Arizona silver belt., 1885-05-23
EXPLOSIVE DUSTS.
Dangers from Pulvsri2sd Grains,
 Sugar, Starch, Etc.
The PhiieHophy or Che NIattsrAstrilS.
 Ing Casss and curious Accidents -TRe Investigations or ChenALstE
New York Snnl


 "Fl6lT looks innocent enough an overseer remarked while watching the re. moyal of some barrels of four and other grains from large warehouse.
 That depends upon how 1t is cooked, abe reporter suggested
 "JuSt SO lt is dangerous enough in that way; but l was thinking of it as m explosive. Just look across the room. You see, whNn the sun 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 atoms of grain of all kinds Now suppose you take dried ear of corn and fire it. It burns very slowly and the chances are that 1t will go out Shell it, or take the kernels off, and 1t burns much quicker. Suppose now we grind the corn, it will burn qdicker still, say in a minute ibut if you pulyeTize it. reduce it to a powder or dust, and ignite 1t, 1t goes of like a flash, and has great expansive power, That is just the case here. If the room becomes oyercharged with dust, and is ignited, it goes of, blowing the house to pieces.
 NOne of the most striking cases occurred several years ago when the Washington mill caught fire. Those who knew anything BbOutit just got out of the way as quick as they c0uld powder wouldn't have sent them any faster. Blow up2 We'll, l should rather think she did. The walls of the mill were solid stone six feet thick, and when the explosion came they were just like paper, and the roof, made of sheet'iron, was blown so high from one mill that 1t landed more than two miles from the spot where 1t went up. Of course it was helped by the wind, but tho avga as.HN sFIy l. blown out through windows, hurled through the air, and the walls of build ing completely demolished by a mans lighting pipe in big grain.house
 |" A curious accident once happened in Scotland in a large house. A man walked .tn with Q cigar in his mouth, and in 8 second the room seemed to be filled with fire and terrible roar, but a minute later 1t cleared of With the exception of a sngeing, not a person was hurt, but every one of the four walls was fat on the ground, and the TCof had been lifted bod fly and dropped 200 feet away In Ech cases there must be a fire first The dust burns. and powerful heat iS created and then follows the terrific expansive force that nothing can withstand The explo. sion in Barclay strest several years ago may be accounted for in this way. In the manufacture of candy, sugar and starch are used in great quantities Their dast accumulates and when lighted might easily display power enough to hurl . building to atoms
 Has the explosive power of different dusts ever been determined7"
 "Ycs, the four ridn replied aPro- lessor Peck, the chemist. has made soma experiments that demonstrate the cnor hous power of sawdust, various Hours. starch, and grain of all kinds In one of the Experiments he took three quarters of an ounce of starch. and, by raising it as dust in the aiF, ignited it in compart. ment intended to represent Q room. When exploded it threw a box weighing six pounds twenty feet in the air You can judge yourself of the power of the ma. aerial, Half an ounce of starch ignited iu the same way was shown by the pro fessOr 10 lift the cover of box and a heavy man standing on it three inches
 One of the most dangerous materials is the wheatdust of hourmills When burned 1t goes off like flash One of the first movements in making flour Is to rattle the wheat, and pass heavy draft at the same time over 1t, to carry of the highly ihilammable dust. Yet despite all care,- the air becomes heavily loaded with it Prof. Peck has shown what flour would do by taking & box with capacity of two cubic feet and placing in 1t little flour, the light of a lamp entering through hole in one corner, and the muzzle of q bellows through the other. The cover of the box was nailed on and man took his place on t. The professor Shen worked the bel lows, and the small amount of floar filled ibe air in the box, as dust, the fac-simile of a dust.laden mill being produced. The four immediately ignited from a lamp, and in a second the cover was blown off and the man lifted several inches into the air, while blaze of fire burst out from all sides A number of interesting experiments were performed by the same gentleman, showing that in our large manufSctories where dust was likely to be formed there lurked power as dreaded as dynamite Peck states that one pound of carbon and two and two thirds of oxygen, when they combined to produce carboniC acid, will evolve heat sufficient. fl applied to a perfect heating en- zine, to hft nearly 600 tons ten feet into the air. Then he assumes that if 40 per cent of flour is carbon 1t would require two and one.half pounds to accomplish this result