The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-07-26
DANGEROUS DUST.
That Which Is Created in Factories
by Modern Machinery.
Terrible Explosions Sometimes Result from
the Accumulation of Flying Fibers of
Wood and Cotton-Head in
Powdered Metals,


Each development of manufacturing
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 Jour
nal of Commerce, and also to the con-
centration due to the greater units Of
larger buildings, but more especially
to the greater amount of dust thrown
off by the more rapid manipulation of
the stock in the new methods of manu-
facture. The comparison of the readi-
ness of ignition of the shaving to that
of the log holds good in all combustible
material, namely, the finer the subdi-
vision the greater the facility of igni-
ton and the greater the rapidity of
combustion. The severe accidents oc-
curing in those lines of special manu-
featuring using powdered wood and
pulverized cork, so that these sub
stances can be classed as explosives
under such conditions, illustrate the
occurrences resulting from such
changed conditions. 1t would be trite
to make any references to the explo-
sives of grain dust in Touring mills or
of hop dust in connection with the man
ufacture of malt, but there are continu-
ally occurring instances of the explo-
sion of materials not ordinarily in
cluded In the list of explosives and
which are made so solely on account
of rapid combustibility entirely due to
subdivision.
An explosion occurred recently in
that portion of print works where
the cloth was received into the estab,
lishment sin the gray" directly from
the mills without any treatment, and
was being wound into large rolls pre-
paratory to the processes carried on In
that establishment. The short, fine
cotton flbers were shaken out of the
cloth as dust by the rapid winding to
such an extent that it became neces-
sary to put a ventilating hood over the
machine. An electric spark at the belt
ignited some of the dust, and it pro-
duced an explosion which blew off the
roof and wrecked the contents of the
building with such violence as to seri-
ously injure FIVE men at work in the
room.
With the old method Of opening and
picking cotton by which it was blown
into "gauzeroom," there were numer-
GUS instances of explosions occurring In
connection with such fires, but that
class Of accidents has been very much
reduced by the present method of lap
per piclSers, which wind the cotton into
relatively compact cylinder. The ex-
plosion of cotton fibers in mapping
rooms are still of frequent occurrence.
Within recent years fire starting in
the cardroom of a cotton mill produced
an explosion which was exceedingly
violent, and spread the flames to an ex-
tent beyond the scope of the fire APP
paratus and compassed the destruction
of the mill. The explosion from dust
in the various forms of continuous
driers used in textile mills have been
such as to require the utmost precau-
tions by way of construction and con-
tinuous cleanliness in order TO secure
conditions of safety. When the facing
dust accommodating on the trusses of a
foundry was being washed from the
beams by a stream from fire hose,
when the works were shut down dur
ing an enforced vacation, such as has
occurred during recent times, the dust
filled the building and was ignited by
the fire at the portable forge, where
repairs were under way.
But such fires are not by any means
confined to the dust of ordinarily rec
ognized combustible materials. Fires
have been known to occur in the dust
Of iron thrown out from the tumbling
barrels used for polishing tacl1s by
their attrition on each other. One
form of the well-known parlor fire.
works, which produces such bright
fulguration, is merely the combustion
of finely divided steel, whose tempera-
ture Of ignition is so low that the hand
can be held, not only with impunity,
but also without any sensation of heat,
directly in the scintillation of the fire..
works. The finely powdered zinc,
known as zinc auxiliary" which is
used in connection with the rejuvena-
ton of the indigo dye vats in the color
ing of cotton, is so rapidly oxidized by
a small amount of moisture that fires
produced in that manner are of fire.
quent occurrence, and the danger is SO
well known that many lines of water
| transportation refuse to take this ma
| terial under any condition whatsoever.
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