AOUICULTURAL APi'HOl'KIATlON BILI^ 1W24. liTl 



iiirtrhinos and nro (loiti^; thnt in somo rasos pxtonsivrlv, having thoir 

 own ap'iits advocato the us«> of that in the sah- of all fncsv niachini'H. 

 Tho insurance, by the way, you will he interest^'d in knowing;, wan 

 withdrawn on thcsf tnachines in tlial particular r<'<;ion soinr years 

 a}^o ahsohitclv denied in everv respect; and then wln-n the insur- 

 ance companies enteretl this held aijain they charged [)rohihitive 

 rates. Those rates have heen reiluced now to a noint wlu're they arc 

 fairly reasonahh» if the o[)erator has eni{jioyed tne preventive niean- 

 ures we have advocated. 



KXPLO.moNS AND FIHKS IN (IRAIS EI.RVATORH ASD INUt'HTRIM. PLANTS. 



'I'he (|uestion of preventing th(» exolosions anri the (ires that look 

 place in grain elevators and industrial plants is a much more difficult 

 one than involved in the threshing machines. We are studying the 

 causes. That involves analytical study of all these explosions that 

 take place. We attemj>t to do that just so soon as we f)ossihly can, 

 with an idea of determining what is the fundamental, responsible 

 cause for the lire and the explosion itself. It is a simple enough 

 thing to advocate the construction of elevators, for instance, in away 

 so that there will be the least possible facility given for the accumula- 

 tion of dust. But we found that that within itself will not solve the 

 problem. 



You know that dust with a proper admixture with air is just as 

 explosive as gas and a proper admixture of air. That fact has been 

 demonstrated by the bureau, and we are concerned now -it varies, 

 of course, with (lifferent products — in determining just what the sit- 

 uation may be in a plant; that is, measuring the amount of dust in 

 suspension in the air in various establishments, to detcnnine whether 

 or not the danger point is being approached in the atmospheric sit- 

 uati(m in a particular plant; we have found out that an explosion of 

 a violent character will take place if you have as much as one-fiftieth 

 of an ounce of grain dust in suspension in 1 cubic foot of air. 



We are working in cooperation with other a^jencies of the Govern- 

 ment, particularly the Bureau of Mines, througn their special interest 

 in the prevention of mine explosions from dust, and also on the part 

 of the Public Health Service for the purpose of health-control meas- 

 ures as that relates to dust carried in suspension in the atmosphere 

 of particular places. 



We are now perfecting a means for the measurement of the amount 

 of dust in suspension in the air. If that can be reduced to a simple 

 proposition, it will be an easy enough matter for the agency itself , for 

 the industrial organization itself, or for the State agencies concerning 

 themselves with this problem, to make an inspection of an esta])lish- 

 ment and determine whether or not there is a tlangerous condition 

 existing at a particular time, and whether or not attention should at 

 once be given to the removal of that condition in so far as it is possible 

 to do so. 



There are two— as Mr. Price explained to you last year— explo- 

 sions at least that are found to take place in connection with these 

 catastrophes, the first of which within itself is not so violent and not 

 so signihcant, but it is the secondary explosion that is alwavs the one 

 that creates the damage. There must bo an ignition of the dust in 

 some way, just exactly as there is required to be a spark in order to 

 effect an explosion in a mixture of air and gas. 

 22028—22 18 



