Argand burner

“ PART XIII. Gas Lamps, and Burners. The lamps or burners for the combustion of coal gas, may be infinitely and tastefully varied. The varieties commonly employed, are the Argand burner, the Cockspur burner, and the Bat’s Wing burner.
The Argand burner, fig. 10, and 11, plate V., consists of two concentric brass tubes, about one and a half inch long, and seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, (the largest size burner employed.) ”

“ In 1875 the London Argand, giving a duty of 3.2 candles illuminating power per cubic foot of ordinary 16 candle gas, was looked upon as the most perfect burner of the day, and little hope was entertained that any burner capable of universal adoption would surpass it in its power of developing light from the combustion of coal gas ”

“ In experimenting with common burners, argand and others, it is found that, if the aperture in the tip is too small for the orifice in the body of the burner, the escaping gas is too highly heated and is consumed too quickly. So with Leslie's burner in an increased degree. Theories brought to the test of experiment are often disappointing. ”

“ In the use of coal gas as a source of heat, the principal difficulty to be avoided, is its tendency to smoke; this I have accomplished in a variety of ways. The ordinary argand gas burner, fixed permanently upon a branch pipe passing up through the table, is one of the cheapest, and a convenient arrangement for many purposes, and to prevent smoke, a tall glass chimney, or a short sheet iron chimney, with every other hole in the burner plugged, so as to make separate and distinct jets for the air to pass through, is all that is necessary. ”

“ If the air which is to support the combustion be heated before it reaches the flame, especially in the case of flat-flame burners, better results are produced, as was pointed out by Prof. Frankland more than 10 years ago, and this principle is now being carried out by some Continental burner makers. Of modern argands there are many excellent varieties, which can evolve 15-30 per cent. more light for the same quantity of gas than the best flat-flame burners. ”

“ With burners of the mechanical atomizing design, the method of introducing air for combustion and the velocity of this air are of the greatest importance in securing good combustion and in the effects on the character and shape of the flame. Such burners are located at the front of the furnace and various methods have been tried for introducing the air for combustion. Where, in the spray burners, air is ordinarily admitted through a checkerwork under the burner proper, with the mechanical burner, it is almost universally admitted around the burner. ”

“ BURNERS.--Burners consuming one-half of a cubic foot of gas per hour are considered standard in rating generators. Those having a greater or less capacity will decrease or increase the number of burners allowable in proportion.
Burners usually consume from 25 to 100 per cent. more than their rated consumption of gas, depending largely on the working pressure. The so- called 1/2-foot burner when operated at pressures of from 20- to 25- tenths inches water column (2 to 2-1/2 inches) is usually used with best economy. ”

“ For many years no advance was made upon these forms of burner, but when, ten years ago, it was recognized that anything which cools the flame reduces its value, while anything which increases its temperature raises its illuminating power, then a change took place in the forms of burner in use, and the regenerative burners, introduced by such men as Siemens, Grimston, and Bower, commenced what was really a revolution in gas lighting. ”

“ The 1-foot burner is more economical when in the best condition, but requires a higher gas pressure, and is rather too powerful a unit light for good illuminating effect; the 0.5 burner naturally gives a better illuminating effect, but its economy is surpassed by the 0.7-foot burner, which is not too powerful for the human eye. ”

“ The additional light is not caused, as some of you may suppose, by a combined burner, as I have here a simple one, burning the same quantity of gas as the two smaller burners together; and the advantage of the simple large burner is quite as great. It is a well-known fact that the larger the gas consumption in a single flame, the higher the duty obtained for the gas burnt. There is a practical limit to this with ordinary simple burners; as when they are too large they are very sensitive to draught, and liable to unsteadiness and smoking. ”

“ In fact the method of adding some air to a naturally luminous gas before it arrives at its place of combustion is the principle of the Bunsen burner, used for incandescent lighting and for most forms of warming and cooking stoves. A well-made modern atmospheric burner, however, does not add an excess of air to the flame, as might appear from what has been said ”

“ By increasing the number of burners a small portion of light from each burner would slightly increase the effective action, but by far the greater portion of the light produced would escape uselessly above and below the horizon and also at the back of each flame. ”

“ The central gas-pipe, a (Figs. 1 and 3) , is connected to a distributing chamber, whence the annular cluster of brass tubes, a', a, (Figs. 1 and 2) , are prolonged downward, forming the burner. The burner is inclosed in an iron or brass annular casing, b, b, which forms the main framework of the apparatus. The annular space which it affords is the outlet chimney or flue for the products of combustion of the burner beneath, and is crossed by a number of thin brass tubes, c, c, which lead from the outer air into the inner space containing the burner tubes, a', a', already described. ”

“ The Kern burner, for example, employs the principle of the Venturi tube. Where much primary air is drawn in it is usual to provide for it being well mixed with the gas, otherwise an unsteady flame may be produced with a great tendency to light back. The burner head is therefore usually provided with a mixing chamber and the mixture issues through a slit or a mesh. A great many modified Bunsen burners have been produced, the aim in all of them being to produce a flame which shall combine steadiness with the smallest attainable external surface. ”

