The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1916-08-17
He TEMPTS DEATH
Deadly Dangers a Nitroglycerin
Maker Must Face.
NEVER is SURE OF HIS LIFE.

That Demands Goodness. Prudence
and Daring-One Mans Experience.
Nitroglycerin is made by ordinary
sweet glycerin acting with a mixture
of strong sulphuric and nitric acid.
The glycerin is dropped by very thin
stream slowly into a mixture Of three
parts nitric and five parts sulphuric
acid. During the process the contain
ing vessel is kept cool by water jack
ct. and the acid mixture is agitated by
a stream of cool air. The temperature
! is maintained at about 80 degrees. Aft
er the operation the whole mixture is
drawn off into a tank and is allowed
to stand in this vessel, cooled by a wa
ter jacket. The glycerin, which is now
nitreglycerin, Immediately begins to
come to the top like cream on milk.
This is at once taken care Of and
is put through various processes to
cleanse it of all remaining traces of
acid.
In no department of our plant must
greater care be exercised than in the
nitrator, which is the name given to
the building where nitroglycerin is
manufactured.
Explosions are frequent, and it takes
a man of iron nerve to conduct this de-
partment. 1t is like going into battle
every day. Yet in the face of this we
have one man who has successfully
made nitroglycerin for twenty years,
and he lives to tell you about it, only
he won't. He is as reticent as the
sphinx.
Like any other man Of great courage.
he does not boast, and John Viewber-
ger will talk about anything except the
miracle of his continued existence. l
can only say that Divine Providence,
cool head and hands and stout heart
have kept him at his work.
The acid fumes that fill the building
at all times when nitration is taking
place have long since eaten away the
very teeth in his head, but not his
pluck. 1t is fact that he is provided
with a new set Of false teeth on an
average twice year. The hair on his
head has long ago disappeared, and
the fumes have tanned his skin to the
color Of bronze until he resembles a
cave man Of old. And yet he has never
had day of sickness in these twenty
years. He thinks, as do, that no dis
ease, no matter how virulent, could
successfully combat the nitric fumes
that he inhales. So his work has it's
cOmpensatiOns, If you are pleased to
look at it that way.
While nitration of glycerin is going
on Viewberger sits on high stool, his
arms stretched over the nitrating ma
chine, one hand on a faucet that con-
trolls the flow Of g1ycerin into the acid.
the other hand on a valve regulating
the cooled compressed air that is forced
into the mixture and his eye glued to
the thermometer that extends we'll
down into the mixture. l have said
that the glycerin undergOes nitration
at temperature of so degrees. The
temperature is regulated by the guam.
tity of glycerin that flows into the acid.
If the temperature begins to rise above
80 degrees he closes his valve slightly,
reducing the flow Of glycerin, and in
creases the flow of cool air.
Any little foreign substance that
might get into the mixture, even
through the acid Of glycerin or other
wise, would cause immediate trouble.
The slightest leak in the water cooling
coils, permitting a little water to get
into the mixture, would be the signal
for the thermometer to do a marathon,
and in a few minutes the whole mix
ture would reach the degree Of heat
that would result in an explosion.
Viewberger cannot desert his post
when the temperature begins to rise
rapidly. This condition frequently
takes place. and most of the time it
can be reduced by cutting off the flow
Of glycerin entirely and by turning on
the air to the full pressure of fifty
pounds. Sometimes, however, in spite
Of all, it will continue to rise, and
Viewberger knows or feels that he has
lost control. He must leave his mix
ture to it's fate and dig out"
His building, the nitrator, is located
on a hill higher than its surroundings
The hill is high sand dune. Immedi-
ately back of the stool on which he sits
is a big door that is always left open
when he is manufacturing. Viewber.
gers method of exit or getaway Is to
jump out Of this door and roll down
the hill. While he is on his way the
explosion takes place. He has done
this some twenty times and yet has
never received an injury. He has new
er been struck with flying debris, al
though the air is filed with flying
pieces of lead and iron. Does history
record a greater miracle? Dug out of
the sand semiconscious from the i'm
pact Of an explosion, in the course of
half an hour he has been quite him
self again, ready to go to work if need
be. his only regret being the loss of
property sustained by the company
Willard E9V in Callers Weekly