TABLE OF CONTENTS. Gas small part of total meal cost--. Relative cost of "home-cooked" and " ready-to-serve" cereals... Relative cost of various fuels__. Gas industry is rapidly changing--- Volume of gas used not always increased by lower heating value_ Flueless heating stoves always dangerous__. Flueless heating stoves more dangerous than flueless cook stoves---. Why economic aspects are controlling- What term "cost" must include____ Misleading manufactured-gas cost data.. Significance of fixed charges_. Characteristics of house heating_. Analysis of house-heating problem....... Variation in gas demand for house heating_--- Universal manufactured-gas house heating not feasible___. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Model showing how coal is transmuted into gas and delivered to Frontispiece. 2 2. Number of manufactured-gas consumers in even thousands to 3. Fuel small part of total meal cost___ 4. Relative cost of "home-cooked" and "ready-to-serve" cereals__. 6 6 6. Comparison of gas used by public and gas wasted in beehive 7. Classification of manufactured-gas consumers_ 8. Action of gas mixer for Bunsen blue-flame burner_ 9. Action of luminous-flame burner___ 10. How fluctuations in atmospheric temperature varies demand for house heating_ IV MANUFACTURED GAS IN THE HOME. By SAMUEL S. WYER. Associate in Mineral Technology, United States National Museum. PART I. PUBLIC'S INTEREST IN MANUFACTURED GAS.1 MAGNITUDE. Manufactured gas is now used by more than 9 million domestic consumers in over 4,600 towns and serves about 46 million of our population. In 1921 over 326 billion cubic feet were sold to the public by gas companies in the United States. GROWTH. The earliest available United States Geological Survey data are for 1898. While the growth has been continuous since 1898, the annual growth has been especially rapid since 1915, as shown in Figure 1. The slowing down of growth, beginning about 1908, was due, in a large measure, to the then rapid increase in natural-gas use. The demands for hot-water and incidental heating in the home have been rapidly increasing, yet, at the present time, only about one-sixth of the domestic consumers have hot-water heaters and the hot-water heater growth in the future will be much larger. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The geographical distribution of manufactured-gas consumers by States is shown in Figure 2, where the figures indicate the number in even thousands of consumers in each State. EFFECT OF DECLINING NATURAL-GAS SUPPLY. The demand for natural gas is now greater than the available supply and less will be available each year. This now rapid decline will make necessary that the present natural-gas-using towns ultimately use manufactured gas if they are large enough to maintain a manufactured-gas plant. Many of the appliances now in use for 1 The terms “artificial" and "illuminating" have been frequently used for this. Typical methods of manufacture and delivery to the home are shown on the folding plate at the front. |