APPENDIX.

A.

FEBRUARY 4, 1874.

GEORGE A. MCILHENNY, chief engineer of the Washington Gas-Light Company, examined.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Would it diminish the cost of the gas furnished by your company by increasing the amount you produce, or would it diminish the cost if you had less to produce? For instance, suppose you had to supply the cities of Washington and Georgetown, could you furnish the gas at a less rate per 1,000 feet the larger the quantity you made, or could you furtish it always at the same price, whether you produced much or little ?-Answer. I think the increased consumption would have a tendency to reduce the cost.

Q. How would that be affected by the distances here?-A. Of course there is a loss in proportion to the distance the gas has to be sent.

Q. At what do you compute your loss through the mains here?-A. Our loss is comparatively very small. We do not average more than 8 per cent., but it will go up to 20 per

cent. sometimes.

Q. I have found some of your pipes leaking, but not so many within the last few years as formerly. Why is that?-A. We have made some very extensive repairs. Repairs are going on all the time in the streets.

Q. How long do your pipes last?-A. The street-mains last for a long time; for fifty years-perhaps a hundred. The services rust out according to the soil in which they are laid.

Q What do you mean by "services?"-A. The pipes running from the mains to the houses.

Q. About how much gas do you make annually?-A. Over two hundred million feet. Q. Have you the same process now of making gas that you had when the Washington Gas-Light Company was first chartered?-A. Practically the same. The facilities are somewhat better, but there is very little change in the mode of making-very few improvements. Q. Have you a sale here for the coke?-A. A very limited sale; but we have to sell our coke very low. We are selling it now for six cents a bushel-about one-third of what coke sells for in London. That is one difficulty which we have here, that we have no market for the residuum products.

By Mr. CAMERON:

Q. What is the difference between the price of coke here and in Philadelphia ?—A. I think in Philadelphia it is somewhat higher than here, but not a great deal. It is low in Philadelphia also, because all kinds of fuel are low there.

Q. How is it in New York ?-A. In New York it is higher.

Q. What is the price of coke here compared with the price in London?-A. In London it is about three times what it is here.

Q. How is it as between New York and London ?-A. In New York it is considerably lower than in London.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. As a fuel is coke cheaper at six cents a bushel than coal at the price at which it is sold here for warming ordinary rooms?-A. I think it is cheaper. The only difficulty is the frequency with which you have to replenish the fires.

Q. And the nuisance of ashes ?-A. Yes. We calculate that three tons of coke will make as much steam as two tons of coal.

Q. Are there any manufactories where coke is more useful than coal?-A. There are a great many manufactories that use coke for steam-purposes, and in iron-smelting it is used pretty generally; but it is not the kind of coke we make. That is generally made for the purpose.

Q. I suppose its bulk makes it objectionable?—A. Yes, sir; and it makes a hotter fire, & quicker fire, than coal.

Q. From time to time there are various suggestions as to some new way of manufacturing gas at a much less price than the old system. Have you any faith in any of them ?--A. No, sir. Ever since I have been in the business, which has been from my boyhood, every two or three years there comes a flood of what are called new inventions, but there is really nothing new in that line.

Q. These inventors, or those who get patents, represent that there is a sort of combination, a monopoly, among all gas companies, to retain their business in its present shape, so as to make large profits, and therefore they resist the introduction of these new improvements ?-A. There is not a word of truth in that. There is no combination between any two companies in the country. They work out their own salvation in the particular locality. They are nearly all governed by different circumstances.

Q. Do you know anything about what is calledthe hydrocarbon process all about it.

I do know

Q. Do you know whether or not that is a success in London?-A. It is not. They call it new in the city of London, but it is quite old. It was used in New Haven for a long time, and they threw it out. I went there to see it myself. It was used in Newark, and they also discontinued it there.

Q. Is it used in Buffalo?-A. No; in Buffalo they use the oxygen. They made hydrogen there. We make carbureted hydrogen out of coal. To make the hydrogen you have to carburet it with some rich material, and it is a mere question which compounds it the more satisfactorily, nature or art.

Q. Do you use naphtha or petroleum for that purpose?-A. We use no naphtha or petroleum at all. We use about 50 per cent. of West Virginia coal and 50 per cent. of Pennsylvania coal, what is called the Youghiogheny coal, the finest gas-coal in the world; and then we use a percentage of what they call the Ritchie mineral.

Q. Is that Pennsylvania coal equal to some of the best qualities of coal in Great Britain ?— A. It is rather better than the Newcastle.

