Manifestly, if a consumer employs such a form of generator that he is
obliged to use carbide below "standard" size, analyses may be made on his
behalf in the ordinary way; but he will have no redress if the yield of
acetylene is less than the normal. This may appear a defect or grievance;
but since in many ways the use of small carbide (except in portable
lamps) is not advantageous--either technically or pecuniarily--the rule
simply amounts to an additional judicious incentive to the adoption of
apparatus capable of decomposing standard-sized lumps. The German and
Austrian Associations' regulations, however, provide a standard for the
quality of granulated carbide.
It has been pointed out that the German Association's direction that the
water used in the testing should be saturated with acetylene by a
preliminary decomposition of 1/2 kilogramme of carbide is not wholly
adequate, and it has been suggested that the preliminary decomposition
should be carried out twice with charges of carbide, each weighing not
less than 1 per cent. of the weight of water used. A further possible
source of error lies in the fact that the generating water is saturated
at the prevailing temperature of the room, and liberates some of its
dissolved acetylene when the temperature rises during the subsequent
generation of gas.
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