The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-26
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL :
INFORM TON
BUREAU
Washington. d. c.

Washington. d. c.
The Bureau of Chemistry at War.
Washington, D. c., Sept. 22.-Every
year, millions of dollars worth of grain
is destroyed by fire. Nearly all these
fires start the same way. with explo-
sions in elevators. Last year, four of
the largest grain and cereal plants in
the United States and Canada met
i with this disaster, while an American
sugar factory, containing over a mil
| lion dollars worth of foodstuffs. was
swept away in the same fashion. This
| year, a warehouse sheltering two mil
lion dollars worth of goods and flour
mill containing large quantities of
wheat, oats and barley have been lost
| by fire. 1t is Also estimated that be-
! tween the years 1914 and 1917, fires in
| threshing machines caused the loss of
enough grain to have furnished bread
rations for an army of 100000 men
for one month.
| For long time the cause of these
sudden explosions and flames was not
understood. Incendiaries were sus-
pected and many innocent persons
illuminated before it was discovered
that the fires were caused by the ex-
plosion of dust. Any kind of dust con-
tanning carbon, including grain dusts,
| flour dusts, sugar dusts, rice dusts,
feed dusts. paper dusts, wood dusts,
and many others which cannot be dis
cussed in the space of one short arti-
Gle, is highly inflammable. A smaI
spark is all that is needed to encour-
age it to burst forth into flame. Some
times static electricity supplies this
spark.
In this time of war when we cannot
afford to waste a tablespoonful Of
wheat flour, these fires assume the
| magnitude of a national disaster.
Hence, as one of its war activities. the
bureau OF chemistry of the department
of agriculture, is doing everything in
| its power to stop them. Thru lectures.
circulars and every means of propa-
ganda. the bureau is impressing upon
mill owners, operators and farmers
the danger of accumulated dust and
Icalling upon them to exercise every
possible precaution against it.
| 1t is realized, the bureau says, that
! a dustless mill or elevator is an i'm
possibility, but the danger from dust
| can be greatly diminished if an eff
Gent dust-collecting system is estab-
| lished, and floors, walls. beams and
lodges kept clean. Smoking and the
carrying of matches should be pro-
| hibited around mills or elevators, since
many large fires have been traced to
a discarded cigarette stub or a burnt
! match. Many a man has flicked a
| burning match thru apparently harm
/ less air, and never lived to tell the
cause of the resulting explosion. The
| use of gaslights, torches, lanterns and
| candles in dust-laden air, moreover,
is simply inviting disaster. Some mill
| operatives will tell you that they have
| in order to determine the amount OF
grain or flour they contained, without
any disastrous consequences. They
| were lucky-that's all.
Electricity is another danger about
a dusty mill or warehouse. All wires
for electric lighting should be placed
in conduits. and only well-protected
globes used. One spark from motor,
fuse or switch is often quite enough
to cause a large fire. Since static
electricity is often generated around
milling machinery, thru the friction
metals, apparatus should beeinstalled
for conducting this electricity away as
fast as it is generated. Fortunately
such apparatus is available both for
mill and for farm machinery.
This propaganda against grain de-
struction by fire is only one of many
important works undertaken by the
bureau of chemistry since the United
States entered the war. Then it was
but a small organization whose chief
Il problem was detecting the adu1tera-
ton of foods. Now hundreds of
chemists are in its employ; it has
branch laboratories in all the large
cities turnout the country, and it is
busily engaged in solving chemical
problems not only for the department
of agriculture, but for the army, the
navy, the food administration, tine
tariff commission and the war trade
board
For the war department it draws up
specifications of articles, the chemical
lcOmDOSitinr nf hi al1 CT he io1
and later it tests those articles to de-
termine whether or not they comply
with the regulations. If the quarter
master at a certain cantonment has
reason to believe that certain canned
goods. for example, are not up to the
armys specifications, he sends a sam
PIE to the nearest laboratory of the
bureau of chemistry. Here it is an
alyzed, and the result made known to
the war department. Samples of ship
ments received at the environments are
constantly coming into these labora-
tories, where the visitor may always
see chemists in white aprons CARVING
bowls of strangely smelling chemicals
back and forth thru the Corridors
In addition to testing foodstuffs for
the army, the bureau also tests fabrics
such as tentage, wagon covers and
strips OF canvas. for the purpose of de-
termining their resistance to water
} and mildew. Methods of waterproof
ing these fabrics, as well as uniforms
and other clothing, are being investi-
gated by the bureaus chemists, and
already several efficient formulas
have been developed. They are also
: investigating the baling of quarter
masters stores for overseas shipment
with a view to discovering a method
of packing that will protect the goods
from moisture on the way over.
Chemists of the bureau of chemistry
, are also called into consultation by the
war trade board and the tariff COM
: mission whenever a dispute arises over