The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-05-23
CAUSES OF THE MILL EXPLOSION
MINNEAPOLIS,

The mill which was first DESTROYED wa!
an enormous structure, nearly the size o.
the Grand Pacific Hotel, and yetthe en-
tire roof was blown into the air as if il
had been feather, and the walls fell in
promiscuous ruin. The glass and frag-
ments of the structure were blown fol
miles, and even fell in the streets of St.
Paul, five miles away, thus showing that
no ordinary explosive agency had caused
the destruction 1t is evident at the out
set that steam was not the cause, not only
because there were only twenty pounds
of steam on at the time, and the boiler.
house was some little distance from the
mill, but also because steam could not
have worked such terrible ruin. The
same very good reason conclusively
proves it was not an explosion of the gas
used to illuminate the mill. Gunpowder
even would have failed to work such a
widespread disaster. 1t may be doubt
ed whether any other known explosive
force than the gas which actually caused
it, except nitro -glycerine, could have acs
complished this ruin. The dispatches
vaguely intimate that the explosion was
caused by gasses generated in the patent
middlings purifier process, but investiga-
tions of similar Catastrophes in Europe
show very clearly the cause in this case.
Explosions of this kind have happened
in Germany, but the attention of scien.
ti6c men and chemists was not immedi-
ately directed to the subject until the
fearful explosion occurred at the Trade.
ston Mills, Glasgow, Scotland, in 1872,
and at the City Mills, Port Dundas, Scot>
land, four years ago. 1t had been hith,
erto deemed impossible that explosions
should ever occur in such a peaceful es.
tablishment as flour mill, but the two
explosions above noticed enlisted the at.
tention of both the English and the Ger,
man chemists, and they set about inves.
tigating them with results that are stated
in very interesting article in the Amey>
tcaA Miller for April last. The substance
of these opinions is to the effect that the
constituents ofhour are combustible and
when diffused through the air burn with
great rapidity and with explosive force.
DR.. Smith, AN English chemist, has shown
that flour in fine state of division gives
off gas, which when mixed with fine
volumes of air, forms an explosive mix>
ture whichis liable at any time to be fired
by spark or fame; and Wiebe, Ger.
man chemist, states that flour in the form
of impalpable powder quickly ignites
and gives off highly explosive hydro
carbon gas, which, when mixed with air,
explodes with terrific force. The ex>
periments tried upon a small scale with
hour.powder, satisfactorily account for
the Minneapolis explosion. The huge
mill must have been filled with this i'm
palpable dust, which taking fire from the
gas jets, or itmay have been from the
electricity which is rapidly generated
and held by the mill>stones, exploded
with the terrible results that have already
been chronicled. With such possibilities
Of explosion existing in every flour mill,
it certainly behooves mill owners to be
on their constant guard. The recent fear
full disaster to the confectionery estabs
lishment in New York which arose from
an analogous cause, and the catastrophe
at Minneapolis, are terrible warnings to
Touring mill owners. So long as these
conditions exist no mill is safe, and 1t
ought to be their first duty to ascertain
from scientific men the precautions that
will lessen, if not altogether obviate the
danger to which they are exposed.