixiong Zhu is an RxJava committer and also maintains the

RxScala project. He received his master's of science degree in
computer science from Peking University, China. After that, he joined
MicroStrategy and worked on several big data projects. He has also
worked on the infrastructure team at Xiaomi. Currently, he is living in
Beijing and working on the Apache Spark project, which is a fast and
general platform for large-scale data processing.
www.PacktPub.com
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Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Description of the Process
of Manufacturing Coal Gas, for the Lighting of Streets
Houses, and Public Buildings

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other
parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may
copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in
the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are
located before using this eBook.

Title: Description of the Process of Manufacturing Coal Gas, for the Lighting of
Streets Houses, and Public Buildings

Author: Friedrich Christian Accum

Release date: September 4, 2020 [eBook #63117]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by deaurider, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS OF

MANUFACTURING COAL GAS, FOR THE LIGHTING OF STREETS HOUSES, AND PUBLIC
BUILDINGS ***
Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of
this text.
The cover image has been created for this e-text
and is in the public domain.

Pl. II.
Accums’, Description of Gas Works.
to Face Title.
Mulholland Delt. W. Read, Sculpt. Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.

Gas Light Apparatus,

Erected by Order of Government at THE ROYAL MINT, by Fredck.
Accum.
Larger plate
 DESCRIPTION
OF

THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING

C O A L G A S,
FOR THE LIGHTING OF STREETS HOUSES, AND PUBLIC
BUILDINGS,
WITH

ELEVATIONS, SECTIONS, AND PLANS

OF THE MOST IMPROVED SORTS OF APPARATUS
NOW EMPLOYED AT THE
Gas Works in London,
AND THE PRINCIPAL PROVINCIAL TOWNS OF GREAT
BRITAIN;
Accompanied with comparative Estimates, exhibiting the
 most Economical
Mode of procuring this species of Light.

WITH SEVEN PLATES.

By F R E D R I C K A C C U M,
OPERATIVE CHEMIST,
Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, on Mineralogy, and on Chemistry applied to
the Arts and Manufactures; Member o£ the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the
Limnæan Society, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, &c. &c.

London.
PRINTED FOR THOMAS BOYS. No. 7. LUDGATE-HILL. (FROM No. 3, PATERNOSTER ROW)
MDCCCXIX.

Larger plate
 PREFACE.

Compton Street, Soho.

The extraordinarily rapid progress which the recent invention of lighting with coal gas
has made in this country, is perhaps without a parallel in the history of the useful arts.
It was an invention not exempted from the misfortune common to all innovations on
established practises, of encountering opposition, but it had the fortune common to few,
of obtaining an almost instantaneous triumph.
A single exhibition of the gas lights in actual use was sufficient to determine the public
judgment in favour of the new mode of illumination; to see was in this case, indeed to
believe.
The legislature responsive to the popular voice, and fortified in its responsibility, by the
results of special enquiries which were ordered to be made into the merits of the
invention, and in which I had the good fortune to be professionally engaged, gave the
most liberal and decided encouragement to its adoption.
Capital, often wanting even in this opulent country for undertakings of magnitude,
came to the promotion of the new art of procuring and distributing light in overflowing
abundance; and already ere many years are elapsed, such has been the rapidity with
which the gas light illumination has advanced, that there is not a city and scarcely a town
of any note in Great Britain, in which the art of lighting by means of gas, has not been
carried into effect, or in which active measures are not in progress, to participate in the
benefit of this important discovery.
When the art was yet in its infancy, I published a Treatise, containing a description of
the apparatus and machinery best calculated for illuminating streets, houses, and public
buildings, by means of coal gas, with remarks on the utility, safety, and general nature of
this new branch of domestic economy, as far as then understood, and practised in the
metropolis.
The universal avidity for information on the subject, more perhaps than any particular
merit in the work itself, produced a demand in this country for four large impressions of
this work, in the course of a few years, and I have also had the satisfaction of finding
that the Treatise has been translated into the French, German, and Italian languages.
Since this work was written, however, the art of manufacturing and applying coal gas,
has undergone so many material improvements, all combining to bring it to a degree of
simplicity, precision, and economy, far surpassing every thing which the original mode of
practice exhibited, that I have felt I should be guilty of an injustice to the constant
demand which still exists for my former Treatise, had I not made it my duty to publish
the work I now present to the reader; superseding altogether the former publication, but
superseding it from circumstances of necessity, and with a view to good, which I trust will
be found not illusory.
The present treatise, as its title expresses, is intended to exhibit the superior process of
manufacturing coal gas now employed in the metropolis and the provincial towns of
Great Britain, and to lay before the reader the elevations, sections, and plans of the
improved Gas Light machinery, which has stood the test of practice, and is now in action
at the most celebrated Gas Light Establishments.
In the first and second part of the Treatise, I have, as introductory to the rest, given a
sketch of the chemical theory and production of Gas Light. I have pointed out the leading
objects of public and private utility, to which the art of lighting with gas has been, or
remains to be applied: and added such other facts and observations as may serve to
remove all doubt in the minds of the reader as to the important benefit which this
country in particular, and the world at large, have gained by this discovery.
In the third part I have stated the maximum quantities of gas obtainable in the large
way, from different kinds of coal.
In the fourth part, I have given a description of all the various forms and dimensions
which the distillatory vessels or retorts have successively assumed, as well as of the
improvements that have been made in the mode of setting the retorts, with a view to
saving them from undue deterioration, and preventing any improvident waste of fuel. I
have here given a particular account of the distillatory apparatus now used at the most
celebrated gas works in the metropolis.
The fifth and sixth parts, lead the reader considerably further into a knowledge of the
economy and practice of this art. They contain an account of a great variety of
experiments which have been pursued on a large scale, in order to ascertain the most
profitable mode of employing the retorts, the differences of opinion which have existed
among practical men with respect to the degree of temperature fittest to be applied, and
the number of hours at a time during which the retorts may most advantageously be kept
in action, with the particular results which the experiments instituted into these points
have afforded; and such other data, as will enable the reader to adopt that mode of
operation, which under every circumstance of locality will be found most advantageous.
The changes which have taken place with respect to the retorts, have been before
detailed in part fourth; but in order to give the manufacturer a nearer insight into the
superior advantages attending retorts of the construction lately brought into use, I have
given in part seventh, a detailed description of the horizontal rotary retorts, the
application of which has led to a more economical, expeditious, and easy method of
manufacturing coal gas than heretofore practised. I have distinctly pointed out the
advantages which these retorts present, the particular results they afford, and the
method of applying them.
The purification of coal gas forms the subject of part eighth. I have compared here, the
apparatus for purifying coal gas, as it was originally constructed, with the improved
machinery lately adopted, showing the inefficacy and defects of the former, and the
decided superiority which belongs to the latter.
The ninth part gives an account of the various improved gas holders which have been
invented, and now are in action at the most recent establishments, for the purpose of
storing large quantities of gas. The improvements that have been made in this
department of the Gas Light machinery, are particularly valuable and have contributed
more perhaps than any other, to lessen the expence of manufacturing gas for commercial
purposes.
In the tenth part, I have given a description of an entirely new machine, called the
gas-metre, or self-acting guage, lately adopted at the Birmingham, Chester, and other
gas works, which measures and registers the quantity of gas manufactured in any given
time, from any given quantity of coal, or consumed during any period, by any number of
burners or lamps. The great services which such a machine must render both to the
manufacturer and consumer of gas, are particularly pointed out, and illustrated to the
manufacturer, by serving as a complete check on his workmen as to the quantity of work
that ought to be performed, and to the consumer, as an exact measure of the quantity of
gas he receives, and ought to pay for.
The eleventh part is appropriated to the description of another apparatus, called the
governor, also of recent invention, and now in use at numerous establishments. The
design of this machine is, to regulate the pressure of the gas, before it enters into the
mains, the importance of which must be sufficiently manifest. I have also pointed out the
application of this apparatus for regulating the magnitude of the flames of gas burners
and lamps.
The twelfth part treats on gas mains and branch pipes, I have here stated the rules
and practical proceedings necessary to be observed, for applying and distributing gas
pipes to the greatest advantage.
The most efficient method of introducing the gas to the interior of houses, forms the
subject of part thirteen. All the necessary instructions are here given to workmen, for
adapting the gas pipes, and insuring success at the least cost, under every variety of
circumstances.
The fourteenth part gives an account of the illuminating power of coal gas—the
quantity of gas consumed in a given time, by different kinds of gas burners and lamps,
the relative cost of gas, tallow, and oil lights of different intensities, and the most
improved method employed for ventilating apartments lighted by gas.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth parts, I have added an account of the manufacture of
carburetted hydrogen gas, from coal tar, vegetable tar, and oil, with such other
observations as may enable the reader to form a proper estimate of the comparative
advantage of manufacturing gas from oil, or tar, under certain circumstances. I have here
also given an account of the manufacture of carbonate of ammonia, as now practised,
from the ammoniacal liquor obtained in the Gas Light process, and of the manufacture of
other saleable products obtainable from coal, namely; pitch, coal tar, and oil.
In conclusion I have to observe that my object throughout has been to make the work
a compendium of all the best information which the practice of the art down to the
present moment has been able to afford, embodying a great number of data, with which
I have been obligingly favoured by gentlemen, the most practically versant in the art, and
for which I beg they will individually accept this public expression of my thanks, and
obligations, as well as the results which my own labours in this department, neither few,
nor inconsiderable have furnished.
To supply the reader with a work of practical utility in a most valuable, and growing
branch of national economy has been my object; and I need scarcely add, that the
suffrages of the public to the zeal and industry at least with which I have endeavoured to
obtain that object, will be a source of infinite satisfaction.
 FREDRICK ACCUM.
LONDON, 1819.
 CONTENTS.

