Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1909 — WHEN HEAT IS CONFINED. [ARTICLE]

WHEN HEAT IS CONFINED.

Experiments Prove Electric Lamps Often Cause Fires. Incandescent electric lights have caused many fires because the heat generated by them becomes intense when confined. They are, therefore, dangerous in those coal mines where they have displaced other forms of lamps. A writer says: “Among miners, where the underground workings are lighted by electric incandescent 1 lamps, there is often a tendency to be careless in the handling of the lamps. As the light is not naked it is considered that the lamps may be laid down anywhere without fear or danger. Some experiments that have been carried out in England, however, prove the fallacy of this contention and show that an incandescent electric lamp is equally as dangerous if not properly handed as a naked light, t “Investigations of H. Hall, one of the British government inspectors of coal mines, showed that when a 16candle power lamp was covered with coal dust the generation of heat wa& so rapid that within four minutes a temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit was attained and the bulb burst. His the heat had risen to a certain point evidences of spontaneous combustion developed and, although the lamp was then removed from the coal, heat, generatibn still continued and finally the coal burst into flame.