CHAPTER XIII.

OILY WASTE AND OTHER SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL.

There are many unknown combinations of materials, as well as known combinations, which produce spontaneous combustion, and as with the known combinations the actual conditions necessary to produce the combustion cannot be absolutely stated and always overcome, hence it is that where even the remotest suspicion of spontaneously combustible or of excessive and dangerously overheating combinations are thought to exist, special care should be taken to avert any possible danger. Oily cotton waste, when not absolutely saturated with oil, is subject to spontaneous combustion by the action of the capillary attraction of the threads for the oil, pulling the oil along a thread until resistance is met with at a knot or tangle and here producing heat of a sufficiently high temperature to ignite the small quantity of oil passing and thus fire all the waste, or waste with a small quantity of oil on it may be so exposed to the rays of the sun or other heat rays as to produce combustion; when cotton waste is thoroughly saturated with oil the danger is practically reduced to a minimum. The rapid absorption of oxygen by vegetable and animal oils, especially when in small quantities, as is the rule with cotton wiping waste and cloths when carelessly left around, produces sufficient heat to cause spontaneous combustion in the oily waste. Spontaneous combustion is also produced in the following, viz.: Cotton, woolen articles, hemp, jute, tow, flax and rags when impregnated with oil and left in accumulated piles; oily metal filings and cuttings, especially when a very small quantity of water is added; strong nitric or sulphuric acid on wool or straw, accumulations of board scrapings in currying shops, fleshings in tanneries, empty nitrate of soda bags, press cloths in soap, rendering, oil, butterine, etc., factories, oiled silk, oily leather scraps, oily waterproof clothing and oily overalls

and clothing, as in quantities these generate sufficient heat in themselves to produce combustion; piles of fish scrap, green bone, unslaked lime whether in piles or barrels, lamp black in packages or any other form, hay, cotton, woody fibre, tow, flax, hemp, jute, rags, leaves, spent tan, cocoanut fibre, straw in manure heaps, tow lying upon a barrel of rosin, some kinds of coal (bituminous) when sufficiently moistened with water; all of these materials under certain conditions generate heat sufficient to fire spontaneously.

Oily metal cuttings and filings should be removed from buildings daily and kept at least 20 feet from any buildings.

Board scrapings in currying shops, etc., should not be kept inside of buildings, except when in metal cans raised 2 inches above the floors.

Fleshings in tanneries should be removed daily and never piled against the sides of any buildings, except a building specially built for them and at least 30 feet from the insured buildings.

Nitrate of soda bags when emptied should be immediately removed to vacant ground over 25 feet from the buildings, or put in a fireproof building or a building constituting no hazard to other buildings of the plant, or be put in water; no bags should be stored in main building until they are thoroughly washed and dried.

Water on sodium will cause combustion by oxidization, hence it is that it must be kept dry. The same is true of potassium. Bisulphide of carbon is a volatile liquid with a low ignition point, about 300 degs. F.

On account of rapid oxidization chlorate of soda when mixed with organic substances and acids will cause combustion, hence it needs close attention. It is used extensively in dye works.

Nitric acid in contact with hay will cause the hay to ignite. Fish scrap and green bones in fertilizer factories should be kept in a well-roofed and sided building, so as to be protected from rain and other forms of moisture.

Unslaked lime should be kept in a well-roofed and sided building, so as to be protected from rain and other forms of moisture. Press cloths in soap, rendering, oil, sterine, etc., works, packing-houses, etc., should be thoroughly washed and dried before being piled together.

Scraps of oil silk, oily leather, oiled waterproof clothing, celluloid, etc., should never be allowed to lay about in piles, but should be gathered up and 1emoved daily.

Oily overalls, jumpers and other clothing should be hung against brick walls or placed in fireproof closets.

Lampblack should be kept in a perfectly dry place, preferably in a covered metal can.

