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industrial purposes free from duty by arranging that the denaturing of such alcohol should be carried out under conditions which would not hamper the industry.” The company, British Dyes, Ltd., was registered a t Somerset House on Rlarch 4th, and the prospectus advertised on March 6th. A meeting of the subscribers was held on March 4th t o consider the question of the failure t o raise sufficient capital. I t was there resolved unanimously that the company should be proceeded with and the meeting pledged itself t o use its best endeavors to support it, and further asked the directors to consider the advisability of dropping the agreement between the users of dyes and the company. I t was announced later that, in view of the fact that, of 1,000,000 $5 shares offered only 571,000 had been applied for, and 83,000 of these conditionally, the directors did not feel justified in proceeding to allotment. S O T E (Received May 12. 1915)
The flotation of the company British Dyes, Ltd., has been carried through. The clause restricting shareholders of t h e new Company from buying dyes from outside sources was abandoned and the removal of this restriction probably was one of the chief reasons why the later appeal of the directors of the Company to subscribers met with success. A meeting of subscribers x i s held on March 24th to consider the situation, and the chairman, l l r . James Falconer, M. P., put the following figures before the meeting. Practically $ Z , ~ O O , O O O had been offered to the company, eliminating subscriptions that were conditional and those they did not propose to allot upon. This result would give them $600,000 of paid-up capital, and the Government advance of $2,400,000 would make a total of $3,000,000. They had asked the
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Government if they would increase their advance, but they did not see their way to do so. The Grants Committee had agreed to advance $I ,ooo,ooo for the extension of Read Holliday’s business in order that these extensions should proceed, and they had agreed to allow the $I,OOO,OOO to remain if the directors took over Read Holliday’s business on the same terms as a Government loan. That would make their total available cash capital $~,ooo,ooo. The directors had carefully considered the position, and did not think that was enough to justify them in going on. The meeting would sympathize with the board in the feeling that they ought not to undertake what was going to be an arduous and difficult task, and be constantly beggared for want of capital. It was not in the interests of the subscribers or the trade. I t was absolutely necessary to increase the capital. They ought to aim a t getting at least Sr,ooo,ooomore, and if what had been said with regard to the withdrawal of the agreement was general that amount ought to be reached. That would give them $ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 of called-up capital, and $I ,ooo,ooo Government loan, which would be $1,250,000 additional. With that he thought the board could quite comfortably proceed to do their best to carry out the program they had put before the subscribers in the prospectus.
It was announced later, a t a meeting of the directors of the Company, that new subscriptions to the extent of $780,000 had been received and that further applications were expected. The Calico Printers’ Association, and also practically all those who had a t first made conditional applications, including the Bradford Dyers’ Association, Ltd., had now subscribed. The directors therefore decided to go to allotment. 10 WENDOVER CRESCENT,&IT.FLORIDA G ~ . 4 s c o n ~SCOTLABD ,
CURRENT INDUSTRIAL NEWS By M. ..I HAMLIN
CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION OF WATER GAS The Societe Franfaise d’Exploitation de Fours Speciaux A Haute Temperature, in association with 91.Antoine Verzier, have taken out a French patent (No. 473,149 of 1914) for apparatus for the continuous production of water gas. The patentees claim that their plant makes it possible t o vaporize water contained in a chamber in the ash-box and also superheat the steam produced a t a constant temperature by mere radiation, during its passage under pressure in the collector, from the combustion substances provided by the gasifying plant itself
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-thus dispensing with a separate boiler. They also claim that they can obtain, as required (by conveying the excess of superheated steam, produced as already explained, through the incandescent layer of fuel), decomposition of the steam, the necessary quantit.y of air being supplied by a fire-clay pipe which runs across the collector, and the air being superheated before being brought into contact with the fuel. Apparatus thus constructed obviates the period of transition due to the introduction of cold air to complete the reaction.
