A treatise on chemistry. Vol. III, The chemistry of the hydrocarbons and their derivatives, or, Organic chemistry. Part I / by H.E. Roscoe & C. Schorlemmer.

  • Henry Enfield Roscoe
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on chemistry. Vol. III, The chemistry of the hydrocarbons and their derivatives, or, Organic chemistry. Part I / by H.E. Roscoe & C. Schorlemmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    163/744 (page 145)
    The oil IS accompanied by a considerable quantity of gaseous products. These chiefly consist of hydrogen, marsh-gas, and ethatie.' The amount of the gas thus evolved is in some localities so large that it is used not only at the spot where it issues for heating and iUuminating purposes, but is carried in pipes for very considerable distances serving to heat boilers, blast-furnaces and puddling-furnaces, &c. The following description from the pen of Professor Lawrence Smith ^ gives some idea of the size of these gas-springs :— The principal oil-wells are found in Butler county, Pennsylvania, lat, 40° 30', long. 80°, Wells of minor importance are' also found in the neighbouring counties. The tAvo most productive wells are those of Burns and Delameter, about 30 miles from Pitts- burg, Their depth is about 1,600 feet, for they are bored down to the fourth layer of sand. The Burns well has never given oil, but the one at Delameter was a petroleum well of 1,600 liters; it now gives gas at such a pressure that plummet-lines weisfhing 800 kilos can be drawn out of it with the hand. The Delameter well is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, and furnishes heat and light to the whole neighbourhood. A large number of pipes diverge from this well; one conducts the gas direct to the c^dinder of an engine which, with this pressure alone, acquires an enormous speed. Another pipe feeds a flame capable of reducing as much iron-ore as half the blast-furnaces of Pittsburg can put out in a day. Twenty yards further on is the mainpipe of the wells; from a pipe 3 inches in diameter issues a flame 40 feet high, the noise of which shakes the hill?. For a distance of 50 feet round the earth is burnt up; but further off the vegetation is tropical, and enjoys a perpetual summer. On a calm night the noise can be heard at a distance of 15 miles; at 4 rniles the noise is like that of a train passing near, whilst close by it resembles that of a thousand locomotives blowing off steam. At the distance of a furlong the noise is like the continued roar of artillery, the human voice can scarcely be heard, and the flame reaches a height of 70 feet. In winter the surrounding mountains are covered with snow, but on two acres around the well the grass is green, except in the immediate neighbourhood, where the soil resembles lava. The oil, which either flows from the wells or is pumped up, also contains gaseous paraffins in solution, especially ethane, ^ Sadtler, American Chemist, 1876, p. 08 ; Fouqtic', Compt. Rend. Ixvii. 1016. ■' Joarn. Clicm. Soc. 187l>, i. ]>. 287. vor.. rn. i