“ Although with a perfectly made regenerative burner it might be possible for a short time to get a duty as high as 16 candles per cubic foot from ordinary coal-gas, such a burner constructed of the ordinary materials would last only a few hours, so that for practical use and a reasonable life for the burner 10 candles per cubic foot was about the highest commercial duty that could be reckoned on. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A third way of forming a flame is to allow the whole of one gas, mixed with a less quantity of the second than is sufficient for complete combustion, to issue into an atmosphere of the second. This is the case with what are generally known as atmospheric burners, of which the Bunsen burner is the prototype. The development of a flame of this kind can be well studied in the case of carbon monoxide and air. The carbon monoxide is fed into a Bunsen burner with closed air-valve, the burner-tube being prolonged by affixing a glass tube to it by means of a cork. ”

“ In every case I have seen, without one single exception, the holes are either too small, or the burner is placed too close, and the consequence is that the gas, instead of burning inside the holes, as it should, passes through partially unburnt, and is consumed at the opposite end, where it is absolutely useless, the flame not being in contact with or under the surface to be heated, and therefore doing no work. ”

“ The fuel is forced to the burner from a pressure tank. With this improved mouthpiece burner control, the burner may be adjusted for a slug of any size. The best results can be obtained from a gasoline or kerosene burner by keeping it clean.
GAS BURNERS
The gas burner used to heat the metal pot is made up of three sections. The largest burner heats the main part of the pot. Another pipe leads up to heat the throat, and a small burner heats the mouthpiece. The pot and throat [Pg 56] burners are held near the pot by a rod which passes through the pot jacket and under the pot burner. ”

“ When a flame is just not flaring, any one of a certain range of notes sounded near it may make it flare while the note is sounding. This was first noticed by John Le Conte (Phil. Mag., 1858, 15, p. 235) , and later by W. F. Barrett {PhU. Mag., 1867, 33, p. 216) . Barrett found that the best form of burner for ordinary gas pressure might be made of glass tubing about I in. in diameter contracted to an orifice / 8 inch in diameter, the orifice being nicked by a pair of scissors into a V-shape. ”

“ If the hot-tube system of ignition be employed, the Bunsen burner is ignited, care being taken that the flame emerging from the tube is blue in color. If necessary the admission of air to the burner is regulated by the usual adjusting-sleeve. A white or smoky flame indicates an insufficient supply of air to the burner. ”

“ Open-flame burners are used for acetylene gas because no mantle burner has been constructed which will operate reliably with this rich gas.
Acetylene gas gives about ten times as much light per cubic foot as manufactured gas burned in an open flame. The burners require little care. Sometimes the holes in burners become stopped, and they should be cleaned out with a fine pointed instrument like a needle. When they do not work well, it pays to replace the old tips with new ones. ”

“ It has been found that common bat-wing or fish-tail burners are not adapted to burning this gas as ordinarily made, owing to the variable density of the gas coming from the generating apparatus. The object of my improvement is to adapt the slitted or bat-wing burner to the burning of air-gas. Said improvements consist First, in perforating the base of the burner-tube with small holes or passages for gas to escape at the base of the burner, and surrounding the burner with a tube open at the top but closed at the bottom, and united to the burner below the perforations in the burner-tube. ”

“ All the parts of the burner are thus surrounded by a highly-heated atmosphere, especially at the bottom of the double chimney; and it will be readily understood that, if the branches which lead the gas to the burner are constructed of a highly conductive metal, the gas will become heated in its turn by passing through passages raised to a high temperature. ”

“ It is worth observing that although injector burners are satisfactory in practice, and are in fact almost the only jets yet found to give prolonged satisfaction, the method of injecting air below the point of combustion in a self-luminous burner is in some respects wrong in principle. ”

“ Indeed, this simple, but as we now regard it, inefficient burner, would probably have remained the best-known type for many years longer than it did had not the possibilities of lighting by electricity aroused persons interested in the great gas-plants to the fact that the new illuminant was jeopardizing their enormous investments; making it clear that they must bestir themselves and improve their flat burners if they would arrest disaster. ”

“ So in a modern city if all the gas were turned off simultaneously at all the burners but one, the flame would no doubt blaze at that one burner with a fierceness such as no single burner could shew when all are burning at the same time. The analogy may help us to understand the process of reasoning which leads the peasantry to insist on the extinction of all common fires when the need-fire is about to be kindled. ”

“ Many processes, such as making oil and turpentine varnishes, require a heat under instant control, and in these the use of gas is an important matter, as the loss and risk of fire are very serious elements of expense, more especially in small works where special and costly preparations for contingencies cannot be afforded. I have here a burner which, for its power, is, perhaps, the most compact and gives the highest temperature of any burner yet known, and it is easily made in almost any size ”

“ One good burner of modern type under each shade ought, with fairly good gas, to be sufficient for all purposes. It will save a great deal of gas as compared with the ring burner, and will cause fewer headaches. ”

“ 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. ”