The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-11-12

lS DOW IN store. Though we speak OF theI
as five magazines yet in reality all i've ar
tween each wall, and all are kept with opel
end and side-doors during the day, excep
during the time the workmen are at din
ner, when the thickly- plated double coppe
doors are closed, and the keys resigned Il
Mr.. Cleeve, who alone Of all the staff cal
enter the magazines at any hour OF the da,
or night.
Thus, SO perfect is the system Of STORM,
that at any hour Of the day or night the ex
act bins or lots can be found by the powder
men, and either stored away or taken on
for shipment. In fact, the magazines ar,
generally SO dark that daylight makes bu
little difference in the gloom or their int
rior, and during the crimean war, whe,
the demand for powder wa1 loud and ur
gent. the powder men in relays worked
night and day through the darkest winter
T. Il is almost needless to say that no light,
| or irOnwork Of any kind are ever allowed Il
approach even the outer walls which in
close the magazine building, and the mos
jealous scrutiny is maintained to see tina
not an atom Of dust comes into the stores
The brickwork of the massive arches !,
lined with pegged boarding, which Ellis lik,
cabinet work, 70 guard against the falline
Of grain Of dirt from the masonry. In
cessantly, are men employed in sweepinf
and sprinkling the wooden tramways NO
only. inside the magazine, but on all thu
wooden paths around it. A careful exam.
ination the refuse thus brought together
by the broorns only shows 4 fluffy kind o,
mixture almost entirely composed OF hail
on the blankets used. or wool from the
workmen's dresses. or dust. IN the 81.
binary acceptation OF the term. there is
scarcely 2 trace, and OF powder, or OF any
thing which could be supposed to resemble
II, there IL absolutely nothing.
THE BARRELS.
The barrels are never rolled, but wheeled
IN barTows, two Mt time. A leaky DOW
der barrel 10 almost unknown at Purflect.
80 rare y it, occurrence, though some of the
barrels have been in use since 1903 and
1873. When II does happen that barrel
leaks it IL never placed in the magazine. but
at once removed in = hide to the examining
house, and its contents changed to y new
barrel; There can BE no question, however,
that all powder barrels are made too slight.
and that law which will render it COM
pnisory TO have powder barrels water tight
would at once do away with more than half
the chances Of accident from powder. espe-
claliy when IN transit from port 10 port or
from mills to magazines. $50 - "a
THE JULES At PURFLEEr.
The great rules at Purfiect are. first. that
nothing but pow der is admitted to the maga-
zines; that is 70 say, that port-fires, rockets.
shells, &c, are excluded with a. much
vigilance as If they were lights. The sec
onu rule IS that no powder, not even half an
ounce, is ever left ont Of the mamzine the
the third, that nothing Is ever done in a
magazine but 70 lift II out again. To at
temptto open OF cooper cask in the maya
zine would, at Purfiect, iead TO instant and
final dismissal. II is Impossible to con.
denim this practice cf working in the maya
zines too strongly.
PRECAUTIONS.
The alarn-bell rung when there is anv
appearance Of thunder in the air. that the
doors and all the apertures Of the maya
zines may De closed at once. The precau-
ton is wise one, though it would SAVIOR
much more Of precaution in its real sense
II Anticipated lightning which
now cover each Iow-lyine magazine. were
at once removed from the buildings them-
selves, and placed higher on poles around
them. During the night the watchmen
have to admit the guard outside the maea-
zine each hour, and the sentries them-
selves have TO strike each quarter hour OIL
their watch upon large bells. 30 that anv
want Of vigilance ID this respect Il 80 east
~ discovered thattit becomes almost i'm.
possible. In fact, rs regards the maya.
zines, the care which ID taken of them
leaves nothing to be suggested nor nothing
70 be desired, except, perhaps. tina THEY
The writer then discusses the Question
,f probable danger, and concludes that
there can be no accident except AZ the
result of unavoidable calamitv." He
adds:
What that calamity would be to Eng.
and our readers may guess by bearing In |
mind that less than fifty tuns exploded at |
Erltn, and that Purfieet, as q rule, stores !.
wo thousand three hundred tuna.
The powder barges that come to Purfleet /
AIRY from six hundred to eight hundred |
barrels. The crews are always removed
TO m the barges at once, aud have a place
'egularly assigned To them outside the
magazines, where there Is cook.house
md where they can smoke. No barge. IL
can possibly be avoided, u allowed to
ematn, the crew are brought on board at
I o'clock, and have to turn in In the dark.
When the powder il oil on board and Sc
.ured below, the barge IL removed to q
,uoy in the river about three hundred
'ards from the magazine. While ut this
'uoy, the crew have their lights and fires,
whether there is powder on board or no.
ret an accident happening to a powder
,argo with eight hundred barrels on board.
i only three hundred yards distance from
he magazine, would Sc the same asif 1t
happened in the magazine itself This Is
eEarded by the writer the source Of prob.
lie danger. and what the effect of an ex.
3l0si0n would be, II thus detailed: ssg
Two thousand tons Of powder would 90
upy 1000 cubic feet OF space, or equal to II
pile 100 feet long, - feet wide and 20 feet
ligh-quite the sl1e Of an ordinary parish
hurch. As powder, at the moment or its
explosion, exerts an elastic force Of 1000
lines the pressure Of the atmosphere,
II, 900 pounds 10 the square inch), the iani.
lon Of this quantity instantaneously iibe-
ates force equal to Il, O00, $50 tons. Asl
be vibrations Of force radiate equally il
II directions, like those Of light and heat.
necessarily follows that its intensity al.
in proportion As the circle Of ite
adiati0n increases in diameter. Thus. ta- +
ing the direct distance from London to
'urfieet as Is miles, an explosion at the
after magazine would, by the time Il
cached town, be distributed over 10. 600 600
quare yards Of surface, and, therefore. the
Mechanical effect of the shock to the houses
q London would be little over 81 pounds
or square yard Of surface, or $40 bounds
n the front Of an ordinary average dwell
ng house. This would be augmented To a
light extent, from the fact that the power
the shock would not radiate downward
N0nnonnonAn - f1.A -Hl.