In article , Bruce L. Bergman
says...

The MC stands for Motor Car, and was the replacement for carbide
generators for the headlights on Model T's and other turn-of-the-
last-century automobiles. Used now mainly for the "Tote-a-torch"
oxy-acetylene rigs for HVAC silver-brazing and other tiny jobs in
crawl spaces, attics, or on roofs, where portability is the prime
consideration - you can't cut or do heavy welding, the cylinders will
run dry if you look at them cross-eyed. (Plus you should only draw
1.1 CFH max, and that means 000 or 00 tips only, 0 is pushing it.)

The B is the standard Plumber's Torch - Prestolite Air/Acetylene
bottle. I have a B and 40CF setup myself - but with the big Victor
Journeyman regulators and torches (and small tips), so if I ever need
to rent a set of big tanks for a big job, I can.

Close but not quite correct. MC actually stands for
"motorcycle" and if you have ever seen or ridden a bike
where you 'turn on the headlight with a match' then you
would know that a) it really is an MC bottle up on the
handlebars there, and b) the blanked off port at the
bottom of the bottle is for a pressure gage.

The B size is also known as 'prestolite' because they
were the ones who supplied acetylene for motorcar use.
The bottles were mounted horizontally on the running
board - and how was it that the acetone was not
blown out of the tank? Simple, on those tanks the
cylinder connection was not at the center of the bottle,
but way off at one side. The bottle was mounted so the
fitting was at the very top - one can still find
some of these B sized bottles in circulation with
off-center fittings.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================