We have a job that involves tearing out a gas pit that was used to feed the gas lights in an old house. Want to make sure no hazardous materials, etc. in it. Have info that it was last filled with gas in 1911, unverified, and also that it was acetylene, unverified. Can anyone help me with links or info on how they did this, what materials were used, etc.?
thanks, remodeler
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Replies
Just a guess, but they could have filled it with calcium carbide. This material was also used for coal miners lamps and for those carbide cannons that you can still get. Calcium carbide will come as a granular material or in a form that looks like gravel. Add water and you get aceltylene gas, the by-product is a grey ash that smells bad. Don't know if it is considered hazardous.
hey, my grandfather made a living as a young man in 1910 riding his Indian from farm to farm in Illinois.. installing carbide generators.... for the gas lamps..
i think he installed one on my maternal great-grandfather's farm and wound up marrying my grandmother, the farmer's daughter... sure looked like a dashing blade in his leathers on his old Indian..
like you said... add water .. created a gas... light the lamps...try looking up carbide generators..
here's a .pdf file on the history of acetylene... your generator type is probably in there..
http://www.westernintl.com/files/Acetylene_History.pdfMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore