The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-25
WHERE DEATH LIES
IN WAIT FOR men
SmokeIeSs Powder Mills Most
Dangerous of Buildings
GUN COTTON DRYING HOUSE
Only One Man Allowed There at
Time-He Wears Rubber Shoes
and Takes Infinite
Precautions.
GUN COTTON DRYING HOUSE

like sitting on the lid Of NesuVlus, only
more dangerous
The volcano grumbles and rumbles and
quakes giving ample warning before
belching forth its torrents of ire ana
lava. But the powder mill is like 81
eantic bomb filled with human creatures,
loaded with tons upon tons of nitro
glycerin and gun-cotton, PINNED and
ready to explode from score of known
and unknown reasons.
Sometimes when a danger house blows
up tearing men within to atoms, rending
the building into matchsticks and gouging
gaping hole 30 feet across into rocks
and gravel 1t is impossible to tell even
what caused the accident.
Other times the disaster is traeeable to
the carelessness or disobedience of an
employe. Occasionally, says Appleton's
Magazine, catastrophe is due to an una
voldabe accident like the mere stubbing
of a toe.
Whatever the cause, when the crash
comes it is the most inconceivably fright
full ordeal to which the human nervous
system can be subjected.
How human creatures can be induced
to take the risks of working in such an
earthly inferno, ready to burst on the in
slant in all its horrors, may seem past
| understanding; still thousands upon thou
sands of men work in these mills scat
tered throughout the United States.
Most Hazardous Place.
The guncotton drying house, where the
washed nitrated cotton must be dried alb
solutely, shares with the nitroglycerin
building the reputation of being the most
hazardous on the face of the earth
The guncotton drying house. contain
ing as much as five tons of the frighttul
explosive, a Tablespoonful of which
would be enough to blow you into smith
Greens, stands isolated on pillars above
a marsh 400 yards from the nearest build
ing.
Nothing except the portentous word
danger" painted in big black letters
over the entrance, distinguishes this from
the other structures, yet as you gaze at
its very isolation you approach with deep
respect.
Only one person is permitted in this
house, an Italian; a medium-sized'
chunky man he Is. dark and swarthy,
with black eyes and blacker mustaehe.
He is IL man of years of experience, so
trained to caution that it has become a
habit like second nature.
lie man in charge will not permit you
inside this house. no matter how favored
a visitor you may be- The most he will
do is to open the door of one of the dry
ing rooms to give you peep within.
/ He is married and has five children No.
/ he isn't afraid. If he were, he would not
work where he is working.
He knows, of course, that If he violates
any of certain rules he and his house are
+ going to leave together, but he has no
intention of violating precautions. He
+ never has been blown up yet, and he
does not intend to be. Even his family
has ceased worrying about him.
/ You notice he is wearing rubber soled
tennis shoes wherein he walks silent and
i ghostlike. AS he opens the door of one
of the drying rooms, heated to temper
AZURE of ITO degrees, a breath of hot air
from within strikes you.
j You see what appear to be chunks and
slabs and wads of a dirty white blotting
paper heaped in metal pans two by three
feet and set in series of spacious racks
like so many big pigeonholes.
/ Even now there is nothing in the ap-
pearance of the stuff to prevent you from
/ throwing it out of your way as if it were
an old piece of paper, and you wonder af-
terward whether, after all, this seeming
rubbish can be the dreaded explosive a
mere fifty pounds of which could send
an $4,000 ton Dreadnaught to the bottom
Jar Would Cause Catastrophe.
Yet the slightest sudden jar against
even a pinch of this insignificant appear
1 ing substance, and there would be flash
and a crash that would shake the earth
for miles around, and nothing but pail
of smoke drifting skyward would remain
of house or man. The slightest grain Of
sand underfoot to cause friction against
dust invisible to the naked eye, or a mere
spark, knocked perhaps from the head
| of a carpet tack, and the house and man
would be annihilated.
| A spark of static electricity of the sort
with which you can light a gas jet by Il
spark leaping from the knuclle of fin
ger after sliding your. feet across a car
pet. and you would have vanished trace
! lessly, blown into atoms too small to find
| with a microscope.
:, Owing to this deadly sensitiveness, ev-
| cry precaution for safety is taken by the
man in this building. The floors are COW
cred with rubber sheets fastened by
brass-headed lacks to prevent danger of
! sparks. Dust-pans and utensils are of
brass or copper.
| When the panfuls of cotton are trans
ported in or out of the place, the floors
are covered with sheets of canvas to be
removed and shaken clear of possible
dust outside the building. Twice a day
the floors are scrupulously brushed. In
short every conceivable precaution is
taken to prevent catastrophe.
| What is this smokeless powder? 1t is
the modern high explosive. which has
| superseded the old-style black powder,
even as electricity has superseded gas,
| and which is used not only in the field
for sporting purposes. but is used ex-
| clusvely for the shoulder arms of the
army and the navy. as well as for the
machine guns, the rapid-fire guns and the
/ huge rifles on the decks of our battle
| ships and within the works of our fortifi-
, cations.
Practically it is nothing but a mixture
/ of guncotton and alcohol and ether, or
acetone, or else acetone with guncotton
and nitroglycerin-the two strongest eX-
! plosives known-and blended into new
compound which is at least double as
strong as the common black powder, eX-
| plodes without giving off smoke, and.
| once finished, not merely loses the dan
gerous characteristics of Its dreaded in
| gradients. but is so safe that you might
| give a hatful of the powder intended for
the 1e-inch Sandy Hook gun to a baby
to play with.
Concussion-Proof Powder.
He might pound 1t with a hammer to
! his hearts content, or you yourself might
| place it on an anvil and bring a forty
| pound sledge down on it. 1t would mere
| ly ouash like much soap or putty
| So concussion- proof Is this powder that
| YOU might drop a house on heap of
1 ee.,, tone of If and II would not exDlode