The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-12-07
ACETYLENE.
The Wonderful New Illuminating
Gas.
DESCRIPTION OF WHAT 1T is AND
HOW MADE.
1t May Pc introduced into Maine-It Is
Made from Clay in the Process of Ex-
tracing Aluminium


Made from Clay in the Process of Ex-
tracing Aluminium.
The wonderful new illuminate anety-
lene, for which the rights to the City Of
Philadelphia were sold for million dol
lars, it is said, is to be introduced into
Maine. as some prominent Portland men
are negotiating for the state right. The
new illuminant, it is claimed, will
revolutionize the manufacture of gas.
The above fact makes of special interest
to Portland people the following account
of this Illuminating gas, written by
Oliver Field Allen of Longmeadow,
Mass, for The Observer for last June,
IAN illustrated monthly magazine Of
the outdoor world and microscopes
In attempting to solve the problem of
producing aluminium in great abundance
and at sufficiently low cost, by direct re-
| duction of clay, Mr.. T.. J. Wilson acci-
dentally discovered method of making
this new illuminant.
| Acetylene (C2 H2), as it is called, is
colorless gas, with an intensely penstrat-
|
1t contains equal volumes of hydrogen
and carbon and is about 80 per cent car
bon by weight. When mixed with from
one to two times its own volume of air it
| is explosive, but ceases to be SO with
either greater or lesser quantity It's
specific gravity is 0.91.
During the past 80 years it has been
possible to produce this gas in very small
quantities, but the Wilson process first
makes possible it's production CONNER
cially. Calcium carbide can no doubt be
produced for $50 per ton as soon as the
speculative stage is past, although at the
present writing it is quoted as high as
$500 per ton, in New York. With all con-
ditions perfect and the compounds chemi-
cally pure, one pound of calcium carbide
will yield 5.3 cubic feet of acetylene, but
the writer has found that with the best
carbide to be obtained and ordinary city
water. one pound will evolve only from
3.5 to "a cubic feet. the average being
about 4. The Illuminating power Of this
gas is wonderful Prof. V. B. Lewes,
Chief Gas Examiner to the London au-
thorities, says:-'In my researches upon
the luminosity of flame l have shown
that all the hydrocarbons present in coal
gas and other luminous flames are con-
yerted by the baking action taking place
in the inner mountainous zone of the
flame into acety lene before any lumin-
osity is produced, and that it is the acety-
lene which, by its rapid decomposition at
1900 degrees c., provides the luminous
flame with those carbon particles, which,
being heated to incandesenoe by various
causes, endow the flame with the power
Of emitting light. The acetylene, being
in this way proved to be the cause OF
luminosity, one would expect that in this
gas we have the most powerful of the
gaseous hydrocarbon illuminants; ex-
pertinent at once shows that is the case.n
The Illuminating power of ordinary city
| coal gas for consumption of cubic feet
per hour is from II to 20 candle power;
of acetylene for the same consumption
24O candle power. Burned through the
proper burners:-No. 5000 Bray, English
| g fish tail, consuming about1. cubic feet
each per hour, are considered the most
desirable-the gas burns with an intensely
brilliant, smokeless, odorless flame. No
examination of it's spectrum has come to
our notice, but it seems probable that it
would very much resemble that of the
electric arc.
| The cheap production of acetylene
promises to develop commercially the
field OF synthetic chemistry far beyond
the dreams of the most sanguine chemist
Of the last generation. All the other
| hydrocarbons which can be used for illu-
minating purposes can with perfect ease
| be built alphabetically from this gas. If
| acetylene Is passed through a tube heated
| to just visible redness il is converted into
benzol, from penzol aniline is readily de-
rived and the whole of that magnificent
series of coloring matters which have
gladdened the hearts of the fair sex for
the last quarter of century.
Within the past year much has bean
DONE experimentally, towards the per-
fiction of apparatus to produce aoetylene
| cars, street cars, country stores, public
| buildings and homes in both country and
| city, but as yet no machinery is upon the
market One field for the introduction
Of acetylene having great promise of i'm
mediate fruit is as an illuminant for Ian
ternslide projection. The editor of Prac-
tical Microscopy delivered two lectures
| illustrated with photo-micrographs, in
Longmeadow, Mass, during the third
week of April. Aoetylene gas was used
| in the lantern for the first time it is be-
lieved, and the result in the way of
sharp. clear, distinct projection was most
fiattering. The apparatus consisted of
crude machine for generating the gas
water tank, a cylinder containing the
calcium carbide and the necessary valves
and pipes to conduct the water to the
carbide and allow the gas to flow into q
small tank, or receiver, attaohed-and .
tube from this n achine to the lantern.
In the lantern were three burners of this
| type mentioned above. mounted on a
| haze one 1ah1nd the other about / :