Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1924-07-11
DISASTROUS NINE
EXPLOSIONS CAUSE
Continues from rage /,

methods have been tested. He con-
tinues:
'The first method IS to Wet the
dust thoroughly SO that no dry dust
remains in the mine. The coal dust
is made into q mud which cannot be
thrown up into suspension in the air
by conclusion. Il is this throwing up
in cloud along the entry that per-
mits the flame to pass from one yOla-
tile particle to another, which when
rapid enough, becomes an explosion.
A better method is to dilute the coal
dust or any non-inflammable dust, so
that the explosion will not pass from
point to point even though a dust
cloud be raised by concussion of
blasting or by the wreckage of
trip of cars.
"The objection to the wetting down
of the dust is that it must be done
every day and must be thoroughly
done to be effective. The second
greatest coal mine disaster in this
country followed the omission of wa
tering over two days. The 'shale
dusting' method is required by law
in Great Britain, where there is dan
gerous dust, and it is officially APP
proved in France. Except for a few
mines, rock busting or shale busting.
to use the British term, has not been
used in the United States, although
it has been strongly recommended by
the Bureau of Mines. Watering or
humidifying has been relied upon in
the coal mines of this country, but the
numerous coal-dust explosion disas-
tiers of the past two years, some of
which have occurred in what were
considered well-watered mines, have
caused mining men to be suspicious
of the efficiency of watering.
Bureau of Mines officials state
that watering as a general method is
a failure and they urgently recon-
mend rock busting. The latter meth
cd has several great advantages: 1t
does not have to be applied daily in
every part of the mine as does water;
the dust is visible and the presence
of coal dust can be observed readily, !
which is not true in a watered mine;
and the hghtness of color of rock
dust suitable for the purpose i'm
proves the illumination of the mine
passages and so tends to prevent |
many individual accidents from haul
age and dangerous roof conditions.
Bureau Ready to Help
MANY kinds of rock dust are suit
able for the purpose, notably lime
stone and light-colored cIayey shale
free from flinty particles which it
would be unhealthful to breathe. The
Bureau of Mines offers to assist mine
operators in determining the suit
ability of material which may be
available for the purpose of rock
dusting"
Declaring that explosions can and
must be prevented, Mr.. Balm warns
that recent disasters Indicate that
safety precautions are being neglect
ed. He says:
up to the series of disastrous ex-
plosions in 1922 the record of de-
crease in explosions in recent years
had led the Bureau of Mines to feel
that dangers from this source were
being eliminated. From 1901 to 1910,
before the bureau was formed, there
were log explosions in which five or
more men were killed, it being con-
sidered that where less than five
men were killed there had been on
extended propagation of local ex-
plosion. In these LOG explosions, g.
296 men were killed. After the DEM
onstrations in the bureaus expert
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