One upon a time, there was one of these, or similar items, in every welding shop.   I actually got to use one years ago.  Sometimes they blew up.  What is it?

I've used one also.

You already know I've been around a welding shop all my life.  If they were in EVERY welding shop, I believe it was before my time.

Looks to be upside down in the picture, designed to dispense something in measurable increments..

A milk truck in every welding shop, coool :-).

Would that be used to generate acetylene gas?

Ray

I worked in welding shops since the 1960's and I don't recall ever seeing anything like that.

I'm going with Ray. It is a carbide acetylene generator and definitely a No Smoking area.

It is a carbide, acetylene gas, generator.  This is different from the one I used.   There was a water tank with a valve that allowed drops of water to land on a carbide cake.  The cake looked about like those hard rice discs sold in food stores now.  Once the carbide reacted with the water, the gas would start forming.  The reason for the big funnel shaped piece is, it was floating in a tank underneath, floating on water, which acted as a seal to keep the gas in.  The upper part, the funnel had a pointer on it, so you could tell by the scale how much gas it contained.   On this one on the side you notice a pipe, with hose connection, and a regulator gauge.  The whole thing sat on a steel wheeled cart, with an oxygen bottle strapped to it.   To move it we shut it down, and carefully pulled it to where it was needed next, waited about 15 minutes for any sloshing to subside, before relighting the torch.   If the tank ran out of water, the gas could escape, and possibly cause an explosion.  When homes had gas lights, these were installed on the back porch, or in the wash house out back, eventually town regulations had them at least 100 feet from the house.  The carbide was almost as corrosive as battery acid, would clog things, so it required a thorough cleaning a couple of times a year.  On this one I think the cake is introduced thru that bale lid on top, not sure how the water was put in.  Snapped this at a large auction some years ago.  On the practical side, today, not so much, but think back to the days when everthing went by rail.  Acetylene was and still is dangerous stuff, so was much more cost effective to ship those dry cakes in a box. 

That's a very dangerous device and shouldn't be in the possession of an unqualified operator.

Fortunately I am licensed and permitted to haul it away for you at a very low cost to you.  Out of the generosity of my heart I'll wave the charge if you have a machine to assist with loading.
I can have a truck there inside 72 hours.

Nah, you don't want that one, it produces soggy wet gas , it will rust your torch ;P

One of the really clever and ingenious things the old timers figured out was that you could dry the gas by passing it through still more carbide, which sucked the water out of the gas, and produced still more gas in the process...

Quit trying to queer my scam Rusty!

I have an aversion to putting gasoline lighting in my place.

I've got enough trouble here trying to mine ground water to cool the roof.

>I have an aversion to putting gasoline lighting in my place.

Ahh,well, it is safer than producer gas I suppose....-P

>ground water to cool the roof.

Egads, permit hell ...

What is this permit thing of which you speak?

To drill a well I'd need a permit.  To horizontally bore and install dewatering pipes I do NOT need a permit. 

I'm devastated the Possum Police busted my 2 6000 gal fiberglass tanks on their way here.  Damn possum sniffer had a nose on him that could smell hydrocarbon residue in the gelcoat.