Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-10

MAADAM~ ohNNGHEs TUT SCNGIdl IlOlInS an
experiment station under the direction of
the technologic branch Of the United States
geological survey has been in operation at
Pittsburg, Pa. to discover the causes of
mine disasters and to suggest remedies.
with the establishment of this section
and the agitation which preceded the
necessary legislation there has been a fall
ing off in the number OF deaths in the coal
mines for the year 1905. While the official
figures have lot yet been obtained, 1t IL
stated that the number of deaths will be
several hundred less than in 1907, which
was an unusual year. In December, 1907,
four explosions took the lives of 700 men,
one of them-at the Monongah mine in
West Virginia-being the greatest mining
disaster in the history of this country.
There were S6 victims. In 1908 there were
but two accidents in which the loss OF life
was very heavy, one in January at the
Hanna mine, in Wyoming. with a loss Of
seventy men; the other, November %, at
the Mariana mine, in Pennsylvania, which
resulted in 1854 deaths.
Already at the experiment station two
discoveries have been made which will
tend to decrease the number Of deaths in
the mines. 1t has been demonstrated that
a number of the so-called safety ex-
eplosiYes are anything but safe. 1t is the
}pRFSpse OF the government to continue
experiments until the explosives of
tie country are standardized in such a
manner that the miner will have a definite
3deai What they will do.
After the government has gone far
enough IN It's experiments a bulletin will
4 sissueG recommending as permissible ex-
Wives such as stand the test. The facts
Med concerning these explosives will
bbivllled directly TO the attention OF the
state mining bureaus as well as tl<s
operators.
Perhaps the most important and far
reaching experiments so far at the station
are those in which it has been definitely
shown that coal dust is an explosive equally
as dangerous as the deadly fire damp.
Many mining engineers and miners have
insisted that it is impossible to explode
coal dust unless there is gas present. That
the coal dust will explode in a mine where
there is no gas has been repeatedly shown
to several hundred operators and miners
at the testing station. The experts at the
station are seeking some method by which
this dust can be prevented from being a
serious menace to the miners, Experiments
in wetting 1t have been going on for some
time, but nothing of q very definite nature
has as yet been learned, unless II is that
the coal dust does not ignite when there
is a great amount of moisture in il.
Every effort Is being made at the station
to come as close TO the conditions in a
mine as possible. The tests OF various
dynamites and powders used in blasting
coal are being made In a mammoth boiler
plate cylinder which has previously been
filled with gas or coal dust. The cylinder
is 100 feet long and six feet in diameter
Safety valves have been placed all along
the top and are left unfastened I'm such a
manner that whenever there is an ex-
plosion the valves fly open on their hinges.
A series OF portfolios on the sides covered
with one-half inch glass enables those
conducting the experiments to witness
the results from an observation house
sixty feet away. An explosive mixture of
fire damp and air or coal dust and air
is pumped into the cylinder and the ex-
plosive which Is TO be tested is shot into
IL from one end OF the cylinder, SO tina the
flame goes right into the fire damp OF coal
dust. Natural gas is used at this station
for fire damp. to which Il corresponds
very closely. The cannon In which the ex-
p~losives are placed is fired by electricity
from the observation house which Is par
allel with the cylinder itself.
These Investigations are expected 70 &C.