Gas lighting
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Gas lighting is the production of artificial light by burning a fuel gas. Light may be produced directly by the flame or indirectly by heating another material to incandescence, as in a gas mantle or
Gas lighting in the historical centre of Wrocław, Poland, is manually turned off and on daily.
An illustration of designs of lamplights, c. 1900
Passersby marvel at new gaslighting (London, 1809)
Workmen laying gas pipes under London's streets (George Scharf, British Museum)
Coal gas
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Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system originating from a gasworks. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of
Gas lighting
…heating another material to incandescence, as in a gas mantle or limelight. During the period when gas lighting was widespread, its principal fuel was coal gas; natural gas later replaced coal gas in many places. Experiments with combustible gases preceded the practical development of gas lighting, but widespread…
Gas Works Park, Seattle, preserves most of the equipment for making coal gas. This is the only such plant surviving in the United States.
An illustration of typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Source: NASA
Mantles in their unused flat-packed form
Coke oven at smokeless fuel plant, South Wales