The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-04-06
WARNING AGAINST CHAMOIS.
The Deadly Combination of Elec.
tricity and Gasoline Pointed Out.


tention! There is death in the
chamois strainer. Whenever you fill
ter gasoline through chamois you are
| playing hide and seek with one Of
the deadliest combinations known
to man-electricity and gasoline.
If your tank is under the seat, be
careful when you fill it, says the
Timken Magazine. If you are not
you will be as foolish as the man
who looks for a gas leak with light
ed candle.
Never strain gasoline through a
chamois. Now we'll tell you why it
is dangerous.
Gasoline and chamois do not get
along. They are ''incompatibles."
Let us assume that you are about
to fill your tank. The funnel is in
the nozzle. A chamois strainer is in
the funnel The gasoline is turned
on and as it pours through the
chamois it generates static electrici-
ty. Static electricity may be defined
as electricity that is at rest. 1t is an
agent neither of construction nor de-
struction, so long as nothing is done
to unleash it. Unleash it, knowing
ly or unknowingly, by brushing a
clumsy finger against a natural law,
and you have to deal with the most
diabolical physical agent known, a
force that destroys with the quick
ness of lightning.
Static electricity, as we have said,
is now in the funnel. The funnel is
charged with it. So long as the fun
mel fits securely into the mouth of
the tank, thus creating a 'ground,"
you are safe.
Now, for the sake of excitement,
let us assume that you did not allow
the funnel to rest inside the nozzle of
your tank, as the gasoline seeped
through the chamois skin. Either
yourself or someone else held the
funnel in midair, or it rested free of
the sides of the tank. No ground"
was formed.
We have seen that gasoline, a vola-
tile substance, passing through
chamois forms static electricity,
which charges the funnel. When
the amount of electricity is sufficient
to produce jump spark, that spark,
following the enevitable law of elec-
tricity attraction, jumps to the near
est "ground," which is your tank.
In doing so it must pass across the
opening between the end of the fun
mel and the edge of the tank through
which gasoline vapor is rising. Sud-
denly there is violent discharge,
like that of lightning, which is, after
all, a gigantic Jump spark. All those
in close relation are, as it were,
struck by lightning.
Many have been burned and scar
red for life through ignorance of this
fiend of electricity. Many more, it is
sad to relate, have been measured
out on their last cool bed. No one
was able to tell just why they died.
The moral to be derived from this
article is this: Do not put gasoline
through chamois skin. But II you
will insist on taking chances, be sure
that you have a "ground' on it, by
seeing that the funnel touches the
opening of the tank. Be doubly sure
that you take this precaution.
Fire department statistics of many
cities show that an overwhelming
per cent. of auto fires are cause by
using chamois with gasoline-a fatal
com bination.
We are indebted to Francis R. and
Fred C. Henderson, truck manufac-
turers of North Cambridge, Mass,
who have furnished us with the in
formation that prompts this article.
Bitter experience has recently been
theirs an experience that nearly de-
prived them of son and nephew.
Bound to learn the reason of this
casualty, as we'll as of four fatalities
in the city of Boston during the past
wear, from an identical cause, the
two brothers searched for clue that
might lead to the overthrow of this
weird genii of destruction, by drag
ging him into the light where men
could see, know and evade him. At
ter diligent study and almost con-
slant thought they pried up the
truth, which we have related mere.
It might not be out of place in this
article to state that thousands OF
people do not know that the vapor
rising from gasoline, when mixed
in nrNnpr nr0-