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Sites on the Internet Related to Manufactured Gas
Living on Earth (LOE) - a weekly program on
National Public Radio (NPR) that highlights environmental issues. Allen
Hatheway was interviewed for the program airing during the week of 23 March
2001.
- Allen Hatheway's 23 March 2001
Living On Earth interview in
MP3 format
- Mary Van de Kamp Nohl's (senior
editor at Milwaukee Magazine) related
portion of the same 23 March 2001 Living On Earth MG interview in MP3 format
The Nature and Ambiance of Gas Lighting.
California Gold Rush Mother Lode resident and gas-lighting enthusiast
Paul Ivazes operates a small business at the historic
Forty-Niner town of Grass Valley, providing rebuilt and refurbished
manufactured gas-era originals and quality reproductions, both fixtures
and parts. Paul is a craftsman in the several trades necessary to keep
the gas lights burning for those of us who dote on the real and daily
reminder of the grand era of manufactured gas. Paul's ambitions include
production of a documentary film on the social benefits and impacts of
gas lighting, and his path already has produced a nice selection of
period illustrations of the lights, their architectural and commercial
use, and the general ambiance provided in an era where darkness
otherwise pervaded the night. Enjoy Paul's wonderful "Gaswizard's
Photostream" site
HERE.
Railroad Extra - a rail
enthusiast site. Included in this site is an excellent
historical summary of the manufacture of "Pintsch" gas.
Pintsch was a manufacturing process used primarily in the 19th and early 20th
centuries to provide gas service on trains. The gas was usually
manufactured in a rail yard facility, and then stored and used on rail cars.
With thanks to steam enthusiast Brian Fritz: Brain
submitted links to a series of excellent photos he has collected of the MG
equipment on display at Gas Works Park on the north shore of Lake
Union in Seattle, Washington. Check them out at:
Gas Works Park #1
and Gas Works
Park #2
The Solvay Coke Ovens used at Solvay Coke in Milwaukee was
patented much later by the Solvay Process Company in 1881.
The first coke plant with Solvay Process coke ovens was built in Syracuse,New
York. Click here to view a
history of the Solvay
Process Company on the web. Contributed by:
James Hefner
One of the older plants in the country with both Coke Ovens and blast
furnaces is Sloss Industries in Birmingham, Alabama. First
built in 1881 and extensively rebuilt in the late 1920s, it has a battery of
Semet Solvay coke ovens and several blast furnances. They are all silent
now, but since they have been declared a National Historical Monument, it is
probably the best facility in the country to visit and see what such an
operation looked like. Also, its coke oven batteries from the 1950s are
still at work; so you can see what the process looked like in action.
Contributed by: James Hefner
Here are some web links that describe it:
- A history of Sloss Industries
- Sloss-Sheffield Steel
& Iron Company Furnaces
- City of
Birmingham Description of the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark
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visitors since last revision on 02/11/08 |
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