Acetylene cylinder explosion hazard (early acetylene storage)

PC Avery, James Allison, Carl Fisher and the 1904 origin of Prest-O-Lite/Union Carbide acetone-dissolved acetylene cylinders. B cylinders for bus headlights. 1950s calcium silicate binder development.

Then you take that calcium carbide to an acetylene generator on site — nothing more than a silo with calcium carbide. You drop the calcium carbide powder into a hopper and drip water on it, and acetylene comes off, and you pipe the acetylene through the shipyard for flame cutting. That's because it's a pain in the neck to store acetylene. Acetylene tends to explode if you go above about 60 or 70 PSI — explosive under pressure. You can't just compress it like a regular old compressed gas. This was the beginning of the Prest-O-Lite division of Union Carbide, about 1904. PC Avery from Indianapolis got together with two famous automotive experts, James Allison and Carl Fisher. Anybody heard of Detroit Diesel Allison? It's now Rolls-Royce. Allison engines came out of Indianapolis. Anybody heard of Fisher Body? That's the division of General Motors that made all the automotive structures.