Telegram-herald., 1888-12-21

IL s~<etfuses Causes ~ yio~1S1s rh-< AEs
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-ftsfl-- A--trr
Wv Ycaz. Dsc TITS - czasd al
tea-os to dynamite re Sesulsl-r clsls--sry II
C..feago farus out - have ocsa the ezpiosioo
of cslea-.ne dust te1riHs Ia -ee slr Cereal
me a vegetable f9od ma6e from ocrn and
S largely used ia brewers ard d-sliIsries IA
staad Il mals A lrl.e later similar explo-
sisl oec1rrei IN DIVERS oatmeal mlu in the
saase city, TIE material causing tao Iroocls
being lne oatmeal dust TIE explosions 30
long 80 d rare class 10 watch scientists haye
Oillg al late turned tnelr attention
Pref sssor Rlchter in Germany. Or. Chan
lfleF sli Professor Rood "a ttis country have
srudisl the sal i1ct Win eonslcaxa5ls cara
Prom t1sir stud.es a. vel ss from coulrua-
tory experiences and otsery Aflons made since
they announced taeir work, II Is known thai
auy vegetable matter wnleh can be burned
becomes a. explosive when converted into
dust AMI ulxed with q izrge bulk " air.
Ordinary wiits -four = a good example
Thrown in small quantities upon q coal or
wood Dire 10 burns. bat with considerable diff
fcu.ty Il thrown 10 large quantity II chokss
al quickly znotlers the nre. Ie, II, as Was
done by KING, two ounces II II 50 shaken III a
clean barre Us % form q dusty cloud be
igL..ed. they explode with such violence Is
u blow cut the LlalA
II was from this possibility that tho great
mil explosion "a Minneapolis occurred some
years ago. l. 4 uuuoer II rooms. owing. 10
NAV be 20 ignorance Of the fact or 10 itnpcrfess-
tlCus OF nacliuery. the atmosphere was laden
With aour cus- Or tue hour suspension Prob
al y a match struck by one Of tee victims
WAS what iyuitsd the mixture OF air and
-four Nothing certain Is known, except that
the next moment a giant explosion occurred,
blowing tlc walls out and making tie build
ing a mass OF rains
OF similar character was a serious accident
In 4 candy factory IN New York city In
this establishment "A leading raw material
was the finest powdered sugar. II was used
IN such i4rge quantities as 70 make an ui-
preciable dust everywhere. When the heavy
machinery wGS il motion the Jarring and
shaking stirred Up the sugar dust ard uyads
the air white. The mixture ot sugar and air
took fire from burning gas Jet used to
illuminate a dark rear room, and blew cut
the front Of the building
In discussing tie subject, DR. Francis
Wyatt, chemist Of the Mercantile Exchange,
says: Explosion is simply combustion.
Anything that can be burned can be induced
70 blow up. A s1oidering piece OF wood, IL
left alone, goes out, II dipped into q jar Of
oxygen, burns with as fierce fame Is does
naphtha under normal circumstances, IL
plunged in . current Of heated OK gen, blazes
with 2 flash resembling that OF gun cotton.
A better illustration, perhaps. = sawdust. III
it % snoveied into q blazing furnace, it pro-
duces a hideous smoke and practically Slffo
Gates the ire II, however, = blower or any
coutriFance be employed which VIII force
air through both coal aud sa.dust, the latter
burns as well rs the former Finally. If the
scwIust be so lne That when agitated it will
rise and float somo time in the air, it will
explode with moro or less violence"
in tie CatsZiil and other parts OK New
York state curious industry consists in con-
verting beech trees into wood nour. A whole
trunk is stripped Of its bark, put into huge
mechanism which Is practically q pencil
sherpener on vast scale, and cut into miles
OF TIE finest ribbons. These are thrown into
a mill and converted into wood meal or wood
-four This is used, | believe, for making
paper, although the farmers hint that 1t is
taken west by government contractors TO feed
the Indians and supply our army with daily
bread. IN very dry summer weather this
dust filis the air Of the NIL aad IS often ex-
plosive. Twice there have been accidents OF
The kind IN tsis industry.
Dr.. Breiny, tso diStinguishei physician
AL scientist, OF Allentown, Pa, called at
tcn.ion 20 this danger il mills which were de
voted 20 the dry grinding of colors when the
latter were Of vegetable character. and
showed that tho dust Of lampblacS, carmins
aad gam5oEe formed an explosive compound
when floating in or mixed with q requisite
amoul. Of air. Dr. Charles Perry, the New
York pharmacists, has pointed out the same
dancer IN those places where roots, herbs.
barss aud other vegetable drugs are
ground In the case Of such hbrous
substances as licorice root and slip
pcrv elm, the risk is greater. as the
duss from grinding is finer and lighter
All remains suspended in the atmosphere =
longer time thau the dust Of oatmeal and
s1~1-.
John T. King. an expert on explosives,
tTiel series a. experiments with colnbusti-
be dusts. using a stout, strong barrel, one of
5bcee heads Gtted but loosely. 4 certain
sraall arlorut Ok dust wns pat ia the barrel,
violently shaken until it was all stirred up.
anI was theu ieni.ei lie found that -four.
s.arca. ceru .---c1. rlce iour. rice face pow
de-. Baby powder. ard even house dust, vhen
d. and s-5ir emily Gre. were explosive when
srs-cudrl in q luls ~ air which weighed
from tkrce Cd nine times rs mach cs the dust
IL cisigns tlat tae only safe rae Tor build
lurs in which the machinery makes 6Gst q
rrr kind s. rltlcr - ilr1sc tho wCrsing
PARTS. as IS dc-e With grinding and boltirg IN
t-ss-c.1ss mills. or O. lfr' strong current
q cir. ust3ral or araacial. rasslng contiuu.
So through Che Trer'ifs.
NnLIsx r 5. FALEs-