CORRESPONDENCE. ACETYLENE GAS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10062, 14 June 1898, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

ACETYLENE GAS.

TO THE. EDITOB OF THE PBESS. Sir,—l notice in your Saturday's issue that the ring of monopolists who : are attempting to prevent the formation of the Carbide Manufacturing Company have now divided their forces, and instead of putting up one man to attack the business, they are all at work. I therefore propose to deal with their arguments collectively. The. first letter to reply to is "Enquirer. He couples my Dame with Mr Henderson's. I wish, to inform ■him that Mk Henderson has not been paid to advertise this business, and as to his second question., as to how many companies have been formed in Cliristchurch within the last two years that have paid dividends, I must refer him, to Mr Henderson, as I am a comparative stranger here. Hhe second correspondent, "New Colonist, has got up very late in the day, when he starts to quote from the "Mechanical World," April 10th, 1896. I must draw the reader's attention to this fact, that in all the attacks that are being made against this company, the writers quote anonymous writers. "New Colonist" states that the promoters ask for £65,000 out of £100,000; this is a falsehood. They ask for. 40,000 fully paid-up shares. They offer to. forfeit these shares to the Company if the patent is proved to be invalid. They ask for no cash. If they are not the inventors they represent the inventor, and have bought his right and interest, therefore stand in exactly the same place as the inventor. As to the statements in the "Ironmongery Journal," we treat all anonymous newspaper articles on this subject with contempt. We are prepared to prove that the statements made in our prospectus are correct, and should they be proved incorrect we only are liable to the penalties, as provided by the Companies' Act. "New Colonist" says tlhat carbide cannot be produced for less than £10 per ton net cost. It will interest "New Colonist" to learn that I am paying £l 0 per ton for the carbide landed in New York; that the company who supply mc are , paying 20 per cent, dividends. That settles "New Colonist's'" arguments on that point. Anyone is at liberty to inspect the original invoices.

"New Colonist" asserts that £15,000 is set aside for the purchase of generator patents. That is not so.At the request of several of the largest applicants for shares an option has been given to purchase these patents, but the Company are not bound to accept the option"; they can refuse them. lam pleased to learn that "New Colonist" is satisfied that acetylene has come to stay. "New Colonist , winds up by stating that he is not going to take any shares in the Company. That ia his. own loss, not ours. The industry will be started without his valuable assistance.

As a reply to the extract quoted by "New Colonist," attacking the patent, I herewith enclose extract.-from a lecture delivered by Professor Vivian B. Lewes, chief gas examiner to the Corporation of the City of London, given at the London Institution, November 25th, 1897, and to the "Ironmonger", extract I quote from a lecture given by Professor D. C. Selman to the Electrical Engineering. Association, New Soutlb Wales, and the "British Trade Review" for May 2nd, 1898. These extracts will prove that all statements made by mc on behalf of acetylene are supported by the highest authorities. The opposition to the formation of this Company proves that the opponents are frightened of it. Tfoey are simply trying to stop the formation of the Company, because they know that once carbide is made in J*ew Zealand their dividends will fade away to a vanishing point. Consequently they are straining every nerve to avert the threatened calamity.—Yours, &c,

W. TYREE. Christchurch, June 13th, 1898.

[extracts.] Extract from a lecture given by Vivian B Lewes, Professor of Chemistry, before the London Institution. November 25th, 1897.—" Even prior to 1892, the Canadian

