More Sauerkraut

By Sigur Whitaker
After Prest-O-Lite’s second explosion, Indianapolis officials reluctantly agreed it could continue operations at the recently built South Street facility as the construction of the new River Road facility continued. As part of the agreement, Prest-O-Lite agreed not to have a large number of calcium carbonate tanks near the filling area. The large tanks were relocated to the second floor and had an asbestos filter through which the gas would percolate. The gas then traveled through tubing down to the first floor where the gas was fed into the charging machine. As an additional precaution, the cement building had dividing walls between different sections. The first floor had two rooms separated by an iron door.
 
On June 5, 1908, approximately thirty employees were in the building. The day was hot and humid, and the iron door between the two sections on the first floor was open. In the back part of the first floor, a long row of automobile canisters were being filled with gas. Suddenly the plant was wracked by an explosion for the third time within a year. This explosion was much more serious than the previous two.
 
Although the cause was never determined, it is believed that an employee on the first floor was burnishing one of the acetylene-filled canisters. The heat generated by the burnishing process caused the gas to expand and then explode. The force of the explosion set off a chain reaction with other canisters on the first floor. The chain reaction continued with the large drums of gas on the second floor exploding.
 
As the four large drums exploded, the percussion could be heard throughout the surrounding area, followed by a series of smaller explosions as the cylinder exploded. A large fireball erupted with the ensuing smoke being visible throughout the city. The explosions sent debris flying throughout the neighborhood, and downtown Indianapolis was blanketed with little fragments of asbestos. Windows as far as a half mile away were shattered by the force of the explosions.
 
The force of the exploding large tanks resulted in a hole being torn in the roof of the building. One piece of heavy iron was blown over the roof of the Big Four Railroad freight house across South Street from the Prest-O-Lite building and landed on the railway tracks, severing a railroad tie. Another heavy piece of iron shot through the open door of the freight depot and landed a half block away. A third piece of iron weighing more than a hundred pounds fell near Delaware Street, narrowly missing an automobile.
 
St. Vincent’s Hospital, which was within 100 feet of the Prest-O-Lite plant, was rocked not only by the force of the explosion but also by a heavy beam. It struck the hospital severely damaging the east corner and roof on the third floor and causing windows to shatter and plaster to fall from the walls. The force of the explosion knocked patients from their beds on the east side of the building. Panic ensued inside the hospital and some patients fled from the building including several women who ran to a saloon across the street.
 
Also located in the neighborhood was Indianapolis Fire Station #2. Since fire trucks were pulled by horses, the design of the fire station had stables for the horses and equipment on the first floor while the second floor was housing for the firemen. After completing their morning duties, the firemen were relaxing. Two firemen were resting in a rear room on the second floor. Outside the fire captain and two men were seated in the alley between St. Vincent’s Hospital and the fire station.
 
When the explosion occurred, a large piece of twisted sheet metal became airborne and landed about three feet away from the men seated outside. The firehouse was extensively damaged. The roof was picked up by the force of the explosion. When it settled, it was several inches out of alignment. On the first floor, the horses, spooked by the loud kaboom, charged from their stalls and out of the fire station. As they charged down the street, the firemen sitting outside gave chase. When the horses stopped, the firemen were able to lead them back to the fire station.
 
In addition to the damage to the fire station’s roof, the walls were bowed, a large piece of steel had crashed through a gable, and all the windows had been blown out.  The severity of the damage to the fire station led to the abandonment of the location. Amazingly, there were no significant injuries to the employees of Prest-O-Lite, the firemen, the patients and staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital, or those in the neighborhood.
 
With three explosions in less than a year, public outrage ensued. Many residents of the area condemned both the owners of Prest-o-Lite and the city officials. Some urged that action be taken against Cal Fisher and Jim Allison as they were violating the recently passed city ordinance prohibiting the charging of acetylene tanks within the city limits. In response, the city council called a special meeting where the council voted that Prest-O-Lite’s manufacture of gas and filling of cylinders be prohibited by ordinance.
 
Fisher and Allison had anticipated this response and had already begun to disassemble the charging equipment to move it to the new facility on White River. The new plant on River Road used a different method for filling the canisters with acetylene gas. Filling the small canisters as the gas was manufactured reduced the potential for a massive explosion. Additionally, the plant on River Road had a concrete room about halfway down the riverbank for the generation of the gas. Fisher explained that if there was an explosion during the filling process, the explosion would occur pointing to the river.
 
Just like the earlier explosion which had ruined a batch of sauerkraut, a German citizen had three barrels of sauerkraut in his yard located three blocks from the plant. The force of the explosion knocked the lids from the barrel, ruining the sauerkraut. When Fisher asked what he thought the damages were, the man replied he thought $2 would be sufficient. Fisher provided the funds.
 
Trying to postpone the inevitable, Fisher acknowledged the responsibility of Prest-O-Lite and made a plea with the city council to allow the business to continue. Despite this, the city council passed an ordinance which made it illegal to store more than 50 tanks in any one place and limited a tank to containing no more than one cubic foot of gas. The ordinance also prohibited the operation of the plant on any acre of unplatted ground within the city limits, a provision aimed specifically at the new plant.
 
Concerned if the law was enacted, it would pose a great hardship. Prest-O-Lite filed an appeal to test the validity of the new ordinance. Allison and Fisher knew they needed to locate the plant outside of Indianapolis. A benefit of the move would be the consolidation of multiple plants around Indianapolis. Within several months, a new location was purchased northwest of Indianapolis. Commissioned in 1910, a new 300,000 square foot plant was built near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at a cost of $500,000. Opened in 1913, it enabled Prest-O-Lite to consolidate all of the operations around Indianapolis.
 
Prest-O-Lite introduced an acetylene gas starter in 1912  operated by a little pump. The starter eliminated the “tiresome, dangerous cranking as the acetylene gas keeps the cylinders free from carbon.” For a four-cylinder starter, the cost was $20 while a six-cylinder cost $25. At the time of the introduction of the starter, Prest-O-Lite had 15,000 agencies throughout the world.  The plant produced Prest-O-Lite cylinders, Prest-O-Lite Torch, Prest-O-Lite welder, an automatic reducing valve, in addition to 1,200 Prest-O-Liters a day. The Prest-O-Liter was the company’s lighting system which had grown from a single cylinder with a tube to supply gas to headlights to three options: one for headlights costing $13, one for headlights and  taillights costing $16, and one for headlights, sidelights, and taillights costing $19.
 
Allison and Fisher sold Prest-O-Lite to Union Carbide for $9,000,000 in 1917. In the sale, the partners received one share of Union Carbide stock for two shares of Prest-O-Lite.
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