Popular Science Monthly
��345
��escaped being killed. Thereafter, for more than a week, the flow of gas con- tinued unabated in quantity and pres- sure.
This gigantic "gasser" was capped eventually with a long piece of steel tub- ing, laro^er in diameter than that in the
���The gas blew off at a pressure of one hun- dred feet per square inch three feet above the outlet
Avell, and having six valves on the sides and another on top.- Of course these valves were left open while the tubing was being placed in position and made secure to the casing in the well, to which it was attached by threads. One at a time, the valves were closed until a pipe was fastened to each to carry off the gas to a reservoir. As soon as the pipe was attached to a valve that one was opened again, so as to relieve the enormous gas pressure. Thus the entire flow was harnessed and taken away for consump- tion in the neighboring locality and near- by towns.
After considerable difficulty and sev- eral unsuccessful attempts, a venture- some engineer finally succeeded in measuring the flow of gas. When a gage was applied a few days after the well struck "pay sand" and the flow of gas was at its height, it was found that
��there were one hundred pounds open flow three feet above the outlet. And on this measurement the estimate of seventy-five million to one hundred mil- lion cubic feet of gas per day was based. The men on duty continuously suf- fered severely from earaches because of the terrific noise made by the out- rushing gas. Fortunately, there was no electric storm or the well might have caught fire. Had this happened, ihe blaze could not have been extin- guished. While the gas was flowing freely, the Spiegel' family, living in a house within thirty yards of the "gasser," had to forego cooking and all went to bed at sunset because they dared not have a light.
The value of the lost gas was estimated at the Pittsburgh rate of thirty cents per one thousand. This means a daily loss of not less than twenty-two thousand, five hundred dollars. The actual value may be more, since higher rates obtain in other cities. Since the well ran for seven days and twenty-one hours before it was checked by capping, the minimum total loss was one hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars. Others put it at close to two hundred thousand dollars.
Why Can a Fly Walk Upside Down?
YOU have seen a boy use what he calls a "sucker," a round, flat piece of leather which is soaked in water and flat- ened against a stone so that all the mois- ture between the stone and the leather is ]>ressed out. He picks up a brick with a string attached to the leather. Since there is no air between the leather and the stone the atmosphere presses the leather so firmly against the stone that the stone can be picked up by the leather. A fly has suckers on his feet which act very much on the same principle. As soon as he puts down a foot he automat- ically squeezes the air out between it and the surface upon which he is walking. The atmosphere, therefore, presses him against the ceiling or wall.
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