BULLETIN" 319, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



middle of September. They increased in frequency as the season 

 progressed until it was not unusual to have from 6 to 10 a day. On 

 both August 11 and August 16 there were 11 explosions and fires 

 reported, and the total for the week from August 9 to 14 reached 46, 

 an average of between 6 and 7 a day. The explosions were classified 

 by days and weeks as follows : 



July 12-17 1 



July 19-24 3 



July 26-31 : 6 



Aug. 2-7 32 



Aug. &-14 46 



Aug. 16-21 33 



Aug. 22-28 29 



Aug. 30-Sept. 4 13 



Sept. 6-11 2 



I Sept. 20. 



166 



July - 10 



August 149 



September 7 



Maximum, one week 46 



Maximum, one day, Aug. 10, 16 11 



CLASSIFICATION BY TIME OF DAY. 



The explosions and fires occurred at all times during the day. The 

 following tabulation shows the time of 128 occurrences : 



5 to 6 a. m 5 



6 to 7 a. m' 5 



7 to 8 a. m 3 



8 to 9 a. m 3 



9 to 10 a. m 9, 



10 to 11 a. m 4 



11 to 12 noon 10 



12 to 1 p. m 3 



1 to 2 p. m 1 8 



.___ 14 



13 



12 



17 



17 



7 to 8 p. m 5 



128 



2 to 3 p. 



m 



3 to 4 p. 



m 



4 to 5 p. 



m 



5 to 6 p. 



m 



6 to 7 p. 



m 



From this it will be noted that the greatest number of explosions 

 occurred between the hours of 1 and 7 p. m. 



MAKE OF MACHINES. 



The explosions were generally distributed among all types of 

 separators operated in the territory and were not confined to any one 

 make or type. It was thought that possibly the explosions and fires 

 were confined to stationary machines, but investigators learned that 

 there svere at least three occurrences in the " combine " type. 



The investigation shows that the explosions occurred in both steel 

 and wooden separators. In view of the fact that data are not avail- 

 able to determine the number of machines of each type in the terri- 

 tory, it is impossible to state the percentage of each affected. 



