THE USE OF ACETYLENE. 341 



livered to the consumer through mains like ordinary illuminating gas ; 

 or it may be liquefied at a gas works and delivered to the consumer 

 in the liquid form under pressure; or the consumer may purchase 

 carbide and generate acetylene for his own consumption. All three 

 of these methods are in use. 



To understand the attitude of insurance companies and of con- 

 sumers toward liquid acetylene it will be well to examine its record 

 for the last few years. Those interested in methods for liquefying 

 acetylene, and for reducing the pressure of the liquid at the place of 

 consumption so that the consumer actually uses it as a gas under a 

 water pressure of six inches or less, may find processes described in 

 detail in the Progressive Age, and in other technical journals. Sufiice 

 it to say that the methods in use in this country and abroad are simple 

 and effective. The purified acetylene is delivered in strong steel 

 cylinders, which may be placed in a special building or case and need 

 not be handled by the consumer. It has been proved by the ex- 

 haustive experiments of the eminent French chemist Berthelot that 

 liquefied acetylene in cylinders can not be exploded by blows or 

 shocks to the closed cylinder. If it is exploded, however, by causing 

 a spark within the cylinder, the explosive force is very great, being 

 about equal to that of gun cotton. 



The use of the liquefied acetylene is so simple and clean that the at- 

 tention of inventors was first turned to this mode of supply. It may in 

 future come again into prominence despite the present strong feeling 

 against it, its use in many cities being prohibited. This feeling was 

 caused by a number of explosions, accompanied by loss of life. Three 

 of these explosions occurred in factories for liquefying acetylene; 

 one in a factory where liquid acetylene regulators were made; several 

 in buildings of consumers. In October, 1896, Pictet's works in 

 Paris were wrecked by the explosion of a cylinder filled with liquid 

 acetylene; evidence proved that the cylinder was held in a vise, and 

 that the two workmen killed were at the ends of a wrench, closing 

 or opening the valve, supposing the cylinder to be empty. The ex- 

 plosion was caused either by a spark from friction in turning the 

 screw, or by the too sudden opening of the valve and releasing the 

 pressure, causing a shock sufficient to decompose the liquid. In De- 

 cember, 1896, the works of G. Isaac, in Berlin, were destroyed by an 

 explosion in the condenser where the cooled acetylene was liquefied 

 by pressure; Isaac and three workmen were killed. Evidence 

 showed that through carelessness warm water instead of cold water 

 was in contact with the condenser, thus warming the liquid and in- 

 creasing the pressure to a point which burst the condenser. In De- 

 cember, 1897, the works of the Dickerson & Suckert Acetylene Gas 

 Liquefying and Distributing Company in Jersey City were destroyed 



