Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-03-01
MORE DANGEROUS
Dynamite When Frozen Less
Sale to Handle Declares
W. Scott Sims.
EXPLAINS NEW YORK BLAST
Explosive Is Very Peculiar and All
sCels of Franks Can BE Played
With IU-Sometimes.

". Scott Sims. one Of the most dis
-tael -zhed experts in high explosives
In tie world, inventor Of the Sims dy-
nau,lre gan. the sims wireless torpedo,
the Sims Edison dirigibIe torpedo and
maur other methods of putting high
explosives TO use. believes the recent
S1.le".e3e. explosion at C0mmuniDav-,
On the New Jersey shore opposite New
York city. in which thirty-four were
killed and hundreds injured, occurred
beca Ese some of the dynamite on the
pier was possibly frozen. IN this con-
d'CieI 3, Is most dangerous, he claims,
7zplaiG.uy it by saying.
under ordinary conditions you can
break stick of dynamite in two or
drop &c ON any surface from even a
great height and nothing viii happen.
Fresh dynamite IS as safe as safe can
be- except" added The inventor, with
q smile when fit isn't. once in awhile
# WIN 20 OF even under the best coz
Gi3ras from some little shock which
ordinarily wouldn't bulge II, but usual
D. new dynamite at a temperature
above freezing Is absolutely safe 20
handle i'm every way. Why, I've car
ra1 1t around in my pocket, and so
have all Of US who live with explosives.
have even seen men touch n match
fp r-o end or silver Of the stuff and
I-..r clear with it as It burns
FREEZING CAUSES DANGER.
1rr- SINS explains. however. that
frear1re makes dynamite most unsta-
h-a Tho best grades, called gelatin,
are composed of about 90 per cent nj
tr5a.r.cTin, = Ter cent guncortou and
g a.r cent CO. mphor The dynamite
on the C5umlnipaw dock, thought
2.r. Sims. was probably OF a more
common Grade, usually employed for
blasting
MY ilaa Of the explosion is that the
mon who were shifting the boxes from
the car n, the lighter grew bit care
less PERHAPS. as those Of US who ham
ale explosives always seem 20 do. Sew
alal of the boxes of dynamite may
have been frozen. and if that is 80
g..I Jar ia sliding one Of them down
t1 the lighter might have set IL off.
IT, che men had already knocked OF
work for the noon hour II might have
been some other thing-a boiler eXplO-
sion ,l one of The boats perhaps, hut
with tre frozeu dynamite getting the
force of the shock. small as il may
l..a BEEN.
"Fuw about the other car Of the eX-
plo-lrs or the pier that didn't blow
Gr.'' he was asked. isn't that pecul-
ia-e"
"r-ot Mt au." was the inventors an
z-ver 1T is entirely normal and nat
uraI Tt is very possible that only
fevv sticks Of the STUFF that did ez-
rloda were frozen. The other carload,
however was probably at a normal
+arrarature. and therefore even the
force u ten or fifteen tons Of It going
no ar even q little distance away didn't
disturb IT,"
How about the force of big ex-
r3ossouf" the inventor was asked.
"gEhv aid the blast break windows all
svcr Manhattan and still not disturb
my building foundations or even
shake the tubes under the Hudson
'I.at me explain" he answered.
"The force Of any explosion is In the
direction o. least resistance. An ex-
uToeion on the surface OF the ground
therefore eEerts 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 see IS the far, far
greater hole iu The air.
cone ear realize what this force is
Jy remembering that the pressure Of
seventy mile an hour wind Is
only ahout two pounds to the inch.
After this sir wave comes practical
vacuum, racing behind # through
space This is what gets the windows.