It was evident,
though, that that would not weaken the door appreciably, even if the
rivets were all driven through. Still they gave a starting-point for
the flame of the high-pressure acetylene torch.
It was a brilliant sight. The terrific heat from the first nozzle
caused the metal to glow under the torch as if in an open-hearth
furnace. From the second nozzle issued a stream of oxygen under which
the hot metal of the door was completely consumed. The force of the
blast as the compressed oxygen and acetylene were expelled carried a
fine spray and the disintegrated metal visibly before it. And yet it
was not a big hole that it made--scarcely an eighth of an inch wide,
but clear and sharp as if a buzz saw were eating its way through a
three-inch plank of white pine. With tense muscles Kennedy held this
terrific engine of destruction and moved it as easily as if it had
been a mere pencil of light. He was easily the calmest of us all as we
crowded about him at a respectful distance.
"Acetylene, as you may know," he hastily explained, never pausing for
a moment in his work, "is composed of carbon and hydrogen. As it burns
at the end of the nozzle it is broken into carbon and hydrogen--the
carbon gives the high temperature, and the hydrogen forms a cone that
protects the end of the blowpipe from being itself burnt up."
"But isn't it dangerous?" I asked, amazed at the skill with which he
handled the blowpipe.
"Not particularly--when you know how to do it.
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