]
Now, assuming this done, the drums are not dependent upon soft solder to
keep them sound, and so they cannot open with heat. Fire and water,
accordingly, cannot affect them, and only two risks remain: if stored in
the basement of a tall building, falling girders, beams or brickwork may
burst them; or if stored on an upper floor, they may fall into the
basement and be burst with the shock--in either event water then having
free access to the contents. But drums of carbide would never be stored
in such positions: a single one would be kept in the generator-house;
several would be stored in a separate room therein, or in some similar
isolated shed. The generator-house or shed would be of one story only;
the drums could neither fall nor have heavy weights fall on them during a
fire; and therefore there is no reason why, if a fire should occur, the
firemen should not be permitted to use their hose in the ordinary
fashion. Very similar remarks apply to an active acetylene generator.
Well built, such plant will stand much heat and fire without failure; if
it is non-automatic, and of combustible materials contains nothing but
gas in the holder, the worst that could happen in times of fire would be
the unsealing of the bell or its fracture, and this would be followed,
not at all by any explosion, but by a fairly quiet burning of the
escaping gas, which would be over in a very short time, and would not add
to the severity of the conflagration unless the generator-house were so
close to the residence that the large flame of burning gas could ignite
part of the main building.
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