As it has been well known for many years that the
solidifying point of water can be lowered to almost any degree below
normal freezing by dissolving in it certain salts in definite
proportions, one of the first methods suggested for preventing the
formation of ice in an acetylene generator was to employ such a salt,
using, in fact, for the decomposition of the carbide some saline solution
which remains liquid below the minimum night temperature of the winter
season. Such a process, however, has proved unsuitable for the purpose in
view; and the explanation of that fact is found in what has just been
stated: the "water" of the generator may admittedly be safely maintained
in the fluid state, but from so cold a liquid acetylene will not be
generated smoothly, if at all. Moreover, were it not so, a process of
this character is unnecessarily expensive, although suitable salts are
very cheap, for the water of the generator is constantly being consumed,
[Footnote: It has already been said that most generators "consume" a much
larger volume of water than the amount corresponding with the chemical
reaction involved: the excess of water passing into the sludge or by-
product.
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