Such argument is perfectly sound, but the method of returning leakage as
a percentage of the make has been employed in the coal-gas industry for
many years, and as it does not appear to have led to any misunderstanding
or inconvenience, there is no particular reason for departing from the
usual practice in the case of acetylene where the conditions as to
uniform leakage and irregular make are strictly analogous.
Caro has stated that a loss of 15 to 20 litres per kilometre per hour
(_i.e._, of 0.85 to 1.14 cubic feet per mile per hour) from an
acetylene distributing main is good practice; but it should be noted that
much lower figures have been obtained when conditions are favourable and
when due attention has been devoted to the fitters' work. In one of the
German village acetylene installations where the matter has been
carefully investigated (Doese, near Cuxhaven), leakage originally occurred
at the rate of 7.3 litres per kilometre per hour in a main 8.5
kilometres, or 5.3 miles, long and 4 to 2 inches in diameter; but it was
reduced to 5.2 litres, and then to 3.12 litres by tightening the plugs of
the street lantern and other gas cocks. In British units, these figures
are 0.
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