Chapter 3

When the gas is lighted at the burner, and the glass closed, the burner begins to act at once, although some minutes are necessarily required to elapse before its full brilliancy is gained. The cold air passes in through the tubes provided for it, and when these are heated to the fullest extent on their outside, by the hot fumes from the burner, they so readily part with their heat to the air that a temperature of 1,000° to 1,200° Fahr. is easily obtained in the air when it arrives inside, and commences in turn to heat the burner-tubes. The air-tubes are placed so as to intercept the hot gases as completely as possible; and also, of course, obtain heat by conduction from the sides of the annular body. It is evident that the number and dimensions of these tubes might be increased so as to abstract almost all the heat from the escaping fumes, but for the limitations imposed, first, by a consideration of the actual quantity of air required to support combustion, and, secondly, by the obligation to let sufficient ascensional power remain in the gases which are left to pass out through the upper chimney. If the gases are cooled too much, they will either fall back into the lamp and extinguish the flame, or will be removable only by the draught of a long chimney. It will probably be the aim of the inventor to balance these requirements, and so to produce burners with very short or longer chimneys, according as appearance is to be consulted or the highest possible effect produced. The burner is a ring of brass tubes of considerable diameter, in proportion to the quantity of gas consumed, and thus provides for the delivery of gas expanded by heat. In connection with this device an explanation may be found of the failure of the British Association Committee on Gas Burners to find any advantage from previously heating the air and gas consumed. The Committee did not make the necessary provision for the increased bulk of the combustible and its air supply, caused by their heightened temperature; and the same quantity of gas measured cold (at the meter) could only be driven through the ordinary small burner holes at a velocity destructive of good results. Herr Frederick Siemens perceived this in his early experiments, and not only increased the orifices of his burners, but provided for the closer contact of the more rarefied gas and air by the use of notched deflectors, which are now an essential part of his apparatus. Mr. Grimston also uses separate tubes of large area for his hot gas, but dispenses with deflectors, save in so far as the same duty may be performed by the plain lower edge of the inner cylinder of the lamp body, and the indentation of the glass beneath, which, as will be noticed, is made to follow the shape of the flame. It only remains now to speak of the flame and its qualities. It is, in the first place, a flame of hot gas, burning at an extremly small velocity of flow, and wholly exposed to view from the exact point which it is required to light. In this latter respect it differs materially, and with advantage, from the Siemens burner, which, while presenting an extremely brilliant and beautiful ball of flame outside its central tube of porcelain, may yet be tailing smokily downward inside this opaque screen, and thereby causing unperceived waste. The flame of the Grimston burner, on the other hand, is quite exposed, and all its light, from the ends of the burner-tubes to the point where visible combustion ceases, is made available for use. As a perfect Argand flame in the usual position has been likened in form to a tulip flower, so the flame of this burner presents the appearance of an inverted convolvulus. So far as he has already gone, Mr. Grimston prefers to keep the tubes of the burner at such a distance from each other that the several jets part at the point where they turn upward, so that the convolvulus figure is not maintained to the edge of the flame. From its peculiar position the light is, of course, completely shadowless as regards the lamp which affords it; and this, of itself, is no small recommendation for a pendant. It shows well for the simplicity and effectiveness of the perfected burners that Mr. Grimston's experimental example, although necessarily imperfect In many ways, burns with a remarkably steady light, of great brilliancy, which is assured by the fact that the products of combustion are robbed of all their heat to magnify the useful effect, so that the hand may be borne with ease over the outlet of the chimney. With respect to the endurance of the apparatus, it will be sufficient to remark that there is nothing in the gas or air heating arrangements to get out of order, and they are all easily accessible while the burner is in action. The glass is not liable to breakage, although it is in close proximity to the flame, as may be gathered from the testimony of the inventor, who has never broken one, notwithstanding the severity of some of his experimental studies upon his first lamp. The consumption of gas in the first working-model burner made by Mr. Grimston was 10 cubic feet per hour, and its illuminating power averaged 60 candles. The diameter of this burner was 1¼ inches across the tubes. It is scarcely necessary to state that if this high duty, which was obtained with the ordinary 16-candle gas of the Gaslight and Coke Company, can be maintained, to say nothing of being exceeded, in the commercial article, the Grimston burner, with its other advantages over all existing methods of obtaining equal results, has a great future before it. For example, it does not require a separate air supply under high pressure, or any extra material to render incandescent, and it may be turned on full immediately upon lighting. It throws a shadowless light, and lends itself to ventilating arrangements; and it is not by any means cumbersome, delicate in construction, or costly in manufacture. One of the greatest advantages to which it lays claim is, however, the power of yielding almost as good results in a small burner as in a large one. This is a consideration of great moment, when it is remembered that the tendency of most of the high power burners hitherto introduced is to benefit the lighting of streets, large interiors, and, generally speaking, points of great consumption. Meanwhile, the private user of burners, consuming from 3 to 5 cubic feet of gas per hour, has been left to attain as best he might, by the use of burners excellent of their kind, to the maximum effect of the standard Argand. Now, however, Mr. Grimston seeks to make the small consumer partake of the advantages erstwhile reserved for the wholesale user of large and costly Siemens and other lamps, and he even looks to this class of patrons with particular care. The example which we now illustrate, in Fig. 1, is a sectional presentment precisely half the actual size of a 5-foot burner, which it is intended to prepare for the market before all others. Another simple form of the burner, with vertical tubes, will, we understand, be introduced as soon as possible. It will be readily understood that the principle is capable of being embodied in many shapes; and it is satisfactory to learn that the inventor is quite alive to the necessity of producing a cheap as well as a good burner.

