Mechanics of the Household: A Course of Study Devoted to Domestic Machinery and Household Mechanical AppliancesKeene, E. S. (Edward Spencer)
Science
Mechanics of the Household: A Course of Study Devoted to Domestic Machinery and Household Mechanical Appliances
Keene, E. S. (Edward Spencer)
Heating; Lighting; Plumbing
=Alcohol Table Stoves.=--In the United States the use of alcohol as a
fuel has never been extensively employed because of the duty imposed
on its manufacture by the Federal Government. In 1896 this duty was
removed from denatured alcohol and the cost was sufficiently reduced to
permit a great extension in its use as a fuel.
Denatured alcohol is any alcohol to which has been added any of the
list of prescribed volatile fluids that will render the alcohol unfit
for use in beverages and not materially change its heating value.
Denatured alcohol is sold at a price that will permit its use in small
flat-irons, table stoves and other forms of burners where small amounts
of heat are generated for convenience. At the price of denatured
alcohol as generally sold, it cannot compete with gasoline and kerosene
as a fuel.
In Fig. 207 is shown a convenient and inexpensive form of table stove,
in which the vapor of alcohol is burned in practically the same manner
as the vapor of gasoline in the burners already described. The supply
of alcohol is stored in a tank _A_, and fed by gravity to the burner
_B_, the flame from which resembles that of the ordinary gasoline
burner.
The generator _G_ with the other essential parts are shown in detail in
Fig. 208. The reference letters indicate the same parts in the detail
drawing as in Fig. 207.
[Illustration: FIG. 207.--Alcohol vapor stove.]
[Illustration: FIG. 208.--Sectional view of the generator and burner of
the alcohol vapor stove.]
The alcohol flows from the supply tank through the pipe _C_ to the
generator _G_, which is a brass tube filled with copper wires. The
vapor for starting the burner is generated by opening the valve _V_
and allowing a small amount of alcohol to flow through the orifice _C_
into the pan _P_ directly below the generator. The valve is then closed
and the alcohol ignited. When the generating flame has burned out, the
valve _V_ is again opened and the vapor which has generated in the tube
escapes at the orifice _C_ and enters the Bunsen tube _T_, (Fig. 207)
carrying with it the proper amount of air to produce the Bunsen flame
at each of the holes of the burner.
As in the case of the gasoline burners the orifice _C_ sometimes
becomes clogged and it is necessary to insert a small wire to clear
the opening. With the stove is provided a tool for this purpose. With
stoves of this kind, the supply tank must not be tightly closed,
because any pressure in the tank would cause it to become dangerous.
The alcohol is fed to the generator entirely by gravity. The stopper of
the tank contains a small hole at the top which should be kept open to
avoid the generation of pressure should the tank become accidentally
heated.
Stoves of this kind may be conveniently used for a great variety of
household purposes, and when intelligently handled are relatively free
from danger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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