The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-06-12
~ Bureau of Mines for the Government T.

| be left In darkness, and the maze OF n
mine is no easy place in which TO find
ones way about under favorable circum-
stances, much less when disarranged by
an explosion. Should the Wearer of the
helmet lose his head and forget any one
Of do dozen On, things id for ,is q moment he would
stay the time his oxygen will last he
would be sufTocated.
Always Work in Pairs.
The men always work In pairs that
| their efforts may be moro effectual and
| that the chances OF fatalities on their
part may be lesscned. The clock which
| indicates the amount OF oxygen In the
bag Is on the back and Is read. not by
| the wearer, but by his partner. The dis
| tance from the mouth OF the mine must
always be remembered and the estimate
| Of the amount of oxygen necessary to
make tho trip must be made. Each man
| figures a sufficient reserve 10 be able TO
carry his partner to safety Ii the latter
| is overcome.
mine and 1t is Impossible under ordinary
| conditions 10 approach them because Of
the smoke. They cannot oven be To-
Gated with any degree OF certainty and
there Is no way to fight them. The men
with the helmets may often carry the
nozzle of a great hose into the mine and
| readily cxtingulsh the fires. Where they
| cannot be handled In this way. walls may
be built across the tunnels on each side
of the fire. shutting out the air supply
and thus smothcring IT. The possibility
helmet men Is practically without lirpt.
These helmet men have been working
for two years from the demonstration
the use OF the helmets and have rushed
to half a dozen disasters. entered the
mines. saved many lives. and established
tending the corps. The mine operators
are asked TO send picked men to the
station and have these drilled In the res
cue work and supplied with the ap-
fms orN fna f. IN iral y
a crew that Is able to meet the great
emergency should II ever come. AT Mo-
nonga II Is definitely known that many
Of the men lived as much as twenty-four
hours after the explosion and might have
been saved II there had been q crew
that could have entered.
Examples Of Rescue Work.
These crews are examples OF the rescue
work that Is already on the way toward
general adoption. Even before the crea-
tion of the bureau OF mines tho govern
ment experts have made discovery that
Is probably OF greater Importance than
anything ever worked out In connection
with safety In coal mining and indicative
OF what America Will do when she once
| undertakes to meet the great issue. These
experts have already discovered the basic
fact that underlies mine explosions-a
fact that has eluded the scientists OF Eu-
rope for a century. This Is the dlscov-
cry that most explosions are duo to coal
dust and not to gas, and that the physi-
| cal condition OF tho mine with relation
| 70 moisture is entirely responsible for the
presence of coal dust They are ready
| to demonstrate the method OF keeping
| the mine damp and thereby avoiding the
| explosions. The manner OF making the
| discovery reads like n romance.
The experts in scanning the records OF
the great tragedies were struck with the
| fact that most OF them occurred in cold
| weather, This suggested n line OF re-
search to determine what were the DIFF
| ferences between n mine in summer and
| in winter. The first suggestion offered
was that there was more dust In winter
| than in summer. Any old miner knows
| this. The mine becomes filed with It.
AS to Coal Dust.
The question was raised as TO whether
| coal dust in the air would explode. The
| Pittsburg station tests explosive gases.
| II has a chamber in which they are
| placed and exploded. This chamber was
| filled with air containing much coal dust
| and tests made TO determine whether
| or not It would explode. 1t was found
| TO do so as readily rs any OF the dan
| gerous gases. Many explosions Were
studied In the light OF this discovery