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nitram

Posted 2/22/2018 06:52 (#6595984)
Subject: Old gas lamps in house

wc mo

Before this house had electricity installed it had a type of gas lamp in it. There was a tank buried outside, I would guess it was 3 feet across, 3 foot deep. It held some kind of pellets that with water made the gas that was piped into house. Anyone remember or know what this was called? I helped take out tank probably 60 years ago but can't recall what this type of gas was called. thanks

olivetroad

Posted 2/22/2018 06:55 (#6595989 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Kingdom of Callaway - Fulton, Mo 65251

It is acetylene. They used the same water and pellets deal on old cars like the early model t to generate the gas for head lights.

Ron swIA

Posted 2/22/2018 06:56 (#6595990 - in reply to #6595989)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

The pellets were calcium carbide.

John Doe

Posted 2/22/2018 06:59 (#6595998 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

south east Michigan

Google search carbide lamp.

oldbob

Posted 2/22/2018 07:25 (#6596062 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

West Cental Arkansas

Sounds like the same type of lighting that was used by coal miners. The miners lights were called carbide lights.

I never knew carbide lighting was used in houses.

rebuilder

Posted 2/22/2018 07:47 (#6596113 - in reply to #6596062)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Bourbon,Indiana

oldbob - 2/22/2018 08:25

Sounds like the same type of lighting that was used by coal miners. The miners lights were called carbide lights.

I never knew carbide lighting was used in houses.

Used by coon hunters too, for hunting at night.

I have a newspaper article of an ancestor who had his head blown off from one. I'll post that later when I am close to the computer.

Jon Hagen

Posted 2/22/2018 20:10 (#6597820 - in reply to #6596062)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND

oldbob - 2/22/2018 07:25

Sounds like the same type of lighting that was used by coal miners. The miners lights were called carbide lights.

I never knew carbide lighting was used in houses.

An old farm a few miles west of us had the gas generator is the yard. Every room in the house, the barn and most outbuildings had the little acetylene gas burners. I don't know how safe those exposed flame lights were(even had one or more in the hay loft), but the barn was still standing many years after the farm and lighting system was abandoned.

jumpinfarmer

Posted 2/22/2018 08:03 (#6596164 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

western NY

We use an old set of barns to store straw at a neighbors farm, in front of them is a hole in the ground where a house stood. About 1917 it was a very nice up to date farm and the house had acetylene lighting, something went wrong and it blew up. My great grandfather was said to have watched it burn from a hill on our farm. The house was never rebuilt and they sold the farm to another neighbor who still owns it. Very lucky that the wind must have been just rite since it did no damage to the barns which are quite close to where the house was standing. It's also neat that so little has changed that the current owners still have the burned remains of the kitchen stove that was once in the house sitting in the shed.

farmer45

Posted 2/22/2018 08:16 (#6596204 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Washington Co Ks

The gas was acetylene that was generated by dropping carbide into water. When I was in high school we had an acetylene generator in the ag shop. I remember that most repair shops also had acetylene generators. It is the same gas that we now buy in cylinders for cutting torches.

olwhda

Posted 2/22/2018 09:08 (#6596343 - in reply to #6596204)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Liberty, MO

My step grandad had one of those cutting torch setups with the tank that he buried in the ground to prevent it from freezing in cold weather I was told. I was only 8-10years old so don’t remember much about it. I do remember he must have been the only farmer that had that setup as he was always doing blacksmith work for his neighbors.

nitram

Posted 2/22/2018 09:13 (#6596364 - in reply to #6596204)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

wc mo

Thanks guys, I could not remember. Still got one of the lamps on the back porch that was used. No one around for me to ask around here anymore.

PaKettle

Posted 2/22/2018 09:19 (#6596388 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Lenawee Co Michigan

A 110 years ago there was a doctor's house just two miles from here that had an acetylene generator in the cellar for lighting. It blew when nobody was home. The house didn't fly apart but was so squeejawed it had to be torn down.

Southern Farmer

Posted 2/22/2018 09:21 (#6596390 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

West Texas

I remember using the carbide lamps as a kid when we would go coon hunting. Put a few pellets in the container then spit on them and close the lid, light it and it would burn for quite a while.

ronm

Posted 2/22/2018 09:24 (#6596401 - in reply to #6596390)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Fruita CO

I still have a couple of the old carbide lamps my Dad used in the Uranium mines back in the 50's.

don@nebr

Posted 2/22/2018 09:35 (#6596424 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Only thing that came close in my lifetime was an old 3 story gloriuous house I tore down in the early 70's Lights were electric of course by that time. But their was a 1/4 or 3/8 " pipe to every light fixture in the whole house that was run thru floors, ceilings and walls. I never knew how that system worked but I do now. Do not recall if their was a tank there but would have never figured out what it was anyway.

What year, about, did towns get a natural gas system throughout town? to replace the carbide systems?

nitram

Posted 2/22/2018 10:05 (#6596485 - in reply to #6596424)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

wc mo

The tank here was about 20 feet from house and buried. Electricity replaced this system not nat gas.

ew2

Posted 2/22/2018 10:09 (#6596495 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

East central Indiana

Had the remains of the system in the house I grew up in. Tank was buried about a 100 feet from house and plugged gas lines in the walls.

havin'funfarming

Posted 2/22/2018 11:31 (#6596650 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Manitoba, Canada

I never knew a system like that existed. Was that type of gas system ever used for street lighting in cities and towns? I’m just curious as some movies depicting that era show street lighting that seemed to be lit by fires and I always wondered if that was realistic or not.

johnny skeptical

Posted 2/22/2018 12:35 (#6596792 - in reply to #6596650)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

n.c.iowa

There could have some acetylene street systems, but most of them were kerosene or whale oil lamps.

BrentOntario

Posted 2/22/2018 19:18 (#6597640 - in reply to #6596650)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

havin'funfarming - 2/22/2018 11:31

? I’m just curious as some movies depicting that era show street lighting that seemed to be lit by fires and I always wondered if that was realistic or not.

In Olde English Victorian times the lamplighter every evening went from pole to pole to turn on the gas valve with a key and light the mantle with a
candle on a long stick. The fuel piped underground was Coal Gas from a huge Gasworks facility that looked like and was the "oil refinery" of its day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas

random_farmhick

Posted 2/22/2018 13:33 (#6596908 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

Upper Sandusky, Ohio

The family house I live in was built in the 1860's. I only took the tank out about 4 years ago because they were doing some work on the outside of the house and needed some things moved so I took the forks and popped it out and filled the hole in. I still have the fixtures in the attic from when they took them out after they got electricity. Grandpa said they kept the fixtures up for a couple of years because they didn't trust electricity that much so they would have backup lighting.

HOGFARMER

Posted 2/22/2018 13:59 (#6596954 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: RE: Old gas lamps in house

NE OHIO

We had a metal tank and mechanism in the back yard it was piped through out the house and barn for lights. Was told after the carbide quit making gas it was used as whitewash in the dairy part of the barn. This system was replaced by a Delco system which used an engine driven generator and storage batteries to provide lights and run some small appliances. The Delco system was low voltage and replaced when REA electric became available in Guernsey County Ohio.

Jon Hagen

Posted 2/22/2018 20:20 (#6597855 - in reply to #6595984)
Subject: Pictures and story of carbide gas generator and light fixture.

Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/gas-lighting-beyond-the-city/

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