The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-03-26
AS TO SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.
Substances That Are Liable to Cause Fire
in Buildings.

All substances that are liable to take
fire spontaneously do so more readily
when covered up so as to confne the
heat generated or when subjected to
artificial heat, either from steam or
hot-air hues or that of the sun. Oily
rags are liable to burn spontaneously,
and are doubtless often the cause of
fires in factories, junk shops, or paper
mills, which are supposed to be of in
cendiary origin. Canvas when painted
with oil paint and rolled up or packed
closely in confined place is pretty
sure to burn. Ordinary oiled clothing,
such as is worn by sailors, when piled
in heaps on shelves or elsewhere, is
very subject to spontaneous ignition.
Such goods should always be hung up,
so as to admit of free circulation of
air around them. Spent tan-bark will
ignite spontaneously when stacked up
in heaps. 1t is for this reason often
used in white lead works to generate
carbon dioxide by its fermenting in the
corroding bed.
The moistening of such fibrous sub
stances as cotton, hair, or wool is al
ways attended with slight heat. Wet
iron filings generate heat rapidly, -as
does also rusting iron. Very fine frag-
ments of iron and steel, by their rapid
oxidation, will become red-hot, and
some English scientists declare that the
fires known to be caused by steam pipes
constantly in contact with wood orig
mate from the rust of the iron. An En-
glish authority says:
"When oxide of iron is placed in
contact with wood excluded from the
of, oil 11rro c11
creased temperature, the oxide parts
with its oxygen, and is converted into
finely divided particles of metallic iron
having such an affinity for oxygen that,
when afterwards exposed to the action
of the atmosphere from any cause, oxy-
gen is absorbed SO rapidly that these
particles become red-hot, and if in suf-
ticient quantity will produce temper
ature far beyond the ignitable point of
dry timber. Whenever iron pipes are
employed for the circulation of any
heated medium (whether hot water,
hot air, or steam), and wherever the
pipes are allowed to become rusty and
are also in close contact with wood, it
is only necessary to suppose that under
these circumstances the finely divided
particles of metallic iron become eX-
posed to the action of the atmosphere
(and this may occur from the mere ex-
pansion or contraction of the pipes) in
order to account for many of the
fires which periodically take place at
the commencement of the winter sea-
son."
1t is difficult to get persons to believe
that there is any danger from fire aris-
ing from the contact of steam pipes with
wood, Notwithstanding that there have
been well-attested cases of fires origin
ating from this cause.
Iron scraps or filings, or little chips,
always found on the floors of machine
shops, and usually mere or less oily,
are liable to heat if they become rusty,
and particularly so when saw-dust is
used, as is often the case in bolt works.
There is an instance on record where a
large machine shop was flooded by a
sudden freshet, wetting the heaps of
iron filings on the floor. which became
heated Immediately after the water
had subsidized. Toronto Monetary Times