Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-02
SIMS EXPLAINS !
DYNAMITE Peril
commun|paw Disaster Probably
Que to Freezing.
EXPLOSIVE IS VERY PECULIAR,

All Sorts Of Franks Can Be Played
With II under Certain Conditions.
Hudson River and its Mud Acted as
Cushion For Railway Tubes, but Air
Did Not Prevent broken Windowa.
W. Scott Sims, one Of the most dis
tinguished experts in high explosives
In the world, inventor OF the Sims dy.
Mantle gun, the Sims wireless torpedo,
the Sims Edison dirigtble torpedo and
many other methods of putting high
explosives to use, believes the recent
$1,O0O,OOO explosion at Communipaw,
on the New Jersey shore opposite New
York city, in which thirty-four were
killed and hundreds injured. occurred
because some of the dynamite on the
pier was possibly frozen. In this con.
dition it is most dangerous, he claims,
explaining 1t by saying:
Under ordinary conditions you can
break stick Of dynamite in two OK
drop it on any surface from even a
great height and nothing will happeH
Fresh dynamite is as safe as safe can
be-eXcept," added the inventor, with
a smile. when it isn't. Once In awhile
it will go off even under the best con-
dit1ons from some little shock which
ordinarily wouldn't bulge 1t, but usual.
ly new dynamite at temperature
above freezing Is absolutely safe to
handle in every way. Why. I've car
ried 1t around in my pocket. and so
have all of us who live with explosives.
| have even seen men touch match
to the end of silver OF the stuff and
light q cigar with it an 1t burns"
Freezing Causes Danger.
Mr.. Sims explains. however, that
freezing makes dynamite most unsta-
BILE. The best grades, called gelatin,
are composed of about 80 per cent MI
troglycerin. I per cent guncotton and
3 per cent camphor. The dynamite
ON the Communlpaw dock. thought
Mr.. Sims. was probably OF more
common grade. usually employed for
blasting.
"My idea of the explosion is that the
men who We're shifting the boxes from
the car to the lighter Srew bit care
less perhaps, as those of us who ham
die explosives always seem to do. Sew
eral of the boxes OF dynamite may
have been frozen, and If that is SO a
good jar in sliding one of them down
to the lighter might have set it off.
If the men had already knocked off
work for the noon hour 1t might have
been some other thtng-a boiler explo-
sion on one of the boats perhaps. hNt
with the frozen dynamite getting the
force of the shock small as it may
have been"
How about the other car of the ex-
plosive on the pier that didn't blow
up?" he was asked isn't that pecul-
iar?"
"Not at ALL" was the inventors an
swer. ut is entirely normal and nat
ural 1t is very possible that only a
few sticks of the stuff that did ex-
plode were frozen. The other carload,
however, was probably at normal
temperature. and therefore even the
force of ten or fifteen tons OF it going
up at even little distance away didn't
disturb it,
How about the force Of big ex
plosion?" the inventor was asked
"Why did the blast break windows all
over Manhattan and still not disturb
any building foundations or even
shake the tubes under the Hudson.
Explosives Foros Is Great.
"Let me explain" he answered
''The force of any explosion is in the
direction OF least resistance. An ex
plosion on the surface Of the ground
therefore exerts its greatest force up
into the air, not down. Most people
think the force goes down because
they can see the hole In the earth.
What they cannot s~s Is the far, far
greater hole in the air.
"One can realize what this force is
by remembering that the pressure OF
seventy five mile an hour wind is
only about two pounds to the inch
After this air wave comes practical
vacuum. racing behind 1t through
space. This is what gets the windows
and this vacuum explains Why glass
falls out instead Of tn The windSTs
can stand the first oaslau9ht-in Man
haitian 1t might have amounted to FIVE
pounds extra to the square inch-but
what they cannot stand is the sudden
backward snap Al the low pressure
follows the first force Of the blow.
"The tunnels undey the Hudson did
not feel the explosian primarily be-
cause its chief force was exerted up
and out into tho surrounding air; Sec
ondarily, because water itself In great
masses Is good cushion. and. third
~. because the tubes must lie under
some fifteen or twenty feet of mud
and slime on the Yivsr bottom, which
is the best sort Of q cushion in itself
ro< n.:.;.. ~. 49,. E..l