Improvement in Gas Illumination.

Southland Times, Issue 1009, 24 August 1868, Page 3

Improvement in Gas Illumination.

— It was some time since proposed, observes the "Miniug Journal, to substitute for the ordinary gas light the more intense Drummond light, which is produced by introducing a piece of quick- i lime or magnesia iuto the flame of a mixture of oxygen and street gas. The effects thus obtained surpass those of the latter so considerably that most persons have felt that all that was required to permit of this principle of lighting was the introduction of a cheap process of obtaining oxygen gas. Mr Bourbouze, however, has nbwcpnstructed an apparatus which does away entirely with the preparation of oxygen, affording at the same time a great economy in regard to the quantity of gas employed. The former is substituted by atmospheric air, the practical arrangement for effecting the combustion being the following :— The gasea are admitted into one common tube ; from thence they pass through a sheet of metal, perforated with a great many holes, in order to be divided into many small jets ; these are delivered through a gauze of platinum wire, when they are lighted. The metal, in being heated, soon becomes red, then white, and thus diffuses a dazzling light.