However, the figures
previously given show that this action is too slow to be noticeable in
practice, for the gas is never stored for more than a few days at a time.
The action cannot be accepted as a valid argument against the employment
of a holder in acetylene plant. Such deterioration and wastage of gas may
be reduced to some extent by the use of a film of some cheap and
indifferent oil floating on the water inside an acetylene holder; the
economy being caused by the lower solubility of acetylene in oils than in
aqueous liquids not saturated with some saline material. Probably almost
any oil would answer equally well, provided it was not volatile at the
temperature of the holder, and that it did not dry or gum on standing,
_e.g._, olive oil or its substitutes; but mineral lubricating oil is
not so satisfactory. It is, however, not necessary to adopt this method
in practice, because the solvent power of the liquid in the seal can be
reduced by adding to it a saline body which simultaneously lowers its
freezing-point and makes the apparatus more trustworthy in winter.
FREEZING OF GASHOLDER SEAL.--The danger attendant upon the congelation of
the seal in an acetylene holder is very real, not so much because of the
fear that the apparatus may be burst, which is hardly to be expected, as
because the bell will be firmly fixed in a certain position by the ice,
and the whole establishment lighted by the gas will be left in darkness.
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