OT: does any1 no anything about carbide lamps?

I know this is way off thread BUT, I would like to know if anyone here knows anything about old carbide railroad lamps? I have tried Railroad newsgroups but have not gotten decent answers. I saw this one on Ebay and am considering it.

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Thanks for any info

Reply to
Searcher
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They use calcium carbide and water to generate acetylene, which is lit to provide the flame. Calcium carbide is available from several suppliers for use in those old lamps.

Leon

Reply to
Leon Heller

"Searcher" wrote: (clip)I would like to know if anyone here knows anything about old carbide railroad lamps? (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I used to use a carbide miner's lamp as a headlight on my bicycle (more years ago than I care to think about.) It has a water tank on top, and a valve which controls the drip into the carbide, which in turn controls how much flame you get. The light is very white and bright. There is only one way to turn it off, and that is to shut of the drip, which causes the flame to slowly die down. The used carbide is kind of a blue "mud" which smells pretty bad.

If you were planning to use the lamp, then all this would matter. If you just want to own it and look at it, it might not. If you want to have it in working condition, you might worry that the water valve could be stuck or plugged up, or the burner could be dirty.

BTW, I think the name Prestolite, which is still in use on small acetylene cylinders, came from the use of these tanks on early automobiles and motorcycles.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

What type of suppliers carry carbide? The same place I get my oxy/acty?

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Reply to
Searcher

A few came up with Google, including:

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Leon

Reply to
Leon Heller

Well my late Great Aunt and Uncle used them to catch dew worms at the golf course in Pekin Illinois when I was young. Unk. John had been a miner ( coal ) in Manunk when a young man prior to WW 1 and kept the miner lights and canvis caps they worn them on. A little silvered reflector with a sparker ( like in a zippo lighter ) stuck into the side. Then a tank on the back where you mixed the carbide rocks and water. Had a pumper to get the pressure going and a valve actavated by a rod that caught in detents in a arc across the top. I could draw a picture.

Thanks for bringing that memory back, I'll need to save this message for my kids and grandkids before it slips into the gray once more.

Now this was 1952 in middle Illinois so I assume John got the carbide from a local welding supply. The gas given off is acetylene.

Well just looked at your second link Leon and yep that is the lamp. But a much nicer one than the family had. Worked just the same.

The only other place I would suggest for carbide would be a chemical supplyer in Seattle who I have now lost track of. Evergreen I think . They supply lab grade material at low prices.

So there you go a story and perhaps some help.

Steve E.

OH the aunt and uncle kept the dew worms in their frig in bowls with .. this is the 50's pre tupperware .. things that looked like shower caps on them. My mother .. who will be 90 next week .. would never a) open Lorains frig or b) eat anything out of a bowl in her house. It was a good and simple life back then. They used the dew worms to catch catfish in the Illinois river.

Reply to
Steven E. Eyrse

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Reply to
Karl Vorwerk

Forget that one. The reflector is beyond repair and you can buy a new one for only a few bucks more.

Reply to
Glenn Ashmore

Reply to
Thomas Kendrick

Be careful of old carbide lamps. I understand that after a while a byproduct of the production of acetylene builds up inside the lid of these that can explode when the lid is unscrewed. Some kind of unstable compound that acts like ammonium tri-iodide when dry. I can't remember what it is, and I may be completely off base.

-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love America

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Reply to
Bob Chilcoat

One problem with trying to get calcium carbide is that it is a "Hazardous Material"(TM) and costs a fortune to ship. Large (really large) gas suppliers get theirs in RR carloads, but usually aren't set up to sell it to individuals. After I found a miner's lamp at a flea market for $5, I came across a good source at a hardware store that sells supplies for cavers (Chickamauga, GA). I was in the area anyway, so the 3 hour drive could be factored out. The stuff is pretty cheap without the shipping (I think about $7 for a filled gallon container), but keep it sealed in a plastic jar and keep water away from it! It's fun to play with. Now I want to find one of the Big Bang (or whatever) cannons cheap.

Joe

Searcher wrote:

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Reply to
Joe

Reply to
David Billington

That cannot be the issue he's worried about though, as all carbide lamps are made of brass.

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Man! that carbide's gotten expensive. I inherited A Site-Feed carbide generator from my uncle in the late 1960's that we used on my dad's farm for many years but when we moved to the big city we had no room for it so I tried to sell it and got no takers so it went to the scrapper. I had bought A 100# drum of carbide and used about 15# of it in the generator and carbide cannon I made but the rest of it is in my dad's shed. I think I payed in the area of 25 bucks for the drum and by my calculations, using Lehmans figures, It should be worth around 550 bucks! In 10 years when I retire I should have A pretty nice retirement fund! LOL

Good Luck! H.R.

Reply to
harleyron

I grew up in coal mining country and those lamps were as common as flashlights. The hardware store sold 5 lb. cans of carbide for a dollar or so in the 60's.

I remember a teacher telling us that the lamps could explode under certain circumstances, but I can't remember what they were....

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Actually this one is not made from brass, it seems to be made from cast aluminum.

Searcher1

Reply to
Searcher

I had carbide and it was stored in a glass jar, by my grandfather. When I open the jars the carbide was nothing but powder and no longer useable.

searcher1

Reply to
Searcher

Welding supply places are a good place to ask. The carbide sold for lamps is in bigger lumps as I recall. The welding supply places sell the carbide in 50 lb drums as I recall. They might have been 100 lb drums. Unless you are going to use the lamps a lot, I would try hardware stores and outdoor places. They used to sell carbide in 2 lb cans.

You might also ask over in the news group for caving.

Dan

Reply to
Dan Caster

That's not totally off topic. At one time welders didn't get their acetylene in tanks but produced it on site using calcium carbide. It is still used for some commercial acetylene production.

I lived in Korea in the early 70s. At that time the Korean economy was growing rapidly. Much of the economy ran on old surplus military equipment. To keep all this equipment running there were many small repair shops that could make or fix almost anything. There were hundreds of these little shops scattered along all the back alleys of Seoul. The shops could do welding using calcium carbide to generate acetylene. (I am not sure what they did for oxygen; maybe they could weld using only air/acetylene). A lot of the shops had ancient lathes, mills, drills, and what have you. If something broke they could weld it back together or make a part from scratch. I am sure that today Korea has an infrastructure, just like we have here, that can supply spare parts and when a part isn't readily available the equipment is hauled to the junk yard just like we do here in the good old USA.

Reply to
Stephen

Not really. Good carbide lamps are made of metal. :-)

Looks like I'm to late on that specific one but if you didn't get it don't be too upset. It is in pretty bad shape. I do not have any that big but I do have a couple of miner's sized ones. I have been using them for night hiking for over 50 years.

As to obtaining carbide, goto

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and from there to their headlamps page. Note: " GOOD NEWS! We have found a supplier who can meet the stringent requirements for shipping carbide. We can therefore now offer delivery of carbide by them anywhere within the Continental US, as shown below.

17-2712 Miner's Carbide, Six 2-Pound (Quart) Cans $70.00 This is a delivered-to-your-door price, including all shipping and HAZMAT fees, and will be invoiced and shipped separately from other items in this catalog. Sorry, no other quantities or types are available. Shipping by FedEx Ground to continental US destinations only; business address preferred. "

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

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