Q. Is it equal to Bog-Head coal?-A. That is Scotch cannel. There is none of that in market now.

By Mr. CAMERON :

Q. Is it better than the Westmoreland coal?-A. The Youghiogheny and Westmoreland adjoin each other. The Youghiogheny is somewhat lower. It comes from rather a better condition. That is the only difference. Either of them is first class. Q. How is the Youghiogheny coal brought here ?--A. Over the Connellsville road to Cumberland; then by canal to Alexandria, and then up the river to our wharf.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. You say that you use about 50 per cent. of the West Virginia coal, and 50 per cent. of the Pennsylvania coal?-A. Yes, sir. Previously we had been using Pennsylvania and Westmoreland. The Youghiogheny coal came into this market with the opening of the Connellsville road to Cumberland, and so we used that last year in lieu of the Pennsylvania and Westmoreland.

By Mr. CAMERON :

Q. What does your coal cost you here?-A. Between $8 and $9 a ton. I believe $8.35 was the exact figure for last year. Both the West Virginia and Pennsylvania coal cost the same.

Q. Do you not think you could reduce that price very much by taking the coal from some other mine?-A. No, sir; the price of coal is governed entirely by the freights on the railroads. The price is about the same at the mines, but the freight on the railroads is the main item.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Do you buy the coal at the mine or delivered here ?-A. We buy it delivered. Q. Do you buy it of the miners or of the railroad companies?-A. Of the miners. They pay the railroad companies the freights, but we know exactly what the freights are.

Q. What season of the year do you buy it?-A. We generally make our contracts in April.

Q. To be delivered through the year?-A. To be delivered in this city before the 1st of December. We must lay in a large stock here for the winter, there being no reliance on the river during the winter months.

Q. All this is bituminous coal, of course?-A. Yes, sir. The Cumberland coal is nearer at hand, but that is semi-bituminous, and is not gas-coal at all.

Q. What is the difference between the coal you use and cannel coal?-A. The cannel coal is a richer coal-has more volatile substances in it. That is the only difference.

Q. It makes more gas, does it not?-A. It makes more gas and much better gas. It cannot be used to advantage by itself for gas purposes; we have to mix it.

By Mr. CAMERON:

We have no native production from it is not as satisfactory as

Q. Has it ever had a fair trial?-A. Yes, sir; they make cannel gas in England. Q. But not here?-A. We have never had the coal here. sufficient. The supply is very limited. The gas produced the ordinary coal-gas. It is frequently smoky.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Q. Is the coal that you use for gas used for ordinary purposes also ?-A. Not often. It is used for fuel in some places.

Q. But it is worth more for gas than for any other purpose?-A. Yes, sir.

By Mr. CAMERON :

Q. It is used for that purpose more than any other, I suppose, because it has the command

of the market for all that the mines can supply?-A. That may be. It is a caking coal. If you make a fire with it, a cake will form on the top, a thick crust.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Is that in consequence of the sulphur?-A. That is in consequence of its volatile character; it having so much tar and volatile substances it runs into a solid mass.

Q. Have you a market for your tar here?-A. I may say we have had an unlimited market since the streets of this city have been improved. We sell our tar to one man, and he does the best he can with it.

Q. Are there any aniline dyes made here?—A. There is no market for it in this country. I do not think there is any company that sells the ammonia water, though sometimes it is used for making salts of ammonia.

Q. Can you not make better terms in buying coal by buying so large a quantity than you could by buying in smaller quantities?-A. No, sir.

Q. How many tons do you buy in a year?-A. We use about 22,000 tons. The miners do not get more than 30 cents for the coal.

Q. How much do the railroads get?-A. The railroads and canals get the balance.

Q. What is the coal worth at the mine ?-A. I think the coal is worth at the mines about $1.50, including the cost of mining.

Q. How many miles is it transported?-A. About three hundred and seventy.

Q. About an equal distance for either kind of coal?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Is there no water-communication of which you can avail yourselves?-A. The coal we get from Pennsylvania is shipped to Cumberland over the Connells ville road from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and then comes down the canal 200 miles.

By Mr. CAMERON:

Q. Do you not lose by that transshipment?-A. We lose somewhat.

Q. Why could it not come by rail all the way ?-A. We should have to cart it from the railroad depot here three miles, if it came by rail.

Q. But would it not soon pay for itself if you were to remove your buildings to the side of the railroad;-A. We cannot tell where the railroad line will always remain. Coal has been found cheaper by water-transportation anyhow.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Q. Have you had any specimens of the new West Virginia coal, which is being so much spoken of?-A. We have had several specimens from different mines. We get them every day nearly.

Q. I refer to the specimens I have seen in the Capitol of the Kanawha Valley coal?-A. I have seen some of them. We use what is called Ritchie mineral, which is the richest coal found in that section of country. It costs $22 a ton. We use from five to ten per cent. of that, mixing it with the other. In using very rich materials we have great difficulty in manufacturing gas, because they stop up everything with lamp-black. With these rich coals, if you get a high degree of heat, you would make lamp-black, and not gas. There are many difficulties in the way of these things.

