Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-03-24
CBy Letson Ballet, Efficiency Enginser)


 During the time that Mr. Ballet was employed as Efficiency Engineer in the shipbuilding industry, he carried on a great amount of research work, with heat treatment of steel, and when the acetylene demand was so great that it was feared the supply would not be great enough. he had miles and miles of pipe lines laid to carry city gas, and mixed gas, to all parts of the great shipyard. and thereafter all steel cut aing and Hanging, pipe bending. tool making. tempering steel rivet heating, soldering and brazing. was done with city gas
 The records of MT. Balliet's work have Been published in England, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Germany, and many modern ship yards and steel works now are using the methods that Mr. Ballet developed as an expert OF fuel and combustion.
 One. article on Oxygen in Steel Cut ting has been reprinted until over 3.000,- 600 copies have been printed, and is re- sarded as text of the highest author Literary Digest, and other journals have reprinted most of the article, some of them have published it complete.
 In the following article MT. Ballet simply calls your attention to the sim plicity of gas torches and suggests a few uses that make it advantageous equipment for even the smallest mine. Agents selling equipment will give full instructions on it's operation. Portugese, Italians, MeXicanS and boys were train ed to use it in the shipyards in few days. Mine mechanics can learn to use it in few hours. Practice will increase their knowledge and efficiency.
 When the oxy-ocetylene, or oxy-hy- drogen torch is mentioned the ordin- ary workman regards it something of . mystery, somehing awesome or un- eanny. He thinks that it can be used only where expense is no object. In fact it is very simple, thing for any one to use it in the great majority of work, and will be found amost econom- ic aid around the mine blacksmith shop. Every plumber, blacksmith, tin smith, and machinist is familiar with the gasoline 'blow-torch" as it is commonly called.
 The theory of that torch is to change the gasoline liquid into a gas, which is then forced, under pressure, thru . small orifice, thence through an open space where it gathers it's re- quired volume of air, and thence thru a short piece of pipe which acts as mixing chamber. Theoretically every molecule of gas is supposed to be so mixed in this mixing chamber that it is in contact with the exact number sf molecules of oxygen that it requires fer complete combustion.
 The oxy-acetylene torch accomplish es exactly the same thing, in little different way. Instead of forcing the acetylene gas out into mixing cham Der of atmospheric air it supplies the oxygen for combustion through a par allel pipe, mixing the acetylene gas and the oxygen inside the torch, and then forcing the completely conbusti- ble mixture out through the orifice where it burns with a hot flame very close to the tip.
 Notice now, the difference-one you force the gas out into mixing chamber of oxygen (air) and the other you mix with oxygen inside the torch.
 It is customary to use. oxygen which has been compressed in cylin- ders, with the acetylene torch, but compressed air from your mine com pressors will answer the purpose for a great part of the work.
 If acetylene is expensive or hard to get use of gasoline gas with a torch in the same manner you would the acetylene gas. In fact for cutting steel, bending rails, pipe or bars, city gas, producer gas, gasoline gas, hydro zen benzine or most any old kind of fuel gas will do just as we'll as acety- Iene, and be cheaper 1 am going to repeat the words "just as welP', be- cause these gases are not make shift; they are an economy over the high priced actylene. In fact l piped a great shipyard with city gas under 25 pounds pressure, and totally dis carded acetylene for steel cutting, brazing, pipe bending, and Hanging saving over $500 day. Acetylene was thereafter used only for welding. Other shipyards and steel plants and pipe works immediately installed city gas for steel cutting on the Ballet method. Even the city gas company at San Francisco has established demonstrating room to show industrial managers and operators that city gas will equal acetylene in cutting steei' at much less expense.
 Gasoline can be obtained at most sny mine, hence shall base my conn parisons for this article upon gasoline and acetyiene. All ordinary fuels are composed of Carbon co and Hydrogen (H) in varying relations.
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