Deepwater in 1907 -- Explosion

[NW Mailing List]

This is derived from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Blasting#Explosives

snip
<<Like nitroglycerin, the common dynamites freeze at a temperature of  
from 42° to 46° F. They are then comparatively safe, and so far as  
possible should be transported in the frozen state. At very low  
temperatures dynamite again becomes somewhat sensitive to shock. When  
it is frozen at ordinary temperatures even the strongest detonating  
caps fail to develop the full force. In thawing dynamite, care must  
be exercised. The fact that a small quantity will often burn quietly  
has led to the dangerously mistaken notion that mere heating will not  
cause explosion. It is chiefly a question of temperature. If the  
quantity ignited by flame be large enough to heat the entire mass to  
the detonating point (say 360° F.) before all is consumed, an  
explosion will result. Furthermore, dynamite, when even moderately  
heated, becomes extremely sensitive to shocks.

There are several accepted modes of thawing dynamite: (I) In a water  
bath, the cartridges being placed in a vessel surrounded on the sides  
and bottom by warm water contained in a larger enclosing vessel. The  
warm water may be renewed from time to time, or the water bath placed  
over a candle or small lamp, not on a stove. (2) In two vessels,  
similar to the above, with the space between them occupied by air,  
provided the heat applied can be definitely limited, as by using a  
candle. (3) When large quantities of dynamite are used a supply may  
be kept on shelves in a wooden room or chamber, warmed by a stove, or  
by a coil of pipe heated by exhaust steam from an engine. Live steam  
should not be used, as the heat might become excessive. Thawing  
should always take place slowly, never before an open fire or by  
direct contact with a stove or steam pipes and care must be taken  
that the heat does not rise high enough to cause sweating or  
exudation of liquid nitroglycerin from the cartridges, which would be  
a source of danger. >>
snip

Obviously, there is a reason to thaw dynamite, but most of these  
folks probably could not read or have access to a reference book in  
its day.

Ken Miller


On Apr 30, 2008, at 9:33 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:


> Surprisingly, I have run across several articles of similar  

> accidents in the winter time.  On Feb. 22 of this year I posted an  

> article about a similar 1903 dynamite thawing explosion on the  

> N&W's Big Sandy extention, and I just read of a similar 1907  

> dynamite thawing explosion on a railroad constuction project in  

> Kentucky.  Also, yesterday I saw a 1907 article about a woman who  

> was killed by a dynamite explosion in her kitchen.  Her husband had  

> placed some dynamite in the oven to thaw and forgot to tell his wife.

>

> When it comes to thawing dynamite in the good ol days, there are a  

> lot of Darwin Award candidates.

>

> Gordon Hamilton

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