Still it must be remembered that a water-to-carbide
generator, with subdivided charge, does not belong to the flooded-
compartment type if the water runs in slowly and continuously: it is then
simply a "contact" apparatus, and may or may not exhibit overheating, as
well as the inevitable after-generation. All generators of the water-to-
carbide type, too, must yield a gas containing some air in the earlier
portions of their make, because the carbide containers can only be filled
one-third or one-half full of solid. Although the proportion of air so
passed into the holder may be, and usually is, far too small in amount to
render the gas explosive or dangerous in the least degree, it may well be
sufficient to reduce the illuminating power appreciably until it is swept
out of the service by the purer gas subsequently generated. Moreover, all
water-to-carbide generators are liable, as just mentioned, to produce
sufficient overheating to lower the illuminating power of the gas
whenever they are wilfully driven too fast, or when they are reputed by
their makers to be of a higher productive capacity than they actually
should be; and all water-to-carbide generators, excepting those where the
carbide is thoroughly soaked in water at some period of their operation,
are liable to waste gas by imperfect decomposition.
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