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Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 18 12:59 pm Post subject:

Never heard of acetylene being used as lighting as you describe before,normally it was town gas,my Granny used to have a gas light in the kitchen even thought there was electricity throughout the house,kept it as an emergency.

Acetylene lighting was common in the non gaseous mines ,last used was a private mine in the Neath Valley around 1970,

Also the old motorcycles were acetylene lighted,both of these through the use of carbide and water dripping to give off the gas.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 18 8:07 pm Post subject:

acetylene lamps were common among cavers until decent batteries became available.
as vehicle lamps they were far better than wick or early electric as bulbs dont bounce about and stay working for long

for lighting a building, there are a few issues i would not like to experience.
gas/ limelight and arc have all caused issues in theatres etc but acetylene is bonkers.

the stuff really loves oxygen, it loves it large from 2 directions and it sneaks about like a crawlin kingsnake to consummate it's desires:lol:

oxygen rather likes both directions on offer and unless both are very well chaperoned their explosive affair will rock the world.

ps HP o2 has a few serious issues as well.

pps i am pretty comfortable about 2000psi hydrogen for comparison

thinking of gas if you do go for shielded arc although the gas is inert it still has a vast amount of potential energy from being under high pressure so cylinder safety is still important.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 18 7:51 am Post subject:

It may not have been very common, but was apparently used in some village halls and similar buildings. He told us about it when we were doing acetylene in chemistry. I knew about the lights for bikes and cars and it was a far more robust system than the electric bulbs of the day.

Limelight was another thing we covered in chemistry at school; mainly used in theatres and the term 'in the limelight' still used of course which comes from that.

Arc lighting was also dangerous. My great uncle died of leukaemia, probably as a result of the mercury arc lighting used in the earlier days of television where he worked on that sort of thing.

Husbands grandparents didn't have electricity in their house until the 1960s, so had gas lighting, as did my grandparents for the first year in their new house in the 1930s until electricity got to their part of London. Husband's grandfather was too tight to have the rather breakable shades on his gas lamps, so every time a moth flew in it had to be chased out before it hit and broke the gas mantle.

Thank goodness for electric light.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 18 9:59 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

Husband's grandfather was too tight to have the rather breakable shades on his gas lamps, so every time a moth flew in it had to be chased out before it hit and broke the gas mantle.

Reminds me of a time we were camping and had a paraffin pressure lamp. Some large insects came and started battering themselves against the light (I think they were beetles rather than moths). We put the light out to stop them, but that led them to the next brightest thing which was the campfire...

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 18 7:53 am Post subject:
Amusing in a way, but rather sad for the beetles.

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