The Washington herald., 1909-04-11
TORCH that MELTS
STEEL LIKE WAX
Used in the West to Restore
Broken Castings.
BANK VAULTS ARE EASY
frey Finger of Oxy-acetylene Flame
Goes Through BurgIar-proOf De-
vices as a Knife Through Cheese.
Was Invented by Frenchman for
Manufacturing Purposes.

A man wearing green goggles stood in
a small workshop in Kansas City the
other day manipulating a device that has
given new meaning to the process OF
welding and Is capable OF destroying al
most any kind or steel or iron cOnsruc-
ton hitherto made The device is a
torch carrying an acetylene-oxygen flame
capable Of melting anything in metals.
The Kansas City Star describes the oper-
alton Of the device as follows:
Holding IN one hand a brass torch Of
peculiar design, the operator with his
free hand lighted match and applied II
10 the tip Of the torch. A yellow flame
shot out Then he turned to a steel cyl
inder and twisted stop-cock. A muffied
explosion followed and the yellow flame
disappeared. Instantly in its place al
the tip OF the torch, with the uniting OF
two gases. acetylene and oxygen, there
appeared bulb OF fire. dazzling. white.
and about the size Of a small capsule.
That small capsule-like flame repre-
sented the hottest fire that ever has been
produced on earth. The temperat ture at
the point Of the torch was $3.50 degrees
Fahrenheit The hottest FIRE produced By
any other means Is made by the electric
furnace and il registers only 5624 de-
grees Fahrenheit.
Oxy-acetyIene Torch.
The man manipulating the torch was
Frank Harvey, OF Kansas City The
torch is known as the oxy-acetylene
torch and has been used IN the United
States about fourteen months. It is the
invention OF a Frenchman-
Mr.. Harvey applied the fiercely glowing
little bulb 10 a frebrick. The brick was
boiling almost the instant the fame was
applied and shrank into a molasses-like
lump.
A piece Of manganese sheet steel. the
hardest steel known 10 science, was
placed in a wise and the fame applied.
There was a sputtering shower or sparks
and the flame went through the sub
stance with much the same ease that a
knife cuts cheese. while the loose end
ratified to the floor The hardest steel
drill. working steadily ten hours a day
for thirty days. by actual test, makes no
impression on this steel
A piece OF sheet steel an eighth OF an
inch thick was held between the lips or
a pair of pliers while the man with the
torch "pecked" at II with the Httle burn
ing bulb. Wherever the bulb touched
there was a sizzling sound, such as is
made by Ted-hOt iron when It comes IN
contact with water. and a hole, clean
cut, through the solid sheet steel. ap-
peared.
Cast iron boiled and bubbled and ran
in TivUlet when the man with the green
goggles touched It with his wonder
working wand
"BurgIar-prOOf'' vaults Easy.
Il can cut figure eights and letter SIS
through the thickest steel walls OF any
so-called burglar-proof bank vault in
Kansas City," Mr Harvey cooIly an
nounced. and I can do It in less time
than It will take any detective on the
police force TO walk from the city hall to
the post-office'
This statement simply means that the
bank vaults Of Kansas City are about as
secure as a papier-mache box when they
come TO the test OF resisting the devour-
ing flame OF the oxy-acetylene torch. A
hole large enough TO admit mans body
can be burned in absolute silence and In
fifteen minutes time In any steel safe
ever made. and with an outfit a cracks
man could carry in a couple Of travel
ing bags
Some bankers out in Kansas-there
were five Of them-didn't believe a while