In fact, if an acetylene installation is of more
than very small dimensions, _e.g._, when it is intended to supply
any building as large as, or larger than, the average country residence,
if it is to give satisfaction to both constructor and purchaser by being
quite trustworthy and, possessed of a due lease of life, say ten or
fifteen years, it must be built of stouter materials than the light
sheets which alone are suitable for manipulation with the soldering-iron
or for bending in the ordinary type of metal press. Sound cast-iron,
heavy sheet-metal, or light boiler-plate is the proper substance of which
to construct all the important parts of a generator, and the joints in
wrought metal must be riveted and caulked or soldered autogeneously as
mentioned above. So built, the installation becomes much more costly to
lay down than an apparatus composed of tinplate, zinc, or thin galvanised
iron, but it will prove more economical in the long run. It is not too
much to say that if ignorant and short-sighted makers in the earliest
days of the acetylene industry had not recommended and supplied to their
customers lightly built apparatus which has in many instances already
begun to give trouble, to need repairs, and to fail by thorough
corrosion--apparatus which frequently had nothing but cheapness in its
favour--the use of the gas would have spread more rapidly than it has
done, and the public would not now be hearing of partial or complete
failures of acetylene installations.
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