//From that period, which was about 30 years since, gas lights obtained from coal, or oil, have gradually come into use, for the purpose of lighting streets, shops, and manufactories, in all parts of Great Britain, and is, at the present time, in common use on the continent of Europe, and in several parts of America.
For many years, the gas lights of London, and other parts of England, were supplied entirely by the distillation of bituminous coal; but more recently, many of the gas works, in different parts of that kingdom, obtain their lights from oil In this country, also, oil gas is chiefly employed.
In respect to the advantages of gas, on the morals of soci ety, in great cities, Mr. Gray, in his Operative Chemist, says, «From the more brilliant manner in which our streets (those of London) are lighted by gas, than they ever were or could be, by oil or tallow, there is a greater degree of security, both in person and property, for every class of honest men. Crimes cannot now be committed in darkness and secrecy: and as the risk of detection increases, the temptation to guilt is diminished, and thus coal gas, by the brilliant light it sheds on our streets, has worked, and is now working, a moral reformation. The house-breakers and pick-pockets dread the lamps more than the watchmen, and a more efficacious measure of police was never introduced into society, than that from gas lights.»
Oil gas is obtained by distilling impure whale or other oil, in large cylindrical cast iron retorts. From four to six such retorts, which, in appearance, resemble 24 pound cannon, are placed across a furnace built of brick, and are all heated by the same fire. These are half filled with pieces of orick, or iron, in order to increase the surface, and thus to effect the decomposition of a greater proportion of the oil. The oil is contained in a reservoir placed so high as to run to the re- torts through a tube, of which each retort has a separate branch. The oil is admitted into the retorts on the outside of the furnace, the quantity being regulated by a stop-cock, with which each is furnished. On the opposite side of the furnace, the gas is conducted from each retort by separate tubes, which afterwards join in a common tube of larger size, and thence is conveyed to the gasometer. The oil is admitted into the retorts in a very small stream, or sometimes only by drops, and is decomposed, and converted into gas as fast as it runs in. In large works, the gasometer is of immense size, being 30 or 40 feet in diameter, and 15 or 20 feet high, and capable of containing from 12, to 20,000 cubic feet of gas.
This is made of sheet iron, suspended by a chain, over a pulley, and counterbalanced by weights on the other side. This falls into a tank, or cistern, held together by iron hoops, which are drawn with great force around it by means of screws. The tank being filled with water, the gasometer is let down into it, while the air escapes by opening a valve in its top. When the air is all excluded the gas is conducted into the gasometer by a pipe coming from the retorts, and opening under the water. As the gas rises through the water, the gasometer is buoyed up, and rises also, and thus the vessel i filled with inflammable gas instead of air.
From the gasometer, which is the great fountain, the gas is conducted by one large iron pipe, laid under ground to the place or street where it is burnt. It is then conducted in smaller pipes through the different streets, and from these pipes it is conveyed to the houses and shops by small tubes; and tubes of still smaller size convey it to the burners where the lights are wanted.
Rosin has lately been used instead of oil, and is said to yield a gas fully equal in quality to that of oil, and at a much less expense.
As the burnersare stationary, in the ordinary mode o «lighting with gas, there exists an inconvenience in its employment for the purpose of common household illumination, where the lights are often necessarily carried to different parts of room, or from one room to another. There is also another inconvenience, which arises from the expense of laying conductors through streets where the houses are scattered, and consequently, where but a small quantity of the gas is wanted. To remedy these defects in the ordinary method of lighting with gas, it has, within a few years been proposed to condense the gas in strong copper, or brass lamps, at the gas works, and then transport them thus filled, to the houses, to supply the place of common lamps. This is distinguished by the name portable gas, and has been, and it is believed is still extensively, employed in London and its vicinity.
To lamps, there is provided a long iron pipe, at one end of which is a forcing pump, which is also connected with another pipe leading from the gasometer, to the pump through which the gas is conveyed. The long pipe is furnished with short tubes placed at convenient distances apart, and communicating with its inside. These tubes are cut with screw threads, which fit the screws at the bottoms of the lamps, and on which these vessels are screwed, to be filled. Thus by working the forcing-pump, the gas is brought from the gasometer, forced into the pipe, and from the pipe into the lamps, so that many are filled at the saine time. There is a mercurial gauge connected with the pump, by which its pressure is shown, and consequently by which the amount of condensation of the gas in the lamps is indicated. The flame, in buning the gas, is regulated by turning a small screw, and the gas is prevented from escape at the bottom by a valve, and another screw.
The gas obtained from oil, is much purer than that obtained from coal. The latter cannot be burned until it is purified by being passed through lime water, in order to deprive it of the carbonic acid, and other impurities; but the oil gas does not require any such process, being fit for use as it passes from the retort.
The illuminating power of the oil gas is also much greater than that of coal gas. According to the experiments of Mr. Accum, two cubic feet of coal gas will burn one hour, and give a quantity of light equal to three tallow candles, eight of which weigh a pound. But according to the experimentz of Mr. Dewey, superintendent of the gas works of New. York, one cubic foot of oil gas will give light for one hour, equal to 8 candles, 6 to the pound. This agrees very nearly with the result of Mr. Ricardo’s experiments, who found that a given quantity of oil gas was equal in illuminating power to four times the same quantity of coal gas. One gallon of clean whale oil will make 100 cubic feet of gas, which, according to the above statement will burn 100 hours, and give as much light as 8 mould candles, 6 weighing a pound. Such an immense difference between the cost of gas, and other lights, would seem to indicate the propriety of establishing gas works in every village. But the expenses of erecting and tending small establishments of this kind, are such as not to yield any considerable profit to the owners. In this country, where 2,000, or 2,500 lights are wanted in a compact town, perhaps gas works, might be maintained. The expenses of erecting such works would be not far from the fol- lowing, viz.
21 miles, 3 inch main pipe, $7,500
Gasometer and tank, 3,000
Refrigerator and connections, One bench retorts, 6 in number, 1,500
Labour to erect the works 3,000
_______
17,500//

