Catoctin clarion., 1899-12-21
No ; I
THE NEW GAS LIGHT
USES OF ACETYLENE AND HOW IT
WAS DISCOVERED.

USES OF ACETYLENE AND HOW IT
WAS DISCOVERED.
Insurance Underwriters VIII Not
Permit Its Use Under Pressure.
Its Cost and How 1t is Made-How
1t May be Used.
1t was discovered by German chem
ist in 1861, that If mixture OF lime
and carbon were heated to an enormous
temperature the two fused together and
produced what is now known as cal
cium carbide. Nothing further OF note
was accomplished with this new SUBJ
stance until 1894, when Moissan in
vented an electric furnace and found
that by placing carbon and lime direct
ly in the electric arc an enormously
high temperature was available at
comparatively little expense, and the
resulting calcium carbide possessed the
property of generating a new gas very
rapidly when brought into contact
with water. Moissan did not pursue
his experiments much further because
the proper and economical construction
of electric furnaces was then very little
known.
As usual in such cases, the invention
Of Moissan was perfected in America.
Thomas L. Wilson, of st. GATHERINGS,
Ont, was poor boy, assisting his
mother in the management Of a board
ing house. When twenty years old
he crossed the border to the United
States, where his talent was soon recog-
nized, and soon afterward he built a
ol, f,,r
pose of experimenting in the production
of alloys of different metals.
While doing so he found that the
scattering of the molten metal in the
furnace frequently produced conduct
ing path between the carbon of his arc
lamp, so much so as to seriously inter-
fere with and sometimes extinguish the
arc To overcome this he placed in the
furnace a mixture of coke and lime.
which he found to his astonishment i'm
mediately combined under the great
heat and produced beautiful, clear cal
cium carbide at comparatively low
cost.
Capital was at once interested in Mr..
Wilson's discovery. and 1t was not long
before companies were organized IN
every State to control the Wilson pa
tents, but it was also only short time
when it was discovered that acetylene
gas, under certain circumstances, was
of a highly explosive nature.
Contrary to the advice of Mr.. Wilson,
many of the companies undertook to
place the gas upon the market in
LIQUID form. In order to do this 1t was
compressed until it became liquid, al
most in the same manner as liquid air Is
produced 1t was found. however, that
during compression the explosive quail
ties of the gas increased rapidly until
when, in liquid state, it was extremely
dangerous.
In using the gas in this manner many
disastrous explosions occurred, and the
public quickly denounced the gas, but
further experiments soon proved that II
the pure gas were used without being
compressed there was only one way or
causing an explosion, and that was by
exploding in the gas tank small
quantity of fulminade of mercury or
some other violent explosive. 1t was
also found quite possible to burn the
electric arc within a tank of pure gas
with perfect safety.
1t was decided that the gas would
have to be used without being COM
pressed and this action was quickly IN
dorsed by insurance underwriters, who
will not now permit the use OF acety-
lene gas under pressure.
Calcium carbide was first sold at a
very high price on account of the fact
that it required the use of about five
hundred horse power for tWenty-four
hours to produce single ton, but there
are now works at Niagara Falls where
great quantities are turned out daily
by the use of the inexpensive water
power there. The use of the carbide,
however, has become so general that
these works will soon be doubled, and
even then it is expected that it will be
almost impossible to supply the rapid
ly growing demand.
The fame of acetylene Is entirely d1f-
ferent from ordinary gas, and is much
brighter and richer than the incandes-
cent lamp. 1t is solid flame of twen-
ty-fve candle power, about one inch IN
height and one inch in width, and is
controlled by a specially designed burn
or, which only consumes about one
quarter foot of gas an hour.
At first glance it would seem from
this that the new light is very much
less expensive than the old, but while
the acetylene burner consumes such a
very small quantity of gas the cost of
the carbide is still so high that 1t Is
found that acetylene is very htt!r
cheaper than ordinary gas.
In order to light ones home with
acetylene it is only necessary to re-
place the old burners with the new
style. disconnect the house pipes from
the meter and connect them to small
tnr 10 "
much like an ordinary city gas hold
er. and consists of tank of water, Ill
which is inverted another tank, the gas
as it is being generated being led into
the holder between the water and the
inverted tank, SO that this tank Will
rise as the gas is generated until suf-
licient amount is admitted to fill the
holder.
The rising of the tank then automati-
cally cuts off the supply of water from
the carbide and thus prevents the gas
from generating until such time as more
is needed, when the tank will descend.
In doing so it opens a valve which al
lows the water to again come In contact
with the carbide and again generate
gas.
Vacation schools.
The vacation schools are likely to be-
come a permanent feature OF the sys-.
rom of city educational effort. In New
- ,lN Il