1904-5.] THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF THE DOMINION. 169 
Works, at Spray, N.C., accidentally obtained carbide whilst trying to 
reduce lime by carbon in the electric furnace. Instead of metallic calcium 
resulting—which was to be employed in preparing aluminum—a hard, 
almost black, substance was got which reacted violently with water, 
giving lime and an inflammable gas clearly recognizable as acetylene. The 
author was privileged, through the courtesy of Lord Kelvin, to have at 
one time in his possession some pieces of the first carbide made by Mr. 
Willson at Spray. Acetylene being a powerful illuminating agent and 
readily obtained from carbide, the development of the carbide industry 
on a commercial scale followed this discovery as a natural consequence. 
The industry has progressed by leaps and bounds during the past decade, 
in Europe even to the extent of over-production.?® Two carbide works 
are in operation in Canada using water as their source of power, the 
Ottawa Carbide Company, and another important company is the Shaw- 
inigan Carbide Company of Shawinigan Falls, Quebec. The process of 
manufacturing consists in fus ng together burned lime and ground coke 
in the electric furnace; the temperature required is not so high as that 
needed in other operations for which the electric furnace is employed, 
notably the making of carborundum and graphite. The reaction taking 
place in the furnace results in a transference of the oxygen of the lime toa 
portion of the carbon with the formation of carbon monoxide and carbide 
of calcium. 
The present market value of carbide affords considerable profit 
to its manufacturers, and the increasing popularity of acetylene 
as an illuminant ensures a brighter future for the industry. In Ontario 
several towns have already had acetylene installed for house and street 
lighting, the gas being generated at a central station and distributed in 
pipes to the consumers.®’ At the generating station the gas is purified 
by a special process before use, which obviates all the disadvantages in- 
separable from the employment of small generators—automatic or other- 
~ wise—by individuals, who in most cases have neither the time nor the 
scientific skill necessary for the proper production of the gas, simple as it 
may appear at first sight. 
CARBORUNDUM. 
ce 
Ten years ago the very name ‘‘carborundum”’ was unknown; it is 
due entirely to the advance made in the development of electrical power, 
obtained from the immense waterfalls of the American continent, that 
this as well as other materials are now in daily use throughout the world. 
(36) Italy alone possesses enough carbide plants to supply the whole of Europe. Dr. J. W. 
Richards, in ‘‘ Electro-chemical Industry,’’ Sept. 1902. 
(37) Worked under patents held by the Burgess Gas Process Co., Canadian Pat. 73,040, Sept. 10, 
1901; Eng. Pat. 241, Jan. 3, 1901; Amer. Pat. 701,995, June 10, 1902. 
