Ray Cummings

Name: The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps
Author: Ray Cummings

The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

Summary

“The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps”, published in 1920, is a work by Ray Cummings. It explores elements such as Jimmy, furnace and coal.

Quotes from The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (Ray Cummings)

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ In modern furnaces, for the fusion of glass or other operations where great heat is necessary, the process of combustion of the fuel is carried on, not in one operation, as it is in the simple furnaces with which every one is familiar, but in two distinct, separate, progressive stages.
The first stage takes place in a subsidiary furnace known as a “gas producer.” Here part of the heat which the fuel is capable of generating is utilized for the production of a combustible gas. In other words the fuel is changed into gaseous form, but only partly burned. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ This the president discussed at some length. “Why not put the shafts closer together?” he finally asked.
“No reason that we can see,” said Jimmy. “If they were closer it would make the connection down below easier. This second shaft is the one that brings up the gaseous products of combustion.
“We’re going to use your regular regenerative furnace, or one something like it. We can get you producer gas that is just as good as any you’re getting—from the coal we burn in the ground, if we control the air and steam right.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ This was the process Jimmy proposed to carry on in the ground; that is, only partly to consume the coal by supplying it with an insufficient amount of oxygen. And it was the unburned coal-gases—the combustible smoke, in other words—that he proposed to pipe up to the furnace at the surface—not the actual heat. The burning mine, hundreds of feet down in the ground, was in effect to be his subsidiary furnace—his gas-producer. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ He declared himself intensely interested, and stated definitely that if the thing continued to work out theoretically as it seemed now it would—and as he himself admitted he thoroughly believed it would—he certainly would-see that the company gave it a fair trial.
“Too good to pass up; we’d be the first in the field to use it, too.” He chuckled to himself. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ These unburned gases, from the producer, pass, hot, into the furnace proper; either directly or sometimes after being conveyed a considerable distance—as they would have to be according to Jimmy’s plan. In this latter event they cool off, but are heated up again by the waste heat of the furnace.
These hot gases, entering the main furnace, meet a current of hot air, also heated by the waste heat of the furnace. The combination of h6t gas and hot air burns rapidly and completely, and yields very high temperatures if properly proportioned. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ There is at first an inadequate “draft.” This supplies the fire with an insufficient amount of oxygen, and although the fuel—paper, for instance—is entirely volatilized it is not entirely burned; there is smoke, which, if it could be mixed with more air, and at a sufficiently high temperature, would burst into flame. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ray Cummings, The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (1920)

“ The president raised the question of the saving of the cost of coal; whereupon Mr. Merkle surprised Jimmy and George Cooper greatly by producing a sheet of paper with it all figured out.
“Of course y’ understand, Mr. Wentworth, I couldn’t know what this coal property is going to cost you. But when you own it—here is the saving according to the estimate we made of the fuel consumption of this new factory. But, Mr. Wentworth, coal’s going higher next year ”

Ray Cummings

Summary

Quotes from The Big Idea — VII. Jimmy Plays Trumps (Ray Cummings)

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