Gas companies, as Mr. Livesey has expressed it, will be well content with a slower relative growth of consumption, if their consumers are at the same time making their gas go as far again as formerly, by the use of burners which turn nominal 16-candle gas into gas of 30-candle actual illuminating power. How far Mr. Grimston's invention may succeed in this work it is not for us to say. It is sufficient for the present that he has done excellently well in showing how Herr Frederick Siemens' scientific principles of regenerative gas burner construction may be carried out yet in another way. There is nothing more common in industrial annals than for one man to begin a work which another is destined to bring to greater perfection. Whether this natural process is to be repeated in the present instance must be left for the future to decide. In any case, Mr. Grimston's success, if success is to be his reward, though it will be well merited by his ingenuity and perseverance in solving a difficult problem, will never cause us to forget the prior claims of Herr Frederick Siemens, of Dresden, to the palm of the discoverer. Mr. Grimston may or may not be the happy inventor of the best gas-burner of the day; but there is the consolation of knowing that in the same field in which he will find his recompense there is room for any number and variety of useful improvements of a like character and object.--_Journal of Gas Lighting_.

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DEFTY'S IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS BURNERS AND HEATERS.

Among other inventors who have turned their attention to gas consumption is to be found Mr. H. Defty, who has made several forms both of heating and lighting burners. Mr. Defty has sought in the latter to apply the principle of heating the air and gas in a simple manner, with the object of obtaining improved photometrical results. The double-chimney Argand, as tried many years since by Dr. Frankland and others, makes a reappearance in one of Mr. Defty's models, illustrated in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1).

Here we have the double-chimney, a and b, for heating the air supplied to an ordinary Argand, by causing it to pass downward between the two chimneys, and inward to the point of combustion through a wire-gauze screen, c, under the inner chimney; but, in addition thereto, Mr. Defty hopes to gain an improved result by causing the gas to pass through the internal tube, s, which rises up in the middle of the flame. The gas, which enters at e, is made to pass up through the inner tube and down through the annular space to the burner.

A more important form of lantern is the subject of the next diagram (Fig. 2), which shows a suspended globe lantern in which there is an attempt made to heat the air by the waste heat of the products of combustion. It will be perceived by the diagram that a globe lantern is furnished with a double chimney; the annular space, C, between the inner and outer chimneys allowing for the access of air in a downward direction. At the lower of this annular channel are the tubes D, protected by the graduated mesh, E, and which admit the air to the burner below. The products of combustion of the flame rise through the inner chimney, passing around the tubes, and thereby giving up some of their heat to the incoming air. Farther up, the chimney is partly filled with the convoluted gas-pipe, A, which also takes up some of the waste heat, and delivers the gas to the burner at a correspondingly high temperature. A very simple method of lighting this burner, which in itself does not present anything remarkable, is arranged at the lower part of the globe, where a hole is cut and a loose conical glass plug (which can, of course, be made to partake of the general ornamentation of the globe) may be pushed up to allow of the passage of the lighting agent, and is then dropped in its place again. Formal tests of the performances of these burners are not available; and the same may be said of the heating burners which are shown in the following diagrams.

The first of these (Fig. 3) is called by Mr. Defty a "pyramid heater," and is designed to heat the mixture of air and gas before ignition, by conduction from its own flame. The inventor claims to effect a perfect combustion in this manner with considerable economy of fuel. It is evident, however, that a good deal of the gas consumed goes to heat the burner itself.

