Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Manufacturing Industries. Introd. by [G. Sundbärg] K. Åmark - 8. Manufactures of Stone, Clay, Coal, Charcoal, and Peat - Gas and Acetylene. By Alf. Larson
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480
vii. manufacturing industries.
of water on calcium carbide, that commodity being itself obtained by the
reduction of lime by means of coal in an electric furnace. A kilogram
of calcium carbide, the manufacture of which at present may be said
to cost scarcely 20 ore, produces about 0-3 cubic meters of acetylene gas.
The use of the new illuminating agent spread very rapidly, owing to its
unrivalled luminosity and the facility with which it can be produced, but
the results have not answered expectations. The requisite electric power
for the manufacture of calcium carbide is ready to hand at. a very cheap rate
in the shape, of the numerous Swedish waterfalls, and there are excellent
prospects of production on a large scale in Sweden; unfortunately, in this
case as in many others, enterprise has been checked hitherto by the
incompleteness and uncertainty of the law as regards the ownership of the
waterfalls. — In 1897, a calcium carbide manufactory was established at
the Trollhättan falls by G. de Laval, and subsequently manufactories were
established at Månsbo and Alby.
In 1912, the three manufactories of Månsbo, Alby, and Ljungafors, employing
260 hands, produced about 11 120 tons of calcium carbide, valued at 1 724 000
kronor, and of this amount 1 255 tons were exported. Calcium carbide is now
directly used chiefly for motor car and bicycle lamps. Recently, too, a
considerable amount has been used for the so-called AGA (automatic) lighthouse
lanterns, which were invented by G. Dalén, a Swede, who was awarded the
Nobel prize. At a pressure of 10 atmospheres and a temperature of + 15° C.
100 volumes of acetylene dissolve in one volume of acetone, giving the
so-called "dissousgas", invented by the Frenchmen, Claude and Hess, in 1896.
When dissolved in acetone, acetylene, which is normally explosive at a pressure
of 2 atmospheres, remains inexplosive up to a pressure of 20 atmospheres. And,
further, by placing the acetone, before the acetylene is dissolved in it, in steel
reservoirs containing a quantity of some very porous substance, all danger of
explosion is avoided. The gas is then delivered under reduced pressure. Dalén
has, in a brilliant manner, employed this arrangement in the construction of
his self-lighting and self-extinguishing lanterns for lighthouses, which are now
known and employed over the whole world. Recently they have been adopted
for the lighting of the Panama Canal.
Calcium carbide is now most important as constituting the raw material for
the preparation of the new fertilizer known as calcium cyanamicle, which is
produced by bringing calcium carbide to red-heat in nitrogen.
At Alby 6 000 tons of this preparation were produced in 1912 for export,
and it has now begun to be manufactured at Månsbo. A new manufactory has
also been established at Ljungafors, near Johannisberg station. It belongs to
the Stockholm Superphosphate Manufacturing Co. and is run by a water-power
of 18 000 h. p. It seems probable that this industry may be of importance
for the utilization of a part of the country’s unused water-power; besides which,
this nitrogenous fertilizer will undoubtedly be of importance for agriculture.
See, further, under Chemical Industry (introduction) and Electro-chemical
Industry, where these manufactories are dealt with statistically.
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