PART I.

PAGE

GENERAL NATURE AND ADVANTAGES OF THE ART OF PROCURING LIGHT, BY

MEANS OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN, OR COAL GAS 1

PART II.

OUTLINE OF THE NEW ART OF PROCURING LIGHT BY MEANS OF COAL GAS,

AND THEORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF GAS LIGHTS 33

PART III.

CLASSIFICATION OF PIT COAL, AND MAXIMUM QUANTITY OF GAS,

OBTAINABLE FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF COAL 41

PART IV.

FORM AND DIMENSIONS OF THE RETORTS ORIGINALLY EMPLOYED FOR

MANUFACTURING COAL GAS 51
APPLICATION OF HEAT—FLUE PLAN ORIGINALLY ADOPTED 59
REPORT ON A COURSE OF OPERATIONS, MADE WITH SETS OF 66, OF 30, OF
116, AND OF 64 RETORTS, WORKED ON THE FLUE PLAN 61
OVEN PLAN LATELY ADOPTED 67
DESCRIPTION OF THE RETORT OVEN 69

PART V.

DIFFERENCE IN THE QUANTITY OF GAS EVOLVED DURING DIFFERENT

PERIODS OF THE DISTILLATORY PROCESS, AND ECONOMICAL
CONSIDERATIONS RESULTING THEREFROM IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COAL
GAS 77
EXPERIMENTS WITH 18 CYLINDRICAL RETORTS, CONTAINING ONE CHALDRON
OF COAL 80
EXPERIMENT WITH THIRTY-SIX PARALLELOPIPEDAL RETORTS, EACH
CONTAINING TWO BUSHELS OF COAL 81
REPORT ON A COURSE OF EXPERIMENTS MADE TO ASCERTAIN THE
COMPARATIVE ECONOMY OF MANUFACTURING EVERY WEEK, 857,667 CUBIC
FEET OF GAS, BY MEANS OF CYLINDRICAL RETORTS VARIOUSLY WORKED 84

PART VI.

TEMPERATURE BEST ADAPTED FOR WORKING CYLINDRICAL RETORTS 94

ANNUAL CREDITOR AND DEBTOR ACCOUNT OF MANUFACTURING DAILY, FROM
50,000 TO 102,000 CUBIC FEET OF GAS, AT THE PRICE WHICH COAL BEARS
IN THE METROPOLIS, THE OPERATION BEING COMMENCED WITH NEW
RETORTS, AND THE RETORTS BEING LEFT IN A FIT WORKING STATE 97
COMPARATIVE FACILITY WITH WHICH THE DECOMPOSITION OF DIFFERENT
SPECIES OF COAL IS EFFECTED 106

PART VII.

HORIZONTAL ROTARY RETORTS, LATELY BROUGHT INTO USE FOR

MANUFACTURING COAL GAS 110
DESCRIPTION OF THE HORIZONTAL ROTARY RETORTS AT THE ROYAL MINT 112
ACTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HORIZONTAL ROTARY RETORTS 120
ADVANTAGES OF THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING COAL GAS BY MEANS OF
HORIZONTAL ROTARY RETORTS 124
DIRECTIONS TO WORKMEN WITH REGARD TO THE MANAGEMENT OF
HORIZONTAL ROTARY RETORTS 134

PART VIII.

PURIFYING APPARATUS, OR LIME MACHINE 140

LIME MACHINE ORIGINALLY EMPLOYED FOR THE PURIFICATION OF COAL GAS 141
LIME MACHINE LATELY ADOPTED 149
TEST APPARATUS, FOR CERTIFYING THE PURITY OF COAL GAS, AND THE
PROPER MANNER OF WORKING THE LIME MACHINE 157
BEST METHOD OF PREPARING QUICK-LIME FOR THE PURIFICATION OF COAL
GAS 161
 PART IX.

