Evening journal., 1899-11-07
THE NEW GAS LIGHT
USES or AcETYLeNe AND HOW IT
WAS DISCOVERED.

Insurance Underwriters VIII Not
Permit It's Use Under Pressure.
Its Cost and How II Is NIade-How
It May be Used.
1t was discovered by a German chem
list in 1861, that II a mixture of lime
and carbon were heated to an enormous
temperature the two fused together and
produced what Is now known as cali
cium carbide. Nothing further of note
was accomplished with this new sub
stance until 1894, when Moissan in
vented an electric furnace and found
that by placing carbon and lime direct
~ I'm 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 ia America.
Thomas l.. Wilson. Of ST. GATHERINGS.
Ont. was a poor boy, assisting his
mother I'm the management of a board
ing house When twenty-nine years old
/ he crossed the border to the United
/ States, where his salient was soon recog-
nized. and soon afterward he built a
very large electric furnace for the pur-
pose of experimenting In the production
OF ALLOYS Of different metals.
While doing so he found that the
| spattering OF the molten metal in the
/ furnace frequently produced q 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 im-
mediately combined under the great
heat and produced beautiful, clear cal-
cium carbide at a 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 a 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 tC
place the gas upon the market in d
n liquid form. In order to do this it was
compressed until it became liquid. al
most in the same manner as liquid air ID
produced. 1t was found. however tha
during compression the explosive quail
. ! Of Ia aran fnnrnuunn rnmfIINF fnNN
+ when, in a liquid state, &c was extremell
! dangerous.
5 In using the gas in this manner man.
disastrous explosions occurred, and th
public quickly denounced the gas. hu
further experiments soon proved that
y the pure gas We're used without bein
compressed there was only one way o
f causing an explosion, and that was b.
% exploding In the gas tank a smal
a quantity of fulminade of mercury o
some other violent explosive. It we
4 also found quite possible to burn tn
electric arc within a tank Of pure ga
d with perfect safety.
It was decided that the gas woul
have TO be used without being con
n pressed, and this action was quickly II
e dOrsed by insurance underwriters. VIII
q will not now permit the use Of aceb
z. lene gas under pressure.
Calcium carbide was first sold at
very high price on account OF the fa'
that il required the use OF about fiy
hundred horse power for twenty-fou
l. hours to produce a single ton, but thel
are now works at Niagara Falls whel
b: great quantities are turned out dali
by the use of the inexpensive wat'
/: power there. The use Of the carbid
r. however. has become so general thi
these works will soon be doubled, an
even then It is expected that it will
almost impossible to supply the rapi
e ly growing demand.
The flame of acetyiene Is entirely di
e ferent from ordinary gas, and is muG
3; brighter and richer than the incande
l. cent lamp. 1t is a solid flame of twel
ty-fve candle power, about one inch
s. height and one inch in width. and
S. controlled by a specially designed bur
er. which only consumes about on
quarter foot of gas an hour.
10 At first glance it would seem fro
e this that the new light is very mu
less expensive than the old, but whi
the acetylene burner consumes such
m very small quantity of gas the cost
a. the carbide is still so high that it
rs found that acetylene is very lit
10 cheaper than ordinary gas.
D" In order to light ones home wi
acetylone ii Is only necessary to
place the old burners with the n'
style. disconnect the house pipes fro
the meter and connect them TO sm
gas generator. This generator is We
much like an ordinary city gas hol
er. and consists of tank of water
which IS inverted another tank, the s
as &c is being generated being led I'M
the holder between the water and {
inverted tank. so that This tank W
rise as the gas is generated until a 81
hcient amount is admitted to fill
holder.
4 The rising of the tank then automa
cally cuts off the supply Of water FRI
the carbide. and thus prevents the Z
from generating until such time as mi
is needed, when the tank will descel
In doing so 1t opens a valve which
lows the water to again come in cont
with the carbide and again gener
: gas.
Vacation schools.