358 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, 1906 
To make Cheap Gas-light 
for Country Homes 
AKE a common Clay Pipe. 
Put a simple ‘‘Acetylene’’ Gasburner 
on its stem. 
Bind the two in position with a tight- 
fitting piece of Rubber Hose. 
Then fill the bowl of the pipe with fine- 
ground Calcium Carbide. 
Next tie a moistened rag over head of the 
bow] to keep in the Carbide. 
Now put the pipe into a 
Glass of Water, as in picture. 
There you have a com- 
plete Gas-plant for 25 cents. 
Touch a match to the ~~~ _—— 
Burner—and vou’ll get a — > 
beautiful White Gas-light. ae: i 
Of course, this is only an 7 
experiment, but it shows the 
wonderful simplicity of Acety- 
lene Lighting. 
That very simplicity gave 
Acetylene Light a setback, at 
It seemed so simple to turn Calcium Car- 
bide into Gas-light that over 600 different 
kinds of ‘‘tanks’”’ and ‘‘Acetylene Machines”’ 
were invented, patented, and marketed for the 
purpose, by about as many different people. 
Well, the thing to be expected certainly 
happened! 
About 530 of these ‘‘Acetylene Machines’ 
had been invented and sold by people who 
knew more about Tinware than they did about 
Gas-making. 
The ‘‘Calcium Carbide’”’ was all right all 
the time, but 530 of the machines for turning 
it into Gas were all wrong all the time. 
So Acetylene Gas ‘“‘got a bad name,’ 
though it is clear enough now that it never 
deserved it at any time. 
It was like selling Wood Stoves to burn 
Hard Coal in, and then blaming the Coal for 
not burning. 
é * * * 
Lots of things happened to grieve the 
Owners of these 530 makes of alleged ‘‘Acety- 
lene Machines.”’ 
But very few accidents occurred from 
them even in the days of rank experiment and 
dense ignorance, among, ‘‘Generator’’ Makers. 
Of course, a gun will go off unexpectedly, 
now and then, if the trigger be pulled by a per- 
son who ‘‘didn’t know it was loaded.”’ 
But, that’s no fault of the Ammunition— 
is it? 
Well, finally the Insurance Companies 
got after these 530 odd makes of ‘‘Acetylene 
Machines’”’ that wouldn’t Acetylate, and the 
Insurance Board made an investigation of all 
Generators that were submitted to them. 
Then, out of the 600 odd ‘‘Machines’’ 
patented, only about 70 were ‘‘permitted’’ by 
the Insurance Board to be used. 
Oh, what a howl was there! 
By “‘ pe I mean that the Insur- 
ance Boz oa was willing that any building 
should be Insured, without extra charge, 
which used any one of these 70 Acetylene 
Generators it had found safe, and effective, 
just as it permitted houses to be piped for City 
Gas, or wired for Electricity, under proper 
conditions, 
Now, the Insurance Companies ought to 
know whether or not these 70 different makes 
of Acetylene Generators were absolutely Safe 
to use. 
Because, they have to pay the bills, if Fire 
or Explosion occurs, from any one of the Acety- 
lene Generators they authorize. 
And, here’s a proof of their good judg- 
ment. 
Though there are now Two Million people 
using Acetylene Light in America, there have 
only been four Fires from it in one year, against 
8865 Fires from Kerosene and Gasoline. 
There have also been 4691 Fires from 
Electricity, 1707 Fires from City Gas, and 
520 Fires from Candles. 
Besides these there have been 26 Fires 
from the Sun’s rays, But,—only four Fires 
from Acetylene. 
That shows how careful the Insurance 
Board was in its examination of Acetylene 
Generators, and in ‘‘permitting’’ only the 70 
makes that were above suspicion, out of the 
600 experiments that were once on the market. 
* * * 
Well,—the boom in Acetylene Lighting 
made lower prices possible on the material it is 
derived from, viz., Calcium Carbide, a material 
that looks like Granite but acts like } Magic. 
Today, Acetylene Light is a full third 
cheaper than Kerosene Light, or Gasoline 
Light, per Candle Power. 
It is not more than half the price of Elec- 
tric Light, nor three-fourths that of City Gas. 
If I can’t prove these statements to your 
full satisfaction my name is not ‘‘Acetylene 
Jones.”’ 
But Acetylene is more than the safest and 
cheapest Light of the year 1906 
It is also the Whitest Light—the nearest to 
natural Sunlight in health-giving Blue and 
Violet rays, and because of this, with its free- 
dom from flicker, it is the easiest of all Artificial 
Light on the Eyes. 
