The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-11-09
Frederic Haskin's Letter
Deadly Dust.

il the heat from the bulb ,.,.
the dust, and the globe he..s
This has happened, and il - y
electric light companies to ~.
devising safety globes for Sn t
factories. Experiments testins -
safety Of electric light fixtures .cs
still being conducted. A v,,.
proof bulb with an unbressss.-
metal guard is being instaIlss Sls
many factories as a precsr.,'a
against the danger from h,oao
bulbs.
Some investigations are iii, = i
ing forward in the governmS.
though the bureau of chemistr,S
no longer any funds to contip.. -
work in this field. DR.. Alsh..a
chief Of the bureau, said A. ~
recent conference that in snsA y
lack Of funds his bureau wonN ~.
give up the work entirely. ~. =,
ways have a little money tbst :.
can squeeze out here or there~ :.
concluded, but about the best th ~
we can hope during the next Va. .s
is to keep the work alive ana =.
some of the fundamental resss,.s
that has to be done, so that II :.
are ever able to take it ID ssa;e
We will not have marked time"
The campaign waged nv -.
bureau of chemistry. together VIII
the grain corporation, has brou,ss,
about greater concern on the M,
of the manufacturers, but exnin-
sions still occur. Since last autnm,,
there have been several -four min
explosions, one with s125,0o0 proe'
erty loss, grain elevator eYnla.
sion with IA men killed, and snS
other with three men injured. Four
firemen, fighting a blaze in a spica
mill were killed last winter when
spice dust exploded from the 6reJ
and 10 other tiremen were iniured
Six Girls Killed.
Most terrible of all was thd
aluminium dust ex plosion which
several months ago killed six pirls
in the polishing room of an alumI.
mum products factory, and burned
FIVE others so terribly that thev
will be SCARED and injured for tfej
This accident seemed all the NOR
a disaster because it was stsrta
by a piece of wire becoming tan
! gled in the machinery for disposinr
! Of the dust from the polishing, 4
spark was struck and the dust il.
nited, causing a terrible exploSlcn.
Because of this accident, seyenl|
Improvements in the dust collectle
| systems were suggested.
The country in general was first
aroused to the havoc a little dust
may cause back in 1917. An ele.
vator blew up. just aftetr the Unit.
ed States entered the war, aad
enough grain was destroyed By
that one explosion to have furnish.
ed bread for year for an army Of
100000 men.
Before that, the wheat farmefgI
of the northwest had felt the De.
structive force of dust in connec.
ton with threshing. The wheat
smut which for the last 20 years
has cut down our wheat crops was
largely responsible for the outdoor
wheat explosions. It is estimated
that there are 240 100000 tiny
spores of the smut in one head Of
smutted wheat Sometimes infect.
ed wheat is 20 per cent or even
more smutted; oftener the amount
is much less, but still. enough for
"a cloud of fine dark smut blown
about in the threshing to catch .
spark Of static electricity in the
machinery and produce an explo-
sion.
I When the cause of the frequent
explosions began to be understood
attempts were made to ground the
threshing machines with wires to
prevent static electricity. Then Z
! kdu W DO utflSCu " bluW ouCh Luo
dust away from the engine. Tho
department Of agriculture say
that it has never heard of any ser.
iOus explosion occurring where ono
of these fans was properly install
|, ed, and that the insurance compan'
les, which for a time refused to ~
sure threshing machines at all
have reduced the premium on mn
chimes equipped with fan apparatui
, approved by the government.
. The fan device has proved o.
. threefold value. 1t was found tht
it cleaned the grain so that u!
; farmer got a better price for hI
: wheat, and then a way was con.
, trived for the smut to be COLLECTED
, instead of blown away, so that y
did not spread over the fields to ID
fect the next crop. The threshinl
machine difficulty is consldefea
: practically solved. But the indooi
/, fully realized by industry.