The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
70 PROTECT COAL MINERS
GOVERNMENT TO EXAMINE
SAFETY DEVICES.
station Near Ptttsburg 90 Include an FIX
plosINe Gallery for Tests and q Mlnia-
nre Wine Jacket 10 Make had Air
B~rPathable Disasters Have Increased.

Station near fbtsDutk ~ hnCIuOe an EN-
plosINe Gallery for Tests and q MlnIa-
lore Wine Jacket to Make had Air
B~reathable Disasters Have Increased.
Our Government has peer increasingly
slarucd at the frequency Of coal mining
dIeastars among tho $50. 600 men and boys
who i've in the subterranean cities.
fven since the anthracite mine law
was passed more than II 900 lives have
been lost in and about the mines owing
N explosions. fires. floods and poisonous
gas .e4. Plans have now been drawn for
an experimental station at which tests
OF Tho various explosives will be made
to dotermine accurately their safety.
This station. which Is under the United
States Geological Survey. is to be estab-
lishel in the Pittsburg district. and will
he under the direction of nr. Joseph A.
Holmes. chief Of the archaeological branch
Of the Geological Survey. Clarence Hall,
explosives expert Of the survey. will have
immediate charge Of the experiments,
which are TO be Of a highly interesting ma
ture. Their object. of course. Ia the reduc-
ton II the number Of mine disasters. For
instead Of growing less. as DR.. Holmes
points ont. these horrors appear to be
multiplying.
In the first three months Of this year
West Virginia alone had a record Of 1903
lives lost in mine explosions. Last year
the coal mine death roll for PENNSYLVANIA
alone was more than five hundred. Of whom
quite ope-half died as a result Of gas or
dust explosions!
The authorities are convinced that this
deplorable state of things is Unnecessary
and Dir. Holmes declares we are far behind
Europe in Safeguarding the lives OF our
coal miners. England and Belgium rave
for years maintained splendid expert
mental stations; and although the Belgian
mines are notorious for their fire damp,
yet tho country has enjoyed a wonderful
immunity from disaster.
As a result Of these experiments abroad
certain permissible explosives" are named
and only these may be used in mines. More
over, England has what is known as the
limit charge which must not be ex-
ceeded. On the other hand, in thisc ountry
there are few such regulations, and none
at all in many States, " hen il comes to the
kind of powder TO be used.
The new station near Pittsburg will in
olude an explosives gallery rescue room, oh
servation house, miners lamp testing rooms
uhA lupoiototy VI CAplOSlNtS. Inc HdlleTy
IL to be Of boiler plate. cylindrical in shape,
something like 100 feet long and Q feet in
diameter. A series Of safety valves and
hinges will be arranged along the top to per-
nit the escape Of gas following the explo-
sion. Moreover, portfolios along the sides
covered with half inch plate glass will per-
NIT observers to see whether or not an ex-
plosion has taken place in the gallery during
the tests.
The big cylinder will be filed with Are
damp and air, or coal dust and air, and then
explosives will be hurled INTO the gallery by
a steel mortar, electrically fired from an OBJ
servation house sixty feet away. Both fire
damp and air will be thoroughly mixed by a
big electric fan.
The tests made with various explosives
and the maximum quantity of each that can
he safely used will be published by the Gov
eminent under the head Of permissible or
"safety' explosives. Their temperature at
The point OF defamation will be low and the
fame Of short duration.
There will also be important experiments
IN rescue work. One part OF the station is
20 be fitted up as a miniature coal mine.
where miners n operators will be taught
the art OF saving the lives OF their fellow
nlen who are exposed TO grave peril such
as never falls to the lot Of any man above
ground. The authorities declare that in
serious gas explosions in the mines.
hundreds of lives could be saved were it
possible for a rescue party 10 enter i'm
nediately after the accident. As il is now
the deadly flredamp often holds rescuers
back for hours while their comrades are
being suffocated or burned TO death.
The miniature mine will be filed with
dense smoke and very practical demon
STATIONS given in life saving with certain
new apparatus for breathing in irrespirable
gases. This consists of a canvas jacket
equipped with cylinders Of compressed
oxygen connected with the operators
mouth by "A flexible rubber lined metallic
tubs. The exhaled breath is passed
through small Jumps OF potassium hydrox-'
ia, Then the carbon dioxide is absorbed
AD6 Tho remainder, with more oxygen. is
again available for the worker.
WITH CIch "A jacket as this a man may
eater a mine Immediately. even when it be
filled with the most poisonous gases. In
the miniature mine there will be drifts.
headings. rooms and ladders. Thus when
TIE ~hole Is filed with smoke miners will
be instructed TO enter as though 70 search
for their fellow workmen.
Tho results Of all experiments will be
spread broadcast in every coal mining
State. and then it will be the companies
own fault il they cannot look after the lives
~ the hundreds OF thousands OF hard work.
ing fellows who provide the fuel for the
mighty machine Of our prosperity.