Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-06-14
SOME STRANGE EXPLOSIVES.
Dangerous Dusts that are Easily Ignlted
with Astonishing Effects.

Dangerous Dusts that are Easily IgnIted
with Astonishing Effects.
"F1our looks innocent enough" an
overseer remarked, while watching the
the removal of some barrels of -four and
other grain from large warehouse.
THAT depends upon how it is cooked"
the reporter suggested. . .s..~.
Gust SO. 1t is dangerous in that way;
but l was thinking of it as an explosive.
Just look across the room. You see,
when the suns rays come in, the air is
loaded with fine grain dust, and if you
were provided with microscopic eyes
you would see yourself fairly surrounded
with small atoms of grain of all kinds.
Now, suppose you take a dried ear. of
corn and fire it. 1t burns very slowly,
and the chances are that twin 60 out.
Shell 1t, or take the kernels off, and it
burns much quicker. Suppose, now. We
grind the cornsit will burn quickerAstih,
say in minute; but if you pulverize it,
reduce it to powder or dust, and ignite
it, it goes off like flash, and has great
expansive power, That is just the. case
here. If the room becomes ovefchargeA
With dust and isignited, off it goes, blow.
ing the house to- pieces III s,t2 r..-.-
Zone of the most tstrikingeaseso occurred
several years ago in Minneapolis when
the Washington, mill caught. Those who
knew anything about it just got out Of
the Way as quick as they Gould; powder
Wouldn't have sent them any faster
% BLOW upfn = 41i1s2 sdi 7Gi 4n.Ilg
Well should rather think she did.
The walls of, the millt were solid, ,stohf
six feet thick, and when the explosion
came they were just ffke paper, apd the
roof, made Of Sheets Of iron, was blown
so high from -ohe tmiH that If landed
moretfian two miles fromthe spot here
it went UP. OF course it WAS helpedib
the wind, but the force, -exerted1 MAS
shown. Men had been.blown out through
the windows, hurled through the air
and the walls oftbe building completely
demolished by mans lighting his pipe
in a big grain house. .l,.,r g. II 4:9.i
"a curious accident once happened in
Scotland in large house. A manwalk-
ed in with cigar In his mouth, and in q
second the room seemed to be filled with
tire and terrible roar, but-a minute la.
ter it cleared off With the exception
of q singeing, not a person. was hurt, blu,
every one of the four walls was fat on
the ground, and the roof had been lifted
bodily and dropped 200 feet awayI Ir
such cases there must be afire irai The
dust burns, and a powerful heat lscrea;
ted, and then follows the tefrfffc 'expaf
sive force that nothing can withstand
The explosion in Barclay street. seyera,
years ago may be accounted for in this
way. In the manufacture of candy su-
gar and starch are used in great qnanti
ties. Their dust accumulates and wher
when lighted light easily develop pow.
er enough to hurl building to atoms
"Has the explosive power of different
dusts ever been determined" '- -s
"Yes," the -four man replied. "Prof
Peck, the chemist, has made some ex
periments that demonstrate the enor.
nous power of sawdust, various flours
starch, and grain of all kinds. In one o.
the experiments he took three-quarters
of ounce of starch, and by raising it al
dust in the air. ignited it in compart
ment intended to represent a room
When exploded it threw box weighing
six pounds twenty feet in the air. YoJ
| can Judge yourself of the power of the
material. Half an ounce of starch ignit
ed in the same way was shown by. thu
Professor to lift the cover of a box, and {
| heavy man standing on it, three inches
| "One of the most dangerous material
is the wheat dust of flour mills. WheI
burned it goes off like fash. One o
the first movements in making flour is t,
Iattle the wheat and pass heavy draugh
at the same time over it to carry off th'
| highly infammable dust. Yet desDit,
all care, the air often becomes perfect,
loaded with it: Prof. Peck has shows
what flour would do by taking boz
with a capacity of two :u5ic feet ant
placing in 1t little flour, the light of
lamp entering through hole in on
corner and the muzzle of q below
through the other. The cover Of the 10.
was nailed on, and a man took his eae
/ on it. The Professor then, worked til
bellows, ana the small amount of hou
within Immediately filled the air in ltlr
box as dust, the facsimile of q dust-ladel
i mill being produced Thefo,r ipnmedi
atsly ignIted from the lamp, and in
second. the cover was blown off and th
4 man lifted several inches into the All
l while blaze of fire burstout at all sidei
A number of interesting experiment
were performed by the isaine eeiitlemaf
showing that in our large miJls sndmar
| ufactories where dnst is likely to b
| formed, there lhrked a power as dreade
as dynamite. stA bi1s JH .9u
. ;. "Peck states that one pound ofcarbo
and two and two thirds Of oxyge1
when they combine to produce carboni
Acid, will evolve heat sufficient, if appll
ed through perfect heatengine,f ITO III
nearly 600 tons ten feet into the, az
Then he assumes that if 40 per cent. c
| -four is carbon it would fegnire two and
half pouDds to accomplish this result. 2
= "Why can't an engine be made to rt1
\ by dust power?" .iITo lGh- II
ia "Perhaps that is what Keely is ~orl
ing at, or the same prineiple,i bat 20
would need according to the authorit
quoted, an engine from which there wa
I no radiation or loss of .heat: aR ReshsE
.iBomee day it may be Accomplished. Som
years ago nold fallowsin BsetonIeT eTeate
great excitement by pretending that
had machine that was fifty times