////Oil Gas. Originally this was the gas most generally in use for illuminating purposes; but the cost of its manufacture was found to be too great for its continued employment.
As far back as the year 1805, Dr. Henry published an account of some experiments which he made on the gas obtained from sperm oil, and he showed that in illuminating power it was the only gas which could compete with olefiant gas. Soon after that Messrs. J. and P. Taylor contrived an apparatus for procuring the gas on a large scale. Their apparatus consisted of a furnace in which there was placed a twisted iron tube, containing fragments of coke. The object of this arrangement was to increase as much as possible the extent of the heating and decomposing surface. When the tube was red-hot, oil was suffered to run into it in a small and continuous stream. In this way the oil was decomposed and resolved into inflammable vapour which escaped, and a fine spongy charcoal which remained behind. The evolved gases were merely washed with water, and then collected in a gasometer. By this process it was found that a gallon of whale- oil yielded about 90 cubic feet of gas, that had a specific gravity of 900, and was about twice as rich in illuminating principles as the best description of coal-gas. Other patentees, as Mr. English, Mr. Booth, and one or two more, followed in the same course, and endeavoured to perfect the process so as to work it on an economical scale; but, notwithstanding that every means were taken to accomplish this, and that the very commonest oils were used for the production of the gas, it was found that it could not at all compete with the cheaper gas obtained from coal and so the process was abandoned.
Of late, however, an attempt has been made to revive it by a company which has adopted the name of the Vegetable Gas Company; but, as of old, the attempt has not been successful. Nevertheless, it may be said that where coal-gas is very dear, or not to be obtained at all, or where, for sanitary or other purposes, an unusually pure gas is required, then the process of making oil-gas may be practised with advantage. To meet such cases, a small apparatus has been contrived by Mr. Skelton, and a somewhat similar one is sold by Messrs. Burgess and Key of Little Britain. The latter consists of a small cylinder B (Fig. 45), fitted into a furnace C, so as to be made red-hot. A reservoir I, containing oil, or refuse fat, is suspended to the chimney of the furnace G, and when the fat is perfectly liquid it is allowed to drip from a small tap into a syphon pipe E, whence it runs into the red-hot cylinder and is decomposed. The evolved gases escape by the tube F, and are conveyed by J into a purifier D, which contains water; the delivery tube M dips an inch or so under water in order that the gas may be washed and cooled. The tube KL transmits the gas from the purifier into the gasometer A. The gas which is produced in this manner is of high illuminating power; and it appears from the statements made by the venders of the apparatus, that a pound of kitchen-stuff yields from 10 to 11 cubic feet of gas. Now a pound of this material is 7000 grains; and as the gas pro- duced weighs only about 5000 grains, there is a manifest loss of nearly one-third. This occurs in the form of char- coal, which remains in the retort; and hence the necessity for a frequent clean- ing out of this part of the apparatus. Dr. Fyfe states that the loss in his experiments was much greater that it amounted to nearly one-half of the fat used; and the same remark is also made by Mr. Wright, who has reported upon the comparative economy of the vegetable-gas scheme. The latter gentleman states that for a gallon of 9 lbs. the waste amounts to 2 lbs. 10 oz.
The gas which is produced from oil is very heavy; in fact, its specific gravity ranges between 700 and 900. It contains from 30 to 40 per cent. of rich hydrocarbons, which are condensed by chlorine and bromine of these about 20 per cent. are absorbed by fuming sulphuric acid; 100 volumes of the gas require about 260 volumes of oxygen for their consumption, and they yield 158 volumes of carbonic acid. The durability of the gas, with Dr. Fyfe’s four-inch flame from a jet the thirty-third of an inch in diameter, is 68′ 20″; consequently, its value is ten times as great as that of his standard of gas from ordinary Newcastle coal. As might be expected, the illuminating power of such gas is very high: indeed, Mr. Wright has found that it is about four times as great as that of common gas. He states that, with a consumption of one foot and a quarter per hour, it gives the light of twelve sperm candles, each burning at the rate of 120 grains per hour. Our own experiments, however, are not so satisfactory: they are recorded in the following table:-
The advantages of this gas are, its freedom from smell; its not containing any sulphur compound; its not producing so much heat as ordinary gas for an equal amount of light; and its easy production in an apparatus which does not occupy much room. Its only disadvantage is its cost; for a shilling’s worth of kitchen-stuff will only pro- duce about 40 cubic feet of gas, which will not go farther than six or eight pennyworth of coal-gas.//

