THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



121 



ACETYLENE IN THE COUNTRY HOUSE 



Concerning Carbide The Tu oMain Tvfres of Acctvlcnc C,cn erators .Vo Necessity jar Incandescent 

 Ilunicrs -Ada friability to Old Tyfrcs of I-it/ings- Simplicity of Afrfraratns Costs of Installation 



and [ frkcefr. 



Till &quot;, pioneers &amp;lt;&amp;gt;1 acetylene lighting can claim llu- credit (if being the first to relieve the small count rv 

 householder Irom the comparative gloom and discomfort ol oil lamps and candles. So recently 

 as iS&amp;lt;)&amp;gt; there were no means available for artificially lighting the isolated country house, except 

 by installing a private coal-gas or electric-light plant at a cost which in those days was prohibitive 

 to all but the wealthy, or by putting up with the old- fashioned illuminants referred to above. 

 Although the commercial development of acetylene lighting is so recent, the discovery of the gas itself 

 dates back to iS ;(&amp;gt;, and it was suggested even at that early date that the gas could be used as an artificial 

 illuminant. There was no possibility of doing so, however, until a commercial method of manufacturing 

 carbide had been discovered. The commercial process for the manutactnre of calcium carbide, which 

 was at last developed in iSi)^, is so simple that it is curious that it should not have been thought ot before. 

 It consists of fusing lime and carbon together in an electric furnace. The resultant material, calcium 

 carbide, has only to be brought into contact with water, when decomposition takes place and acetylene 

 is given oft, so that the manufacture of the gas from the carbide is also a very simple piocess. In spite, 

 or perhaps because, of this very simplicity, the number of forms of acetylene generator that have been 

 invented lor the purpose of bringing the water and the calcium carbide together runs to some hundreds ; 

 but the tew that have survived the test ot time can be conveniently divided into two classes. In the 

 first, and doubtless tin- most usual class, the water is allowed to llow into the generator, which has previously 

 been charged with calcium carbide. The gas evolved is taken through a pipe into a gas-holder or small 

 gasometer. As the gas-holder rises, due to the intlow of gas, it pushes against a movable stop, which 

 cuts oil the water supply, and consequently checks the manufacture of the gas. until the emptying of 

 t iie gas-holder into the house supply main causes it to sink ; in doing so it again operates the stop, this time 

 admitting water to the generator, and starts the process of acetylene generation once more. In the 

 second class the generator is charged with water, and a series of buckets are filled with carbide, which 

 are emptied into the generator automatically, one by one, as required ; but this latter system is rarely 



146. GROUND FLOOR PLAN. 



