Gas Plant, 1906

Gas Plant, 1906. . Drilling a well for suitable drinking water was perhaps the single most difficult task for the managers of the infirmary. On August 29, 1884, male infirmary workers drilled a 242-foot well looking for water, but instead discovered natural gas. By February 4, 1885, the Wood County Commissioners gave permission to drill for more natural gas, eventually digging ten separate wells. By December 1886, the Wood County Commissioners ordered natural gas be used inside the infirmary for the boiler, stoves, and to light the building. This went on until January 1904 when the natural gas supply went dry necessitating the switch to an acetylene gas system for lighting. , On April 15, 1906, the Wood County Commissioners requested a structure built on infirmary grounds to enclose an acetylene gas machine. Acetylene gas was only used until May 28, 1917, when the Domestic Engineering Company of Dayton installed a DelcO Lighting System for $800. On January 23, 1922, the Ohio Northern Public Service installed an electric lighting system for $600. , Fun Fact , Acetylene generators were self-contained devices where pellets of calcium carbide were dropped into water. Gas was captured in a "bell” that would rise and fall with the pressure of the gas, then piped into the infirmary.