The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1894-08-07
DANGERS OF FACTORY DUST
eIazsrd from Fire EelnG Continually In
creased by improved Processes.

eIazard from Fire Eelns Continually In
! creased by improved Processes.
) Each development Of mauufactur
: ing processes appears to augment the
! fire hazard, not merely by reason Of
, the dangers incident TO the Increased
speed Of operation, says the New
York 10 olrnal Of Commerce, and also
to the con entration due to the
greater units Of larger buildings but
more especially to TIE greater amount
OF dust rown of by the more rapid
manipulation Of the stock in the new
methods Of manufacture. The COM
parison of the readiness OF ignition OF
the shaving TO that OF the log holds
good in all com DuStible mater al,
namely, the liner the subdivision the
greater the facility Of ignition and
the greater the rapidity Of combus'
tion. The severe accidents occurring
in those lines Of sLecial manulactur-
ing using powdered wood and pulVer-
lied lork, SO that these substances
can be clasSed,as explosives under such
conditions, illustrate the occurrences
resulting from such changed cond1-
tiunS. 1t would be trite to make
any references to the explosives OF
grain dust in Touring mills or OF hop
dust in connection with the manu-.
fdcture Of malt, but they are Goa.
tinually occurring instances Of the
eXpIoS on OF materials not ordinarily
included in the list Of explosives and
which a made So solely on account
OF rapid com bustibility entirely due
to subdivision.
A few days ago an explosion oc-
cured in that portion Of print
works where the cloth was received
into the establishment "in the gray"
directly from the mills without any
treatment, and was being wound into
large rolls preparatory to the pro.
cesses carried on iI that establish.
ment The short tine cotton hbers
were shaken out Of the cloth as dust
by the rapid winding to such an eX-
tent that it became necessary to put
a ventilating hood over the machine.
An electric spark at the belt ignited
some Of the dust, and 1t produced an
explosion which blew off the roof and
wrecked the contents Of the building
with such violence as TO seriously in
iure five men at work in the room.
With the old method Of opening
and picking cotton by which it was
blown into "gauZerOom, there
We're numerous instances! CT explos-
ions occurring in connection with such
fires, bat that class Of accidents has
been very much reduced by the pres
cut method OF lapper pickers, which
wind tie cotton into a relatively
compact cylinder. The explosion OF
cotton fDers in napping-roOmS are
still Of frequent occurrence. Within
recent years fire starting in the
cardroom Of cotton mill produced
an explosion which was exceedingly
violent. and spread the flames to al
extent beyond the scope Of the fire
apparatus and compassed the destruc.
tion of the mill. The explosion from
dust in the various forms OF cOntlnu-
Gus driers used in textile mills have
been such as to require the utmost
precautions by way Of construction
and continuous cleanliness IN order
to secure conditions Of safety. When
the facing dust accommodating on the
trusses of foundry was being washed
from the beams by stream from fire
hose, when the works we shut down
during an enforced vacation, such as
has occurred during recent times, the
dust filed the building and was
lgnited by the fire at the portable
forge, where repairs were under
way.
But such fires are not by any means
confined TO tie dust Of ordinarily
recognized combustible materials
Fires have been known to occur in
the dust Of iron thrown out from the
tumbllng barrels used for polishing
tacks by their attrltion on each
other. One form Of the well-kDoWn
rarlo; fireworks, which produces such
A bright 1ulguratlOR, IS merely Lne
combustion uf finely divided steel,
whose temperature Of, ignition is SO
low that the hand can be held, not
ynlY with lInpunity, but also without
any sensation Of heat directly in the
scintillatiGn Of the fireworks The
hneEy powdered zinc. known as "zinc
aUXiliary," which is used in connec-
on with the rejuyenation Of the n
ligo dye watts in the coloring OF cot.
ten, is so rapidly oXidized by small
amount OF moisture that fires pro-
3ured in that manner a;e Of frequent
occurrence, and the danger is so well
known that many lines Of water
transportation refuse to take this
material under any condition what.
soertr.