Your laugh for today

[CNC Dan]

My dad used to have a cutting torch that used pump gas to cut with. Tank probably held about a gallon of gasoline. It had a pump, similar to the old coleman gas lanterns we used to take camping. The pump was to pressurize the gas so it would flow thru the hoses to the torch body. It used a regular oxy tank and regulator. Dont know what ever happened to the torch. Dont miss it, but wouldnt mine having it back just for a conversation piece.

i think that was called the "petrogen" torch. It could cut much deeper than O/A as i recall.

http://www.petrogen.com/

 

[muddstopper]

The gas tank in the video doesnt look anything like what my dad had, but it looks to work the same way. Dads was very old back in the mid 70's, no telling where it is at now.

 

[Jim Shooz]

I have seen people put a bunch of carbide in a can with some rocks in the can to make it sink, add water to generate the gas then pound on the lid. I guess it auto-ignites from the heat and pressure, because it makes a pretty good boom underwater.

Back in the day Sobranie cigarettes used to come in a small round tin. We would put a nailhole in the base, throw in some carbide, spit on it and close the lid. Apply the match to the hole and with a loud bang the lid and the tin would fly off 'round the yard. I still have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.

 

[crash325]

A typical, old-fashioned carbide miner's lamp has a lower compartment for carbide (CaC2) and an upper one for water. A valve controls water drip into the carbide where a chemical reaction produces acetylene gas which comes out a small nozzle in the middle of the reflector. There is a flint striker wheel near the edge of the reflector (just like a cigarette lighter flint wheel). Once you start the water dripping into the carbide, you hold your hand over the open end of the reflector to allow gas to accumulate, then quickly sweep your hand to the side across the flint wheel. The resulting spark ignites the acetylene gas with a pronounced POP! Since gas is being produced continously, there will be a flame in at the nozzle in the middle of the reflector; the size of the flame can be adjusted by tweaking the water drip rate. Carbide lamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
By the way carbide in carbide saw blades and other cutting tools is tungsten carbide (WC) which, like corundum (Al2O3; rubies and sapphires!), is 9 on the Mos scale of hardness (where diamond is 10); unlike CaC2, WC doesn't react to water by producing acetylene gas!
BOB

Here are a couple of pictures of Carbide lamps. Old ones dug out of mine cave in.
Acetylene gas can not be held in an open container. acetylene Bottles are full of Acetone and the gas is absorbed in to it. Over 15 pounds of pressure and acetylene has a tendency to explode.
In the old days some welding & black smith shops had an acetylene generator to supply their torch with gas.

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[Ken]

My dad had two blowtorches that he used to heat the glow plug on a single cylinder diesel engine. The engine drove a water pump thru a long flat belt. The engine was high up on the river bank and the pump was down next to the normal water level. The blowtorch would heat the glow plug to cherry red, then he would start to spin the flywheel by standing on a spoke. He had two blowtorches because sometimes it took more than one fuel fill of the torch to get the plug hot enough. Once the engine was running it would blow smoke rings out the exhaust.
That was back in the 1940's before we got electricity. I now have one of the blowtorches on the shelf in my office. My son has the other one.

Do you remember the name of the engine I also spent a lot of time warming the brass plug before starting a water pump engine. Was to young to think they would be replaced. And now when telling some old engine folks of this they tell me never heard of it. Instead of diesel we burned tractor fuel and watched smoke rings on a calm day.
ken