Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-08-30

Saut43Ay q tue spontaneous fQu1t1on Of
certain substances under certain cir
eanstances. there Is psrpeknally re-
nswed demand for more information.
80 i is well enough to cite instances
of hres caused oy spontaneous com-
bustions even although II may Be- that
Zine upon line. precept upon pre-
cept should be tie rule.
a pile Of cloth-cotton-lefk in 4
heap Just as il came from the loom.
and probably more Of LEES saturated
with oil. blazed ~ and 6rnd bnild-
lng In which there never was a fire nr
light before. This was probably cans-
ed BY the piling Of cotton in heaps,
the ibers Of the cotton being saturat-
ed with oil-in this instance sperm
on, the only lubricating oil then in
use.
A stone warehouse filed with cot
ton and woolen waste took FIRE on q
summer afternoon, and resulted in the
destruction of several buildings. In
this case the waste filled with oil, xas
packed closely in bins, or compressed
into bags for convenience of slowing
Evidently compression, or weight WAS
an element in this case causing spon-
taneous combustion.
A large establishment for manufac-
ture of machinery was burned by be-
ing fired from a heap of ironturnings
thrown ont from a convenient win
dow, the greasy waste cotton being in
tremixed. Its hardly necessary, how.
ever, to have the element of Rreasv
cotton waste in order TO produce, or
to communicate, FIRE from heap Of
iron turnings. clippings and filings.
The mass of disintegrated iron aud Its
contained oil are enough to incite
heat and combustion. And careful
observers can sometimes see, in the
dark, the blue luminous shivers of
flames over hep of iron drillings,
chips, shavings and filings, adjacent
to machine shops.
One of the finest blocks of build
Ings in an eastern CITY was DESTROYED,
just before being ready TO occupy, by
tire started in an unused closet in
which painters had thrown their over
alls, these garments being presuma-
bic loaded with linseed oil and tur-
pentine.
To these instances may be added
some which were recently cited in
Chambers Journal. One Of them
dates back to 1850, when a Russian
naval vessel took fire, and no cause
except that of spontaneous combus-
tion could be found or surmised. The
tire was traced to package of mat
ting containing lampblack made from
the smoke Of fir and hemp oil varnish.
A carefully observed experiment de-
monstrated the fact that a closely
bound parcel of this mixture of lamp
black and oil took fire within seven
teen hours.
Wool-combings, packed in ware
house in bins and trodden down hard
by the workmen set fire to the build
ing. The wool was saturated with
oil, or was, at least, oily, and the COM
preston was probably one of the ele-
ments to spontaneous ignition.
Oily hemp and fax, in bales and
heaps, took fire spontaneously in Ply
mouth dockyard and caused great de-
struction to property. In 1851 or
1862 there was q great fire in the
Liverpool dock warehouse, caused, as
far as could be ascertained, by the
spontaneous ignition Of wet cotton in
bales
The naval ships Imogene and Tala-
vera were burned in Devonport dock
yard by the spontaneous combustion
of oakuin and tow that had been used
as waste for wiping greasy tools and
machinery, and thrown into bin.
Experiments prove tha. cotton
waste wet in boiled linseed oil. placed
under temperature Of l700 f., took
fire in one hour and a quarter. Raw
linseed oil on cotton required foug or
Ave hours under similar preliminaries
olive oil, six hours, rape oil, ten
hours and caster oil, two days. Al
to animal oils. lard oil with the cot.
ton produces ignition in four hours
seal oil, in one hour and twenty min.
utes and sperm oil-probably adul,
terated with pstroleum-did not fir'
in two days. 1t is generally conced
ed that the mineral oils, Of whatever
specific gravity or constituent char
acteristics, are not liable to aid il
spontaneous combustion
But there are other causes Of spon
taneous combustion not usually con
sidered, and yet established as fact
by experiments and observation
Grain, either in the kernel or tb,
straw, if packed into bins OF piles
into stacks while damp or only parti
ally cured, will sometimes general,
heat enough 70 cause combustion
Some of the supposed Incendiary fires
by which barns have been burned
have been traced TO this cause Of spon
taneous ignition; aud in some othe
instances only that supposition va
left az a reason for the FIRE. One cas-,
can be quoted as Characteristic. Il i
taken from the AanGLes dHygiene
A quantity of oats stored in a barr
had been consumed BY FIRE, and tn
proprietor suspected the act to be on
0fineendiarism- Several experts wsF'
consulted; and on inquiring into al
the circumstance, they unaninousl,
concluded that the fire was the resul
Of spontaneous combustion, caused b,
the fermention Of the grain stored il
q damp state. Several things point
ed Enthusiastically to this conclusion
srch A the fact that the oats wer