The next and last of Mr. Defty's productions to be at present described is the so-called "crater burner," shown herewith (Fig. 4). This is an atmospheric burner which is purposely made to "fire back," as well as to burn on the top of the apparatus. The body of the burner, like the pyramid heater just described, is full of fire-clay balls, which become very hot from the lower flame, and thus, after the burner has been for some time in action, a pale, lambent blaze crowns the top, apparently greater in volume than when it is first lighted. Here, again, there is a lamentable absence of reliable data as to economic results, which will, perhaps, be afforded when the apparatus in question is ready to be offered to the public.

Whether one inventor or another succeeds in distancing his rivals, it is matter, says _The Journal of Gas Lighting_, for sincere congratulation among the friends of gas lighting that so much attention is being concentrated upon the improvement of gas burners for all purposes. This is an open field which affords scope for more workers than have yet entered upon it, and there is the certainty of substantial reward to whoever can realize a worthy advance upon the established practice.

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NEW BINDING MACHINES.

The accompanying cuts represent two new machines for binding together books and pamphlets. They are the invention of Messrs. Brehmer & Co., and are now much used in England and Germany. The material used for binding is galvanized iron wire.

_Machine Operated by Hand_ (Fig. 1).--This machine serves for fastening together the pages of pamphlets through the middle of the fold, or for binding together several sheets to form books up to a thickness of about half an inch.

It consists of a small cast-iron frame, with which is articulated a lever, _i_, maneuvered by a handle, _h_. This lever is provided at its extremity with a curved slat, in which engages a stud, fixed to the lower part of a movable arm, _c_, whose extremity, _d_, rises and descends when the lever handle, _h_, is acted upon. This maneuver can be likewise performed by the foot, if the handle, _h_, be connected with a pedal, X, placed at the foot of the table that supports the machine, as shown in Fig. 2. The lever, _i_, is always drawn back to its first position, when left to itself, by means of the spring, _z_.

The staples for binding have nearly the form of the letter U, and are placed, to the number of 250 or 300, on small blocks of wood, _m_. To prepare the machine for work, the catch, _a_, is shoved back, and the whole upper part of the piece, _b_, is removed. The rod, _e_, with its spring, is then drawn back until a small hole in _e_ is perceived, and into this there is introduced the hook, _f_, which then holds the spring. The block of wood, _m_, filled with staples, is then rested against a rectangular horizontal rod, and into this latter the staples are slipped by hand. The upper part of the piece, _b_, is next put in place and fastened with the catch, _a_. Finally, the spring is freed from the hook, _f_. When it is desired to bind the pages of a pamphlet, the latter is placed open on the support, _g_, which, as will be noticed, is angular above, so that the staple may enter exactly on the line of the fold. Then the handle, _h_, is shoved down so as to act on the arm, _c_, and cause the descent of the extremity, _d_, as well as the vertical piece, _b_, with which it engages. This latter, in its downward travel, takes up one of the staples, which are continually thrust forward by the rod and spring, and causes it to penetrate the paper. At this moment, the handle, _h_, makes the lever, _n_, oscillate, and this raises, through its other extremity, a vertical slide whose head bends the two points of the staple toward each other. The handle, _h_, is afterward lifted, the position of the pamphlet is changed, and the same operation is repeated. When it is desired to form a book from a number of sheets, the table, _l_, is mounted on the support, _g_, its two movable registers are regulated, and the sheets are spread out flat on it. The machine, in operating, drives the staples in along the edge of the sheets, and the points are bent over, as above indicated.

The axis on which the lever, _i_, is articulated is eccentric, and is provided on the side opposite the lever with a needle, _k_, revolving on a dial. The object of this arrangement is to regulate the machine according to the thickness of the book.

_Machine to be Operated by a Motor_ (Fig. 3).--This machine, although working on the same principle, is of an entirely different construction. It is designed for binding books of all dimensions. It consists of a frame, _a_, in two pieces, connected by cross-pieces, and carries a table, _u_, designed to receive the sheets before being bound together. Motion is transmitted by means of a cone, _c_, mounted loose on the shaft, _b_. To start the machine, the foot is pressed on the pedal, _m_, which, through the intermedium of links and arms, brings together the friction plates, _d_, one of which is connected with the shaft, _b_, and the other with the cone, _c_. When it is desired to stop the machine, the pedal is left free to itself, while the counterpoise, _s_, ungears the friction plates. The machine fastens the paper with galvanized iron wire wound round bobbins placed at the side of the apparatus. This wire it cuts, and forms into staples.

