Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-03-14

|
its career possessed all the danger
GUS characteristics of INT. The
| spices in the apple dumpling you ate
| for dessert once boosted an equally
strong claim to it's dangerous pro-
pensities The sugar you put on 1t to
add to its tastiness had and still has
the potentialities of dynamite.
Experts of the bureau of chemistry
of the United States Department of
Agriculture are authorities for these
strong statements. But they say
thew might go further and add that
the rice in your pudding was just as
"fighty": that the napkins you use.
If of cotton: the shirt on your back.
! If also made of cotton; the shoes on
your feet and the rubbers over them,
and finally, the coal which cooked
your meal, We're all at one time, in
their processes of manufacture or
| preparation Tor your use, equally
death dealing.
| However, there's no need now to
| back away from any of them. They're
| tanned, the Agriculture Department
chemists assert The secret Of their
destructiveness is dust-the dust
/ which is produced in their manufac-
ture.
| Surprising Disclosures.
| For number of years department
experts have been studying the ex-
| possibility of carbonaceous dusts.
mostly for the education of manu-
| facturers and workers in materials
| which produce such conditions. and
surprising disclosures Of general in
tercst have been made.
| 1t Is just about a year since the
IN aSf In, MI tnr iy, tha I'll
| the Northwestern, at South Chicago.
H.. was destroyed by the explosion
| OF grain dust in workrooms and stor-
| age bins. Six workmen lost their
| lives in the disaster. which wrought
1smase the sst'h haSe been
| many other similar explosions in ele-
vators. flour mills and plants pro-
| ducing variety of articles. that one
was the factor that brought the sub
| ject most strongly to public atten-
ton. the department says.
When wheat grains or other cereals
are handled in bulk, friction pro-
duces quantities of fine dust. and
when train and car loads are ham
died daily the amount of this dust
that accumulates about the plant on
floors and projections is enormous.
Dust clouds long hang in the air. 1t
has been determined by the experts
that this dust produces with the air
mixture as tickle and explosive as
that formed in the carburetor of an
automob bile. 1t can generate gas
explosions az powerful az those in
rifle and gun barrels. All that is
needed to start the destructive work
is a spark. The spark or flame may
start a slow fire. the fash travelling
from dust grain to dust grain. 1t
may travel through dust conveyors.
corridors or blowers to distant parts
of a 81 i,i a n
pressure is built up the explosion &C.
ours.
Effect Of Explosions.
Dust explosions. government rec
ords show. have wrecked well built
plants, thrown bodily loaded freight
cars, turned into twisted skeins Of
scrap strongly built steel structures,
moved heavy bins from their found
atoms. and in|the case OF the North
western. blown out concrete bin
walls seven inches thick.
A long list of similar disasters is In
the hands of the government investi-
gators. and not all are from cereal
dust explosions.
An explosion of ordinary powdered
table spices in spice factory. recent
ly wrecked the factory. exacted toll
of six lives, injury to twice as many
others and high property loss
An explosion of powdered or con-
i leCtIoHeIS sugar III dH EASTERN IGHH.
cry wrought damage estimated at ST.
100000 and cost four lives.
Breakfast cocoa precfpltated in a
thick cloud from burning bins in a
factory fire exploded: adding to the
wreckage of the plant and to the
loss of lives and money.
|, Six girls working in a factory pro-
ducing aluminium articles burned to
death when fine aluminium dust from
their buffing machines exploded in
their faces with a conclusion heard
two miles distant.
Starch exploding in another factory
resulted in 43 deaths and damage es.
timated at 100000.
Dust from hard rubber being
ground to powder exploded in another
instance. killing eight workers and
partially demolishing the plant.
While handling cottonseed meal
a Wisconsin plant was damaged by
an explosion in that product and
three workmen were killed.
From Various Processes.
Any number of explosions Of light
have been reported to the Depart
ment. Leather dust. formed in pro-
cess of manufacture, has also caused
explosions; dust from various proc
esses in paper and cotton mills, rice
meal dust. feed dust and other grain
dusts have all caused terrific explo-
sions. resulting In loss of life and
property. Explosion of coal dust in