experimentalist, Mr T. L. Willson, had noticed the formation of calcic carbide under certain conditions, in the electric furnace, and in the spring of that year prepared considerable quantities of the crystalline carbide by the direct fusion of lime and powdered coke in an electric furnace, and found that it evolved acetylene in large quantities when brought in contact with* water. He privately sent samples of it to several scientists, and later on a sample to iord Kelvin, who acknowledged its receipt in a letter dated October 3rd, 1892. I have seen and am satisfied as to the accuracy of evidence which clearly proves these facts, and which undoubtedly gives to Willsou the honour of priority'in discovery of the direct formation of crvstallino calcic carbide in the electric furnace. I would not dwell upon the point wers it not that partisans of the celebrated French chemist, M. Henri Moissan, (are making ill-advised, though patriotic, atempts to claim the discovery for him and for France —attempts, be it said, which any one who knows his character and position knows, would not for one moment be countenanced by him, if the true facts were in his possession. The smirch cast upon the fair lame of Javoisier by the attempts of his compatriots, to prove" that he and not Priestley was the true discoverer of oxygen, is so fresh in our memories that M. Moissan may well exclaim —' Heaven protect mc from my friends."" "Lecture delivered before the Electrical Engineering Association, Sydney, N.S.W., April 30th, 1897, by Professor D. 0. Selman. •• A pound ot carbide yields about 5.24 cubic feet of acetylene, 11,737 cubic feet per ton. The following special test was made by Professor Lewes a lew months ago. The voltage of the current used varied from 60 to 70 volts and 1000 to 1200 amperes. The charge was about 60 per cent, of lime and 40 per cent, of coke, well mixed. Such a current in hours yielded an ingot of carbide of 1121b weight, and 80 per cent, of pure material in the centre of the mass, it follows, therefore, that the cost of the acetylene gas, equivalent in illuminating power to 1000 cubic feet of water gas of 26 candle power, is as near as possible the l-100th part of the cost of a ton of calcium carbide. If we take coal at 8s 6d per ton and 16 candle power gas at 4 s 3d pei 1000 cubic feet, as in Sydney, the gas is naif the price of a ton of coals. The cost of production of a ton of carbide at Niagara Falls is about £7 2s 6d. From a circular issued by the Acetylene, Light, Heat, and Power Company of Philadelphia, the writer finds they are selling the same carbide at £20 10s per ton, which is nearly 200 per cent, clear profit less business expenses, and even at this rate they guarantee that the consumer gets a 25 oandle power light at the cost per 1000 cubic feet ot Is Bd. A very striking difference exists between this and 17 candle power gas at 4s 3d per 1000 cubic feet, the ruling rates in Sydney. From all accounts the cost of manufacture of calcium carbide may be anything between 30s and £7 per ton. But the selling price is nearer £30 per ton. In Paris there is a good demand at £40 a ton. The Afietylene Illuminating Company in England, who own the Willson and Cowles patents, wliich appear to be those that will regulate the prices, charge £28 per ton. In Ireland, by employing the disused water mills situated in limestone districts, a vigorous business seems to be growing up in the manufacture of calcium carbide, winch at present is sold !in a specially purified condition at £16 per ton, and the promoters say this figure will be very much reduced in the near future. Placing the cost of manufacture of calcium carbide in New South Wale 3at £10 per ton, it follows that we should get our present amount of illumination at about Is Id per 1000 cubic feet, or four times as cheap as what we are now paying. It will thus be seen that the financial aspect of the whole matter hinges on the difference between the cost of production and the selling price of carbide to compete with gas or electricity. In America the average cost of illuminating gas in the holder is about Is 3d per 1000 cubic feet, while the cost of acetylene gas in the holder, giving light for light, would be equivalent to water gas at Is 6d per 1000 cubic feet, or 23 per cent, higher aiid. in favour of water gas. In Sydney, however, the corresponding figures would be as follows : —Coal gas as supplied, 4s 3d per 1000 c. feet; equivalent of acetylene in holder, Is Id; gain in favour of acetylene, 300 per cent, nearly. It thus appears that a Carbide Company operating in Sydney would have something like a return of 300 per cent, with which to pay business expenses, repairs, and dividends."

Extract from the "British Trade Review" on the commercial value of acetylene—"By way of supplementing the articles which have appeared in recent issues of the 'Review' on the above subject, we have pleasure in publishing an interesting paper read lately at a meeting of the Midland Association of Gas Managers by Mr Thomas Glover, of West Bromwich, on 'Acetylene Gas; its Generation and Use.' After a few preliminary remarks, Mr Glover sa.a: —'It is not too much to say that the subject of the commercial production of carbide of calcium and acetylene gas, as introduced to the British public by that prince of demonstrators, Professor Lewes, created quite a sensation of curiosity and expectation two years ago; and the interest in it does not appear to show much indication of subsiding, as the patent columns of the technical orress testify week by week. The manufacture of carbide of calcium on a large scale—from whicu acetylene gas is made—is entirely due to the recent developments in electrical science, which have made it possible, by means of the electrical furnace, to obtain higher temperatures than were hitherto known. The fusion of calcium witn carbon can only be effected at extremely high temperatures (approximately 3000deg to 4000 deg Fahr.), and it was while using such a temperature in an electrical furnace that Mr T. L. Willson, an American scientist, accidentally produced a hard, grey slag, which on analysis, proved to be pure carbide of calcium. The gas evolved when the slag was dropped into water was acetylene. Some time before this discovery was made the attention of gas engineers had been directed by Professor Lewes to the important part played by acetylene in the ordinary gas flame: and. his clear exposition as to how acetylene was formed, and to what chemical and physical changes luminosity in a gas flame was due, had no doubt won for his theory many adherents, and served the purpose of drawing public attention, more especially to this constituent of coal gas, which previously had been little thought about except by a few experimenters who had attempted its synthetic production by various means with only limited success. . After describing the process of making calcium carbide, Mr Glover proceeded as follows : thus produced' consists of forty parts by weight of calcium and twentyfour of carbon (formula Ca'C), and the 2 chemical change w'aich follows when water is added .to it may be represented by. this equation— CaC HO C H. By the I*2 2 2 2 methods oi'manufacture thus described, tons of carbide can be .produced with as little trouble as grains were made before. At the present time about 800 tons of carbide is the annual output m. Britain alone, and there are large manufacturies on the Continent and in America. Two years ago this production Avas nil. One pound of commercial carbide will produce 5 cubic feet of gas, the estimated illuminating power of which is _-,</ candles; so that the British production is equal to about 9,000.000 cubic feet of acetylene, or 430.000,000 candle hours.