Particles of Cork Floating in the Atmosphere
of Linoleum Factories Must Be
Kept from Unprotected Lights.
Almost every kind of dust which is composed of inflammable material will
explode when touched by a flame. For instance, the house-maid who uses the
contents of the sugar bowl to light the fire knows that nothing burns more
easily than powdered sugar. Proprietors of large sweetmeat factories have
learned that there is danger from this source.
Some years ago an English inspector of mines conducted a
number of experiments on the explosive power of coal dust. A
disused shaft one hundred and fifty feet deep was chosen
for the purpose. Samples of dust from different collieries
were collected for the purpose. When two hundredweight of
dust was emptied down a shaft and a charge of gunpowder
fired, the result was startling.
Huge tongues of flame, sixty feet in height, shot up from
the mouth of the shaft, and enormous columns of smoke rose
high in the air, forming a great black pall over the scene
of the explosion.
Coal is the carbonized remains of tree mosses. Oddly enough,
these mosses were the big forefathers of the moss we know as
lycopodium, which in a powdered state is used to produce
flash signals. This will help to give an idea of the
intensely inflammable nature of coal dust.
In the manufacture of linoleum no unprotected lights are
allowed in the mixing department. This is on account of the
great danger of exploding the cork dust floating in the air.
An additional danger in linoleum making is that the mixture
of cement and cork dust has the unpleasant property of
spontaneously igniting if left in a warm place. It is,
therefore, customary to mix the material a sackful at a time
in order to reduce the risks of an explosion.