GAS HOLDER 164

GAS HOLDER AS ORIGINALLY EMPLOYED 165
GAS HOLDER WITH GOVERNOR, OR REGULATING GUAGE, LATELY BROUGHT
INTO USE 169
GAS HOLDER WITH GOVERNOR OR REGULATING GUAGE AT THE CHESTER GAS
WORKS 175
GAS HOLDER WITH GOVERNOR OR REGULATING GUAGE AT THE BIRMINGHAM
GAS WORKS 177
REVOLVING GAS HOLDER AT THE WESTMINSTER GAS WORKS 181
RULE FOR FINDING THE CAPACITY OF A REVOLVING GAS HOLDER OF GIVEN
DIMENSIONS 185
COLLAPSING GAS HOLDER 185
RULE FOR FINDING THE CAPACITY OF A COLLAPSING GAS HOLDER OF GIVEN
DIMENSIONS 195
RECIPROCATING SAFETY VALVE 196

PART X.

GAS METRE, OR SELF-ACTING GUAGE, WHICH MEASURES AND REGISTERS, IN

THE ABSENCE OF THE OBSERVER, THE QUANTITY OF GAS PRODUCED IN A
GIVEN TIME, FROM ANY GIVEN QUANTITY OF COAL, OR CONSUMED DURING
A GIVEN PERIOD, BY ANY NUMBER OF BURNERS OR LAMPS 200
DESCRIPTION OF THE GAS METRE AT THE ROYAL MINT GAS WORKS 214
RULE FOR CALCULATING THE WEIGHT, WHICH A GAS METRE OF GIVEN
DIMENSIONS, WILL RAISE, TO A GIVEN HEIGHT, IN A GIVEN TIME 220
GAS HOLDER VALVE 221
SIPHON, OR WATER RESERVOIR 221

PART XI.

GOVERNOR OR REGULATING GUAGE 225

DIRECTIONS TO WORKMEN FOR FIXING THE GOVERNOR AND GAS METRE 229

PART XII.

GAS MAINS AND BRANCH PIPES 239

WEIGHT OF CAST IRON GAS MAINS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS AND BORES 251

PART XIII.

GAS LAMPS AND BURNERS 253

DIRECTIONS TO WORKMEN, FOR ADAPTING GAS PIPES TO THE INTERIOR OF
HOUSES 258

PART XIV.

ILLUMINATING POWER OF COAL GAS, AND QUANTITY OF GAS CONSUMED IN A

GIVEN TIME, BY DIFFERENT KINDS OF BURNERS, AND GAS LAMPS 269

PART XV.

GAS FROM COAL TAR 282

GAS FROM OIL 289

PART XVI.

OTHER PRODUCTS OBTAINABLE FROM COAL, NAMELY:

COAL TAR 298
COAL OIL 300
PITCH 302
AMMONIACAL LIQUOR 303
MANUFACTURE OF CARBONATE OF AMMONIA FROM THE AMMONIACAL LIQUOR 303
MANUFACTURE OF MURIATE OF AMMONIA FROM THE AMMONIACAL LIQUOR 307
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES 315
INDEX TO THE WORK 321
LONDON PRICE LIST OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN THE
MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF COAL GAS 331
 ADVERTISEMENT.

The author of this work respectfully informs the public, that they may be furnished with
estimates, and plans for the building of Gas Works, particularly adapted to the
circumstances of the places where they are to be established, and that he proposes to
superintend the erection of the works.
Mr. Accum also engages to supply the whole of the Gas Apparatus ready for immediate
use, and to guaranty its efficient performance.
Or he will contract with any committee, directory, or public company, for Lighting with
Gas, any Town, Manufactory, or Building, upon whatever scale of magnitude, for an
annual specific sum.
Of the qualifications for the services which he thus proffers, he would speak with
diffidence. Such proofs as he is able to offer of them, are to be found in the work here
laid before the reader, beyond which he would add no more than the flattering testimony
of approbation, with which his labours have been honoured, in having been selected by
His Majesty’s Government to plan and erect the Gas Works at the Royal Mint, and since
entrusted with the active management and superintendance of that establishment.
Compton Street, Soho,
May 28, 1819.
The following particulars are required to be stated by those who are desirous of
receiving estimates, concerning the comparative economy of applying coal gas as a
substitute for oil, wax, or tallow light.
1. A plan of the place to be lighted with Gas, drawn to a scale not less than one tenth of
an inch, to ten feet. The design must exhibit the particular spot, where the Machinery
is to be erected.
2. The kind of gas lights required, namely; whether the lights shall be equal in
illuminating power to one, or more tallow candles of a given weight, or equal to an
argand lamp.
3. The number of lights.
4. The average time the lights are to burn, throughout the year.
5. The average price of coal, and rate of workmen’s wages, at the place where the light is
wanted.
 AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING

Coal Gas.
 PART I.

General Nature and Advantages of the art of procuring Light, by means of Carburetted
Hydrogen, or Coal Gas.

