Wichita eagle., 1888-12-28
CEREALlNE DUST.
It Sometimes Causes Explosions That Are
Most Disastrous.
i

Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-THE SO called at
tempt to dynamite the Schufeldt distillery in
| Chicago turns out to have been the explosion
! of cerealine dust floating in the air. Cereal
! inc is a vegetable food made from corn and
is largely used in brewers and dlstilleries in
stead of malt. A little later a similar explp-
sion occurred in divers oatmeal mill in the
same city, the material causing the trouble
being fine oatmeal dust. The explosions be-
/ long to rare class to which scientists have
only of late turned their attention.
Professor Richter in Germany, DR. Chan
der and Professor Rood in this country have
studied the subject with considerable care
From their studies as well as from contirma-
tory experiences and observations made since
they announced their work, it is known that
any vegetable matter which can be burned
becomes an explosive when converted into
dust and mixed with large bulk of air.
Ordinary white flour is a good example.
Thrown in small quantities upon coal or
wood fire it burns, but with considerable diff
fculty; if thrown in large quantity it chokes
and quickly smothers the fire. Yet if, as was
done by King, two ounces of it so shaken in a
clean barrel as to form dusty cloud be
ignited, they explode with such violence as
to blow out the heads.
1t was from this possibility that the great
mill explosion in Minneapolis occurred some
years ago. In number of rooms, owing, it
may be- to ignorance of the fact or to imperfec-
lions of machinery, the atmosphere was laden
with -four dust or fine -four suspension. Prob
ably a match struck by one of the victims
was what ignited the mixture of air and
-four. Nothing certain is known, except that
the next moment giant explosion occurred
blowing the walls out and making the build
ing mass of ruins.
OF similar character was serious accident
in a candy factory in New York city. In
this establishment leading raw material
was the finest powdered sugar. 1t was used
in such large quantities as to make an ap-
preciable dust everywhere. When the heavy
machinery was in motion the Earring and
shaking stirred up the sugar dust and made
the air white. The mixture of sugar and air
took fire from a burning gas jet used to
illuminate a dark rear room, and blew out
the front of the building.
IN discussing the subject, DR.. Francis
Wyatt, chemist of the Mercantile Exchange,
says: Explosion is simply combustion.
Anything that can be burned can be induced
to blow UP. A smoldering piece of wood. if
left alone, goes out; if dipped into jar of
oxygen, burns with as fierce fame as does
naphtha under normal circumstances; If
plunged in a current of heated oxygen, blazes
with flash resembling that of gun cotton
A better Illustration, perhaps, is sawdust. IL
it be shoveled into a blazing furnace, it pro-
duces hideous smoke and practically suFo-
Gates the fire. If, however, blower or any
f,-iy t,a VIII
air through both coal and sawdust, the latter
burns as well as the former. Finally, if the
sawdust be SO fine that when agitated it viii
rise and float some time in the air, it will
explode with more or less violence"
In the CatskillS and other parts Of Nsw
York state a curious industry consists in con-
verting beech trees into wood -four. A whole
trunk is stripped Of its bark, put into a huge
mechanism which is practically a pencil
sharpener on vast scale, and cut into miles
of tho finest ribbons These are thrown into
a mill and converted into wood meal or wood
-four. This is used, l believe, for making
paper. although the farmers hint that it is
taken west by government contractors to feed
the Indians and supply our army with daily
bread. In very dry summer weather this
dust fills the cir of the mill and is often ex-
The kind in this industry
DR.. Breinig, the distinguished physician
and scientist, of Allentown, Pa, called at
tention to this danger in mills which were de-
voted to the dry grinding Of colors when the
latter were of vegetable character, and
showed that the dust of lampbIack, carmins
and gamboge formed an explosive compound
when floating in or mixed with a requisite
amount Of air Dr.. Charles Perry, the New
York pharmacist, hcE pointed out the same
danger in those places where roots, herbs,
barhs and other vegetable drugs are
ground. In the case of SUCH ibrous
substances as hcorice root and slip
perry elm, the risk is greater, es the
dust from grinding is finer aud lighter
end remains suspended in the atmosphere
longer time than the dust of oatmeal and
sugar.
John B. King, an expert on explosives,
tried series of experiments with combUsti-
bic dusts, using stout, strong barrel, one Of
whose heads fitted but loosely. A certain
small amount Of dust was put in the barrel,
violently shaken until it was all stirred up.
and was then ignited- BE found that -four,
starch. corn starch, rice four, rice face pow
der, baby powder, and even house dust, when
dry and sufficiently fine, were explosive when
suspended in bulk OF air which weighed
from three 10 nine times as much as the dust
He claims that the only safe rule for build
ings in which the machinery makes das. OF
aHy kind IS either 20 incase the working
parts, as is done with grinding and boiling in
firstssciess mills, or 10 have strong current
Of cir, natural or artificial, passing cunrinn-
ally through the premisaS
WILLIAM E s. FALEs
4 personal friend of the Rev. Or.
George W. Field, of Bangor, the power
full preacher. saws he is very absent
minded man. When on the street. IN
the cars. or even at his dinner, his mind
is often so fully concentrated upon the
subject OF his next sermon that he ap-
pears TO take no notice of surrounding
circumstances. At one time, travelling
between Bangor and Boston. as the con-
ductor of the train, passing through
the car making collections eli tickets,
came TO Dr.. Field. the reverend gentle
man. glancing up quickly from e reverie,
looked into his face moment, then ex-
tended his hand and said: Good after
noon. sir, but think you have q little