THE USE OF ACETYLENE. 347 



light from tlie best one-foot burners averages thirty-two to thirty- 

 five candles per cubic foot. With acetylene, as with every other illu- 

 minating gas, the smaller the burner and consumption, the less light 

 per cubic foot of gas is obtained. Another important point is that 

 while these figures represent the best practical illumination obtained 

 from acetylene by the burners hitherto in use, the standard flat- 

 flame burner does not give the best gaslight; with a good Welsbach 

 burner a cubic foot of illuminating gas will give a seventeen- 

 candle light as an average. The comparison, to be fair, should be 

 between acetylene and the Welsbach light. 



The reader will ask whether it is not possible to burn acetylene 

 with other forms of burner, or to use it with Welsbach mantles. 

 Successful acetylene burners of the Argand or of the regenerative 

 type have not yet been introduced; but in Germany a new acetylene 

 burner with Welsbach mantle promises good results. Experiments 

 in England Avith an acetylene Bunsen burner and Welsbach mantle 

 gave a light of ninety candles per cubic foot of acetylene used. 

 It remains to be seen whether it is necessary to modify the composi- 

 tion of the mantles because of the intense heat of the acetylene 

 Bunsen flame, which gives a temperature of 2100° to 2400° C. 

 (3812° to 4397° Fahrenheit). 



It would extend this article to undue length to speak of the vari- 

 ous uses of acetylene as an enricher of other gases, but a mixture of 

 acetylene and Pintsch oil gas now in use on all the Prussian state 

 railways deserves mention, as it is a success, and ten thousand tons of 

 carbide will be used this year for lighting cars by this system. Lew^es's 

 new invention of a very cheap methane water gas which is enriched 

 by acetylene, carried to the consumer through mains, and burned in 

 ordinary burners, is also promising. 



Insurance and police regulations vary for every country. As a 

 rule, restrictions are put on the use of liquid acetylene, and on the 

 amount of carbide to be kept in storage. Generators must stand in 

 separate buildings, which, in towns, must be fireproof. 



The Willson patents cover the manufacture of crystalline carbide 

 in the United States, Canada, and the South American states; and, 

 as all carbide made by the electric furnace is crystalline, no carbide 

 can be made independently of these patents in these countries. 



In conclusion, it may be predicted that within the next few years 

 acetylene will prove a factor in giving us an improved and cheaper 

 light. Whether this will be an acetylene-Welsbach light or whether 

 the acetylene wdll be chiefly used as an enricher of cheaper gases the 

 future will show. 



