Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-02-23
"GASoLlNE ExPLoSIONS.'
A Lecture TO Those Who Use Gasoline
stoves.

was the subject of demonstration
at the 2sth District Station house,
Twentieth and Berks street, yester-
day afternoon, when j. w. Daniels,
representative of the Standard Oil
Company, gave the policemen of the
northwestern section Of the city an
interesting talk on what to do with
gasoline fire. There were details of
officers from the 22d, 23d, and 2Sth
districts. Besides the patrolmen'
who were lined up just as though they
were about to receive orders from the
desk" there were present Lieu
tenant Edward Lyons, of the 23d dis
trict, and Lieutenant Harry Wolf,
of the 23d. Lieutenant Hallowell
was on hand, and Captain Brown, who
has charge OF that section of the city,
was also an interested spectator.
Mr.. Daniels had a table, on which
were placed several cans Of gasoline.
Flames were allowed to play about
them Unfortunately, but the fluid
was not ignited.
He took can filled with the fluid
and puta torch to it. There was no
explosion. He threw the can on the
floor Grd applied lighted match,
and still there was no explosion.
Every one," said he, thinks that
a lamp filled with gasoline will ex-
plode. I'll leave it to you to say that
is not true. Gasoline will not ex-
plode, but when lamp is broken and
the liquid flows over the floor, it will
certainly burn when it comes in con-
tact with lighted wick or match"
AS to the use Of gasoline stoves, Mr..
Daniels said: THE great trouble is
that people get scared whenever any,
thing goes wrong with badly con-
structed gasoline stove, and expect an
explosion when there is not the slight
est danger of one. If the gasoline
runs out Of the burner on the floor
and the flames stream up, or the can
takes fire when filing the tank with
the stove lighted, the very worst that
can happen is at the start; but the
woman gets scared, and either tries
to throw the can out of the window
or throw 1t on the floor, and usually
gets lot of it on her dress, where it
takes fire, and she runs out in the
blazing clothes, tanning the flame,
and inhaling it in every breath. If
she must fill the tank while the stove
is lighted; perfectly safe way to do it
is to set the gas afire that flows out
of the opening in the tank, and then
pour the gasoline right through the
flame into the tank. OF course, no
woman would have the nerve to do
that"
Mr.. Daniels did it, through, and
while it seemed reckless, nothing
wrong happened. The explanation
was that the fluid gasoline will not
burn until it is vaporized, and the va
por which rose from the gas alone
came in contact with the air and was
burned as fast as it was produced.
Explosions occur only when gas and
air are mixed in the proportion Of six
Of air to one of gas.
Mr.. Daniels proved this by putting
few drops Of gasoline in an empty
can. 1t vaporized at once and the
can was of the right size to make a
mixture of air and gas Of the right
proportions. Then placing lighted
match at the mouth Of an explosion
took place. He then put twice as
much gasoline into the can as before,
and when the match was applied
there was no explosion. Putting con-
siderable gasoline into the can and
leaving out the cork, the vapor formed
in it and he applied match. There
was no explosion, but the gas took
fire and burned like candle flame.
He stuck lighted match dowL into
the can, into the gas, and the match
went out. THE gas" he said, "can-
not burn without air-there Is no air
in the can, for IL is full Of gas, and
the match will not burn in it--for
this reason the flame will not follow
| down into the can, nor into the tank,
and nothing will burn, except the gas
outside"
Mr.. Daniels then told the officers
what to do if they were called in to
put out gasoline fire. water will
do no good" he said. "If nothing is
burning but the spilled gasoline, wait
two or three minutes and by that
time it will probably burn out"
To show that burning gasoline will
not set fire to the floor, he poured
some on plain wooden table and set
it on fire, and it burned out without
scorching it. The flame was above
the wood. Mr.. Daniels explained the
improvements of a gasoline stove
| uhicb antoine tically Shuts off the