The new art of lighting houses, streets and manufactories, with carburetted hydrogen,
or coal gas, is one of those modern discoveries on which the admirers of science and the
inhabitants of this country in particular, have greater reason to congratulate themselves,
than any other invention or discovery of the present age.
This art is so wonderful and important, it speaks so forcibly by the effects it has
already produced, that it cannot fail to increase the wealth of the nation by adding to the
number of internal resources, as long as coal continues to be dug in this island from the
bowels of the earth.
For if we distribute the catalogue of human wants which a civilized state of society has
introduced, the production and supply of artificial light, holds next to food, clothing and
fuel, the most important place. We might indeed exist without it, but how large a portion
of our lives would in that state be condemned to a state little superior in efficacy to that
of the animals around us.
If we could for a moment suppose the privation of artificial light, during the absence of
the Sun, it would follow as an immediate consequence that the greatest part of the globe
on which we dwell, would cease to be the habitation of man. Whether he could ensnare
or overtake those animals upon whose unprepared remains he would then be compelled
to feed; whether he might store the fruits of the earth for his winter supply—what might
be the physical and moral consequences of a state of such desolation, may perhaps be
conjectured, but no estimate can show its dreadful magnitude.
How much do our comforts, and how greatly does the extent of our power depend
upon the production and supply of artificial light. The flame of a single candle animates a
family, every one follows his occupation, and no dread is felt of the darkness of night. It
might be a curious speculation to enquire how far, and in what respect, the morals of
men would become degraded by the want of this contrivance. But it is sufficient on the
present occasion, that, previous to entering upon a dissertation respecting a new art of
procuring light, a train of ideas has slightly been hinted at, which cannot fail to show its
magnitude and importance.
The progress of the new art of lighting houses, streets and public buildings, by means
of the inflammable gas obtainable from coal, has been within these few years
uncommonly rapid. The number of gas-lights already in use in the metropolis alone,
amounts to upwards of fifty-one thousand. The total lengths of mains in the streets
through which the gas is conveyed from the gas-light manufactories into the houses, now
measures two hundred and eighty-eight miles.
 The gas-light illumination has also spread far and wide through the country.
Establishments for the supply of the new lights are carried on at Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Liverpool, Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Exeter, Chester,
Macclesfield, Preston, Kidderminster, and in many other towns and places of Great
Britain.
Every body is now convinced that pitcoal is capable of furnishing light superior to that
obtained from oil, wax, or tallow. The public attention is awakened to the new value of
coal, and will not rest till the art of lighting with gas is pushed to the utmost of its extent.
In order to arrive at a full and accurate knowledge of the many advantages attending
the application of carburetted hydrogen or coal gas, as a substitute for candles or lamps,
it may be necessary, especially for the information of those readers who have never
personally witnessed this mode of illumination, to take a brief preliminary view of some
of the leading objects of public and private utility, to which this mode of procuring and
distributing light may be applied, and of the extent to which it is entitled to national
encouragement.
The chief advantages attending the use of gas, are superiority and uniformity of light,
saving of labour, cleanliness, safety and cheapness.
It must be difficult for a person wholly unacquainted with this art, to imagine with what
facility and neatness gas-lights are managed. The gas being collected in a reservoir, is
conveyed by means of tubes, which branch out into smaller ramifications, until they
terminate at the places where the lights are wanted. The extremities of the branching
tubes are furnished with burners, having small apertures out of which the gas issues with
a certain velocity corresponding to its degree of pressure. Near the termination of each
tube, there is a stopcock, or valve, upon turning which when light is required, the gas
instantly flows out in an equable stream. There is no noise at the opening of the valve,
no disturbance in the transparency of the atmosphere; the gas instantly bursts on the
approach of a lighted taper into a peculiarly brilliant, soft and beautiful flame; it requires
no trimming or snuffing to keep the flame of an equal brightness. Like the light of the
Sun itself, it only makes itself known by the benefit and pleasure it affords.
The gas flame is entirely free from smell. The gas itself has a disagreeable odour
before it is burnt, and so has the vapour of wax, tallow and oil, as it comes from a candle
or lamp newly blown out. This concession proves nothing against the flame of gas, which
is perfectly inodorous.
The gas-light flame is perfectly steady; a benefit which persons accustomed to read or
write by candle-light, are particularly capable of appreciating. With the other modes of
illumination we have never the light of the same intensity for two minutes together,
independent of that unpleasant dancing unsteady flame which is so harassing to the
sight.
The size, form and intensity of the gas flame, are regulated by simply turning the stop-
cock which admits the gas to the burner or lamp. The flame may at command be made
to burn with an intensity sufficient to illuminate every corner of a room, or so low and
dim, as barely to be perceived. It is unnecessary to point out how valuable lights of this
description are in nurseries, stables, warehouses, and chambers of the sick. From the
facility with which the gas flame can be conveyed in almost any direction, from the
diversified size and shape which it can be made to assume, there is no kind of light so
well adapted for ornamental illumination.
 The flame of coal gas is of a pure white colour, and of a body full and compact. In
large masses, it becomes of the same flickering character which is common to all flames
of large dimensions, and is owing to the agitation of the surrounding heated atmosphere.
The saving of labour connected with the employment of gas-light, may seem on a
small scale to be trifling; but when it is considered that in large manufactories, it is not
unusual to find several persons employed for no other purpose than trimming the lamps
or setting and snuffing the candles of the establishment, the advantage gained on this
head by the use of a species of light which require no sort of attention whatever, cannot
but appear very considerable.
The cleanliness of the gas-lights is also a consideration of no small importance, they
are attended with none of that spilling of oil, and dropping of grease, which makes the
employment of oil-lamps and candles so injurious in many warehouses, shops and private
dwellings.
The flame of a gas-light compared in point of brilliancy to that of a candle, is as the
flame of a common oil lamp, compared to the flame of a lamp of Argand. The difference
between a street, on the night of a general illumination, and any other night when the
street is under the dull glimmering light of the ordinary oil lamps, is scarcely more
remarkable, than the difference between a street lighted by gas, and one lighted by oil.
While the ordinary oil lamps may be said merely to serve the purpose of making
“darkness visible,” the gas-lights really dispel the dominion of night, and diffuse a body of
light so wide-spreading and intense, as almost to rival the clearest moonshine.
The same brilliancy which makes the gas-lights of such utility out of doors, in lighting
the streets, has been found of equal advantage in illuminating the interior of private
dwellings, and large public buildings, such as churches, and theatres, &c. From a cluster
of gas-lights, fewer by one-half than the number of oil lamps and candles required for
lighting up a public edifice of this description in the most ordinary manner, a body of light
is furnished which diffuses through the whole, a degree of mellow clearness which is not
to be attained by the greatest number of oil lamps, or candles, which a due regard to
respiration will admit of being employed. As examples of this, we have only to name the
public theatres of the metropolis, all of which are lighted with gas, and in a manner
which excites universal admiration.
It may perhaps be imagined that with a substance so inflammable, and amidst the
blaze of resplendent flame which produces such beautiful effects, there is a peculiar risk
of accidents by fire, but so far is this from being the case, that gas-lights are the safest of
all lights. No danger can arise from these lights in any way, but what is common to
candle lights and lamps of all kinds, and is the fault of none of them. The gas-lights are
in fact a great deal less hazardous. There is no risk of those accidents which often
happen from the guttering of candles, from sparks being detached, or from carelessly
snuffing them. The gas-light lamps and burners, must necessarily be fixed to one place,
and therefore cannot fall or otherwise become deranged, without being immediately
extinguished. And further, at any time by shutting the main tube which conveys the gas
to the burners and lamps, all the lights in the house can be immediately extinguished. In
short, where gas is used, the master of the house, when he has turned the main stop-
cock which conveys the gas into the collateral branch pipes, may retire to rest free from
any of those apprehensions, which before harassed him, lest a candle might have been
left burning, of lest the accidental dropping of a spark might become the cause of
enveloping himself and family in destruction.
But the best proof of the great safety of the new lights is, that notwithstanding
upwards of fifty-one thousand gas-lamps burn nightly in London, we have not heard of a
single accident occasioned by them, though the lamps and burners are generally
carelessly managed, while we have too often occasion to lament the effects arising from
sparks of candles, or carelessness in snuffing them.
Hence the fire-insurance-offices engage to insure manufactories and public works, at a
less premium, where gas is used, than when lighted by other means.
The excessive expence of insurance, arising from the numerous candles employed in
most of the first-rate manufacturing establishments, and the combustible nature of the
structure of the buildings; the great difficulty of retrieving the injury resulting to a well-
organised business, from the accidental destruction of the machinery, are considerations
alone sufficient to furnish the strongest economical, as well as political recommendations,
for the adoption of the new lights in all manufactories where work is done by candle-
light.
We have as yet only adverted to the application of gas in the more ordinary cases
where light is wanted, but among other special purposes to which gas-lights may be
applied, it would be improper to overlook the peculiarly advantageous use which may be
made of them in the supplying of light-houses. From the splendour and distinguishing
forms which the gas-light flame is capable of assuming, nothing can possibly be better
calculated for such a purpose; and in point of economy, the employment of it would be
