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Rubbish and Sweepings.-All buildings should be swept out daily. In mercantile buildings where there is any great quantity they should be kept in a vault under the sidewalk or in a properly constructed fireproof room until they are removed from the building. Only riveted metal cans, the bottoms of which are raised at least 3 inches from the floors, should be used as waste cans. In manufacturing plants the rubbish and sweepings should be removed from the buildings daily. In sweeping care must be taken that all corners, under and behind all benches, under and behind all steam and other pipes, closets, bottoms of elevator shafts and all dark and generally unnoticed places receive as thorough a cleaning as the middle of the floors.

Vaults.-Doors between vaults and firerooms must be kept closed, except while material is being removed from the vault, and no material must be carried directly from the vault to the fires while the door is open. Doors on vaults should, if possible, be at least 10 feet from the fire openings and not directly in front of the fires, but if directly in front, should be at least 20 feet distant. Care must be taken not to leave a trail of sawdust, etc., between the doors and the feed pile in the boiler

room.

All rubbish, etc., should be removed from under street gratings, for it is here exposed to ignition by a person passing on the street dropping a lighted match, cigar or cigarette down upon it.

CHAPTER XV.

SPECIAL INFORMATION.

MACHINERY.-Notwithstanding the special care generally given to all power appliances by the employment of engineers to keep watch over all such apparatus, it is not exceptional to find shafting out of "line" and so running in the bearings as to produce overheating, or to see pulleys and belting in contact with wood, and causing by their movements undue heating, or to find unused loose pulleys wobbling on shafting and presenting the liability of the production of a spark at any time.

Bearings are usually found well oiled, but covers for the oil or grease cups are often missing where absolutely necessary on account of dust mixing in with the exposed oil or grease.

All heavy machinery (such as large engines, gang saws, band saws in sawmills, rollers in rubber, plaster, etc., works, heavy stamping machines, rollers in rolling mills, etc.) should have heavy foundations independent of the building structure.

Shafting must be regularly looked after to see that it is in "line" and running cool.

All journals and bearings should be in full sight, accessible and kept well oiled and clean.

Approved self oilers should be used wherever possible.

All oil cups, especially in places exposed to dust (such as flour mills, grain elevators, plaster mills, etc.), must be covered by good, tight-fitting metal covers.

Metal drip pans should be under all bearings, and journals which drip oil or grease, and under all machines using oil on their work (such as nut, bolt and screw machines, some lathes, etc.).

Where there is a continual liability to overheating (as at crank shaft of gang saws in sawmills), a stream of water should constantly be flowed over such place while it is in motion.

All loose pulleys no longer in use must be removed.

Hangings for shafting must be securely and rigidly fastened to their supports.

Each head in a grain elevator must be so arranged as to be "thrown out" of connection with operating machinery, independently of any other head, while the machinery is running at full speed. Friction gearing for operating heads from main shaft should preferably be used.

GASOLENE ENGINES (National Board of Fire Underwriters)-Should be located on the ground floor wherever possible, and where in rooms where dust and inflammable flyings prevail they must be enclosed in a properly constructed fireproof compartment well ventilated to the outer air at both the floor and the ceiling; if set on a wooden floor the engine must be on a metal plate turned up at the edges. The supply tank shall be located outside of the buildings, underground, where possible, at least 30 feet from the buildings and below the level of the lowest pipe in the building used in connection with the system. Where it is impracticable to bury the tank it may be installed in a noncombustible building or vault properly ventilated, preferably from the bottom. The use of auxiliary inside tanks is not advised, as extra piping and fittings are required, and an additional receptacle containing gasolene is introduced within the building, but if such a tank is used it shall not exceed one quart in capacity and shall not be placed on, in or under the engine, and shall be so arranged that when the supply valve is closed a drain valve into the return pipe will be automatically opened. The piping from the outside tank shall run in as direct a line as possible, not in the same trench with the other pipe nor near any other pipe, and the openings in the walls of the building where the pipes enter shall be securely cemented and made water and oil tight. The piping for the feed and the overflow auxiliary inside tank and feed cup shall be installed with a good pitch, so that the gasolene will drain back to the supply tank. The fill and vent pipes leading to the surface of the ground shall be boxed or jacketed to prevent freezing of earth about them and loosening or breaking of connections. The muffler or exhaust pot shall be placed on a firm foundation, and be at least one foot from woodwork or combustible materials, and the exhaust pipe, whether direct from engine or from muffler, shall extend to the outside of the building, and be kept at least 6 inches from any woodwork or combustible material, and if run

