[Texascavers] carbide lamps
I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
Re: [Texascavers] carbide lamps
When my daughter, Amy, was in elementary school, they had a show and tell day once a week. She asked me come to her class and demonstrate how a carbide lamp operated. Having a working lamp and carbide was not a problem as I was using my lamp every weekend. The children and the teacher were fascinated by the lamp and the awful smelling gray rocks. When I popped on the flame most of them hit the ceiling. It was really funny. I passed the lamp around and they all were able examine the lamp and smell the tiny amount of spent carbide in the lamp bottom. I told them this was a good smell as it indicated I was in a cave. All of us who have used the lamp for caving all have very fond memories of this wonderful light source. I still carry a lamp in my cave pack with a small charge of carbide. Not so much for light, but to defog my camera lens. The lamp also looks great in my photos for scale. Maybe Amy will tell everyone the story of when she brought one of my military collectibles to show and tell? James Jasek On Aug 25, 2012, at 6:52 AM, Sam Young wrote: I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly)
John: Peter Jones here. I am not sure what size of desiccant canister you are looking for, but there is one I use to keep my camera dry from moisture on long caving trips. Works really well for me, as long as the desiccant is recharged and sealed in a ziplock plastic baggie with my camera when it is not in use. These are small rectangular aluminum canisters filled with a silica gel material that can be recharged by heating the whole unit to 300 degrees in an oven to dry it out. When it has soaked up a lot of moisture, it turns pink, when recharged it turns dark blue. To find it, go to http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/Reusable_desiccant_canister/EW-07193-91 for info. They offer other desiccant materials as well, but I am only familiar with this one and very pleased with it. Hope that helps. Peter On Aug 24, 2012, at 7:48 PM, John Corcoran wrote: Derek, Do you have suggestions for desiccant suppliers and water resistant containers or plastic bags? Regards, John From: swr-boun...@caver.net [mailto:swr-boun...@caver.net] On Behalf Of Bristol, Derek Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 4:12 PM To: Gary Moss; Mark Minton; Texascavers@texascavers.com; s...@caver.net Subject: Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly) Don’t forget the cave camp sleeping bag desiccant market. From: swr-boun...@caver.net [mailto:swr-boun...@caver.net] On Behalf Of Gary Moss Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 1:55 PM To: Mark Minton; Texascavers@texascavers.com; s...@caver.net Subject: Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly) Hi Mark: I think Carbide is still used in the production of steel. Some friends of mine once to a steel plant thinking they could get the empty 100 lb cans. They just through the carbide in the mix can and all. It appears the steel can did not hurt the steel :) Gary Moss At 10:47 PM 8/23/2012, Mark Minton wrote: I agree. Calcium carbide is mainly used for production of acetylene for welding where it is not available in tanks. In the West that is increasingly rare. My guess is that carbide will soon cease to be available at reasonable cost. (It is already hazardous cargo.) Mark At 10:07 PM 8/23/2012, DONALD G. DAVIS wrote: Mark, You'd be the best to answer this, wasn't calcium carbide a byproduct of something else, and used to produce commercial acetylene gas quantities? What is the current practice to get the gas? john Lyles No, calcium carbide was never a byproduct. It was, from the late 1800s, and still is, produced by reacting calcium carbonate and coke in electric furnaces. Its major use is still for making acetylene, but where petroleum and natural gas are plentiful, most acetylene today is derived from those instead. The Wikipedia article calcium carbide explains it. --Donald Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com ___ SWR mailing list s...@caver.net http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr ___ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET ___ SWR mailing list s...@caver.net http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr ___ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
[Texascavers] Carbide lite Collections
You know many people, including cavers, but especially old miners, have carbide light collections worth tens of thousands of dollars. I even had a subscription to a Carbide Light Collector newsletter out of Colorado for several years in the 1970's. The newsletter had some catchy name, like Not a Hippy Newsletter or something like that. If I dug deep enough I would find those newsletters. One old Mexico caver, semi-retired now, that I have known for years has the largest caver owned collection of carbide lites that I know of. He has approximately 3,000 carbide lamps. He purchased many in the '60's and '70's for 1 to 3 dollars each in Illinois, Indiana and KY. Since then he has purchased many people's entire collections. A flea market light today no matter what condition it is in may run from $40 to $75. They are not rare, but they are scarce at flea markets here in KY. Of course cave venders at the NSS convention in W V had a few good working lights for sell, for similar prices. A lite can be buffed up easily for a mantel piece, even if it is a Guy's Dropper with broken flanges. Guy Droppers were know for weak metal but a good one was tops. My favorite survey and caving lite was an Autolite with a Premier bottom. The threads matched perfectly and the large Premier bottom gave you a long burning lite. Another caver, this time a KY caver we know, has a much smaller collection, but he has some rare lites, several worth $6,000 each and maybe more. He has one lite of a particular brand that only four in the world are known. Now he is a collector. His collection may be for sell. Do you think a short 50 years from now, or even 100 years from now, someone will have a collection of say 497 Stens? Or even a couple dozen ordinary LED lights? David used to keep us updated on new lites available on the market. I can remember a few moons ago when Logan gave an interesting program on Carbide Lites at the UTG meeting. At one point of his presentation he asked everyone to raise their hand who owned at least 5 carbide lites. Then, to continue holding up your hand if you had 10, then 20, and on until a few Austin cavers had 50 lites or more as I recall. Preston in Outer Browder, KY
