Gas station

“ The money dispensers at every cashier's station burst into frantic life. A torrent of large and small coins poured out on the startled customers who quickly mastered their surprise and began grabbing. Their moment of pleasure was brief because the same radio cue had set off the smoke and gas bombs I had thoughtfully dropped in all the wastebaskets. Unnoticed in the excitement, I threw a few more gas bombs in with the cashiers. This gas is an effective mixture of my own concoction, a sinister brew of regurgitants and lachrymatories. ”

“ Since there are no facilities for storage, the amount of gas, other than casinghead, #fn-s-s [1] produced and gathered each day depends on the day-to-day demands of the interstate pipelines, which in turn depend on weather and other conditions in consuming areas. Gas wells are cut on and off as the market demand for the gas requires. Gathering takes place by well pressure forcing the gas through numerous small pipes connecting each well with the central gathering plant or processing station. It is there that the gas first comes to a common 'header' and is processed for use as fuel. ”

“ A striking modern example of the use of gas fuel is demonstrated in Moncton, for here the electric power for street railway purposes, for the pumping station at the waterworks and for street and domestic lighting is all generated economically through the use of gas as a fuel. ”

“ The gas is conveyed from the works where it is made, to the station or shed where the carriages are charged, through an underground main of iron pipe, having an outside diameter of 11⁄4 in., and an inside diameter off 3⁄4 in., connecting hydrants are then attached to the main, to which gas-hose is attached at distances of about 120 ft. for filling the cylinders in the carriages. The hose is of india-rubber and canvas knit together, and is capable of withstanding a pressure of 150 lbs. ”

“ The extent of mains belonging to this station is about fifty-seven miles, there being two separate mains in some of the streets; the produce of gas from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet from a chaldron of coals. The weekly consumption of coal is reckoned at 42 bushels for each retort, amounting to about 602 chaldrons; and taking the average number of retorts worked at this station at about 153, would give an annual consumption of coals of upwards of 9,282 chaldrons, producing 111,384,000 cubic feet of gas. ”

“ In all cases where the town to be supplied is within say thirty miles of the colliery, the gas-works may with advantage be planted at the mouth, or still better at the bottom of the pit, whereby all haulage of fuel would be avoided, and the gas, in its ascent from the bottom of the colliery, would acquire an onward pressure sufficient probably to impel it to its destination. The possibility of transporting combustible gas through pipes for such a distance has been proved at Pittsburg, where natural gas from the oil district is used in large quantities. ”

“ The only places in which the pressure is raised are surrounded by vacuum jackets leading to the gas reservoir. The gas-producing plant can therefore be installed anywhere, even in dwelling-houses or cellars, without running any risk of poisoning the inmates. ”

“ In these places it is used freely for heating fuel. The actual making of gas is something that every plumber should understand. If space permitted I would describe a gas plant with all of its by-products. However, we shall deal only with the actual installation of gas piping in buildings. Gas mains are run through the streets the same as water mains are run. Branches are taken off these mains and extended into the buildings requiring gas. The gas company generally installs the gas service pipe inside of the basement wall and places a stop cock on it free of charge. ”

“ On the other hand, when too wide, there is a waste of lead, and a risk of injury from the unequal expansion of the two metals.
All gas mains laid in public streets should be placed at least eighteen inches below the surface of the ground, to secure them from being disturbed by carriages, or interfering with the paving of the street; they should be placed perfectly firm, so that they may not easily give way. ”

“ In order to avoid that the gas mains deposited under ground in public streets or other places, may not be on the one hand superfluously heavy, or as it is called thick in the metal, and consequently unnecessarily expensive, and on the other hand not too light, or too thin in the metal, so as to be liable to become injured, we shall exhibit the weight of gas mains of different bores and lengths best suited for conveying gas, now [252] employed at the best regulated gas works in the metropolis. ”

“ Remember Automatic Gas saves a lot of worry and trouble in the house. Half-an-hour’s more rest instead of getting up earlier to light the fire. The Oil Man need not call. No dust or ashes, and no Dustman to call for them. The Coal Man need not call. No bundles of firewood wanted. You simply put your penny in the slot and the Gasworks does the rest.
For further particulars apply to—
THE WALTHAM ABBEY & CHESHUNT GAS CO.,
York Road, Waltham Cross. ”

“ The course of all gas mains should be rectilinear, with a dip of about one inch, in every ten feet distance.
In all wide streets, where the number of houses on both sides of the streets, to be supplied with gas, is numerous, it is more economical to employ a separate gas main for each side of the street, than to make use of one larger main for both sides; because smaller mains may then be employed, and the collateral branch pipes leading into the houses are shorter ”

“ The Hague gas-works are like a toy, gigantic; but a toy. Impossible to believe that in this vast, clean, scrubbed, swept expanse, where every bit of coal is scrupulously in place, real gas is made. To believe, you must go into the city and see the gas actually burning. Even the immense traveling-cranes, when at work or otherwise, have the air of life-size playthings. Our quay was bordered with flower-beds. The workmen, however, seemed quite real workmen, realistically dirty, who were not playing at work, nor rising at five-thirty a.m. ”

“ The progress of the new art of lighting houses, streets and public buildings, by means of the inflammable gas obtainable from coal, has been within these few years uncommonly rapid. The number of gas-lights already in use in the metropolis alone, amounts to upwards of fifty-one thousand. The total lengths of mains in the streets through which the gas is conveyed from the gas-light [4] manufactories into the houses, now measures two hundred and eighty-eight miles. ”

“ Beckton looks a jumble of huge plain brick buildings, of gasholders, of pipes, of railways, and of heaps of coal, coke, and a dust known as breeze. For the concentrated essence of the ugly and unprepossessing, commend us to an extensive gas-works. However, we are here to seek not fine effects but information, and the initial question that we have to put to our kindly guide is inspired by the sight of a small engine, dragging a train of trucks on an elevated railway. ”