attended with a saving of at least one half of the ordinary expence of oil lights. By means
of a single furnace, as much gas may be produced in three hours, as will furnish during
the longest winter night, a flame of greater brilliancy than is now furnished by any
lighthouse in Britain, or indeed in the world. The body of flame may be increased to any
size, merely by increasing the number of burners; and whatever may be the magnitude
of the flame, it will continue to burn, without becoming in the least clouded by smoke, or
the reflectors being in the least obscured. Should these considerations lead, as it is to be
hoped they will, to the actual employment of gas in the lighthouses around the British
islands, it will readily occur, that in proportion as the gas would be found attended with
less expense than the present mode of lighting by oil, it would enable the commissioners
for light-houses, out of the surplus means which would be thus placed at their disposal,
to multiply the number of lighthouses, and thus to add most essentially to the security of
British navigation. Nor is it in the case of maritime signal-lights alone, that the use of gas
is applicable, by its superior efficacy and cheapness. The saving of expences to the
country which would be effected by the substitution of coal gas, for oil and tallow in
these and other public establishments, is a consideration which cannot be too much
pressed on public attention. The annual expenditure for lighting the barracks of Great
Britain alone, is said to fall little short of fifty thousand pounds; for less than one half of
which sum, they might be lighted by means of gas much better, and a great deal more
safely. Some idea may be formed from the practical saving in this department—how great
might be the total saving, were this new mode of lighting adopted in all our national
establishments.
In the case of the public arsenals, however, the saving from the employment of coal
gas is a consideration of far inferior importance to the superior security attending it. On
the preservation of the stores which they contain may depend in a time of war the whole
chance of success against the enemy nor can any body who has lived in this country at
such a time have forgot the feverish alarm with which the people have frequently seen
this security endangered by accidents arising from the use of moveable lights. Were coal
gas exclusively employed in such establishments, the fixed position which can be given to
the burners, and the absence of all danger from sparks must give a degree of security to
those places from fire, far beyond what they at present possess, even when
superintended with the greatest possible caution and fidelity.
The same remark is equally applicable to the government offices, public libraries,
museums, in short, to all public establishments where the national value of the articles
preserved is such that no possible means of increasing their security from destruction
should be neglected.
We have now to turn our attention to another general point of view in which the
introduction of lighting by gas is not less an object of interest to the public; we allude to
the application of gas as a means of heating as well as lighting. Mr. Maiben[1] was the
first who directed the attention of the public to this subject; he ascertained that gas from
coal gives nearly the same heat when put into combustion, which is yielded by a third
part of the coal from which it is extracted. In other words, it has been found that a
quantity of fuel giving a particular degree of heat, may be employed so as to produce at
the same time another substance yielding nearly an equal degree of heat in a different
and more manageable form; a form in which it can be preserved for any length of time,
divided into any portions, distributed in any direction, consumed in an open fire-place, or
in a stove concealed in any shape; a form in which the flame may issue equally well from
iron or from stone-ware, be instantly lighted up and instantly extinguished, be made to
burn as long or as short a time as may suit us, and in any degree of intensity between
the most animating and brilliant blaze and its total extinction; be extinguished in one
room, and the next moment lighted up in any other; in short such a form, that by one
proper arrangement from the beginning, with the same portion of fuel, we may at any
time have the command of a chearful fire, an adequate and comfortable warmth in any
part of our dwelling to which we may have occasion to move, as manageable, and in this
way as portable, as the taper by the touch of which it is kindled. To those who have been
accustomed to see before them a solid mass of burning fuel, this gas flame may at first
have the less satisfactory appearance of a fugitive blaze which we perceive nothing to
support. But its uniformity and permanence will soon banish this impression, while it is
attended with other advantages not inconsiderable with respect either to comfort or
convenience. There are no coals to be carried in, no ashes to be carried out; there is no
blowing, no sweeping of cinders, no dust, no interruption of servants; there is no
excessive heat in one stage, no sudden damping at another: we have the choice of any
temperature, and which we can regulate with the utmost ease. The fire itself is lively and
pleasant to the eye: inclosed in transparencies it receives a degree of splendour not
easily imagined. Numerous applications of gas, as a source of heat for airing rooms, and
other purposes, have already been adopted. It is used in kitchens for keeping meat
warm, and for boiling water; in store rooms, in picture galleries, in libraries, for
maintaining them at an equal temperature. By copper-plate printers, it is used for
warming their plates; and by jewellers and other artists, for soldering.
[1] A Statement of the advantages to be derived from coal gas.—p. 42.
 It remains further to be observed that the coal, by yielding gas and other products,
namely, tar, pitch, and ammoniacal liquor, is not entirely lost. It produces, besides light,
an excellent fuel, namely, coke; and as a manufactory, or workshop, generally requires
heating as well as lighting, there is a gain both ways. The manufacturer, by distilling his
coal instead of burning it as it comes from the pit, saves his candles and improves his
fuel. One effort at the outset in erecting a gas apparatus, will reduce his annual
disbursement for those two articles of prime necessity, much in the same manner, though
in a greater degree, as the farmer gains by building a thrashing machine and laying aside
the use of the flail.
The coal is so far from being reduced in consequence of the gas-light process, to an
useless mass, that in many places immense quantities are reduced to the state of coke
for the purpose of rendering the coal a better fuel than it was in its natural state; for
coke gives a strong and lasting heat. It is equally valuable for kitchen and parlour fires,
and still more as a necessary requisite in some important branches of manufacture, so
that in whatever quantity coke may be produced, it can never want a good market. The
demand for coke in this capital, since the establishment of the gas-light works, has
prodigiously increased. Numerous taverns, offices, and public establishments, which
heretofore burnt coal, now use coke to the total exclusion of coal; and in almost every
manufactory, which requires both extensive lighting and heating, gas and coke are now
the means jointly employed. A coke fire emits a very uniform and intense heat; it
produces no sparks, and burns free from soot and smoke; it requires no trouble in
managing, and to those who have the misfortune of being plagued with a smoaky
chimney, affords the only certain cure.
Another valuable product is the tar which is deposited during the production of the gas,
this tar when rectified by a slight evaporation, has become an article of commerce. Large
establishments, both of coal tar, coal oil, and pitch, are in full action, and the
commodities which they furnish have become in great demand. The ammoniacal liquor
which the gas-light process affords, has of late given rise to very important branches of
chemical manufacture, carried on upon a large scale. But as the gas is at present
supposed to be the only object in view, for the sake of the light which it yields, the other
products being only accidentally connected with its extraction, let us leave the idea of
profit on them out of the question, and with the utmost latitude of concession, require
them only to stand as in part for a portion of the coal employed in the process, we have
still the gas, an article which performs the functions of the oil, the tallow, or the wax for
which it is substituted; and to the price of which we have no need to call the attention of
those who make use of them. There remains only to be opposed on the other side, the
expence of the apparatus by which the gas is to be prepared, and the lights maintained.
From the materials and the workmanship, with the interest of the capital sunk, the
expence in the first instance, must be very considerable. But where the quantity of light
must be great, even from cheap substances, or where, with a less quantity of light, the
substances from which it is derived must be of the costliest kind; such is in either case
the enormous expence of these materials, that by superseding them and making every
reasonable allowance to the engineer who erects the gas apparatus, the sum it costs,
both principal and interest, is soon liquidated, leaving at last a total saving, excepting the
expence of accidental repairs, which, from the durability of the materials employed,
seldom exceeds a trifling sum.
 The principal expence in the pursuit of this new branch of civil and domestic economy,
is therefore, the dead capital employed in erecting the machinery for obtaining and
conveying the gas. The floating capital, after the first cost incurred in erecting the
apparatus, is comparatively small; even if usurious interest is allowed for the first cost of
the apparatus, and its deterioration, the saving must always be considerable, especially if
the number of lights furnished are comparatively in a small place.
At the same time were we to offer advice to the public on this subject, it would be,
that no private individual resident in London, should attempt to light his premises, for the
sake of economy, with coal gas by means of his own apparatus, whose annual expence
for light does not exceed forty pounds. But when a street, or small neighbourhood is
required to be lighted the operation may be commenced with safety; the sum required
for erecting the apparatus, and the labour attending the process, together with the
interest of money sunk, will then soon be liquidated by the light and other products.
Individuals have accordingly engaged successfully in the distillation of coal, and trade
with advantage in the articles produced by the process.
In like manner may the lighting of cities be accomplished without the aid of
incorporated bodies; and parishes may be lighted by almost as many individuals as there
are streets in a parish.
The supplying of light to the street or parish lamps alone, of any district of street lamps
only, can never be undertaken with economy in this capital, nor indeed in any other; for
the money sunk in furnishing the mains or pipes only, must always greatly exceed what
any revenue from the lighting of the streets alone can compensate.
The most beneficial application of gas-lights unquestionably is in all those situations
where a great quantity of light is wanted in a small place; and where light is required to
be most diffused, the profit of this mode of illumination is the least. Hence, the lighting of
