Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-13
CURIOUS CAUSES OF FIRES.
Rats and Reaches, Water and Dust,
Sponges and Naphtha VapOr.

So far as causes Of fires go, there Is moth
ing new under the sun. says a writer in the
New York Times. The rat that gnawed at
o box Of grease-dipped friction matches un-
I'll they ignited and burned up a western
town Is an cid, old story. So Is the tale of
the cockroach that crawled from an oil re-
ceptacle into a gas jet. where 1t took fire.
and falling spread the flames. nail
glanced from a hammer welded by a car
penter. fell into the conveyer of raw mate
rails in a jute factory, rubbed against the
drum and produced a spark which set fire
to the place A running belt which sagged
into mass Of greasy waste set fire to the
heap by friction.
There was a fire on the east side of the
city recently. caused, curiously enough. by
water. The feed pipe at the back of a
the nre. In this way sufficient steam was
generated to blow open the furnace door,
thus forcing the flames into the boiler room.
The woodwork IN the place was set on hre
and a serious calamity was the result A
somewhat similar accident took place not
long ago in a western mill which fed It's
fires with shavings that were blown under
the boiler. IL seems that the shayings blow
er was stopped for a moment, causing a
back draught In the furnace. which sent
flames through the furnace doors and ig
nited the shavings In the boiler room.
Having long ago despaired OF attributing
specific causes to fires. underwriters fell
back the general term spontaneous
Combustion" which may mean almost any
thing. For example. in a mandatory of
plane bits In Chicago a sponge was used to
transfer the water by capillary attraction
from a water box to an emory wheel on
which the bits were ground. The sponge
wiped on the fine steel particles from the
wheel and they were collected In the cells
OF the sponge. where they were kept con-
slantly wet. After the sponge had been
aid aside Tor week or SO 1t was discov-
cred that the mass had become sponta-
neously ignited, and but for its timely dis
covery another mysterious fire would have
occurred Another singular fire was caused
BY the ignition OF coal piled up against the
outer wall of a boiler house The wall was
built Of brick. thirty-two inches thick, yet
sunicient heat passed through from the
boiler setting to set the coal on fire.
II has long been determined that any sub
stance capable OF burning will explode IL
turned into powder and mixed with air.
This is one OF the most interesting forms
OF spontaneous combustion. There was
dust explosion in fur-cleaning establish
ment in this city few years ago that fur
nfshes an example OF this sort The dust
consisted Of powdered mixture of wood
and -four. and when IL came in contact with
the air there was an explosion that lifted
the roof on the building Explosions In four
mills. due to this cause. are Of frequent &C.
currence.
Another interesting form Of spontaneous
combustion Is that resulting from the mix
tuTs VI q slndH QudHllly OF ndpntnd VdpOr
with large quantity of air In a local ma
chine shop. where repairs were being made
TO locomotive boiler the steam dome had
been removed to allow a workman to get
inside A pint of benzine had been used on
some of the interior bolts and screws for
the purpose OF loosening them so that they
might be removed. The men at work on the
boiler went OF to dinner. and on their re-
turn one OF their number got inside to re-
move the bolts while man outside handed
him light As soon as the light came in
contact with the air from the boiler slight
ly impregnated with naphtha vapor, there
was tremendous explosion. The man
outside. who handed the light, was killed
instantly. as was also a man standing on
top OF the boiler. The man inside was blown
clear through the fourteen-inch opening of
the steam dome and thirty feet into the air,
being killed instantly.
A similar case was that of the petroleum
steamer Vile de- Calais. which was blown
10 pieces at Calais in January, 1889 after
the discharge Of her cargo. The explosion
which was heard twenty-six miles away
was caused b. an accumulate of gas In
the steamers hold. The matches having
oeen thrown open. a man entered with a
light Instantly the ship was blown to
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