The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-02-04

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think ouI Slta,.si "UtA ,oWarG
the pIet.utIou ~ a.-U4uri4.o .4"o oc~--
,laIs vIi lnc 4o,-Ii,.o, "4ren We "co"4i
~ use u,nulI..c III La o. 4"d"4s4o''
pre4Ile.uIr c,plooIo.-a anu Otl1eI AL
,.pI,, VIII uyudI.lltv were Nely ll,-
Qurnt.
One of the deaullest kind OF our
acCIuenLs lloun uynas4lVe 5leW Out VI
,..s l..4lu44 vi ou.De uual seS 10 ca
plode 1t happened seVeral LlmeS tnat
one of these jiI:X piudcd charges would
lar ue uus up ny steam shovel.
The steel shovel III contact WIN The
rock and dynamite caused explosions
and we lost many or our steam snoveI
msn to say notmng OF the steam shov-
81, IN lAls way.
Miss Fires Eliminated.
AS result OF these accidents all
Investigation was made. We finally
noticed that if the charges were wired
in parallel no miss fires occurred. We
Ldu ueen wiring our charges in series
Tnar fore, we changed our method,
and since we have been wiring them
exclusively in parallel there have been
no miss fires
premature explosions were anoth-
er source; Of serious accidents. One
time the dynamiting gang was prepar-
ing to set off more than 20 tons OF eX-
plosive in Cuiebra cut All the holes
had b;an charged and wired except
one. The loading men were at work
on the last whole when the whole sries
Of charges exploded pre1naturely. We
at first thought that the current pass
ing through the wire from the genera
IT had induced q current in the fuse
wir.: 5, which had not been connected
with the generator wire when the ex-
plosion occurred. Investigation show
ed that the fuse wire was so small that
the generator current did not induce
sufficient current in the fuse wire to
set off a charge when the two wires
were only an inch apart So that the
ory had to be abandoned Then some
one suggested we examine the water
in the holes 1t was then found that
this water was slightly. acidulated,
and consequently acted upon the pa
per of the dynamite cartridges and
liberated the ritrcglycerine.
Premature Explosions Prevented.
"In this particular instance the first
holes had been charged more than a
wesk before they reached the last hole,
and thus the acidulated water had had
sufficient time to Iiberate the nitro
glycerine. The concussion in the earth
from the explosion of charge on the
opposite side of the nitroglycerine
once it was liberated by the action of
the water. Investigation showed that
the acidulatsd water could not liberate
the nitroglycerice in the cartridges un-
less allowed to act upon them for more
than a day. Consequently, we made
rule that charges must be exploded
within II hours after they are set in
the holes since that rule went into
effect we have not had a single case
of premature explosions
Lieut. Col. D. D. Gailiard, U. S. A,
n ..nlber of the canal commission re-
ported recently that during the last
three and one-quarler years, when
more than 2O,OOO,OOO pounds of dyna-
mite had been exploded under his di
rection only eight men had been kill
ed. Of these three failed to go far
enough away to avoid the falling rock,
and two miscouEted the number OF
shots