the parish, or street-lamps alone, without lighting shops or houses, can never be done
with economy.
It may be objected to the universality of our conclusion that the price of coal differing
very much in different places will occasion a variation in the expence of the new mode of
lighting.
The price of coals can however have but little effect upon the cost of the gas-lights;
because the very refuse, or small coal, which pass through the screen at the pit’s mouth,
and which cannot be brought into the market, nay, even the sweepings of the pit, which
are thrown away, may be employed for the production of coal-gas. It makes no difference
in what form the coal is used. This circumstance may contribute to enable coal-
merchants to furnish coals in larger masses, and as they come from the mine, instead of
increasing the bulk by breaking them into a smaller size, which is a practice commonly
followed.
The demand which the gas-light occasions for inferior sorts of coal may hereafter
contribute to lower the price of the superior kinds, and keep a level which cannot be
shaken under any circumstances. It may contribute to prevent combinations which do
certainly operate to the prejudice of the public, and sometimes put this great town at the
mercy of a few proprietors in the north, who deal out this commodity in any way they
please. The competition thus produced, it is impossible not to consider as an advantage,
which would tend to prevent such combinations, and put the inhabitants of London out of
the reach of them.
 The advantages which the coal trade must reap from the introduction of the gas-light
must be very considerable. There is already less waste, but a greater consumption of coal
than formerly. The lower classes of the community are scantily supplied with firing; and
nothing but a reduction of price is necessary to increase to a very large amount the
average quantity of fuel consumed in the country. The lightness of the coke produced by
the gas-light manufacture diminishing the expence of land carriage, facilitates its general
diffusion—the comforts of the poor are becoming materially augmented, and a number of
useful operations in agriculture and the arts are beginning to be carried on, which have
been hitherto checked by the extravagant price of fuel. If any additional vent were
wanted for the coke, it would readily be found in the continental market; coke being
better suited than coal to the habits of most European nations.
Many, and unquestionable as are the advantages of this new mode of procuring and
distributing light, it was not to be expected that an invention which went to impair a
branch of trade, in which a large portion of skill and capital had hitherto been
successfully employed should escape encountering very considerable opposition. On the
first introduction of the gas-lights, great but happily unsuccessful endeavours were made
to alarm the public mind by dismal forebodings of the destruction which would ensue to
the Greenland trade, and the consequent loss of a valuable nursery of British Seamen.
When impartially considered it will be found that there was nothing more in this objection
than the common clamour that is always set up against every new means of abridging
labour, to which had the public listened, an interdict would have been laid upon the
spinning and threshing machines, the steam engine, and a thousand other improvements
in machinery.
Such clamour scarcely ever fails to be made when the extension of machinery, the
application of inanimate power, and the abridgment of labour consequent on either, is a
matter proposed. We are then sure to be told that the scheme of mechanical or chemical
improvement is pointed against the human species, that it tends to drive them out of the
system of beneficial employment and that, on the whole, the sum of the improvement is
not only a less proportion of good to society, but a positive accession of misery to the
unemployed poor.
The misfortune of this argument is that to be good for any thing, it would prove a
great deal too much. It is not confined in its scope to any particular species or defined
extent of improvement, but is equally proscriptive of all improvements whatever. It is a
principle for savage life, not for a state of civilization. It takes for its basis that it is an
advantage to perpetuate that necessity for hard and incessant labour under which man
finds himself originally placed by nature, with all the wants, privations, ignorance and
ferocity, which are attendant on that condition, and that every discovery, invention, or
improvement which tends to abridge the quantity required of human labour, and to
augment the resources for living and enjoyment is a serious injury to society. The
advocates of this narrow theory do not go the whole length of maintaining that
diminishing labour, and increase of substance, are in themselves positive evils, a position
too absurd perhaps for any one to uphold; but they maintain what ends in a consequence
nearly as untrue, namely, that neither the one nor the other is of any advantage to
society at large. The palpable error of this theory is, that it supposes that all
improvements which tend to supersede human labour, are necessarily made for the
benefit of a few, and not for the common benefit of the many; that instead of lessening
to each individual the share of labour requisite to obtain the means of his subsistence,
their only tendency is to lessen the value of each personas labour, and to oblige him to
work more in order to live equally well.
Now, however the existing state of things may be in this country, or in other countries,
arising out of a variety of arbitrary circumstances, foreign to the natural, and in all cases
the ultimately inevitable course of industry, it is a matter of justice, clear and undeniable,
that every improvement in society ought to be the property of the many, and not of a
few; and that it ought either to lessen the quantity of labour necessary for acquiring the
means of living, or to increase the profit to be gained by continuing the same quantity of
labour. Nor does there seem any reason for believing that, in point of fact, the actual
distribution of things is so far from according with this principle of justice as some
superficial and prejudiced observers are fond of representing. The labourer, or artizan,
may now work a greater number of hours daily than he did years ago; but how seldom
do we find this to be the case without his comforts being more than proportionally
multiplied, and his ultimate independence from labour essentially promoted. In general,
however, the fact is, if we may give credit to well informed economists, that the working
classes do not labour more than formerly, and yet live, or at least have the means of
living better; and that by working even less than formerly, they can obtain the means of
living quite as well.
Let the real state of matters in this respect, however, be as it may, the question comes
to be one merely as to the distribution of the produce of nature and of art, and instead of
opposing improvements because they tend to encrease that produce, the object of those
who have really the good of their fellow-creatures at heart, ought to be, to encourage
such improvements as much as possible, but at the same time to obtain a correction of
any partiality or injustice which may have crept into the distribution of their beneficial
consequences. It is not to be denied that all new improvements which interfere with and
change the occupations and habits of the working classes of people, must at first expose
them to inconvenience and distress, against which it is in fairness the duty of society to
protect them; but let not that temporary inconvenience and distress which can and ought
to be provided against, be held as an insuperable obstacle to the adoption of an
improvement the ultimate tendency of which it is to better the condition of mankind.
It is likewise true that the manufacturing classes often suffer great want by the
occasional suspension of employment, and sometimes actual oppression, by the demand
for labour; but that involves a question more immediately connected with political
economy than the present subject.
It is not the machinery that is in fault in such cases, but those speculators who
occasion an inordinate excess of employment, or those statesmen who, with their folly,
derange the great machine of human interests and intercourse.
Every invention which tends to diminish the labour of men must be a benefit to the
species; and it is wicked to argue against the use of any thing from its occasional abuse.
If the application of mechanical inventions thus tends to improve the humanity of the
public, if it reduces the necessity of hard labour, and diminishes the danger of many
occupations which we contend it does, they who contribute to this object deserve our
respect and gratitude.
It may be true that we have now no such minds as those of Homer, or Bacon, or others
of their stamp; but we should reflect that the circumstances which produced such
characters are gone by, and great faculties have found other objects and other materials
to work with.
The use of mechanical industry not only improves and augments the comforts of
domestic life, but it also, perhaps, does as much to soften the feelings of mankind
towards one another as the precepts of philosophy. It tends to engender a detestation of
hard labour, and to make the world consider not what the labourer may be able to do in
tasking him, but what he ought to do without detriment to himself. It effects this by
withdrawing, to a great degree, from observation, the distressing spectacle of men and
animals toiling beyond their strength.
It ought never to be forgotten, that it is to manufactories carried on by machinery, and
abridgment of labour, that this country is indebted for her riches, independence, and
prominent station among the nations of the world.
Authentic estimates have shewn, that the use of machinery in Great Britain, is
equivalent to an addition to the population of upwards of one hundred millions of adult
persons.
This immense accession of power, has enabled this country to withstand assaults, and
to achieve objects of political ambition, that appear almost miraculous when compared
with the geographical extent and numerical population of the kingdom.
With respect to what has been advanced as to the probable injury that would result
from the general adoption of the gas-lights all over the country, to the Greenland trade, it
may be observed that the traffic might with more propriety be called a drain than a
nursery of the naval force. The nature of the Greenland service requires that the crew
should consist of able bodied sailors; and being protected men, not subject to the
impress law, they are rendered useless for national defence. The nursery of British
seamen is the coasting trade; and as the gas-light illumination becomes extended it will
increase that trade as much as it diminishes the Greenland fishery.
Even on the extreme supposition that it would annihilate the Greenland fisheries
altogether, we should have no reason to regret the event. The soundest principles of
political economy must condemn the practice of fitting out vessels to navigate the polar
seas for oil, if we can extract a superior material for procuring light at a cheaper rate
from the produce of our own soil. The consequence of lighting our dwellings and
manufactories with gas can in fact prove injurious only to our continental friends, one of
whose staple commodities, tallow, we shall then have less occasion to purchase, although
the new lights can never supersede entirely the use of candles and moveable lights.
 PART II.

