The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-10

hundred operators and miners at the test ing station. The experts at the sta- tion are now bending their energies to discover some method by which this dust can be prevented from being a serious menace to the miners. Experiments in wetting it have been going on for some time, but nothing of a very definite sna ture has as yet been learned, unless it is the fact that the coal dust does not ignite when there is a great amount of moisture in It.
 Every effort Is being made at the sta ton to come as close to the conditions in mine as possible The tests of vari- ous dynamites and powders used in blast ing coal are being made in a mammoth boiler plate cylinder which has previous ly 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 in such a manner that when ever there Is an explosion the valves fly open on their hinges. A series of portholes on the side, covered with one half inch glass enables those conducting the experiments to witness the results from an observation house SO feet away. An explosive mixture of fire damp and air, or coal dust and air, is pumped Into the cylinder and the explosive which is to be tested is shot into it from one end of the cylinder, so that the flame goes right Into the fire damp or coal dust Natural gas is used at this station for fire damp, because it corresponds very closely to this deadly gas. The cannon in which the explosives are placed is fired by electricity from the observation house which is parallel with the cylinder itself
 To Save Waste.
 
 complish double purpose, not only a reduction in the number of men killed in the mines, but also saving of the waste in mining coal. The use of im- proper explosives, as well as the improp- CT use of suitable explosives, results an- nually in the waste of great amounts of coal. The use of too high charges in blast ing, or the use of unnecessarily violent explosives, shatters much good coal, con verting fuel into dust which may itself be explosive and become productive of much further damage. Such explosions often loosen the roof of a coal mine, which may fall later to be wasted, or pro- ductive of fatal accidents.
 In addition to the actual experiments in testing explosives. important experiments are being made in rescue work. One part of the station has been fitted up as a miniature coal mine. This is large glass-encased, air-tight room which con tains difficult passages, such as are found In coal mines. There are also various ob- structions similar to what would be found in mine after it had been wrecked by an explosion; also dummies weighing 150 to 200 pounds, representing asphyxiated miners. This room is filled with deadly gas and rescue corps of men who are being trained in the work enter daily, clad In helmets which supply them with oxy- gen while they work. The men remain in this chamber for two hours, removing Instructions, picking up the dummies, placing them on stretchers. and carrying them away. There Is also in the room a machine which records the amount of work a man may be expected to do while wearing one of those helmets. One-half of the large building in which this rescue room is located is used as an auditorium and several hundred miners and operators have watched the rescue drill through the large glass windows which separate the auditorium from the gas-filled chamber tunity so far for the rescue corps to dem onstrate it's efficiency at the mines, still it has done some good work
 The Oxygen Treatment.
 Once the helmeted men while fighting a mine fire succeeded in bringing an uncon- scious man to a place of safety, where he was given oxygen treatment and re- covered his senses in a short time.
 It is not the intention of the United States government to furnish rescue corps whenever there is a disaster. The present corps was organized with the idea of