--_Annales
Industrielles._
* * * * *
THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN BY BRIN'S PROCESS.
Considerable interest has been aroused lately in scientific and
industrial circles by a report that separation of the oxygen and
nitrogen of the air was being effected on a large scale in London by a
process which promises to render the gases available for general
application in the arts. The cheap manufacture of the compounds of
nitrogen from the gas itself is still a dream of chemical enthusiasts;
and though the pure gas is now available, the methods of making its
compounds have yet to be devised. But the industrial processes which
already depend directly or indirectly on the chemical union of bodies
with atmospheric oxygen are innumerable.
In all these processes the action of the gas is impeded by the bulky
presence of its fellow constituent of air, nitrogen. We may say, for
instance, in homely phrase, that whenever a fire burns there are four
volumes of nitrogen tending to extinguish it for every volume of
oxygen supporting its combustion, and to the same degree the nitrogen
interferes with all other processes of atmospheric oxidation, of which
most metallurgical operations may be given as instances.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91