A BEDROOM “BLITZ"

Grey River Argus, 29 June 1945, Page 4

A BEDROOM “BLITZ"

POWDER AND DUST CAN CAUSE TRAGEDIES.

Living in these dangerous war days, the mention of explosives immediately brings to mind the charming little inventions of our scientists and chemists —cordite, “T.N.T.,” and the rest of that delightful little band of “pain exterminators” with which modern 'man presents his fellows (wrapped neatly in iron and sent by air!).

Suppose it’s only natural that the average person should regard these ingredients with grave misgivings; yet every housewife, every workman is virtually living on'top of a potential arsenal!

Dust! Just ordinary, common dust. It has caused as much havoc in its time as any high explosive manufactured by man! (Cogitating on the problem”- I shudder to think of the risks I’ve run in quite a few hoardinghouses . . . why, they were veritable Woolwich Arsenals and Krupp factories!))

But, joking ' apart, if it were possible to trace back the historj' of many fatal explosions, we should find in the light of our later knowledge, that dust played an important part in the initial stages. Nearly all kinds of dust are highly explosive under certain conditions . .

... sulphur, tobacco, sugar, spices, pitch, celluloid, starch, soap, wood and cork, leather, powdered milk, chocolate, cocoa and grain, among others. Many readers may remember the modern factory in America which was utterly wrecked recently, many men losing their lives, and the plight of the originator of the explosion (he was later found lying on the roof of an adjacent building uninjured!) Investigation and interrogation elicited the fact that this man had decided it was time for “smoko,” and had ci’ept into a corner to light a cigarette. It was bad luck that he chose, to lean against a stationary, dust extractor when he flicked his lighter . . . one of those rare occasions when the lighter worked ... As the flame flickered, it ignited the dust-laden atmosphere—a blinding flash, a roar, and up went the works! 1 Yes, dust is decidedly dangerous! Even more remarkable was the case of the young woman in England who, two or three years ago, was powdering her nose before her dressing table. Suddenly a flame swept across the room from the fireplace to the table, and the girl was enveloped in fire! She was fortunate to escape from the room, and suffered nothing more than severe shock and superficial burns . . . but it could easily have resolved . itself into another tradgedy—“Cause unknown.” Facts of the case were these: When she opened the powder box the contents were spilled about the floor, and the draught from an open window blew the powder about the room. Closing the window, she swept the grains together in the general direction of the open fire. A flash . . . and the result indicated above.

Now, if she’d left the window open while she swept the powder up, the chances are the explosion would not have occurred; yet how many women there are who persist in shutting doors and windows before sweeping a room “to stop the dust blowing about!” Anyway, brooms are out of date . . . suction cleaners are far safer. Modern homes, with their rounded corners to rooms, light-coloured walls, usually, denuded of projecting ledges, rails, etc., lessen the risks entailed by accumulations of dust becoming ignited; still, care should be exercised to avoid agitation of any quantity of this explosive domestic bugbear. The home of scientific research, America, called upon the services of Dr. David J. Price, Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, to solve the riddle of the many explosions which had their origin in dust. He discovered that dust resembles gas in that, if mixed with air in certain proportions, and ignited, an explosion results He placed a few ounces of corn-starch in a room ten feet sciuare bv ten high, and with the aid of a fan thoroughly diffused the dust. An electric spark was used to ignite the mixture, and the walls were blown clean out by the force! . _ . , Some idea of this force ' can be gauged 1 by the fact that a sack of flour mixed with air in a room 20 feet by 20 feet would explode with a force sufficiently powerful to lift 2500 tons to a height of 100 feet! We would not be surprised in the near future to hear that some bright scientist had “harnessed” this potential energy—dust—that it . may do something more for mankind than either give him tubercular trouble or blow him to bits! Anyway, it’s an idea! ' This is why modern factories have as manv windows as possible built into walls ... a necessary precaution when we consider that in 1937-38 property destroyed in such explosions reached the colossal figure of £ll,ooo,ooo—not to mention the loss of 430 lives and injury to 866 other workers! . .

Proper system's of air-conditioning, correct earthing of condensers, or any apparatus which generates static electricity, the use of roller or ballbearings in machines wherever possible will tend to reduce the risk a hundred-fold' in industry.