As none of the makers of kerosene lamps seems to have ventured into producing an acetylene lamp, the making of acetylene lamps for bicycle use may therefore be classed as being a distinctive one and the trade of this city are showing the following makes: The [Electro], the [Solar], the [Helios] and the [Calcium King]. The Electro lamp is made by the Electro Lamp Company, and while it is retailed at a lower price than any of the others, as shown by the illustration it is of very neat construction as regards weight and size. Its reflector is parabolic in shape, and the light is not focused. It is charged by inserting a metal case, containing carbide, into the chamber of the lamp, and when this carbide is exhausted, after burning four hours, the case may be removed and thrown away and a fresh one inserted. This takes but a moment’s time. The gas is generated within the lamp by the slow dropping of water on the carbide, and the water is so controlled that the gas is produced only as fast as it is consumed, and when the water valve is closed generation of gas ceases at once. By a slight turning of the valve screw at the top of the lamp the water in the upper chamber is made to drop on the carbide and the lamp is ready to light, and by turning in the opposite direction the water is shut off and the light goes out as soon as the water remaining in the chamber of the lamp is consumed. The carbide charges used in this lamp are made only by the Electro Lamp Company, and are packed in cartons of six charges each. Six of these cartons are packed in a box, making three dozen charges per box, each charge at a cost of about 3 cents, giving a service of from three and a half to four hours’ duration. This method of handling the carbide in cartridge form avoids the necessity of washing out the gas chamber to remove the residum, and it is to be commended on the score of cleanliness in handling. The lamp bracket is a rigid one, and is adjustable to various positions either on the forks or the head of a bicycle.
| ELECTRO (ACETYLENE). | ELECTRO (ACETYLENE). Interior View. |
By contract with the Electro Gas Company, the parent company for the manufacture of carbides in this country, and which, it is stated, largely controls the home output, the Electro Lamp Company has the sole right of sale of carbide for use in bicycle and other portable lamps in the United States. This lamp company stated early in the season that it had then sold 30,000 lamps for the season of ’98, and that this number would doubtless be largely increased. Estimating that 25,000 of these lamps will be used at night, the consumption of carbide by the users of this lamp alone would exceed 10½ tons per week.
HELIOS (CARBIDE).
“The brightest light that ever came over the pike” is the phrase that the Badger Brass Manufacturing Company of Kenosha, Wis. (Hermann Boker & Co., New York, agents), has decided upon as best in describing their [Solar] acetylene gas lamp for ’98. As will be seen from the illustration the Solar is symmetrical in its lines, combining strength in construction and simplicity in operation. The lamp is made entirely brass, handsomely nickel plated, and is 7½ inches high. It is fitted with an extra fine specially ground double convex lens, 2½ inches in diameter, with a 5½ inch focus, which is removable by means of a spring. The reflector is made of aluminum and removable for cleaning, as is also the head, which is fastened with a bayonet joint. The jewel sidelights are especially large, being 1½ inches in diameter. Each lamp is fitted with a universal adjustable bracket, which fits the head, handlebar, or either fork of a bicycle, and is so constructed that the lamp can be removed with removing the bracket. The tip is what is known as a quarter foot, removable and easily cleaned. It produces a fish-tail flame, which throws a penetrating light of about one hundred candle power fully 150 feet ahead. As will be seen from the cross-section cut and the following explanation, the lamp is very simple in operation. The water tank “J” being filled and the valve “L” being open, the water passes into the tube “F,” which is filled with the fibre “G,” through which it percolates, vaporizing from the end into the screen tube “B,” saturating the fibre in contact with the carbide in the tank “A,” forming instantly gas, which passes out of the tip “L.” The amount of gas generated is due to the amount of water supplied. Suppose, for example, the lamp be so severely jarred an excess of water be forced in the wick tube, thus generating an excess of gas for the moment (by excess is meant more pressure than the quarter foot tip “L” can consume), the result is that the gas having but one other outlet, that is, through the water tube, stopping any further supply of water until the pressure ceases, when it is again required. The gas and water pressure being always in balance, there is an automatic water pressure feed generator, which with the outlet at the top of the tank makes it absolutely inexplosive. One of the special features of this lamp is that it burns any form of carbide from dust to lump, and requires no specially packaged or prepared carbide, which is a very great convenience to the rider. The makers claim for the lamp that it is the only automatic gas lamp made, as it has no valves requiring constant adjustment; they also claim that it is absolutely inexplosive. The price, $4, including the adjustable bracket and one can of carbide, is exceedingly low. Extra carbide in two-pound cans, 25 cents per can, making the cost of operating about one-third of a cent an hour.
The [Helios] lamp differs from some of the others in construction because the water reservoir is away from the heat and cannot even get warm. No steam being generated the water must therefore be consumed by the actual demand made by the light. The gas cock is independent of the water cock, thus enabling the user to turn the water cock off and burn the gas already generated until it is all consumed, the advantage of this feature being that the gas already generated can be stored, and the lamp is therefore ready to light at any moment. The water feed to the carbide is controlled by a check valve. The small pipe shown in cut of lamp leading over the top of water reservoir and to check valve is a pressure pipe, which regulates the check valve. When the gas in the reservoir of the lamp has attained a pressure equal to or greater than the water in the reservoir, the pressure through this small pipe acts vertically on the check valve, shutting off the water supply; when the gas is below this pressure the water, then being of greater weight, causes the check valve to rise, allowing the water to feed to the carbide and generation to again commence. This check valve may be regarded as an important feature of this lamp, because in a lamp without a check valve the odor of the gas is emitted after the gas is extinguished, as the gas must have an outlet or escape, which cannot be controlled without a check valve. There is also an additional water cock attached to the water pipe which regulates the supply of water, so that the quantity of gas used is only that which is consumed and required. The burner is of the bulb pattern, giving a square light, perfectly white, and the carbide is used in lump form, and it is claimed that when the carbide is used in this form there is no danger whatever attached to its use. The makers of this lamp claim that it has a lighting power equal to 86 candle power, and if carefully used the cost of maintaining will not exceed five or six cents per week at a riding average of three hours per night. Any carriage lamp using either candles or oil can be altered at a nominal cost to employ this method of lighting.