The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1911-03-02
ElP llINS
DYNAMITE PERIL
unlpas Disaster Probably
DE 10 Freezing.
1l0svE IS VERY PECULIAR,

eeses q Franks Cen es Played
80 e Under Certain Conditions.
- River and jts Mud Aetsd -
osAjsm Fer Railway Tubes, but Air
Il ~ Me- Prevent Broken Windows.
~. Scott Sims. one Of the most dis
ul6hed experts In high explosives
- - world, inventor Of the Sims dy.
800 gun. the Sims wireless torpedo.
- Gtms-Edison dirigible torpedo and
10y other methods Of putting high
nlosives to use. believes the recent
I n1ooO00 explosion at Communipaw.
o ~ New Jersey shore opposite New
s1nk city, in which thirty-four were
gfnDed and hundreds injured. occurred
hoeause some Of the dynamite on the
- WAS possibly frozen. In this con-
1liea Il Il most dangerous. he claims,
p,aining 1t by saying:
sUnder ordinary conditions you can
heoak . stick Of dynamite in two Or
- It on any surface from even a
moot height and nothing will happen.
Y4ooh dynamite Is as safe as safe can
- except" added the inventor. with
I ennfle. when 1t isn't. Once in awhile
& win 90 on even under the best con-
Nfjons from some little shock which
eg1lnar1ly wouldn't bulge 1t. but usual
= new dynamite at . temperature
hove freezing is absolutely safe to
snandle in every way. Why. I've car
I'D It around In my pocket. and 10
TIVE all Of ~ who live with explosives.
u have even seen men touch u match
the end Of silver Of the stuff and
Int cigar with it az It burns"
II Freezing Causes Danger.
r.. Sims explains. however. that
Soosing makes dynamite most unsta.
- The best grades. called gelatin.
90 composed of about 90 per cent nj
tyoelycerin.. per cent guncOttOn and
: 3 per cent camphor. The dynamite
On the Communipaw dock. thought
Mr. Sims. was probably Of more
common grade. usually employed for
blasting.
my idea Of the explosion is that the
men who were shifting the boxes from
IL car to the lighter grew a bit care
- perhaps. as those of US who ham
a. explosives always seem to do. Sew
nls Of the boxes Of dynamite may
IN been frozen. and IL that is 80 a
I'D jar in sliding one Of them down
q the lighter might have set It OF.
3 the men had already Knocked OF
3oek for the noon hour it might have
Ten some other thing-a boiler expl0-
I'm on one Of the boats perhaps. but
Nth the frozen dynamite getting the
lbgce Of the shock. small as It may
1--we been.'
'How about the other car of the ex'
peosive on the pier that didn't blow
upr' he was asked. Isn't that pecul'
htr'
Not at ALL" was the inventors an
oWef. ut IL entirely normal and nat
NAL It IL very possible that only q
lew sticks Of the stun that did ex'
plode were frozen. The other carload
however, was probably at a 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 a big ex
plosiOn?' the inventor was asked
why did the blast break windows al
over Manhattan and still not disturb
any building foundations or ever
shake the tubes under the Hudson.
Explosives Force Is Great.
LET me explain" he answered
The force Of any explosion is in thu
direction Of least resistance. An ex
p1ooion on the surface Of the ground
therefore exerts its greatest force VI
at0 the air. not down. Most people
think the force goes down because
ny can see the hole in the earth
What they cannot see is the far. IA
oEeater hole in the air.
Zone can realize what this force
b remembering that the pressure o
Z seventy-6ve mile an hour wind Il
en1y about two pounds to the inch
After this air wave comes q practice
vacuum, racing behind It through
race. This is what gets the windows
and this vacuum explains why glas
6llD out instead Of in. The Window
can stand the first onslaught-in Man
haitian It might have amounted to fv'
pounds extra to the square inch-bu
what they cannot stand is the suddel
backward snap as the low pressur'
follows the first force Of the blow.
The tunnels under the Hudson dl(
not feel the explosion primarily be
cause its chief force was exerted NJ
ana out into the surrounding air; sec
endarily. because water itself in grea
masses II a good cushion. and. third
y. because the tubes must lie uude
some fifteen or twenty feet Of mu'
ana slime on the river bottom, whicl