Q. Must you not have a very large pressure upon your gas in order to have it reach, for instance, the top of the Capitol, and other elevated parts of the city?—A. It generally comes from high points with greater freedom than low points. We supply, for instance, the Soldiers' Home, which is a very long distance off, and we supply now the Reform School, which is also a long distance off, and we also supply Mount Pleasant.

Q. Then, your pressure must be enough to carry to these extreme points?-A. Yes, sir. We have three holders here; we are very well situated in that respect. We have one holder just below the Capitol, one in the northern part of the city, and one at the works, Twentysixth and G streets. These three holders are all in the city and distributing from different points, which makes the pressure more equal than it would be if we distributed from only one point.

Q. Do you have the same pressure on each ?-A. We regulate the pressure according to the necessities of the locality.

Q. Are the mains that connect with these three different reservoirs all connected together?A. Yes, sir.

Q. Then, of course, your pressure on all must be equal?-A. It is generally equal, but it is rather more at the high parts of the city than at other places.

Q. Then, does it not cost a person in a higher part of the city more for his gas than one in a low part?-A. That depends on how he regulates it. He can regulate that himself. We have a pressure-gauge at our office, on Tenth street, on which we keep a uniform pressure. We have sheets there that indicate the pressure, with a pencil moving automatically, and the pressure does not vary two-tenths of an inch during the hours of consumption.

Q. But the same burners, open to the same extent, will, of course, consume a great deal more where the pressure is great?-A. They consume according to the pressure, of course. Q. Is there any mode by which that pressure can be reduced? For instance, you have a pretty heavy pressure to get gas to the upper stories of the Capitol. Is there any mode by which that pressure can be checked at the point of consumption?-A. Yes, sir; the par

ties can check it with a stop-cock, or with a governor or regulator. Governors, if reliable, are very good, but they are not usually very reliable. A stop-cock is the best. For a consumer, the proper plan, where the pressure is too high, is to regulate at the meter; turn it off until you get just as much pressure as you want and no more. There is always a stop-cock at the meter, and a key there generally to turn it.

Q. Take a street-lamp-for instance, in the high part of the city-does it not consume twice as much gas as one in the lower part of the city?-A. It would if it were not checked; but all the lamps here have checks in them. Of course, where the pressure is higher, the more will be burned.

Q. What is the illuminating power of your gas?-A. We try to keep it about sixteen or seventeen candles; somtimes it is eighteen.

By Mr. CAMERON:

Q. What do you mean by candles ?-A. Sperm candles.

Q. What do you mean by saying that gas is about seventeen candles ?-A. Five feet of gas for seventeen sperm candles, the candles burning one hundred and twenty grains an hour.

Q. That is, one burner will produce as much light as seventeen wax candles?-A. Yes, sir.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. What test do you use about that?-A. The Bunson photometer. We have a photometer at the office in Tenth street, and Professor Henry has one, or did have one a short time ago. We also have one at the works.

Q. How often do you test your gas?-A. Every day or two.

Q. Has not your gas been better the past week or two?-A. I do not know. We use the same material ail the time; we could not make bad gas out of the material we use if we tried.

Q. Do you purify your gas by lime ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you find any traces of carbonic acid in it?-A. There are some, but they are generally removed by the lime. There is very little carbonic acid in gas after it leaves the works. Our gas is very free from impurities of any kind now.

Q. Ought it not to be entirely free from carbonic acid ?—A. I think it is entirely removed, though sometimes we find a trace of it occasionally.

Q. How often do you find sulphuretted hydrogen in it ?-A. That occurred once this year. but it was an accident. It never occurs except by accident, because we lose a great deal more than we gain by that. It would cause great dissatisfaction, and it would be of no benefit to us. We might lose money by it. We make our own lime here, and we have plenty of it.

By Mr. CAMERON :

Q. Do you furnish gas to the Soldiers' Home at the same price that you do to consumers in the city?-A. The same. For years they made their own gas at the Soldiers' Home, and some time ago comtemplated rebuilding the works. I heard of it, and suggested the propriety of letting us furnish the gas, although I was doubtful about our ability to sent it out there such a long distance. We finally made an agreement to furnish them with gas, and their gas now costs them a thousand dollars a year less than it did when they made it themselves.

Q. Does not the expense of sending that gas such a distance compel you to charge a higher price to other consumers? In other words, do you not divide that expense among your other customers ?-A. No, we cannot make a discrimination.

