Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-12
BY RENE BACHE

awhile A more than ordinarily serious ex-
plosion of oatmeal took place not long ago
at the Oliver Mill in Chicago. Among saw
dust explosions, two of the worst were in the
Pullman carshops and the Geldowsky furni-
ture factory at Cambridge, Massachusetts,.
Spice dust in spice mills has been the cause
of similar disasters time and again.
No unprotected lights are allowed in the
mixing department of linoleum factory, on
account of the danger of exploding the cork
dust that floats in the air. In this case, how
ever, additional peril arises from the fact
that the mixture of cork dust and cement
used in the making of linolerm has an I'M
pleasant way of taking fire of its own accord,
if stored in a warm place. For this reason
it is customary to mix the stuff in small
quantities, only sackful at time, to re-
duce the risk.
Even Soap Is an Explosive
CORK is VIGOROUSLY combustible, and
- every housewife knows that sugar and
flour will burn readily But soap is not
usually regarded as an infammable sub
stance, and SO one is rather surprised to
learn that it will explode very destructively
in favorable circumstances. Only few
years ago there was a great explosion IN a
Providence factory, engaged in the produc-
ton OF nnely powdered soap.
In trying to account for this phenomenon,
seemingly so strange, one should remember
that soap is fat and therefore combustible.
tributed through the air of the factory, it in
vited ignition. Experiments made by ex-
pert chemists, after the accident, showed
that it would explode in such circumstan-
ces actually with more violence than wheat
-four, and with the production of a greater
amount of heat.
One of the most remarkable accidents OF
this kind was an explosion of zinc, which oc-
CURED about half century ago at the Beth
lehem Zinc Works. A workman was en-
gagged in handling a quantity of finely pow
dered metallic zinc, which it was desired to
smelt into ngots by new process the super
intendent of the mill had devised. Thinking
his own way better, as well as easier, the
man threw a shoveful of the zinc powder
directly into the flaming furnace. The re-
suit was that he himself was nearly killed,
while the blade of his shovel was driven into
the roof of the building.
Every now and then malt grinding mill
is blown up, the dust of malt being fright
fully explosive. Indeed, such explosions
used to be so common, where sparks gener-
ated by nails or other bits of iron in the
milling machinery would set fire to the dust,
that the millrooms were usually built of
light material, which could be destroyed
without costly damage. Magnets are now
suspended in malt chutes to pick out dan
gerous bits of metal, and accidents of the
kind are comparatively infrequent: yet from
time to time they occur. One such disaster
in England not long ago destroyed the works
of the Ipswich Mailing Company, doing
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
worth of mischief
Peril of Coal Dust
THOMAS A. EDISON'S cement plant in
New Jersey, a few years ago, was max
ing experiments in the use of pulverized coal
for burning the clinker' in the manufac-
ture of Portland cement, the object in view
being to obtain higher heat, with greater
economy of fuel. The room in which the
work was being done was filled with mix
ture of air and coal dust, when somebody
came in with lamp, and an explosion fol-
lowed, one man being killed.
This was case of an explosion of coal dust
above ground. But ordinarily coal dust ex-
plosions occur underground, in mines, where
they are frequent cause of dreadful disaster.