Gas spring

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1667 one finds a description by Thomas Shirley of A Well and Earth in Lancashire taking Fire by a Candle approached to it. Shirley had visited this gas spring at Wigan, near Warrington, in 1659 and had observed that it gave a flame about eighteen inches high (28). He concluded that the gas must consist of bituminous or sulphurous fumes from coal. 

TLCD are restricted to frequencies, say below 0.5 Hz in practical applications. Only by the invention ofthe passive gas spring this serious limitation is b5q)assed and TLCGD frequencies say up to 5Hz are possible in practical implementations. For proper application of the piston theory, the frequency is actually limited by the (relative) maximum fluid speed, u = which must stay... 

Gas Spring Invention to increase the restoring forces ofTLCGD by the compressibiUty ofthe gas. Passive Damping with Dynamic Absorber ... 

When a solid such as charcoal is exposed in a closed space to a gas or vapour at some definite pressure, the solid begins to adsorb the gas and (if the solid is suspended, for example, on a spring balance) by an increase in the weight of the solid and a decrease in the pressure of the gas. After a time the pressure becomes constant at the value p, say, and correspondingly the weight ceases to increase any further. The amount of gas thus adsorbed can be calculated from the fall in pressure by application of the gas laws if the volumes of the vessel and of the solid are known or it can be determined directly as the increase in weight of the solid in the case where the spring balance is used. 

Natural gas and its combustion properties appear to have been known since early times (2). Some early temples of worship were located in areas where gas was seeping from the ground or from springs, and it is reported that Julius Caesar saw a phenomenon called the "burning spring" near Grenoble, France. Gas wells were drilled in Japan as early as 615 AD and in 900 AD the Chinese employed bamboo tubes to transport natural gas to their salt works, where the heat was used to evaporate water from salt brine. The existence of natural gas in the United States was reported by early setders who observed gas seeps and columns of fire in the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian area in 1775 (3). 

Occurrence. Magnesium bromide [7789-48-2] MgBr2, is found in seawater, some mineral springs, natural brines, inland seas and lakes such as the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake, and salt deposits such as the Stassfurt deposits. In seawater, it is the primary source of bromine (qv). By the action of chlorine gas upon seawater or seawater bitterns, bromine is formed (see Chemicals frombrine). 

Materials and Reactions. Candle systems vary in mechanical design and shape but contain the same genetic components (Fig. 1). The candle mass contains a cone of material high in iron which initiates reaction of the soHd chlorate composite. Reaction of the cone material is started by a flash powder train fired by a spring-actuated hammer against a primer. An electrically heated wire has also been used. The candle is wrapped in insulation and held in an outer housing that is equipped with a gas exit port and rehef valve. Other elements of the assembly include gas-conditioning filters and chemicals and supports for vibration and shock resistance (4). 

The Back Pressure Regulator (BPR) shown at the end can be a gas dome-loaded Grove Inc. regulator or a spring-loaded Tescom model. The same holds for the forward pressure regulators. Instead of regulators, controllers can be used too, especially since small electronic control valves are now available. 

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