The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-10-26
Spontaneous Combustion oErCharcoal


of the London Fire Brigade England, re-
marks that lampblack and charcoal, when
the smallest quantity of oil gains access to
and the vegetable and animal textiles, and
should not be admitted Sxnongs ships
stores. lsSS.s$s : ~
The kinds of wood generally used for
the manufacture of charcoal Tor gun
powder are the black dogwood the willow
and the alder. These varieties are all we'll
adapted for the purpose, though fof the
best brands OF sporting powder the dog
wood is said to he preferable. The wood
is converted into charcoal by heating it in
iron cylinders. After the charcoal is re-
moved from these vessels, it is placed in
iron coolers provided with tightly fitting
lids, and allowed to stand for some hours
until quite cool. 1t is then sent to the
mill to be ground, and is afterwards mixed
with the other ingredients for gunpowder.
With reference now to this process, Prof.
F. Hargreaves vouches that there are
many instances recorded where the char
coal has taken fire the second day after
grinding. With the process Of this occur
renee we are by this time quite: familiar.
The same observer, it appears is also
aware of the fact that the ptfivetization of
the charcoal is not absolutely indspensa-
BILE for such ignition to ensue, for he adds,
at the conclusion OF his remarks: "The
absorption namely, Of oxygen) with sticks
OF charcoal is not SO quick as with ground
charcoal, and hence the spontaneous
combustion of X stick & charcoal does
not occur so often Mr.. Hatfield, in a
paper containing % Observations on
the Circumstances producing ignition
+; in Charcoal at Atmospheric Tempera
tures," published in, the. Philosophical
MagasSne, states the following: :" If
twenty or thirty hundred of charcoal, in a
state Of minute, division, be put together
in heap, and left undisturbed, spontane-
Gus combustion generally occurs, He
records, in verification of this statement,
the following instance: "a quantity of
small charcoal was thrown into aheap
that covered about ten feet square and
four feet deep. In three days the temper
allure had increased to ninety degrees Fab,
although it was at first only fifty. seven
degrees, that Of the surrounding. air. On
the sixth day It had s'riseHs to $50 degrees;
and on the seventh combustion. had COM
mencedsin several places" s:sss.la - 3
DR.. G. T, jackson, in communication
to the American Academy, gives the fol
lowing piece of testimony corroborative
of what has just fleceded:. Three
times" he remarks, ''I have set fire to
charcoal at temperatures below that of
boiling water. My first experimSnt Of
observation was accidental. IswaGpre-
pairing, while at Bangor, Me-, for 1ec-
tt,re, in which l had occasient Q show IAN
artificial volcano. tooksas tray Led
with gunpJwder and lsid lon
to dry. / then took palekef ptlSarized
charcoal, such as is sold 11 ApOthecafiss
for tooth powder, the chafool beang
wrapped in white psper1. ala plAeef is q
top of the gunpoWder WAS sing
dried upon the top of th4 ne Hayidg
occasion TO go out, i took of .thePSRexNf
charcoal and laid it on the table, When
/ came back, in about twenty minutes, i
observed the paper smoking The char
coal was completely consumed During
all this time the gunpowder remained con
the stove 'unexplOded. u .srE.ss ~ -as.
80 !" My next observation was this ii While
at work in my Laboratory, had occasion
to use piece of charcoal for blew.pipe
experiments. Invent down into INV cell
lar and brought up piece of light, fine,
round charcoal suited for that purpose.
It was damps II laid it upon the top Of a
column stove to dry, directly beside q tin
pan containing water, which was not boil.
ing and never did boil there I took the
charcoal off the stove and laid It on the
table. A short time afteFward, 1 discov-
cred that it was on fire all through its
mass. II laid it aside and it burned en-.
tirely to aslies.a ! .,aS.6 IfepeHted the ex-
pertinent again intentionally, watching it
carefully, and with the same result" The
explanation OF the cases first quoted Il not
difficult to ind. The charcoal possesses
wonderful porosity and great power for
otc1uding cases. This absoftive QUALITY
is supplemented by d species az sefetsive
power: in virtue or which, it sahsorb4
oxygen with much more avidify ana ID
much greater quantity THIN nitfoge The
enormous conde nsati6n Which pas suffers
BY dbsofption into tie fpsO1res II The char:
csal is attended With sthes h6eration az 4
quantity Or 'sensible hest hat IS the eequit..
alent ofsthe work the; Ato1ms have accom.
plished; willie stimuli tsne6 dsly the emf.
fent non conducting property 4 III the char
coal hastens the period olsActtss combus-
tion by preYantiag the djsgilptiRpf she
heat thus 9ev36lved, End to6c9h{qafihS It
upon the-arpeUii0ds adaesl 2 06s5 sJsltAst ~