Evening star., 1923-09-26
FATAL BLAST DUE
I0QUART GASOLINE
Bureau Of staridards inquiry
il, Death Of Four Holds
I. Leak to Blame.

Gasoline to. the amount of prob
| ably not moresthan one quartz which
leaked into the altitYde chamber OF
the United States bureau 81 standards
and seuAporated caused the fatal kx-
pIosion' September 20 at the bureau
which cost. the lives of four members
OF the ;fuei-testing stan. according
to conclusions announced today by
board OF inadiry at the Department
of Commerce, :.
Presence of the gasoline vapor in
the concrete chamber was due either
tofa leak In. the feed line leading to
the icaFbpretor, of the engine or to
a leak from the carburetor. due to
| sticking of the float mechanism. the
board found. The probable source of
the ignition of the mixture OF vapor-
ICED. gasoline and air was a back
fire through the carburetor.
The board was composed of FIVE
physicfsts attached to the bureau
staff. Pointing out that only the
small amount of gasoline estimated
| could have escaped into the chamber.
quart would have been sufficient to
account for the energy of the ex-
plosion, which blew-Gapart the walls
! Of the concrete. chamber, within which
| an Internal combustion engine was
The following were killed in the
I accident. : DR.. L. L. ,Lauer, assistant
| physicist: James F. Kendig, assist
ant electrical engineer; w. j. Cook,
! machinist,f and Stephen NJ. Lee. me-
chanical engineer. Five were in
iured, of whom three are still in a
critical condition. = ---,.,.
/ The report of the board of inquiry
! calls special attention to the action
of c.. NJ. Smith, engineer In charge
of the ammonia plant, who. after
being thrown out of the. building
and badly cut about the head, re-
turned to the wrecked chamber and
shut OF two ammonia valves, ana
then went to the refrigerattng plant
| in the basement and operated IL to
pump the ammonia out of the coils
| In the wrecked chamber, This action.
| the report said. may have prevented
further loss OF life and the destruc-
tion OF the entire building by Are.
ut should also be added that the
i situation resulting from the sexplo-
/ sion was handled courageously and
| intslligentiy by. the men on the
1 property damage can be- charged to
| any lack OF promptUess or efficicncy
| In handling the situation"
It was moi. possible to establish the
exact cause OF the gasoline leak due
| to the condition sof the set-upS follow
| ing the ire, but experts estimated
1 that not more than a quart Of gaso-
| line-high test fuel used for. aviation
could have escaped into the cham
ber., The engine had been running at
varying temperatures for about three
/ hours. - ~ $50.
The explosion threw out of the
chamber an, apparatus containing
about ten gallons of heavy lubricat-
ing oil and about; five gallons of
| toiuol, breaking thespipe connections
and releasing part of the contents.
which furnished additional fuel for
the fire which, followed. The ex-
plosion also shattered the fuel meas
1 uring system used in the test, which
| was outside the chamber, and con-
| tained about two quarts of Sasoltne.
1 The board Of inquiry, was composed
\ of L. ]. Briggs &c. Brown, e. r.
l Mueller, W. s. Jones and II. ID. Hub
lizard The hoard .also consulted Prof
&c. E. Monf'oe OF. the National Re-
search Council and p. j. Price OF. the
bureau OF chemistry
/ The day following the accident Sec
retary Hoover referred TO the men
| who lost their lives as martyrs I'd
l the experimental work through which
/ science finds les advances toward
public usefulness" adding that they
have given supreme sacrtics In pub
lie service.