Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/235

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USE OF SULPHUROUS DISINFECTANTS.
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gested by M. E. Peligot; and all danger in employing it is obviated in the new burner invented by M. Ckiandi Bey, engineer. This apparatus is illustrated, with a view of its interior arrangement, in Fig. 2; and a more detailed explanation of its parts can be obtained from the examination of Fig. 3.

M. Ckiandi's burner is composed of an exterior receiver of tinned copper, A B C D, containing an interior vessel, I H E F, to the sides of which are fixed three siphons, R S. To put it in operation, the cylindrical tube, K L M N, is placed in the interior vessel; sulphide of carbon is poured in up to the level a a, and the exterior receiver is then filled with water up to the level b b. By means of the siphons the water

Fig. 3.—M. Ckiandi Bey's Burner, Sectional View.

penetrates into the interior vessel, presses upon the sulphide of carbon, which is heavier than it, and drives it in the interior tube up to the level a' a', where it is taken up by a cotton wick, which is lighted. The upper end of the tube is crowned with a chimney, P Q, to facilitate the draught. The combustion of the sulphide of carbon may be increased or slackened at will by raising or lowering the level, b b, of the water in the external receiver; and this facility will be found of advantage in many cases.

The burner is placed in the room to be disinfected and lit, when the room is evacuated and shut up tight. When all the sulphide of carbon has been burned, its place is taken by water, and the lamp goes out of itself; in the mean time the burning goes on with great regularity, and without any danger. About two and a half kilogrammes (six and a quarter pounds) of sulphide of carbon are sufficient for a room of a hundred cubic metres. The process is effective and economical enough; for sulphide of carbon is sold commercially for fifty centimes (about ten cents) per kilogramme, which gives about twenty-five cents