Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-10
A SINGULAR ACCIDENT.
Explosion of Vulcanizer in Den
lists Office.


lists Office.
PHILADELPHIA, July 6.-The Times to-
morrow will print the story Of startling
accident in a dentists office. Mrs Josie
+. WeakIey, of No. ,26l Fleetwood ave-
nue., went to Seger's dental rooms. No.
931 Arch street, to have something done
TO one OF her teeth. The young lady had
hardly got seated in the dentists chair
when there came terrific explosion,
which badly bruised the patient and
ruined her clothing, frightened the dentist
nearly out OF his wits, and made wreck
of the room. When the doctor and his
patient had recovered from the shock it
was discovered that machine In
the room called a vulcanizer had exploded.
| The report was like the bursting Of can
non and the havoc nearly as great. ut
was the most FRI ghtful experience ! ever
had" Mrs. W oakley said to-day, "and my
shoulders and limbs are black ana blue
from the bruises | received. | shall enter
suit against the party or parties TO blame
unless reparauon is made to-day Tor my
injuries and The loss Of my clothing, which
was entirely ruined. 1t was miracle
that / was not killed. As soon as re-
covered from the shock | discovered that
! had been struck in several places with
flying missiles and was literally covered
with ink, a large bottle Of which had been
scattered in the wreck. At the time OF
the explosion was in the operating chair
and MIR. Segers WAS not three feet from
me. AS soon as was sufficiently COM
posed be called a coupe aud l was driven
TO my home"
Mrs. Weakley, who is an attractive
woman OF perhaps 30, with a fine ply sique,
had not fully recovered from the nervous
shock produced by the explosion, and
said, laughingly, she didn't think sDe ever
would. An hour later reporter of the
Times called at No. 93l Arch street, and,
on iDquirlng tor Mr.. Seger's dental rooms,
was shown to the back rooms OF the second
story. Mrs. Weakiey was in the operating
room with the doctor talking over the
startling episode. AS the reporter en-
tered both directed his attention to the
scars on the walls, ceiling, doors and fur
niture that told of the eXplosIon's
work. A panel of one door was
driven completely out, and in an
other an aTticulator with cast Of a set
of teeth was indented so deeply that it
stuck fast. The mirror of a large dress
ing case was smashed to atoms, and the
headboard of bed spit and otherwise
distiQured. On the wall Immediately
alongside of the bed was an abrasion sew
eral inches long and half an iucn deep,
made by piece OF iron or brass, while in
the ceiling overhead hole two inches in
diameter was cut clean through. One Of
the heavy window stills was torn up as
though lifted with crOwbar, and the lid
of large trunk was jammed IN as if a
huge weight mad descended upon it. Ink
was spattered in every direction, and the
fixtures of the room were all more or less
defaced.
The windows were uD at the time of
the explosion, and much OF its force was
spent on the walls Of the building to the
rear. These walls show dozen indenta-
tiOns that indicate the violence with
which they were struck. Bricks are torn
out in several places twenty feet distant
from the room where the accident Oc-
CURED, and in other cases there are deep
gashes in the wall made ny the flying de-
bris. The dentist, who still acted and
talked nerVOusly, was asked to explain
the occurrence. He said:
"A few moments before | began work
on Mrs. WeaSley's tooth | touched a
match to the gas stove under the Vul-
caniZer, which sat in the open window a
few feet from the operating chair This
heats the water in the cylinder that gen.
crates the steam for use in anotnsr con-
Meeting one of equal size. These cylin-
ders are of brass, about inches in dame
ter, and 9 inches high. We VulcaniZe at
about 100 pounds of steam pressure, or
345 deg. Fahrenheit. Noticing while at
work on Mrs. WeaKley's tOotA that the
pressure had reached l20 pounds, 1 turn
ed the gas down very low, but neverthe-
less in a few minutes heard the fearful
explosion. and was stunned by the violent
conclusion. The only explanation of the
explosion that | can offer is that these
VulcaniZers generate steam very fast, and
having no safety valve are liable to sucn
accidents as this"