through floors or partitions shall be provided with ventilated thimbles, and shall in no case discharge into chimneys. Due consideration shall be given the cleaning of the cylinder, valves and exhaust pipe as often as the quality of the fuel necessitates. Engine room floors should preferably be of cement or asphalt, but if of wood a covering of metal should be placed over it at all points where oil is apt to be thrown.

Partitions of wood against which oil is apt to be thrown should be protected by the placing of a metal shield in such a location as to intercept the thrown oil, or if this is not possible the partition should be covered with sheet metal closely following all angles and lines. This metal covering should be put on with lock joints and soldered.

Printing and lithographic presses and all machines using oil on work done on them (screw, bolt, nut, etc., machines) should preferably be set on cement, concrete or asphalt floors, but where set on wood the wood should be covered with metal wherever there is any possibility of oil being dropped or thrown.

When repairs are to be made at night, or are to be made in some dark place by artificial light other than electric light, no less than two men together should attend to the work.

Belt holes should be as small as possible, while yet giving sufficient room for play of belt. They should all be provided with metal or wood curbing, i. e., raised castings or strips of wood at their upper edges, in order to prevent floor sweepings, rubbish, water, etc., from falling through them.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.-Empty boxes, boards, etc. should always be piled in an orderly manner, away from all liability of contact with any lights, in a readily accessible location, and the floor about these piles should be kept free and clean.

Closets, in sprinkled risks, should, unless provided with sprinkler heads within them, have no wooden or metal tops to them. Where used for hanging workmen's clothes in, for keeping tools, as supply closets or where any machinery, parts of machines, oils or any materials of an oily or spontaneously combustible nature are kept, they should have the doors made of wire netting, so that the whole interior of the closet is always in full view.

GUNPOWDER.-Under no circumstances must it be handled

near any artificial lights or fire-heating appliances. The quantity that can be kept in or near a building is regulated in localities by local laws and regulations.

Where matches are kept in large quantities (as in retail and wholesale grocery risks), they should be piled on the floor in piles of more than three cases high; in piles up to three cases they can be piled on low counters or shelving not over 4 feet high. This is to prevent the liability of the boxes from falling any distance, and thus firing the matches.

Where straw, hay, excelsior or loose paper is used for a packing material, it should be kept in standard tin-lined bins or boxes, with standard tin-clad doors or covers on them. Only one bale of straw, hay or excelsior should be opened at one time. All loose when packing is finished should be put back into its receptacle.

Sawdust should not be used to absorb oil drip unless the sawdust is in an open metal pan, and is taken out daily.

Smoking should be prohibited in and about all manufacturing plants, and should be restricted in all business buildings.

All sooty deposits should be removed, and all places liable to such deposits should be protected by metal pans with the edges turned at right angles toward the point from which the deposit emanates.

Stacks of wood-burning fires from which sparks fly (as at sawmills, etc.) should be provided with spark arresters.

Stairways and passageways should always be kept free of any obstructions.

Ground bark from tannery bark mills should be conveyed to the leach tanks in a moistened condition, so that there will be a minimum of flying dust; steam jets at the discharge of each bark mill are advised for this purpose.

Timbers, rafters and all woodwork in any location subject to deposits of dust or any inflammable or combustible materials should be thoroughly whitewashed with a solution of lime, salt and alum, or be painted with some fireproof paint.

Unused machinery should always be cleaned of oil and any oily materials which may be on it.

Window glass has been known to so concentrate the rays of the sun as to set fire to light inflammable materials. Where

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