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64
It was at once seen that although there was considerable
improvement in the lighting of the street, the installation
was imperfect in several respects, and the Gas Light
and Coke Company, who supply the District with gas, declined
to take charge of them. Alterations were accordingly
ordered to meet the Company's requirements, which caused
further delay, and it was not until the 22nd April that the
necessary amended fittings were supplied and the installation
completed. The destruction of mantles during this interval,
through the absence of chimneys, was so considerable as to
confirm the experience elsewhere obtained, that the use
of incandescent burners in public lamps without chimneys
is inexpedient—the opening the lanterns for relighting the
flash-lights, when extinguished by vibration or otherwise
admits a puff of air into the lantern, which immediately
destroys the mantles, and it is impossible to avoid this
destruction. The cleansing of the lant eras is also the cause
of damage to the mantles, both by the admission of wind and
by the workman's arm when cleaning the lamp, but after long
consideration your Committee resolved to recommend the
Board, to continue the experiment in Grower Street for a
further term of six months, to obtain further results as to
the breakage of mantles, and at the same time to make a
further experiment with the incandescent light in Montague
Place, and around the garden side of Bedford Square by
fitting each of the existing lamps with one single Welsbach
burner only, with a new form of chimney, known as the bulb
chimney, the burner to consume 4.2 cubic feet of gas per
hour. This recommendation was approved by the Board
on the 9th May, 1899, and orders were immediately given
to the Welsbach Company for the necessary fittings. These
have just been supplied and are now being fixed.