It may be of interest if we briefly describe the process of the manufacture the gas which is supplied to the consumers in Shanghai, At the gas works, situated at the corner of the Thibet Road and Soochow Creek, two plants have been installed-one to manufacture gas from the destructive distillation or carbonization of coal, and the other to make carburetted water gas from coke.
The coal used for the manufacture of coal gas is delivered into the godowns from the Soochow Creek, Thence it passes through a hopper into the coal breaker and is then raised by means of bucket elevators to overhead hoppers in the retort houses, from where it feeds the charging machines. There is tone furnace to each bed of nine retorts The retorts which are 20 fect long are made of fireclay and are set horizontally with hermetically sealed doors at both ends. The charging and discharging machines run on rails and are operated by electric power obtained from overhead wires and trolley poles. The machine is placed opposite a retort Jnouthpiece and a charge of seven to eight cwt. of coal, after passing through the automatic weighing machine, is shot into the retort by rotating blades which distribute the coal in an even Jayer through the retort. The door of tthe retort ig then closed and the machine moved to perform a similar operation in the next retort.
The coal remains in the retort for 8 hours, being subjected to a temperature of over 2,000°F. after which period all the vela tile matter has been driven off leaving the residual coke which is discharged means of 2 powerful ram which Pushes the glowing mass of coke out of the retort, to be quenched by sprays of water on the ground floor of the retort house, The furnaces for heating the retorts are designed upon scientific principles, only sufficient air being admitted at the bottom of the layer of fuel to convert the coke into carbonmonoxide which passes into a combustion chamber where the secondary is admitted to complete the combustion, The waste heat from the settings is utu ed to heat secondary air before entering the combustion chamber.
The present charging and discharging machines which have given excellent service for 20 y I shortly be replaced by a different type which will enable the company to deal with a greater variety of conis, The new machine has been ordered from a British firm and will be erected during the coming spring, The electricity required for driving the elevators, charging and discharging machines is generated by two 45-50 h.p. Crossley gas engines with direct couple ed dynamos.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.