“ And so true is this, that if a main were to descend 100 feet below the base of the gas holder, and if the pressure of the gas in the main was only equal to sustain a column of water half an inch in height, the gas lamps could not be lighted at all, at a point so low, because the pressure of the gas is then in an equilibrium with the pressure of the atmosphere. Hence in lighting a town or district with coal gas, the best situation for the gas apparatus, as far at least as it regards the economy of the mains for distributing the gas, is the lowest part of the town or district. ”

“ The tap through which city distribution plants receive gas from the pipe line is known as the city gateway. At each tap through which distribution systems and rural and pipe line customers receive gas, there is installed a pressure regulator which reduces the pressure of the gas from that in the pipe line to 8 or 10 pounds for city distribution and some pipe line customers, and as low as 8 or 10 ounces for other pipe line and rural customers. ”

“ For in the system of charging for the supply of gas by the year, half year, or quarter, and at one common rate, many individuals who are only occasionally in want of gas lights, or whose demand is irregular and uncertain, such as the proprietors of public rooms, theatres, &c. are debarred of availing themselves of this kind of illumination, except at an expence quite disproportioned to what other more regular customers pay, and out of all proportion of the value of the quantity of gas consumed by them. The gas light under such circumstances is not as it ought to be, a light for all. ”

“ If we set up near a power line, there'll be the company linemen coming around."
"I think a gas-engine generator will suffice," Morrow refuted. "We can haul gas to our deserted farm-house by car, then fly it out to our shop at night." ”

“ A gas company, if required to do so by the owner or occupier of premises situate within 25 yards from any of their mains, or such other distance as may be prescribed by their special Act, are bound to supply such premises with gas, and must furnish and lay any pipe that may be necessary for that purpose. ”

“ It was a sombre snowy afternoon, and the gas-lamps were lit in the big reverberating station. As he paced the platform, waiting for the Washington express, he remembered that there were people who thought there would one day be a tunnel under the Hudson through which the trains of the Pennsylvania railway would run straight into New York. ”

“ In some residential hotels and chambers each room is fitted with a slot fire and the bathrooms with slot geysers, so that the guest knows the exact cost of fire and bath, and pays it there and then.
Finally, all gas users should learn to read the meter, a simple task which the lady demonstrator will teach or which can be learned from a card of instructions. Then the meter should be watched. If an increased expenditure of gas is noticed the matter should be inquired into, as there may be an escape, or some one may be forgetting to turn out the fire or lights when they are not needed. ”

“ The saving in wages of stokers, to clear the fireplaces, and keep the heat of the furnace always at the proper intensity—difficulties which the adoption of gaseous fuel would entirely obviate, since it furnishes no ashes to remove—and the proper regulation of the gas supply, would insure a perfectly uniform heating effect for hours together, without supervision or attention of any kind. The incidental saving of fuel or steam, whenever, by improper regulation, or the inattention of stokers, the furnaces are allowed to become too hot ”

“ You see, then, that every fire-place, or grate, or stove is a gas factory; but the gas is burned up as fast as it is made. The gas which is made at the gas-works is made in such a way that it is not burned at the time. It is made generally by heating coal, and is kept in large reservoirs called gasometers. From them pipes branch out in the same way that they do from water-works; and through these the gas goes all about to different buildings, as water goes in aqueduct pipes; and as the water comes out when you open the faucet, so does the gas when you open the burner. ”

“ The series of operations connected with the manufacture and distribution of coal gas embraces the processes of distillation, condensation, exhaustion, wet purification by washing and scrubbing, dry purification, measuring, storing and distribution to the mains whence the consumer’s supply is drawn.
The choice of a site for a gas works is necessarily governed by local circumstances; but it is a necessity that there should be a ready means of transport available, and for this reason the works should be built upon the banks of a navigable river or Site of gas works. ”

“ Gasoline gas for house lighting is manufactured in a small generator by evaporating gasoline into gas and mixing it with air, about 5 per cent gas and 95 per cent air. We are all familiar with the little brass gasoline torch heater that tinners and plumbers use to heat their soldering irons. ”

“ Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated wheel—he stared at it for a moment, and then looked upward as though he suspected that it had dropped from the sky.
“It came off,” someone explained.
He nodded.
“At first I din’ notice we’d stopped.”
A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening his shoulders, he remarked in a determined voice:
“Wonder’ff tell me where there’s a gas’line station?”
At least a dozen men, some of them a little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond.
“Back out,” ”

“ A gas supply, on the old basis of manufacture [482] at least, must be a unit, with a strong temptation to overcharge its customers. To-day the lighting field is shared with electricity, showing many isolated plants; when these purvey heat as well as light their rivalry with central stations may become formidable. In American villages and small towns the principal source of light is petroleum, largely controlled by the Standard Oil Company. ”

“ Thus it will be seen that the “New Process” is a veritable gas machine and a gas stove combined, entirely under the control of the user, who can increase or decrease the supply of fuel at will, securing the requisite amount of heat without waste; starting or stopping the fire according to requirement, thereby securing the greatest possible convenience, safety and economy of operation. ”

“ In another smelting-shop, 150 feet in length, we saw at work fourteen forges, six turning-lathes, one drilling-machine, and one iron-shaving machine. Lastly, there are gas-works for supplying the whole of the Company’s establishment with about seventy or eighty thousand cubic feet of gas per day.
The above is but a faint outline of the Company’s hospital at Wolverton for the repair and maintenance merely of their locomotive engines running between London and Birmingham.
The magnitude of the establishment will best speak for itself ”