-4 form of plant constructed according to this invention is shown in the accompanying illustrations, taken from the J . Gas Lighting, 130 ( r g ~ g ) 31; , Fig. I is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a section on the line X, and Fig. 3 a front view. The plant comprises a combustion chamber, A, into which the fuel, resting on the grate B, is introduced by charging-boxes C. Below the fuel is a chamber, L), always full of water. The gas liberated by the incandescent fuel issues from the chamber +A through a channel, E, and then passes into a pipe, G, provided with a damper, by which it is conveyed into a collector, H, communicating with a compartment, I, under D, which is thus heated by simple radiation from the hot gases coming from the fuel in the collector and the compartment I. Doors J (Fig. 3) hermetically close the front of the ash-box and chamber, and the latter also closes the compartment I. The fire-clay pipe HI conveys hot air t o the fuel. The water in the chamber is continually and naturally converted into steam, which is automatically superheated in passing through the incandescent fuel above, where the oxygen and hydrogen are separated, as previously described. The chamber D, in the ash-box, may be of any suitable shape favoring the evaporation of water.
AUTOMATIC MEASURING OF T H E MOISTURE CONTENT OF CELLULOSE I n apparatus described in the Papierfebrikunt, 13 191j), 33 and 5 0 . has been built by 0. Sordstrbm for automatically measuring the moisture content oi cellulose during manufacture. I t is based on the principle that the dry substance is electrically non-conducting. Since the conductivity, how-
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ever, increases with the moisture content and with the amount of dissolved electrolyte, an electric measure of moisture is possible. But since the amount of dissolved electrolyte in the factory water supply, and hence the moisture in the paper, varies within wide limits, a compensating device must be introduced. I n this apparatus it is based on the principle of the Wheatstone bridge. A stream of water from the paper machine flows through a glass tube containing a fixed grounded contact a t one end and a movable contact passing through the other, so that the column of water through which the current passes may be varied. By dividing and balancing the current, the instrument may be standardized so that no current passes when the paper has a given desired moisture content. Full details are given in the article.
HYDROGEN FOR BALLOONS Balloons are generally inflated with hydrogen from scrap iron and hot acid, unless there is some other source of the gas close a t hand. The French army is also making use of some novel processes which would be far too expensive for most commercial purposes, but which have the advantage of requiring none but readily portable materials and apparatus [Engineering, 99 ( I g I j ) , 4151. b‘hen the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths are heated in hydrogen, so-called hydrides are formed. They are not metallic in appearance a t all-liquid hydrogen itself, it will be remembered, disappointed chemists by turning out to be a snowy paste-but form whitish crystals or crystalline powders, which have to be kept hermetically sealed. In the case of calcium hydride the powder is decomposed, with liberation of hydrogen; when heated up to 600“ C in a vacuum, or when treated with water. The simple apparatus designed by G. F. Jaubert for the decomposition of his calcium hydride, or “hydrolith,” which is essentially CaH2 with some calcium oxide and nitride, yields I cubic meter of hydrogen per kg. of hydrolith. Jaubert has also worked out two other processes which make use of ferro-silicon. In the “silicol” process this material, or mangano silicon, is directly decomposed by means of water and caustic soda; the gas evolution proceeds on the ordinary lines, as in the case of the generation of acetylene from calcium carbide, for instance, but it appears to be difficult to control the reaction. Jaubert therefore introduced another “hydrogenite” process. Ferro-silicon is intimately mixed with dry caustic soda and quicklime, and the bricks obtained are sealed into tin cases t o keep out mokture. Vl’hen wanted, the brick is placed within a water-jacketed apparatus, and a hot wire is forced into the opened brick. The mass burns without giving any flame, some steam is generated in the jacket, and this steam enters the brick and hastens the liberation of hydrogen. The ferro-silicon used is of verJt high grade, containing more than go per cent of silicon. The reactions give, hydrogen, lime, and sodium silicate; the iron is unessential, and is used only because i t is cheaper to manufacture rich ferro-silicon than to isolate silicon itself.