Mr. JOHN BAILEY. I will state for the information of the committee that the Government paid $4,000 for running the pipes from the Shooting Park to the Soldiers' Home.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Q. What do you think, Mr. McIlhenny, in regard to the new processes for making gas, whether there is any economy in using petroleum?-A. I do not think there is much economy in that process. We have been thinking about using petroleum or some rich oil instead of using the Ritchie mineral, which is very expensive.

Q. Some of these men claim that they can make it for one-half or one-quarter the cost by the old process?-A. They claim a good deal.

By Mr. CAMERON :

Q. Do not people make their own gas very cheaply in some houses where it is used?-A. Making gas for a house is a very different thing than making it for a city. There are a hundred expenses that you never think of when making gas for your own house. For instance, the distribution of gas in the city of Washington is nearly as expensive as the

manufacture of it.

Q. How much do you have to give away to public functionaries and others in this town? How many get their gas for nothing?-A. I cannot tell that. I do not keep those books. I do not think it is a great deal.

Q. Is it not something?

Mr. BAILEY. Allow me to answer that question. I will say that it does not affect the price at all. Mr. CAMERON. That is not exactly what I wanted to know. That might be a matter of opinion.

Mr. McILHENNY. I will state that there is another difficulty in Washington, arising from the irregularity of consumption. On some nights, owing to particular excitements, 40 per cent. more gas will be consumed than on others.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Does the coldness or warmth of the weather make any difference in the consumption of gas-A. Yes, sir; in cold weather there is much more consumed.

Q. Is that because the cold condenses the gas ?--A. I do not know. burn more in cold weather.

suppose people

Q. The evenings are longer, of course, and that would be one explanation, would it not? A. Yes; and people stay in the house.

Q. But I mean to ask whether there is more burned in the same time in cold weather than in warm weather?-A. I should think not. When I say the consumption is heavier, I mean the aggregate consumption.

Q. I do not know that you quite get my point. I want to ascertain whether there is a larger consumption in consequence of the low temperature of the atmosphere.-A. I think not; I think it would be rather the reverse.

Q. In the case of a street-lamp, for instance, would it consume more when the thermometer was down to zero, than if it was up to 90 ?-A. I think not, because the gas must be expanded before combustion takes place, and it would have to come to a certain degree before the combustion does take place; and if the gas is in a very condensed condition it must expand at the burner.

Q. I have a report, made to Parliament, of several scientific examinations that have taken place in England, and they represent that among different burners there is a vast economy in employing one instead of another. What is your judgment in relation to that?-A. I made a series of practical tests six years ago, and published the result in the Gas-Light Journal, and had it republished here in the city papers; but I did not put my name to it, because I knew if I did people would think I wanted to get at some means to make them burn more gas.

Q. Have you a copy of that, which you can furnish to the committee?-A. I have; it shows the results of tests with the different kinds of globes and different kinds of burners, which is the most favorable to burning gas.

Q. What was your conclusion?-A. My conclusion was that the clearer the glass the better the light from globes, and that a burner of medium size is much more economical than a smail burner; for instance, a six-feet burner will give you more light than two fourfeet burners.

By Mr. CAMERON:

Q. What do you mean by a six-feet burnner?-A. A burner burning six feet an hour will give you more light than two burners burning four feet each; of course there is as much in the burner as there is in the gas. It is a very important matter.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. According to the reports made in London, it seemed there was a difference of 10, 25, and even 50 per cent.-A. Yes, sir; 40 per cent. was the highest difference I made in globes.

Q. Did your experiment extend to anything more than the amount of gas consumed?— A. The relative quantity of light obtained from the different kinds of burners.

Q. Did you contrast the bat's-wing and the fish-tail burner ?-I think I did. It was a good while ago, and I have forgotten exactly the details.

Q. Do you remember now which burner you preferred?-A. No; but I can furnish you with a copy of the article. It depends somewhat on circumstances; for a globe, however, I should prefer the fish-tail burner; the other separates too much.

Q. Did you find any difference between a metallic burner and a lava burner?-A. I do not remember that now, but I think my tests were all with lava tips.

Q. Are the lava tips those used in the Capitol ?-A. I believe the lava tips are in the center part of the building. Those that are in this committee-room, I see, are of iron, and I believe that is the case with all in this wing of the Capitol.

Q. Do not the metal tips expand?--A. Yes, sir; they expand and oxidize.

Q. Then they are not as good as the lava tips, are they ?-A. No, sir.

Q. And it would be economy in the Capitol to change them?-A. It would be economy to change them every fall before Congress meets.

Q. Would they require to be changed if they were lava tips ?-A. Lava tips catch the flies in summer, and they ought either to be cleaned off or changed. A burner should be perfectly free from any obstruction or dust, so that the combustion will be perfect; that is a very important feature in consuming gas.