Excelsior used for rubbing and finishing in paint shops, furniture factories and other risks where painting and varnishing are done should be kept in self-closing early waste cans when not in use, and remove and burn at least once daily. Keep all early waste in self-closing metal waste cans when not in actual use, and empty these cans daily.

Always have plenty of ventilation where any material subject to, or in which there is the least suspicion of a liability to, spontaneous combustion, is kept.

A majority of the spontaneously combustible materials need a small quantity of water to cause them to become overheated, and thus become a fire; hence all materials subject to or in which there is the least suspicion of a liability to spontaneous combustion should be kept in water and weatherproof buildings.

CHAPTER XIV.

WASTE AND RUBBISH.

More carelessness is exhibited in the disposal of rubbish and waste than with any other thing inherent to a risk; whether the carelessness is in consequence of neglect, a lack of efficient supervision or from a "don't-care" disposition one cannot always judge, but it is a very common thing to see the middle of a floor, the passageways and stairs thoroughly swept and clean, while accumulated waste and rubbish is found in corners, under benches, counters, machinery, in closets, etc., and when such a condition of affairs is pointed out to a proprietor or superintendent it is always received with a look of astonishment and either an assurance that it will not occur again or an explanation that "to-morrow" or "Saturday" is cleaning day and everything will be removed then, or that there is “no danger of that getting afire, as there is nothing in it to set it on fire." It is much more important to have closets, corners, spaces under counters, benches and machinery clean than to have the "always seen" places clean, for there is more liability to fire in practically concealed spaces than in open spaces, and a fire starting in a concealed space is more apt to be serious than one starting in an open space. The care of the accumulated waste and rubbish is also an important matter, for no one can be certain just what may be mixed in with it, and spontaneously combustible materials, unknown to the sweeper and others, may be part of it. All vaults, bins, conveyors, etc., should be carefully and properly built and located. No hot materials, such as ashes, should be put in wooden receptacles, and systematic and careful sweeping, cleaning and removal of all rubbish and waste should prevail.

Ashes.--Here lies one of the most constant and most universal hazards, for it is inherent in all classes of risks-manufacturing, business and dwelling. There is always a possibility of ashes being put into their receptacle while still hot, or being put

into some corner where some rubbish or other inflammable material has been thrown, or of being thrown against a wooden partition, post, side of a building, etc.; hence it is that care should be given to the elimination of this hazard wherever possible. Only riveted metal ash cans should be used; wooden barrels and boxes should be discarded. If ashes are thrown into a pile it must be seen that the location of this pile is such that it is away from all inflammable materials, and that no rubbish, papers, sweepings, etc., are thrown on the same pile.

Clean waste paper can be bagged and stored in some place not exposed to any lights or heating appliances which might be liable to set them on fire through contact; they should never be left loose in any quantities.

Cobwebs should always be removed, as they tend to collect dust and so are rendered inflammable and made rapid carriers of fire.

Conveyors carrying dust, lint, etc., from machines (textile mills, flour mills, polishing and buffing machines, woodworking plants, etc.), should be of galvanized iron riveted, securely supported or hung, be provided with sufficiently large fans to carry off all of the dust, etc., made by the machines connected with them, and be provided with automatic cutoffs, in order that no fire can travel back through them. They should not run over the tops of boilers or any other heat-generating appliances, excepting in boiler rooms in sawmills, where the boiler fires are fed through feed holes opening on the tops of the brickwork of the boiler.

All dust in bark mills, flour mills, grain elevators, grist mills, rag mill rooms in paper mills, leach houses, and all lint in textile mills should be regularly and systematically removed daily, if possible, but weekly certainly.

Dust from buffing and polishing machines can be carried into water tanks, if this is preferred.

Dust rooms should be well ventilated. The system of cyclone dust separators is advised wherever applicable.

Lint should be removed from gins, linters, cards and all other textile machines, practically continually.

All mill waste of textile mills should be removed to a detached building daily.