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50 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
(CONTINUED FROM OCT. 2).
EXPLOSIONS AT RUSH RUN AND RED ASH
MINES, FAYETTE COUNTY, W. VA.,
In 1901 hoth of these mines were reported to he
dusty and as early as 1897 gas was found in the
Rush Run mine. On March 6, 1900, the Red Ash
mine exploded and killed 46 persons. That explosion
was caused primarily by the gas being ignited
wliich in turn caused the dust to be inflamed
which carried the explosion to all parts of the
mine. In describing this disaster the writer called
attention in his printed report of the danger
within mines due to the very fine dust made in
the mining of the eoal by machines and so far as
the writer is informed this was the first public
notice made of this danger incident to the use of
mining machines.
METEOROLOGIO (ATMOSPHERIC) CONDITIONS AFFECT­
ING DIST WITHIN BITUMINOUS COAL MINES.—Fine
dust within coal mines is a source of much danger
under several conditions:
1. In the presence of a very small percentage of
explosive gas, the dust under ordinary conditions
is in danger of exploding when ignited by a blast
or a blown-out shot.
2. Coal dust from mines producing a soft bituminous
gas or coking coal is dangerous in the
absence of marsh gas or any standing or intermingled
body of explosive gas.
3. The season of the year affects the condition
of the dust within the mines apd is the most important
factor leading up to a dust explosion.
Explosions in mines in which dust has been the
principal agent of destruction have, in all cases,
occurred during the cold or winter months. The
reasons are plainly apparent. The inside of a
mine maintains a rather constant temperature
throughout the year while the outside temperature
has a wide range. Ordinarily a drift mine
in the winter has a temperature of 55 degrees to
65 degrees while the outside temperature may be
40 degrees to 20 degrees or zero.
The current of air entering the mine at 30 degrees
can carry in suspension only a certain percentage
of moisture, and as its temperature is
increased in passing through the mine it has the
faculty to hold in suspension a greater percentage
of moisture which it takes from the surfaces exposed
within the mine, and in time makes the
mine exceedingly dry, except those places which
are made wet by a supply of water. The small
particles of dust are thus made to give up their
moisture, held mechanically, and at once become
saturated with oxygen in which condition the
dust and oxygen are in an unstable condition with
the other volatile and occluded gases of the dust.
Under these conditions the dust will explode
when flame from some source is propagated with
sufficient force and temperature. Such a force
may result, in a mine, from the explosion of gas,
dynamite, or powder, either confined or in the
open. In any event it requires a hot flame with
a high initial velocity to cause the dust to explode.
Experiments of technical mining commissions
have proven that any dry bituminous coal dust
in the absence of explosive gas can be made to
explode by discharging 10 Vi ounces of dynamite
so as to allow the flame of the explosion to communicate
with the dust, and also that Zy2 ounces
of dynamite will, under similar conditions, cause
the majority of coal dusts to explode.
Within the mines of this state it has been proven
that the dust of the mine has propagated an explosion
in non-gaseous mines caused by the blasting
of the coal with powder and also by the explosion
of powder confined within a powder keg.
In the first instance the shot performed its work
in bringing down the coal and was not a blownout
or windy shot.
In the second instance, as the result of a keg of
powder exploding, through improper handling, a
violent dust explosion extended over the greater
portion of a mine and caused the death of six
persons.
Within the Rush Run mine, about 250 feet from
the drift mouth, was standing a 16-ton electric
locomotive coupled to a string of empty mine cars
extending toward the mouth of the mine. Some
violent explosive, such as dynamite or nitroglycerine,
had been discharged between the flrst and
second cars from the locomotive which literally
tore to fragments these two cars, blowing the
second ear toward the drift mouth and the one
next to the locomotive beyond and under the locomotive.
About 10 feet from the locomotive and
at a point to which the end of the flrst car had
extended, within the rails of the track, was found
a piece of a metallic can which showed evidence of
heat and it was badly twisted and had a hole
blown through it. In our judgment this can contained
the explosive which caused the mine to explode.
How this explosive was placed there or
by whom no evidence is as yet obtained.
As a further precaution against the danger of
dust within these mines the management of the
operating company is having the mine piped for
the systematic distribution of water throughout
the mine. Some form of a spraying nozzle will
be used in connection with hose.
SUMMARY.
As to violation of law which may have been
the cause of this explosion, a clause of Section 10
of the mine law says: "In all mines generating
firedamp, accumulations of fine dry coal dust shall
as far as practicable, be prevented, and such dust
shall, whenever necessary, be kept properly
watered down."
1. In this particular the dust within the Rush