ACETYLENE IN THE COUNTRY HOUSE. 



123 



would cost to light such a house with acetylene. The cost of a generating plant for, say, forty lights 

 capacity for six hours would be about 23 15*. ; that is, if a cheap but quite efficient form of generator 

 were used. It is, of course, possible to obtain more elaborate forms, which would be a little more convenient 

 to operate and of stronger construction, in which case the price may run as high as 45. The cost ot 

 erecting this plant and laying a galvanised steel main to the house from the generator, with a controlling 

 stop-cock in the kitchen or scullery, together with all the necessary mains, branches and connections to the 

 thirty-one points shown on the plan, the whole in screwed wrought-iron pipe, te&amp;gt;ted to high pressure, would 

 be about 30. This would not include any cutting away of walls or making good and redecorating, as 

 we are assuming that the pipes will be laid while the house is being built. It quite simple fittings are 

 used, we can average the price at los. dd. each. This price would include plain wrought-iron or bras-, 

 fittings with burners and shades, and would amount in all to ill) 5s. od. The cost of fixing the fittings 

 would not be likely to exceed ;. \Vc now have a total price lor the complete installation, excluding 

 builders and decorators work, of 73 if the inexpensive form of generator is used, or 94 5s. 6d. it the mo-,t 

 elaborate generator on the market is installed. 



A pound of calcium carbide costs about i{d., and will generate live cubic leet of gas, so that if all 

 the lights were of the usual nominal twenty-live candle-power each, taking one-half of a cubic fool pel- 

 hour, it would cost y. .d. to keep fifteen burning for four hours. This might be taken as a lair average 

 of the number of lights and hours of burning of each of the three hundred and sixty-live days in the year, 

 in which case the cost for carbide for the year would amount to n js. ; such a result would only be 

 obtained if care were taken not to waste the gas. In certain cases, where great care has been exercised 

 in putting in the right size of burner to suit the situation and making use ol a bye-pass arrangement lor 

 turning down the light when it is not required, the yearly cost of carbide for such a plant has been reduced 

 to as low as 6. The sum of 4 per annum should easily cover the cost of attendance and maintenance, 

 making the total lighting bill fora forty-light plant about 15. This estimate applies to a house of moderate 

 size, but in (lie case of a little cottage requiring, say, ten lights, the advantage of acetylene as against other 

 systems is great. Some makers claim to have completed an installation of this size lor the sum of 15, 

 and that the yearly cost of running the same amounts to 3 only. 



Lastly, readers who think of installing acetylene lighting would be well advised to go to a recognised 

 firm who make a speciality of this class of work ; it is by no means the sort of thing that the local plumber 

 can satisfactorily carry out. MAVKICK HIKD. 



149. WALL FITTING FOR TWO CANDLES. 