[Texascavers] carbide lamps
I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
Re: [Texascavers] carbide lamps
When my daughter, Amy, was in elementary school, they had a show and tell day once a week. She asked me come to her class and demonstrate how a carbide lamp operated. Having a working lamp and carbide was not a problem as I was using my lamp every weekend. The children and the teacher were fascinated by the lamp and the awful smelling gray rocks. When I popped on the flame most of them hit the ceiling. It was really funny. I passed the lamp around and they all were able examine the lamp and smell the tiny amount of spent carbide in the lamp bottom. I told them this was a good smell as it indicated I was in a cave. All of us who have used the lamp for caving all have very fond memories of this wonderful light source. I still carry a lamp in my cave pack with a small charge of carbide. Not so much for light, but to defog my camera lens. The lamp also looks great in my photos for scale. Maybe Amy will tell everyone the story of when she brought one of my military collectibles to show and tell? James Jasek On Aug 25, 2012, at 6:52 AM, Sam Young wrote: I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
[Texascavers] Carbide lite Collections
You know many people, including cavers, but especially old miners, have carbide light collections worth tens of thousands of dollars. I even had a subscription to a Carbide Light Collector newsletter out of Colorado for several years in the 1970's. The newsletter had some catchy name, like Not a Hippy Newsletter or something like that. If I dug deep enough I would find those newsletters. One old Mexico caver, semi-retired now, that I have known for years has the largest caver owned collection of carbide lites that I know of. He has approximately 3,000 carbide lamps. He purchased many in the '60's and '70's for 1 to 3 dollars each in Illinois, Indiana and KY. Since then he has purchased many people's entire collections. A flea market light today no matter what condition it is in may run from $40 to $75. They are not rare, but they are scarce at flea markets here in KY. Of course cave venders at the NSS convention in W V had a few good working lights for sell, for similar prices. A lite can be buffed up easily for a mantel piece, even if it is a Guy's Dropper with broken flanges. Guy Droppers were know for weak metal but a good one was tops. My favorite survey and caving lite was an Autolite with a Premier bottom. The threads matched perfectly and the large Premier bottom gave you a long burning lite. Another caver, this time a KY caver we know, has a much smaller collection, but he has some rare lites, several worth $6,000 each and maybe more. He has one lite of a particular brand that only four in the world are known. Now he is a collector. His collection may be for sell. Do you think a short 50 years from now, or even 100 years from now, someone will have a collection of say 497 Stens? Or even a couple dozen ordinary LED lights? David used to keep us updated on new lites available on the market. I can remember a few moons ago when Logan gave an interesting program on Carbide Lites at the UTG meeting. At one point of his presentation he asked everyone to raise their hand who owned at least 5 carbide lites. Then, to continue holding up your hand if you had 10, then 20, and on until a few Austin cavers had 50 lites or more as I recall. Preston in Outer Browder, KY
[Texascavers] carbide lamps
I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
Re: [Texascavers] carbide lamps
When my daughter, Amy, was in elementary school, they had a show and tell day once a week. She asked me come to her class and demonstrate how a carbide lamp operated. Having a working lamp and carbide was not a problem as I was using my lamp every weekend. The children and the teacher were fascinated by the lamp and the awful smelling gray rocks. When I popped on the flame most of them hit the ceiling. It was really funny. I passed the lamp around and they all were able examine the lamp and smell the tiny amount of spent carbide in the lamp bottom. I told them this was a good smell as it indicated I was in a cave. All of us who have used the lamp for caving all have very fond memories of this wonderful light source. I still carry a lamp in my cave pack with a small charge of carbide. Not so much for light, but to defog my camera lens. The lamp also looks great in my photos for scale. Maybe Amy will tell everyone the story of when she brought one of my military collectibles to show and tell? James Jasek On Aug 25, 2012, at 6:52 AM, Sam Young wrote: I loved your dissertation about carbide caving Carl. And this whole discussion about carbide has been a kick. Oh yes, the first time I went caving with a British guy, a “potholer”, he kept asking if anyone wanted to borrow his prick. I am reminded of a time when I was on the campus of the University of Florida. There is a museum there with some displays that are karst related. Just as I was looking at one display which had a hardhat with a carbide lamp mounted on it, a teacher came by with her grade school class. One of the kids asked her about the lamp and she did not have a good answer. I asked the teacher if I could say something and she gladly turned it over to me. I told them all about how it worked with the carbide and the water and it makes acetylene and so on. I told them that I am a caver and we had a fun discussion. I want you all to know that I did not tell them any of the things that we have discussed here. Nothing was said about explosions, getting burned by someone behind you, using urine, bad smells, or any of that stuff. By the way, someone borrowed my Justrite about 30 years ago. Whoever you are would you please bring it back? .. Sam
Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly)
John: Peter Jones here. I am not sure what size of desiccant canister you are looking for, but there is one I use to keep my camera dry from moisture on long caving trips. Works really well for me, as long as the desiccant is recharged and sealed in a ziplock plastic baggie with my camera when it is not in use. These are small rectangular aluminum canisters filled with a silica gel material that can be recharged by heating the whole unit to 300 degrees in an oven to dry it out. When it has soaked up a lot of moisture, it turns pink, when recharged it turns dark blue. To find it, go to http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/Reusable_desiccant_canister/EW-07193-91 for info. They offer other desiccant materials as well, but I am only familiar with this one and very pleased with it. Hope that helps. Peter On Aug 24, 2012, at 7:48 PM, John Corcoran wrote: Derek, Do you have suggestions for desiccant suppliers and water resistant containers or plastic bags? Regards, John From: swr-boun...@caver.net [mailto:swr-boun...@caver.net] On Behalf Of Bristol, Derek Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 4:12 PM To: Gary Moss; Mark Minton; Texascavers@texascavers.com; s...@caver.net Subject: Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly) Don’t forget the cave camp sleeping bag desiccant market. From: swr-boun...@caver.net [mailto:swr-boun...@caver.net] On Behalf Of Gary Moss Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 1:55 PM To: Mark Minton; Texascavers@texascavers.com; s...@caver.net Subject: Re: [SWR] [Texascavers] Re: Cave articles in Spiegel (German weekly) Hi Mark: I think Carbide is still used in the production of steel. Some friends of mine once to a steel plant thinking they could get the empty 100 lb cans. They just through the carbide in the mix can and all. It appears the steel can did not hurt the steel :) Gary Moss At 10:47 PM 8/23/2012, Mark Minton wrote: I agree. Calcium carbide is mainly used for production of acetylene for welding where it is not available in tanks. In the West that is increasingly rare. My guess is that carbide will soon cease to be available at reasonable cost. (It is already hazardous cargo.) Mark At 10:07 PM 8/23/2012, DONALD G. DAVIS wrote: Mark, You'd be the best to answer this, wasn't calcium carbide a byproduct of something else, and used to produce commercial acetylene gas quantities? What is the current practice to get the gas? john Lyles No, calcium carbide was never a byproduct. It was, from the late 1800s, and still is, produced by reacting calcium carbonate and coke in electric furnaces. Its major use is still for making acetylene, but where petroleum and natural gas are plentiful, most acetylene today is derived from those instead. The Wikipedia article calcium carbide explains it. --Donald Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com ___ SWR mailing list s...@caver.net http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr ___ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET ___ SWR mailing list s...@caver.net http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr ___ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
[Texascavers] Carbide lite Collections
You know many people, including cavers, but especially old miners, have carbide light collections worth tens of thousands of dollars. I even had a subscription to a Carbide Light Collector newsletter out of Colorado for several years in the 1970's. The newsletter had some catchy name, like Not a Hippy Newsletter or something like that. If I dug deep enough I would find those newsletters. One old Mexico caver, semi-retired now, that I have known for years has the largest caver owned collection of carbide lites that I know of. He has approximately 3,000 carbide lamps. He purchased many in the '60's and '70's for 1 to 3 dollars each in Illinois, Indiana and KY. Since then he has purchased many people's entire collections. A flea market light today no matter what condition it is in may run from $40 to $75. They are not rare, but they are scarce at flea markets here in KY. Of course cave venders at the NSS convention in W V had a few good working lights for sell, for similar prices. A lite can be buffed up easily for a mantel piece, even if it is a Guy's Dropper with broken flanges. Guy Droppers were know for weak metal but a good one was tops. My favorite survey and caving lite was an Autolite with a Premier bottom. The threads matched perfectly and the large Premier bottom gave you a long burning lite. Another caver, this time a KY caver we know, has a much smaller collection, but he has some rare lites, several worth $6,000 each and maybe more. He has one lite of a particular brand that only four in the world are known. Now he is a collector. His collection may be for sell. Do you think a short 50 years from now, or even 100 years from now, someone will have a collection of say 497 Stens? Or even a couple dozen ordinary LED lights? David used to keep us updated on new lites available on the market. I can remember a few moons ago when Logan gave an interesting program on Carbide Lites at the UTG meeting. At one point of his presentation he asked everyone to raise their hand who owned at least 5 carbide lites. Then, to continue holding up your hand if you had 10, then 20, and on until a few Austin cavers had 50 lites or more as I recall. Preston in Outer Browder, KY
