The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-26
DEADLY MILLDUST.
TERRIBLE EXPLOSIVE FORCE OF
FINELY-GROUND GRAIN.
IGnites From n sparI1-It Is a Danger
That Precaution Cannot Prevent.
How the ENOIosiOns Occur


How the Explosions Occur.
From the Chicago Tribune.
Dynamite is a child's plaything COM
pared with vegetable dust held in sus-
pension in a confined atmosphere Distrib-
ute 10 per cent. Of finely powdered grain or
! fibrous matter in a room. SET free a min
ute spark, and there VIII be an explosion
that will wreck the building and kill or
main everybody within reach. The
stronger the structure and the more con-
fined the air the more disastrous and de-
structive Will be the explosion.
Fire insurance. men assert that much of
the danger comes from the new process
of cleaning grain used I'm many modern
| houses, and Chicago agents have been in
! structed to make sharp discrimination be-
! tween elevators which are used for stor-
age purposes only and those in which a
| business is made of cleaning the grain.
Hundreds of men have been killed or in
| jured and millions of dollars worth of
property destroyed in this country by
| these dust explosions. 1t was an explo-
sion of this nature that wrecked the
| Northwestern elevator in Chicago, Aug
| ., killing four firemen, manning thirty
| three others and causing a money loss of
| $4,000. The destruction in this instance
could not have been more complete if a
| giant charge of dynamite had been inten-
| tionally touched off in the building. 1t
| was similar explosion which two days
! later wrecked the HartWeI grain mill in
| this city, when four men were badly hurt
| In 1880 the starchroom in the Chicago SUI
| gar refinery blew up killing nine men, in
| Jurlng seventeen more and entaling a loss
] OF S6DtUD. The (N1ic9pn
| damaged to the amount of $40 900 and three
men killed in 1889 by the same kind of an
| accident.
A fair example of the terribly destruc-
| tive force of dust explosion was given
| When the Planet mills in Litchfield, Ill
were wiped out of existence In 1888. The
explosion fortunately took place at night,
| When only four men were in the build
| ing. OF these one was killed outright
| ana the other three miraculously es-
| capped with serious hurts. The money
| loss was $o0O,O00 the entire plant which
| was one of the largest and most COM
| plete in Illinois, being completely de-
| stroyed. A picture taken for the Ameri-
can Miller the following day shows the
| massive structure RACED to the ground
ana lett mass of worthless fragments
| twenty years ago the Pillsbury mills in
| Minneapolis were destroyed by a similar
| explosion, and later the Pullman car shops
| IN Detroit suffered like fate. In each
OF these disasters the loss of life was APP
! palllng, while the money damage was
| heavy.
| One of the questions first asked bv peo-
pie who hear of these explosions is why
| mill owners and operators do not take
| measures TO protect their Workmen and
! property against them. They do, but thus
| FAR no effectual safeguard has been found
! me hrst recorded accident of this kind
| TOOK place in Turin, Italy, in 1885 when
large flour warehouse exploded caus-
| ing heavy loss of life Ever since then
men of bright minds have been studying
the cause of the explosions and looking
Ior remedies. The first is now under
| stood, but the latter is yet to be found
| EDITOR Mitchell of the American Miller
| and Secretary Barnum of the Millers' Ma
| tional Insurance Company two recognized
| authorities, agree as to the cause of the
trouble. This they give as follows:
First-The diffusion of the dust of any
| substance that will burn, in such propor-
| tons in the atmosphere that the particles
| of dust will all have sufficient oxygen to
| permit OF their burning at the same time
and so closely together that they ignite
| each other
Second-The combining of this dust-laden
| atmosphere within the walls of the build
ing, dustroom, or machine
| Third-The application of a spark or
| flame.
People engaged in business which neces-
| states the manufacture of vegetable dust
IN considerable quantity have long under
stood and feared its dangerous properties
1t is an ever-present risk in grain eleva-
tors Touring mills, sugar refineries
starch factories, wood working shops-in
every place where any portion of the vege-
table material handled is turned loose in
the surrounding atmosphere in the shane
OF an impalpable powder. An interesting
| illustration of this may be had by pulver-
izing small quantity of starch in a porce-
lam mortar. When finely powdered and
thoroughly dry place it on a long handled
fire-shovel and then blow it out into the
warm air of a small room AS this is done
strike a match, and at the same instant a
sharp explosion will take place, carrying
in intensity with the percentage of dust
in the atmosphere If there is 10 per cent
or more of the powdered starch suspended
in the air the effect will be striking enough
| 10 convince the eXperimenter that he is
handling a dangerous explosive. Flour
tightly packed in barrels is innocuous and
harmless: flying about in the air of a mill
it is material greatly dreaded by work
men, owners and Insurance companies So
1t is with all other vegetable substances
in which grinding is a feature of treat
ment. One of the heaviest items of ex-
pense in mills and elevators is incurred in
seeking protection from this danger. Large
sums of money are expended for dust coll
lectors and similar contrivances but des-
|
risk OF explosion is but little reduced
In elevating grain, for instance, the
friction caused by the rapid passage of
the kernels from the belt buckets into the
bin chutes grinds off fine dust, which
in part finds its way into the various COM
PAL tments. A large proportion of 1t is
carried away by the downward draft
caused by the buckets on their return
{ trip. but enough remains in the elevator
rooms to be a constant source of danger
, 1t settles on the beams and rafters in
quantities, which are constantly increa sing
with time So long as these deposits are
undisturbed they are of no more account
than so much earth. But some day some
thing happens to generate a spark-the
bucket belt for instance, gets clogged and
does not move The delay is only mat
ter of a few minutes, but while it lasts
one Of two dangerous things is liable to
occur; the cotton belt burns in two under
the friction of the rapidly revolving pull
ley, and The fiery ends go splashing
through the dust-laden chute. or The