THE USE OF ACETYLENE. 



339 



seventy per cent of carbide. 

 Foreign makers break and 

 blend ingot and crust to 

 standard size, the best mak- 

 ers guaranteeing their car- 

 bide ninety per cent pure, 

 giving five cubic feet of 

 acetylene per pound (pure 

 carbide gives 5.89 cubic 

 feet). Eight to nine pounds 

 of carbide per horse power in 

 twenty-four hours, averaging- 

 five cubic feet of acetylene, is 

 considered satisfactory work. 

 The Union Carbide Com- 

 pany, which controls the sale 

 of carbide in the United 

 States, is selling graded car- 

 bides under guarantee, the 



IIoRRv FrRXACE, SHOWING Gearing. 



first grade being the nearly pure ingot, the lower grade the crust. 



As the moisture of the air decomposes the carbide, it must be 



broken up as soon as made, and packed in air-tight tin cans, varying 



in size from one to four hun- 

 dred pounds. 



The present price of car- 

 bide abroad averages $96.80 

 in large lots, and $7.26 per 

 hundredweight in small lots, 

 packing included; in the 

 United States, $70 per ton in 

 large lots, and $4.50 per hun- 

 dredweight in small lots, 

 packing included. In 1898, 

 4,650 tons are said to have 

 been made in the United 

 States and Canada, and a 

 much larger amount abroad. 

 The output for 1899 is esti- 

 mated at 12,000 tons for the 

 United States, with a capa- 

 city in the new works in erec- 

 tion at Sault Ste. Marie and 

 at Niagara Falls of 41,000 tons. The new^ works building in Eu- 

 rope, to be finished in 1899-1900, have a capacity for making 80,000 



Horry Furnace, 

 SHOWING Carbide just removed. 