Outline of the new art of procuring light by means of coal gas, and Theory of the
production of Gas Lights.

All substances, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, consisting of carbon, hydrogen,

and oxigen, when exposed to a red heat, produce various inflammable elastic fluids,
capable of furnishing artificial light.
The gases thus obtained are called carburetted hydrogen; they produce, from their
combustion, water and carbonic acid. The species of carburetted hydrogen, procured
from pit-coal, has of late been called coal gas.
We perceive the evolution of this elastic fluid, during the combustion of coal, in a
common fire. The coal, when heated to a certain degree, swells and kindles, and
frequently emits remarkably bright streams of flame. And after a certain period these
appearances cease, and the coal glows with a red light.
The flame produced from coal, wood, turf, oil, wax, tallow, or other bodies, which are
composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxigen, proceeds from the production of carburetted
hydrogen gas, evolved from the combustible body when in an ignited state.
It must have been noticed at the same time, that in the common mode of burning coal
in a fire-place, or stove, nearly the whole of this inflammable gaseous matter is lost. We
often see a flame suddenly burst from the densest smoke, and as suddenly disappear;
and if a light be applied to the little jets that issue from the bituminous part of the coal,
they will catch fire and burn with a bright flame. The fact is, that the greater part of the
carburetted hydrogen gas, capable of affording light and heat, continually escapes up the
chimney, during the decomposition of the coal, whilst only a small part is occasionally
ignited, and exhibits the phenomena of the flame.
If coal instead of being burnt in the way now stated, is submitted at a temperature of
ignition in close vessels, all its immediate constituent parts may be collected. The
bituminous part is melted out in the form of coal tar, there is disengaged at the same
time a large quantity of an aqueous fluid, contaminated with a portion of oil, and various
ammoniacal salts. A large quantity of carburetted hydrogen, carbonic oxide, carbonic
acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen also makes their appearance, and the fixed base of the
coal, alone remains behind in the distillatory apparatus, in the form of a carbonaceous
substance called coke. An analysis of the coal is thus effected by the process of
destructive distillation. The products which the coal furnishes may be separately collected
in different vessels. The carburetted hydrogen, or coal gas, when freed from the foreign
gases may be propelled in streams out of small apertures, which when lighted may serve
as a flame of a candle and then form what we now call Gas Lights.
 It is in this manner that from pitcoal a production of our own soil, we procure a pure,
lasting and brilliant light, which in other cases must be derived from materials in part
imported from abroad.
In order to apply this mode of procuring light on a large scale as now practised with
unparalleled success in this country, the coal is put into vessels called retorts and
furnished with pipes connected with reservoirs to receive the distillatory products. The
retorts are fixed into a furnace, and heated to redness. The heat developes from the coal
the gaseous and liquid products, the latter are deposited into receivers, and the former
are conducted through water in which quick lime is diffused by which the carburetted
hydrogen gas is purified. The sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid which were mixed
with it, become absorbed by the quick-lime, and the pure carburetted hydrogen is stored
up in a vessel called the gas-holder, and is then ready for use.
From the reservoir in which the gas has been collected, proceed pipes, which branch
out into smaller ramifications until they terminate at the place where the lights are
wanted and the extremities of the branch pipes are furnished with stop-cocks to regulate
the flow of the gas into the burners or lamps.
The production of gas-lights, is therefore analogous to that of flame produced from
tallow, wax, or oil. All these substances possess, in common with coal, the elements of
certain peculiar matters, which are capable of being converted into inflammable elastic
fluids by the application of heat.
The capillary tubes, formed by the wick of a candle, or lamp, serve the office of the
retorts, placed in the heated furnace in the gas-light process and in which the
inflammable gaseous fluid is developed. The wax tallow or oil, is drawn up into these
ignited tubes, and is decomposed into carburetted hydrogen gas, and from the
combustion of this substance the illumination proceeds. In the lamp as well as in the
candle, the oil, or tallow, must therefore be decomposed before they can produce a light,
but for this purpose the decomposition of a minute quantity of the materials successively,
is sufficient to give a good light. Thus originates the flame of a candle or lamp.
Nothing more therefore is aimed at in the gas-light process, than to separate the
immediate products which coal affords, when submitted to a temperature of ignition in a
close vessel; to collect these products in separate reservoirs, and to convey one of the
products, the inflammable gas, by means of pipes and branching tubes, to any required
distance, in order to exhibit it there at the orifice of the conducting tube, so that it may
be used as a candle or lamp.
The whole difference between the gigantic process of the gas light operation, and the
miniature operation of a candle or lamp, consists in having the distillatory apparatus at
the gas-light manufactory, instead of being in the wick of a candle or lamp. In having the
crude inflammable matter decomposed previous to the elastic fluid being wanted, and
stored up for use, instead of being prepared and consumed as fast as it proceeds from
the decomposed oil, wax or tallow; and lastly, in transmitting the gas to any required
distance, and igniting it at the burner or lamp of the conducting tube, instead of burning
it at the apex of the wick. The principle of the gas-light manufacture is therefore rational,
and justifiable by the general mode in which all light is produced.
It only remains to be observed that while the new and important use to which pitcoal
may thus be applied, affords a strong confirmation of what has been well observed, that
of all subterraneous combustible substances, coal is in this country by far the most
important natural production.[2] “It is connected not only with the necessities, comforts
and enjoyments of life, but also with the extension of our most important arts, our
manufactures, commerce and national riches.
[2] Davy on the Safety Lamp.