The book to be bound is placed on the support, _h_, and the arms, _k_, that carry the fasteners cause it to move backward and forward. It also undergoes a second motion--that is, it moves downward according to the number and thickness of its pages. This motion, which takes place every time the operator adds a new sheet, is regulated by a cog-wheel register, _l_, which is divided, and provided with a needle.

The iron wires pass from the bobbins on a support to the left of the machine by means of feed rollers, which thrust them through the eight clips. In the interior of these latter there is a double knife, which, actuated by one of the cams of the wheel, _e_, cuts the wire and bends it thus [Inline Illustration]. The extremities of the staples are thrust through the back of the half opened leaves, and then bent toward each other thus [Inline Illustration], by the front fastener. This motion is effected by means of two levers, _p_ (moved by the cams, _e_), whose extremities at every revolution of the machine seize by the two ends a link that maneuvers the fasteners. The binding of one sheet finished, the lower arms of the machine again take their position, the wires move forward the length necessary to form new staples, a new sheet is laid, and the same operation is proceeded with. The number of staples and their distance are changed, according to the size of the book, by introducing into the machine as much wire as will be necessary for the staples. To prevent their number from increasing the thickness of the back of the book (as would happen were they superposed), the support, _h_, moves laterally at every blow, so as to cause the third staple to be driven over the first, the second over the fourth, etc.

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FLUMES AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION.

In crossing ravines in this State, flumes or wrought iron pipes are used. Many miners object to flumes on account of their continual cost and danger of destruction by fire. Where used and practicable, they are set on heavier grades than ditches, 30 to 35 ft. per mile, and, consequently, are proportionately of smaller area than the ditches. In their construction a straight line is the most desirable. Curves, where required, should be carefully set, so that the flume may discharge its maximum quantity. Many ditches in California have miles of fluming. The annexed sketch, drawn by A. J. Bowie, Jr., will show the ordinary style of construction.

The planking ordinarily used is of heart sugar pine, one and a half to two inches thick, and 12 to 18 inches wide. Where the boards join, pine battens three inches wide by one and a half thick cover the seam. Sills, posts, and caps support and strengthen the flume every four feet. The posts are mortised into the caps and sills. The sills extend about 20 inches beyond the posts, and to them side braces are nailed to strengthen the structure. This extension of the sill timbers affords a place for the accumulation of snow and ice, and in the mountains such accumulations frequently break them off, and occasionally destroy a flume.

To avoid damage from slides, snow, and wind storms, the flumes are set in as close as possible to the bank, and rest, wholly or partially, on a solid bed, as the general topography and costs will admit. Stringers running the entire length of the flume are placed beneath the sills just outside of the posts. They are not absolutely necessary, but in point of economy are most valuable, as they preserve the timbers. As occasion may demand, the flume is trestled, the main supports being placed every eight feet. The scantling and struts used are in accordance with the requirements of the work.--_Min. and Sci. Press_.

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CHUWAB'S ROLLING MILL FOR DRESSING AND ROUNDING BAR IRON.

This new forge apparatus has been devised for the purpose of finishing up round irons of all diameters while hot, as they come out of the ordinary rolling mill, by rendering them perfectly circular, cylindrical, straight, smooth, and level at the extremities, as if they had passed through a slide lathe. Such a high degree of external finish is a very valuable feature in those round irons that are employed in so great quantity for shafting, cylindrical axles, etc., as well as in the manufacture of bolts and locks. Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the opposite engraving will allow it to be seen that this apparatus which is usually installed at the side of the finishing cylinder is, in part, beneath the general level of the forge floor. It may be placed parallel with or perpendicular to the apparatus that it does duty for, this depending upon the site at disposal or the mode of transmission.

The apparatus consists essentially of two tempered iron cylinders, A, 0.5 of a meter in diameter by 1.5 meters in length, revolving in the _same direction_ (contrary to what takes place in ordinary rolling mills) between two frames, B, that are open on one side to allow of the entrance of the finishing bar. This latter is held between the cylinders, A, which roll it so much the faster in proportion as its diameter is smaller, and by a scraper guide, C, of the same length as the cylinder table, and which may be regulated at will by bolts, c, fixed to the frame, B. The bottom cylinder remains always in the same position, while the axle, D, which carries the intermediate wheels, E, moves about to gear in all the relative positions of the cylinders. The displacement of the upper cylinder is effected through the clamping screws, b, which are actuated by toothed disks that gear with two endless screws keyed at the extremities of one shaft in common, d, which is set in motion by hand through the winches, m m. The scraper guards, e e, take up and throw aside all scales that might become attached to the cylinders, which are constantly moistened by small streams of water coming from an ordinary conduit.