A WONDERFUL LIGHT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2447, 17 March 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WONDERFUL LIGHT.

A demonstration' was lately made at the Crystal Palace of a new illnminant. of more brilliancy even than the electric light. So exceedingly powerful is it in effect that ordinary manuscript can be read at a distance of 150 paces from a jet, which, it is stated, costs but 3d an hour. Yet the Lucigen light, as it is called—the invention of Mr J. B. Hannay —is produced from the cheapest anil commonest substances, being purely the combustion of erude and waste oils, such as proceed from any gas-works. The Ollicial Gas Analyst of Glasgow is cited as the authority for a statement that the cost of it is from one-tenth to one-twelfth that of j;as, and about one-twentieth that of electric light of the same actual candle power. The Lucigen light, notwithstanding, is of a quality more effective for working purposes. For engineering use the naked eye is employed, but for street illumination it is covered with an ornamental lantern. The French Government employed the light in their mobilisation experiments, and it has been adopted by the Forth bridge engineers. l}ri(;lly stated, the method of producing this wonderful light consists of a mixture of compressed air and minutely divided oil particles, resulting when ignited in a continuous steady llame of exceeding brightness. The flame is under perfect control with a tap similar to gas. The wonderful breadth and cheapness of the light has led the inventor to recommend it"for lighting the Suez Canal, so that tin flic could be maintained day and night, and the proposal to widen the canal would be totally unnecessary ._ Mr .1 lannay lias also turned his invention to a very practical use, by coupling it with another invention, styled the Pyrigen, an apparatus for the heating of metals, likely to be of great use to engineers, as it performs its task with a cleanliness, economy, and certainty quite unattainable in the use of coal. The heat can be regulated to a nicety by merely turning a tap ; can be raised to white heat in a few minutes, and can be kept absolutely steady for any length of time. The experiments with the Pyrigen were most successful at tin; Palace, and the beauty of the Lucigen 'light astonished and captivated all spectators. Electric light was the dream of the future, but in the face of the Lucigen light, the reality bodes to be a r; t irn to the fashion of oar grandfather.; in the employment of oil, only in a vastly improved lorm.