Help needed to ID British Bikes circa 1911 1912

[Giacomo Fosscati]

Can someone explain how an acetylene light worked and were they any good for night riding on unlit roads at speed? What was a carbide light? Was it similar to acetylene?

[wetdog]

carbide  add water for the gas and light

[R]

Carbide plus water gives acetylene.

Brightness depends on how they were set up - but lights back then were expresssed in 'candlepower', so we are not talking of searchlight qualities. Lets not forget that roads back then were generally not highway standard either, so fast motoring was not commonly even attempted, let alone at night.

And there was a reason electric entirely replaced acetylene for lighting, as soon as the price was affordable.....

[Giacomo Fosscati]

Carbide plus water gives acetylene.

Brightness depends on how they were set up - but lights back then were expresssed in 'candlepower', so we are not talking of searchlight qualities. Lets not forget that roads back then were generally not highway standard either, so fast motoring was not commonly even attempted, let alone at night.

And there was a reason electric entirely replaced acetylene for lighting, as soon as the price was affordable.....

Was carbide very expensive then? How did you buy it and what form was it in....I mean was it in a block like a bar of soap or crystalline like sugar? How long did a piece of carbide last?  Was there a huge fizzing reaction going on somewhere inside the lantern where the acetylene was being made and collected? How did the acetylene stop from escaping? Was it a poisonous gas?  Should I type carbide into the search engine on this Forum instead of asking all these questions?

[esometisse]

  Should I type carbide into the search engine on this Forum instead of asking all these questions?

Why not type "acetylene lighting" or "carbide lamp" into any search engine (like google)?

There is a wealth of information on the worldwideweb....

Cheers
Andy

[Giacomo Fosscati]

Thanks Andy. That works a treat. I can indeed find out a lot for myself.

[R]

The carbide is a powder. Once upon-a-time, it was apparently available at almost every garage.
These days its rarer, but available.

You put a spoonful or 2 in the bottom of the generator container, put water in the top, and open the tap so a drop of water or 2 drips down every few seconds. Light the gas at the jet, close the glass on the lamp, and proceed. Apparently on windy days, achieving this could be problematic...

hth

[33d6]

All the carbide I've ever played with came in small lumps in waterproof 1lb tins. In the early days there were practical advantages to having acetylene lamps over electricity particularly over battery powered lights, torches, etc. Acetylene will give a bright light until the last gasp unlike battery powered torches which slowly got dimmer and dimmer.
Acetylene lights lasted until much later than you would expect and was commonly available up until the 70's. The last place I knew that supplied it was an outdoor /camping firm who supplied it to cave explorers who preferred its constant light over the torches then available. Of course modern batteries and LED torches are miles better nowadays.
Carbide in water stinks to high heaven and in my school days there was always someone who thought it a great joke to drop some carbide in water. Just a lump in half a glass of water would produce a revolting stench in a class room.
Motorcycle acetylene lighting is a lengthy subject. Care and maintenance of the generator and lights and rubber tubing to connect them was ongoing and there were many homemade devices fitted to filter the gas produced to eliminate the small particles that blocked jets and to try and keep the gas pressure stable. All little tricks that are now forgotten.
Cheers,   

[Giacomo Fosscati]

Thanks for that. I particularly liked the classromm anecdote. Do you think it is possible to by carbide now from any retail outlet or would it have to be bought in industrial quantities? As well as all the finickety work you described with the tubes and filters etc., I'll bet the brass lamps needed polishing every few days.  I notice a lot of bikes post 1914 seem to have the carbide container in a separate entity on the handlebar so must have been linked by tubes to the light - probably brass tubes that needed polishing!

[R]

You can still buy small quantities of carbide for lamp use.
I stand corrected if it was lumps, maybe the modern stuff is powder.
Can't remember where I saw it available, someone in the vintage or veteran club could probably advise. Modaks in Mlbourne may well have it. ?

Lamps were generally nickel plated - you see car lamps in brass, but bikes ones always seem to be nickel ?. Only bicycle lamps had the generator integrated with the lamp, the generator on a motorcycle was a separate unit. The plumbing was done by rubber hoses, exactly like the hose used in acetylene cutting torches.

BTW, until recently there was an old giant acetylene generator for oxy cutting in an old backyard of my youth, but it seems to have gone in a cleanup. It was already beyond functional, to my memory - wonder how old it was?. None of this cylinder rental/hire charge nonsense.....

hth.