The above is an analysis of water gas made from ordinary gas coke in a
Van Steenbergh generator.

The ratio of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide present entirely
depends upon the temperature of the generator, and the kind of
carbonaceous matter employed. With a hard, dense anthracite coal, for
instance, it is quite possible to attain a temperature at which there
is practically no carbon dioxide produced, while with an ordinary form
of generator and a loose fuel like coke, a large proportion of carbon
dioxide is generally to be found.

The sulphureted hydrogen in the analysis quoted is, of course, due to
the high amount of sulphur to be found in the gas coke, and is
practically absent from water gas made with anthracite, while the
nitrogen is due to the method of manufacture, the coke being, in the
first instance, raised to incandescence by an air blast, which leaves
the generator and pipes full of a mixture of nitrogen and carbon
monoxide (producer gas), which is carried over by the first portions
of water gas into the holder. The water gas so made has no photometric
value, its constituents being perfectly non-luminous, and attempts to
use it as an illuminant have all taken the form of incandescent
burners, in which thin mantles or combs of highly refractory metallic
oxides have been heated to incandescence. In carbureted water gas this
gas is only used as the carrier of illuminating hydrocarbon gases,
made by decomposing various grades of hydrocarbon oils into permanent
gases by heat.

Many forms of generator have been used in the United States for the
production of water gas, which, after or during manufacture, is mixed