FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7056, 18 February 1910, Page 6

FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS

I'itOi'ESSOE PACK'S INVESTIGATIONS. PRACTICAL TRIAL TO BE MADE. Professor Park, of Dunedin, who haw intc-icstcd himself in. the investigation of the cause and prevention of fires ou wool ships, has heen in Wellington the la_st fow days. Wc understand that his investigations, which have already attracted considerable attention, have take ntho shape of an invention of great importance to tho wool-growing industry. The invention is known as the "Park Vacuum Damping Process,", and ar ranguuii-Jiis have been made lo give the prceess a practical trial on a working scale in Hawko'a Bay by a wel!-kr:o« u firm of engineers, Messrs Nivcn and CoOne of the advantages of the pijocessl Is that it can be inexpensively applied to any existing dumping plant, i-ml in the test which is to be made ir is to be so applied. It i 3 claimed for tho process that it removes the i.'icHing cause of combustion in wool, sppoutaneous heating, which, in tuiri, leads to spontaneous ignition. Ho long as wool is dumped by the X'resent pioeess it will always contain the latent elements of heating and ignition. It is, therefore, proposed, in order to remove tho inciting cause, that the dumping shall be performed in a vacuum cylinder or chamber enclosing the dumping press, the effect being to displace tho air contained in the wool bales before dumping. It is obvious that when the door of the vacuum chamber is opened, there will bo an inrush of cool free,air, which will slowly permeate the dumped bale, thus adding another factor of safety to the vacuum dumping process, l'urther, by dumping in a vacuum it is that any exe<;ss of moisture contained in the wool will be .removed by the vacuum pump, this being in accordance with a well-known principle that is largely made use of in tho drying of sugar in tho process of sugar refining. The withdrawal lof moisture is a natural concomitant of vacuum dumping of great importance, for it wil'l not >n!y remdve one of the necessary constirutents of spontaneous ignition, thereby adding a further factor of safety in the process, but it will, by the prevention of heating, tend to preserve the natural lustre of the wool.

It is a fact well known to wool buyers that a large proportion of tho wool imported from tho oversea colonics shows the effect of heating on arrival in Europe. This heating has the effect of discolouring the wool, and robs it of its natural silky lustre, If the process removes this element* alone, it will be of neat value to the wool industry. Another important collateral advantage claimed for the process is that the removal of air from the wool before dumping will allow existing dumping engines with the same power to compress the bales to a lew bulk than at present, which will thus enable the freight stu'ps to carry a larger cargo, of wool in their hnVls. Engineers are satisfied with the practicability of the process, and impressed with its potentialities. The magnitude of the interests involved may bo gathered from tho fact that the forecast of tho wool clip of the Commonwealth f.f Australia for the current year is estimated bv "Dalgety's Review" to amount to 1.880.000 bales; and of New " 'Zealand, to 505,000 bales, or altogether 2,338,000 bales.