Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1913-09-12
THEY COURT DEATH
Those Who Take Liberties With
illuminate of Mercury.
PERILs OF BLASTING CAPS.
These panssrou. and Sensitive "plsy-
toys" Often Picked Up Around Quar-
ries, Are Responsible For Hundreds
of Crippled Youngsters.

rleSp are Irresponsible FOR 6uncfeoe
of Crippled Youngsters
Over 600 children have beer hurt or
perhaps crippled for life In the last Eve
years from playing with blasting caps
II this had happened at one time whai
a howl would have gone up all over the
world! But because the accidents arr
spread all yer the country and happen
at the rate OF only about ten a month
nothing is done by the authorities. In
deed. nothing can be lone except to ed
ucate the whole population TO realize
how dangerous these exceedingly use
full things are when they are out oil
their proper place. And what a dread.
ful thing it Is going through life Grip
pied or blinded for want of a little care
and knowledge.
Boys often play In and around, guar
ries on Sundays and sometimes pick
up stray caps and start to investigate
them. 1t is the rarest thing that they
ever do this without getting hurt.
They perhaps know they are danger.
Gus and that a spark or a blow will ex.
plode them. but they do not realize
how sensitive they are. how violent
the explosion or how the pieces of cop
per fly. Even the name is misleading
In this respect. The word ''caps" suR.
gests the paper caps used with toy PTS
tolls. and becau Use the blasting caps are
called Dy this name It Is natural to
think that the two articles belong to
the same family. They may. but they
bear about the same resemblance to
each other that a hungry man eating
tiger does to the gentle pussy cat
There are lots of ways OF getting
crippled by exploding blasting cap be-
sides hitting. them with a hammer and
putting them In the fire. Extracting
the contents with a pin distributes un
told fingers; holding a lighted match
under them or thrusting the flaming
end into the cap gets immediate &c
ton. In the mines and quarries even.
where the men who have to use blast
ing caps every day ought to know bet
ter. there are plenty OF mangled hands
and punctured hides as the result OF
crimping caps on fuse with a Jack
knife, pointed nail OF any tool that's
handy.
Many a miner has blown a hole
through his face In biting the cap on
the fuse. aud others have filled them
Seivee-with copper or have BEEN killed
outright by the sparks from their hat
lamps or pipes dropping In an open
box Of caps. Lots of blasters continue
to bite the caps on the fuse and think
that because they nave never exploded
them they never will, but some day
they will bite the business end and
lose something besides teeth. 1t is
much easier and lots safer to use the
crimper, a tool made for the purpose
Accidentally stepping on a cap will
often spoil a perfectly good foot
Sparks, fame. heat, blows. friction
it's all the same to the cap to which
they are applied.
A blasting cap is a copper shell about
a quarter of an inch in diameter and
an Inch or two long. half full of fulmi-
nate of mercury. This illuminate is
the most sensitive and about the most
impulsive explosive In common use
Blasting caps contain anywhere from
fifteen to twenty grains of It. Primers
for firearms cartridges usually contain
not more than one grain. That's what
the hammer or firing pin of a gun OF
pistol hits to ignite the powder in the
shell. A blasting cap Is meant to
work the other way. The powder from
the fuse ignites the illuminate in the
blasting cap, and 1t explodes with ter
rife force and d%etonates the dynamite
The explosion of the illuminate is 50
ex ceedingly quick that the flying par
ticles of copper will imbed themselves
in iron a foot away. They win blow a
hole clean through a steel plate one
sixteenth of an inch thick. A box OF
caps Will blow a beautiful square hole
right through a two inch oak plank
One cap will blow a child's hand OF
with the utmost certainty and dis
patch. Lingg. one of the Chicago an
archists. committed suicide by biting
Q blasting cap between his teeth.
The point TO be remembered is that
when a blasting cap goes of It, does
great damage locally. There Is no es.
Gaping its effects Among all the 900
or more accidents reported from playing
with blasting caps there are only two
or three IN which somebody was not
hurt.
Electric blasting caps are just as
strong as ordinary blasting caps. but as
the capsule or shell Is sealed up with a
sulphur plug through which the wires
are carried down 70 the illuminate. not
so many accidents occur in playing
with them. They are generally dipped
In dark coiored wax and are not such
attractive playthings as the bright cop
per blasting caps, but .they get there
Just the same" Amateur electricians
are earnestly advised to bury the cleo
trio cap a foot or two In the earth be
fore trying to pass electric currents
through the wires, and they had better
nAA ~ a. Than no~s& opon ~ nm 70 son