THE USE OF ACETYLENE. 337 



the carbide was fairly forced on experimenters, and, as we have seen, 

 the discoveries of Willson and Moissan were both accidentah 



American priority was claimed by Willson, French priority by 

 the friends of Moissan, Gei-man priority by Professor Borchers, of 

 Aix-la-Chapelle. Fortunately for Willson, among those to whom he 

 had sent specimens of carbide was Lord Kelvin, the famous English 

 physicist, whose reply to Willson, stating that the substance received 

 was calcium carbide, was dated October 3, 1892, two months before 

 Moissan's first publication. Borchers's claims are too vague to waste 

 space on. Willson's priority is now generally recognized exce])ting 

 in France. The German Government has acknowledged it, and has 

 annulled the German patent granted to Bullier. 



Commercial carbide is essentially an American discovery, and it 

 was developed industrially by Willson's associates before industrial 

 action began abroad. Messrs. Dickerson and Suckert, of Xew York, 

 were the first to undertake the industrial liquefaction of acetylene. 

 Dr. G. de Chalmot, chemist, and Mr. J. M. Morehead, electrician, 

 worked up the details of the furnace process in the early days at 

 Spray, Xorth Carolina, and the purity and the yield from a given 

 weight of material of their carbide have never been excelled, though 

 cheaper working furnaces are now in use. 



Carbides of other metals can be made in the electric furnace, but, 

 owing to the cheapness of the new material, calcium carbide is the 

 only one of these which has industrial value as a source of acetylene. 

 One pound of pure carbide yields 5.89 cubic feet of acetylene. 



Thus far carbide has Ijeen found industrially valuable for two 

 other purposes. The one is for carbonizing steel; experiments in 

 Germany show that iron or soft steel takes up carbon more readily 

 when it is heated with carbide than when it is heated with coal dust or 

 charcoal. Some steel works are now using carbide for this purpose. 

 The other use of carbide is more important. It is found to be a valu- 

 able germicide. It is said to be the most effectual preventive of black 

 rot, and to destroy the Phylloxera, the two worst enemies of the grape. 

 The action of the carbide as a germicide depends on its decomposition 

 by the moisture of the soil, forming acetylene, which kills the 

 Phylloxera. If the use of carbide on a large scale substantiates the 

 claims made for it, this is a discovery of vast importance. The rav- 

 ages caused by the Phylloxera in the vineyards of southern Europe, 

 of Africa, and Australia must he ranked as great national calamities. 



A temperature ranging from 2000° to 2500° C. (3600° to 4500° 

 Fahrenheit) is required to make carbide. It is probable that this 

 temperature can be economically attained only by the electric furnace 

 using water power as the source of the electric current, and this is 

 the only method used for making carbide, with the exception of the 