“Essential in affording warmth and preparing food, it yields a sort of artificial sunshine
and in some measure compensates for the disadvantages of our climate.
“By means of it metallurgical processes are carried on, and the most important
materials of civilized life furnished, the agriculturist is supplied with a useful manure and
the architect with a necessary cement. Not only manufactories and private houses, but
even whole streets and towns are lighted by its application, and in furnishing the
elements of activity in the steam-engine, it has given a wonderful impulse to mechanical
and chemical ingenuity, diminished to a great extent human labour, and increased in a
high degree the strength and wealth of the country.”
 PART III.

Classification of Pit-coal, and maximum quantity of gas, obtainable from different kinds of
Coal.

We have stated already that pitcoal is in this country the cheapest crude natural
production from which carburetted hydrogen gas can be obtained in the large way. It is
that which yields it in abundance, and which can with the least trouble and expence be
subjected to the operation it has to undergo for the production of the gas.[3] Nature has
dealt this mineral out to us, with an unsparing hand, and has provided mines of coal
which seem to defy the power of man to exhaust.
[3] Other Substances from which carburetted hydrogen gas, may be economically obtained, are animal
and vegetable oil, tar, both vegetable and coal tar; pitch, resin, the essential oils obtainable from
vegetable and from coal tar, and the compact species of turf. On this subject we shall speak
hereafter.

The principal coal mines in England are those near Newcastle and Whitehaven. The
town of Newcastle stands on beds of coal which extend to a considerable distance round
the place, and which as far as concerns many hundred generations after us, may be
pronounced inexhaustible.
Pitcoal like all other bituminous substances is composed of a fixed carbonaceous base
in the state of bitumen, united to a small portion of earthy and saline matter, which
constitute the ashes left behind when the coal is burnt. The proportions of these parts
differ considerably in different kinds of coal; and according to the prevalence of one or
other of them, so the coal is more or less combustible, passing by various shades from
the most inflammable coal into blind coal, Kilkenny coal, or stone coal, and lastly into a
variety of earthy, or stony substances, which although they are inflammable do not merit
the appellation of coal.
All the varieties of coal used in this country for fuel may be divided into the following
classes.
The first class comprehends those varieties which are chiefly composed of bitumen
only, which take fire easily, and burn briskly with a strong and yellowish white blaze,
which do not swell or cake on the fire, and require no stirring, which produce no slag,
and by a single combustion are reduced to light white ashes. Some of this species of coal
when suddenly heated crackle and split into pieces, especially if laid on the fire in the
direction of the cross fracture of their laminæ.
Cannel coal, deserves to be placed at the head of this class; next to this, we may rank
all those descriptions of coal known in the London market by the names of Hartley,
Cowper’s Main, Tanfield Moor, Eighton Main, Blythe, and Pont Tops. It also includes the
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