How to Do Mechanical Tricks

Elementary Gas-Burner.

Reading edition

Fill an old round tin box, at least two inches high, with sawdust and pieces of blotting paper. Close it as well as possible, and introduce a small metal, or glass, tube in the lid to a depth of about one-third of the box.

Make the joint tight with putty. Put this box on any two supports and place the flame of a lamp or candle underneath it.

Illustration from How to Do Mechanical Tricks Containing Complete Instruction for Performing Over Sixty Ingenious Mechanical Tricks

Soon the overheated sawdust and blotting paper will evolve vapors of alcohol and combustible gases. Approach a lighted match to the upper end of the tube and you will see the gas ignite and continue to burn.