Salt in the kerosene? Or what you can learn about prepping from a bedtime story.

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I have started reading The Little House on the Prairie series of books to my kids. It is full of useful tid-bits. We learned in the first chapter how a smokehouse was made and used. However I ran across this following bit of info and wondered if anyone had heard of such a thing.

On page 38 of my copy of Little House In The Big Woods it says,"Ma sat in her rocking chair, sewing by the light of the lamp on the table. The lamp was bright and shiny. There was salt in the bottom of its glass bowl to keep the kerosene from exploding, and there were bits of red flannel among the salt to make it pretty."

Why would salt in kerosene keep it from exploding? Is this something I should do with my lamps?

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), July 04, 1999

Answers

Time for wild speculation: Corrosive ammunition primers were a major threat to firearms when salt, created as a by-product of ignition, coated the bores and subsequently damaged the barrels. No solvents/oils seemed to resolve the problem. No one was aware that salt, not some sophisticated chemical, was causing the problem. Remington Arms Company employed a chemist to investigate, and he discovered the specific cause was salt. Solution to the problem? Clean with water, then re-oil. Only water would absorb the salt, not oil alone. Problem solved - after causing millions of dollars of damage, and much frustration. Current primers are manufactured from a different composition, and do not create salt as a by product.

I will speculate that the salt, only, absorbs condensation created thru the heating process, and keeps the wick from sputtering, or worse. Simply, it absorbs water!

-- A. Hambley (a.hambley@usa.net), July 05, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