Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/358

342 by fire caused by the explosion of a cylinder filled through carelessness of workmen with a mixture of air and liquid acetylene—i.e., with an explosive mixture—killing the superintendent and a workman. In the explosion at the regulator factory at New Haven, January, 1895, the valve of the cylinder, on which one of two workmen killed was working, broke; a large volume of acetylene escaped and ignited from a lighted candle. In all four cases the explosions were caused by ignorance or carelessness incident to the beginnings of a new industry, and could be avoided by experience and skill.

It should be stated that in the explosion at Paris all of the full acetylene cylinders were dug out of the ruins unhurt. The same was true at Berlin, where five full cylinders were blown against the wall of the building by the explosion of the condenser, but did not explode. At Jersey City sixty filled cylinders were exposed to the heat of the fire following the explosion; they were fitted with safety diaphragms of fusible metal; forty-eight remained intact, the acetylene burning off quietly as it escaped through the fused diaphragm, and twelve exploded, either on account of imperfection of the diaphragms or stoppage of the air passage leading from the diaphragm. The explosions of liquid acetylene in buildings of consumers have been due in every case to gross carelessness and ignorance on the part of the consumer.

Although one of the chief points in favor of the liquid acetylene is its portability, yet it can be shown that it is still easier to carry carbide to the consumer. One cubic metre of acetylene is compressed to two litres in liquid form; two litres of carbide weigh 4.44 kilogrammes, which will produce a cubic metre and a third of acetylene, reckoning three hundred litres to the kilogramme, which is the average guaranteed yield of carbide. The light tin carbide cans occupy less space and weigh less than the heavy steel cylinders, while the generation of the gas is simple and, with proper generators, perfectly safe. On the other hand, the generators must be cared for, must often be filled with fresh carbide, and from time to time must be cleaned. With the generator system acetylene is as safe as or safer than illuminating gas. Berthelot has shown that at pressures below two atmospheres a vessel filled with acetylene can not be exploded by the explosion of a cap of fulminating mercury within the vessel, nor by heating a wire which extends into the vessel to a white heat by an electric current. The reason is that the acetylene can not explode unless it is decomposed into its elements, carbon and hydrogen; to decompose it requires a certain amount of energy. While the energy of the glowing wire or of the exploding cap causes a local decomposition at the point of contact, it is not sufficient to spread the decomposition further. Acetylene forms an explosive mixture with air; so does illuminating