ACCIDENTS IN GERMANY FROM BENZINE The following list of accidents from benzine during 1 9 1 4 is published in the 2.angew. Chem.. 28 ( I ~ I S ) ,111, 73 PERSONS HURT Scene or character of accidents Total N o . Slightly Seriously Deaths Chemical cleaners and dvers. . . . . . . . . 6 .. 4 Druggists, e t c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 1 .. 3 Benzine in technical use and transport 62 27 56 i6 7 Benzine in drains and sewers. . . . . . . . 3 Benzine in automobile t r a 5 c . . . . . . . . 104 38 5; 17 Benzine for illumination. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 I 1 Benzine for household u s e s . . . . . . . . 30 42 , Narcosis from benzine vapors. . . 8 3 ~~
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fact that non-inflammable substitutes for benzine exist which are perfectly suited for most uses except power production and illumination.
THE FIRE DANGER FROM SLAKED LIME In the Royal Saxon Mechanical-Technical Experiment Station, experiments have been carried out which prove that it is easily possible for wood to catch fire from slaking even the poorer qualities of lime [ T o n i d - Z t g . ,1914 p. 14231. Eiaturally the temperature reached depends, besides on other factors, on the quality of the lime; even limes poor in calcium oxide may produce a temperature of 270-300’ C., a t which point wood is charred on exposure t o the air. Lime of poor quality then must be considered to a certain extent dangerous, and highgrade lime must be handled with special care, since it can produce temperatures of 4o0° and over; it must never be shipped in contact with wood.
A WOOD CHARCOAL FILTER FOR THE WASTE GASES FROM A SULFATE PLANT A paper by Keinhard on a charcoal filter used t o deodorize the gases escaping from the sulfate plant of the gas works in Leipsic appeared in the J . Gasbel., February 6, 1915, The gases escaping from sulfate plant consist chiefly of carbonic acid and sulfuretted hydrogen, which on account of their very disagreeable smell, cannot be discharged directly into the atmosphere. The Government Factory Department of Saxony requires in most cases special treatment of these gasessuch treatment generally consisting in their being passed through atmospheric or hydraulic tubular condensers or coolers, thence through iron oxide purifiers, and finally into a flue for combustion. The discharge of the gases without combustion led to some complaints of nuisance, and the management was compelled to take some action. The combustion of the waste gases could not be readily effected, as the boiler and other furnaces were far distant from the sulfate plant. Some preliminary experiments on a small scale showed that the empyreumatic, strongly smelling substances in the waste gases could be gotten rid of by passage through wood charcoal, and as a result of these experiments a plant was erected. To the pipe which conveys the spent gases from the purifiers to a place above the roof, two vertical pipes 13~/’pin. in diameter have been connected. These pipes are each packed with about 165 lbs. of wood charcoal, costing, for the two, about $3.24. After six weeks’ working the wood charcoal has been taken out and regenerated by heating in a gas retort for about three hours. This regeneration causes a loss of about 2 0 per cent of the charge. Data iannot be given as to the quantity of waste gases purified in this way, but the liquor worked up in this period in the plant amounted t o 550,000 gallons. It should be added that a steamjet blower has been introduced into the vertical pipe leading to the roof in order to exhaust the waste gases, which are heavier than air. Hence the whole waste-gas connections are under auction. The process has answered quite satisfactorily, and there have been no further complaints from neighbors. .. .-
GAS FROM SAWDUST In a recent issue of the American Gas Institute A’v*ezls, a paper read by Nessrs. James Lawrence and James C. Lawrence.
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There has been an increase of accidents from the use of pocket lighters, and the number of explosions of benzine used for autompbiles has nearly doubled. Emphasis should be laid on the
before the hTew York Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, and published in 30, 7 2 8 of their Journal is quoted on the subject of the distillation of sawdust, in answer t o an inquiry by a correspondent. I t had previously been supposed that wood less than 4 to 6 inches diameter could not be advantageously distilled, because of its tendency t o burn up rapidly by reasoli of an exothermic reaction which starts when the temperature of the charge reaches about 275’ C., but the authors found that by heating the retort very slowly up t o 100’C., then a
