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Description: | BAIRD & TATLOCK LONDON (moulded into the cast iron tripod base).200 500 800 (stamped on the jets). MANU Baird & Tatlock London circa 1900 Factory "The Lodge, Walthamstow, Essex, Office and Warehouse, 14, Cross street, London, E.C.1. England. DES after BUNSEN,Robert,Wilhelm,Eberhard,Professor,von. between 1855 and 1860 The University of Heidelberg, Ger This is a "cannon" or "glassblower's" blow pipe it still has its compliment of three gas jets two of which are screwed into the tripod base. The body of the pipe is on a compass joint. The gas probably in the form of town gas was fed into the burner at the base of the pipe, the air was fed in at pressure via a foot pump through the tap on the side of the pipe. The flame was adjusted by altering the distance of the jet from the pipe nozzle on its slide and the pressure of the air. The gas pressure would have been reasonably constant. Different fuels could be used changing the jets.
The fuel could be a gas or vapour and was often administered via a foot pump or bellows. However, the most likely fuel used was 'town gas' , of which there were basically three types 'coal gas', which was made by distilling coal. This process removed about forty percent of the mass of the coal in the form of gases and other volatiles which were used in the chemical industry and for producing tar. The remaining sixty percent was in the form of coke, which because it had a very high carbon content was used as a fuel.
Another process was 'producer gas' made by blowing air through burning coke, which produced a mainly carbon monoxide and nitrogen mixture.
The other was 'water gas' produced by blowing air and steam through burning coke, which produced a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and nitrogen. However, for higher temperatures acetylene or hydrogen were often used. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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