New-York tribune., 1880-01-10
THE CELLULOID EXPLOSION.
TRYING TO ASCERTAIN TIE CAUSE.

TRYING TO ASCERTAIN TIE CAUSE.
EXPERIMENTS THAT WERE BEING TRIED AT NEW-
ARK-TnEORY OF THE COMPANY's EXPERT.
An inquest was begun at the Court House in
Newark yesterday IN the cases of Spencer Atwood John
Yates Frederick Sites, William Finders, Horace o.
Pierce and Edward c. Bloom. who killed by the
explosion Al the celul0id works on Monday morning
Among those present were John W. HYATT and l. Smith
Uyatt the inventors OF ccuold officers OF the
company.
John A. Barlow. the vice president Of The company
testified that he did consider the in which the
accident occurred any more dangerous than the other
rooms The material was innammablc but even In thls
case they had out OF the debris Of
and celluoid lie did not regard 1t increasing the
hazard to employ boys they engaged Hight du
ties that had nothing to do with machinery He
thought II the men had not become scared they might
hovc cscapcd There about 5000 pounds OF I'M
manufactured celulOiG in the building lie considered
that the accident took place In an iron tumblug ma
chine at one end of the room. large blower was
used To drive ont impure air aud gases lie did not
kpow whether any experiments were being made In
th buatnr II the time OF the accident There was no
ero.osiop but simply puff like that made by lighting
gas
George W. Edison, the neutrality-suspicious., de-
scribed the noise lko that made by blank cartridge
and said this WAS followed 10y crashing sound ike the
breaking up OF boards. He had understood that
new material lad been placed the machine through
the orders OF the consulting expert, j. W. Hyatt and
that experiments making there This machine had
been In use Six months fl bad two doors, ana was
made Of wrought iron aud lined with zinc. Tho barrel
reyOves at the rate OF fourteen revolutions minute,
and the arms of the machine make 500 revolutions
each Minute After being beaten upon IN THIS machine,
| the becomes ittle Volatile ana gives OFF
| fuues 1ha witness regarded the machine IA safe.
One of the doors forced on II by force from
| within.
John Hyatt the consulting expert OF the company,
stated that the machinery mill was invented by HIM
eight months it was used for mixing the materials
and cOlOrnR generally about three weeks arc con-
| sumed in the making OF ceLuoid therefore about
twenty tunes much ceulod IL In process OF manu-
facturc AS is consumed each day. IL was with view to
remedy this thar experiments were made by him at the
direction the officers Of the company He mad made
ago was succc ssul. lie had not completed this expert
| ment and = he abou, to leave town. he turned
| IL over 10 his brother to complete Ho did not
know that this experiment WAS being made Mon
day mornings he was al his home. He described the
operation the machine and said that there seemed tC
be no possibility Of spark Of fire occurring inside O
the barrel, there nothing TO produce any
siye friction. The alcohol was tine nflammablo material
and the danger Of combustion was In the drawing Of Tho
water OF the material and the forcing In OF the alec
hol. They rarely got the temperature in the barre
above 1902 His theory that the explosion had beer
occnsiopod by the accumuaioDs OF atmospheric air u
| the tub which had been caused by some unaccOuntaD
means which could possibly explain ElectrclI,
| might have been caused by the rapid running OF th
belt There nothing In the barrel except paper
| alcohol aud possibly little ooor1ng
The Inquest WAS adjourned until 10 a. N. Monday.