It is so much like real Sunlight that it has 
made plants grow 24 hours per day in dark 
cellars where no ray of Sunlight could reach 
them. It made them grow twice as fast as 
similar plants that had only the Sunlight of 
day-time, viz., half the time. 
That was proven by Cornell University 
in a three months’ experiment made this very 
year. 
* * * 
Now, I’ve saved up for the last a point 
more important to you than all the others 
about Acetylene Light. 
It consumes only one -fourth as much of 
the vital Oxygen from the Air of Living rooms 
or bed-rooms, as either Kerosene or City Gas- 
Light consumes. 
That’s a tremendous difference in a life- 
time, mark you—three-fourths of a difference. 
Because,—Ovxygen is Life. 
And every bit of Oxygen stolen from the 
lungs of Women, Children and Men, through 
Lighting, is a loss that can never be made good 
again. 
A 24 Candle-Power Acetylene Light costs 
you only two-fifths of a cent per hour. 
That’s about $5.85 per year, if burned 
every night in the year for four steady hours. 
A Kerosene Lamp of equal capacity would 
cost you a third more, viz.: three-fifths of a 
cent per hour for Kerosene alone, or $8.75 per 
year. 
That’s exclusive of broken lamp chim- 
neys, new wicks, and the everlasting drudgery 
and danger of cleaning, filling and trimming 
daily. 
I want to prove these figures to you, 
Reader, if you are a house-owner or store- 
keeper. 
Tell me how many rooms you’ve got and 
I'll tell you what it will cost to light ser with 
brilliant, beautiful, Sanitary, eye-saving Acety- 
lene. 
Write me today for my Free Book about 
“Sunlight on Tap.” 
Just address me here as— 
“Acetylene F. Jones,”’ 
150 Michigan Ave,, 
Chicago, Ills. 
The Vapor Vacuum System of Heating 
Hy veass engineers have, for many 
years, been trying to design a system 
of heating that would have all the ad- 
vantages of the steam and hot water systems 
with none of their disadvantages or defects, a 
system that would have a wide range of tem- 
perature at which steam could be circulated, to 
meet the requirements of the sudden changes 
in winter, and the mild weather in spring and 
fall, when only a little heat is needed. As a 
result the vapor and vacuum systems of heat- 
ing in various forms have been put upon the 
market, but, while they have many good points, 
they do not fully meet the requirements of a 
perfect heating system. In the ordinary steam 
system it is necessary to carry a pressure of 
steam in the boiler to overcome the friction in 
the pipes and to force the air which gathers 
in the empty radiators through the air valve; 
therefore the steam can not be circulated at 
less than 212 degrees. In the vacuum system 
a partial or a complete vacuum can be ob- 
tained in the entire system by means of a spe- 
cial system of air piping, or by special appli- 
ances attached to the radiators. Steam gene- 
rated in a vacuum is of lower temperature 
than steam generated at atmospheric pressure, 
the difference varying according to the amount 
AUTOMATIC DRAINAGE VALVE. 
of vacuum from 212 degrees to 98 degrees 
Fahrenheit. ‘Vherefore, with the vacuum sys- 
tem it is possible to circulate steam through the 
entire system at the same temperature that 
the water is circulated in a hot water system. 
It will be noted, however, that while it is 
possible to vary the amount of heat in the 
vacuum system, it is impossible to regulate the 
heat in any one radiator. In the vapor sys- 
tem a pipe from the return main connects 
with the chimney flue. By this means the 
air is drawn from the radiators, and it is only 
possible to carry the steam in the boiler at about 
216 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1 lb. pressure. 
Consequently the radiators must be larger than 
in the ordinary steam system. ‘The vapor sys- 
tem has the advantage over the vacuum system 
in being able to regulate the heat in any 
radiator; but, in order to do this, it requires 
a specially designed system of piping and 
special radiator valves. “The Gorton Vapor 
Vacuum System embodies all of the advantages 
of the vapor, vacuum and the hot water sys- 
tems of heating, with none of their disad- 
vantages or defects. By the use of the Auto- 
matic Drainage Valve, which is placed on the 
return end of each radiator, and the Auto- 
matic Relief Valve, which is connected to the 
steam and return mains in the cellar, steam 
can be circulated under a vacuum, at a tem-- 
perature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or at any 
desired temperature up to 238 degrees, and the 
heat in any one radiator can be controlled by 
graduating the opening of the radiator valve. 
Ini the Gorton Vapor Vacuum System the hot 
water type of radiator is usually employed, 
with the steam inlet at the top, and the return 