https://books.google.ru/books/content?id=VtQ4AAAAMAAJ&hl=ru&pg=PA514&img=1&zoom=3&sig=ACfU3U3X98YpLLy_-nr26poQq_EgZ9oRog&w=1025

https://books.google.ru/books/content?id=VtQ4AAAAMAAJ&hl=ru&pg=PA515&img=1&zoom=3&sig=ACfU3U2U-NCn2ExpwU5Yf-iPa7xhNi-ILw&w=1025//

диск-рассекатель также известен как liverpool button https://books.google.ru/books/content?id=SxwNAAAAYAAJ&hl=ru&pg=PA257&img=1&zoom=3&sig=ACfU3U0yarjjdVSjHE3_zQeb1s0Hnoel5g&w=1025

фэнтези-попаданцы очень популярны среди Китайских и Японских писателей, но каждая со своей спецификой. В Русской литературе фэнтези-попаданцы представлены очень скупо.

еще один выключатель, поизящнее https://coub.com/view/3df84b

Но в 19 веке, после изобретения самоукорачивающегося фитиля, его начали называть candle snuffer — так как раньше называли ненужные теперь ножницы для укорачивания фитиля, возможно из-за того что они тоже часто тушили свечу

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r2H98SY1bM&ab_channel=OurOwnDevices

явно требуется развитая металлургия когда не жалко сжигать проволки

еще одна портативная установка
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44567/44567-h/images/illo093.jpg

Скипидар сам по себе отличное осветительное средство, но сильно коптит. Поэтому для сжигания скипидара было необходимо использовать достаточно сложные и дорогие лампы типа Аргандовой, с круглым фитилем, рассекателем и стеклом, дающим хорошую тягу. В этом случае скипидарная лампа может светить очень белым светом с яркостью в 20 свечей. при расходе около пинты в 10 часов.
https://books.google.com/books?id=2ecTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA97&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=true
Смесь же со спиртом, содержащая 20-25% скипидара, хорошо горела и в простейшей лампе, ярко и без копоти.
Камфиновые лампы отличались от ламп, предназначенных для китового жира, более длинными трубками, держащими фитиль, что уменьшало риск перегрева и воспламенеия паров спирта в резервуаре, а также колпачками для предотвращения испарения топлива в нерабочем состоянии.
https://aoghs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/camphene-lamp-2.jpg
Сам камфин, производившийся из спирта двойной перегонки, и скипидара, очищенного перегонкой над известью, стоил примерно в пять раз дешевле китового жира (0.5 доллара против 2-2.5 долларов за галлон). Однако во времена гражданской войны в США были сильно увеличены акцизы на алкоголь, что, вместе с появлением дешевого керосина, отправило камфиновые светильники в историю.

Киты устраивают бал по случаю открытия нефти в Пенсильвании, 1861
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Grand_Ball_Given_by_Whales_%28Vanity_Fair%2C_1861%29.jpg
хотя, конечно, к этому моменту популяция китов уже необратимо пострадала, и китоаый жир для освещения применялся весьма ограниченно по причине высокой цены

изомеризацию можно совместить с гидролищом жира/масла. 10 кг концентрированной серной кислоты на 100 кг жира, правда, опять же греть долго, зато на выходе сразу смесь твердых жирных кислот — стеариновой, элаининовой и других. Если достаточно топлива и есть чугунный котел, то почему бы и нет.
//In 1841 Messrs. O. Price and Jones secured a patent to carry out In that patent two or three important facts are brought out; first, that if instead of operating at a low temperature, as recommended by Fremy, heat was employed, the action of the sulphuric acid on the organic compounds would give rise to sulphurous acid, which they discovered had the remarkable property of converting the liquid oleic acid into a solid acid called «elaidie,» thus largely increasing the yield of solid fatty acids. Their mode of operating was this: 10 or 12 per cent. of concentrated sulphuric acid was added to the fatty matters which had been previously liquefied by heat, and the whole was kept at a temperature of 200 for twenty-four hours. During that time the fatty matters were split into their primitive elements, and the oleic acid was converted into elaidic acid. The whole was then repeatedly treated with boiling water, to dissolve the sulpho-glyceric acid and other impurities, leaving the solid fats ready for distillation.//