e._, whether
stout metal has been employed, whether the seams and joints are well
finished, and whether the whole apparatus has been built in the workman-
like fashion which alone can give satisfaction in any kind of plant.
Bearing these points in mind, the intending purchaser may find assistance
in estimating the mechanical value of an apparatus by perusing the
remainder of this chapter, which will be devoted to elaborating at length
the so-called scientific principles underlying the construction of a
satisfactory generator, and to giving information on the mechanical and
practical points involved.
It is perhaps desirable to remark that there is scarcely any feature in
the generation of acetylene from calcium carbide and water--certainly no
important feature--which introduces into practice principles not already
known to chemists and engineers. Once the gas is set free it ranks simply
as an inflammable, moisture-laden, somewhat impure, illuminating and
heat-giving gas, which has to be dried, purified, stored, and led to the
place of combustion; it is in this respect precisely analogous to coal-
gas. Even the actual generation is only an exothermic, or heat-producing,
reaction between a solid and a liquid, in which rise of temperature and
pressure must be prevented as far as possible.
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