1913 — June 24, dust explosion, Husted Mill feed grinding plant, Buffalo, NY — 33

–33 Nat. Materials Advisory Board. Int. Sym. on Grain Elevator Explosions (V.I). 1978, p. 295.
–33 NFPA. Report of Important Dust Explosions. 1957, p. 38.
–33 Price. Dust Explosions: Causes and Methods of Prevention. 1922, p. 191.
–33 Safety Engineering. “The Explosibility of Grain Dusts.” Vol. 28, 1914, p. 307.
–33 State of New York. Department of Labor Bulletin 1913, Vol. XV, No 56. 1914, p. 393.

Narrative Information

Price: “…a destructive explosion in a feed grinding plant in Buffalo on June 24, 1913…resulted in the loss of 33 lives, injuries to 80 others and extensive property damage.” (Price 1922, p. 191.)

Safety Engineering. “As a result of a number of explosions in grain mills and industrial plants in this country and in Europe, and more especially as a result of an explosion in a feed-grinding plant at Buffalo, N. Y., in June, 1913, by which 33 men lost their lives and upwards of 70 were injured, a co-operative movement between milling interests generally and the Bureau of Mines was arranged for the purpose of making a scientific study of the explosibility of grain dusts and of methods per¬taining to the prevention of such explo¬sions. The milling interests were repre-sented in the conduct of the work by Lawrence E. Harmon, President of the Buffalo Cereal Company, Frank F. Henry, Manager of the Washburn-Crosby Company and George P. Urban, Secretary of the George Urban Milling Company, all of Buffalo, N. Y.

“This work was started August 1, 1913, being placed under the direction of Pro¬fessor George A. Hulett, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Mines. David J. Price was assigned to the field-engineering work and on February 1, 1914, Dr. H. H. Brown began a laboratory study of the problem.

“During the preliminary study 13 ex¬plosions were investigated which have occurred since 1905. Three of these took place in Iowa, three in New York, two in Illinois, and one each in Vermont, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio and Texas. These explosions were classified among the various lines of milling as follows: Cereal mills, 4; elevators, 3; feed mills, 2; starch factories, 2; glucose factory, 1; flour mill, 1: It is reported that, as a result of these explosions, at least 78 men were killed and 119 injured. The total damage to property exceeded $2,000,000….

“Experiments carried out by the Bu¬reau of Mines have shown that an ex¬plosion could be produced when there was only .032 ounce of coal dust sus¬pended in each cubic foot of air or 1 pound in 500 cubic feet of air. In the experiments of M. J. Taffanel at the Lievin experiment station in France as low a weight as .023 ounce of coal dust per cubic foot of space was in one in¬stance sufficient to produce an ignition. As preliminary experiments already con¬ducted indicate that many of the grain dusts have relatively a lower ignition temperature than many kinds of coal dust, and are relatively more inflamma¬ble [flammable in today’s usage], it may be possible that an ignition of dust of this nature might be produced with a smaller proportion per cubic foot than is necessary for coal dust.
During the investigations it has de¬veloped that the following causes have been assigned to many of the explosions in milling plants in this country and abroad:

• Use of open lights or naked flames such as lamps, torches, gas jets, lanterns, candles, matches, etc.
• Property fires.
• Introduction of foreign material in grinding machines.
• Electric sparks from motors, fuses, switches, lighting systems.
• Static electricity produced by fric¬tion of pulleys and belts, grinding ma¬chines; etc.

“The investigation has indicated that a large number of the recent explosions and fires have been caused by the intro¬duction of foreign material into grind¬ing machines. It would appear that a possible means of prevention would be to devise some system by which the for¬eign material might be removed before it reaches the mill. Other preventions suggested are a complete electric light¬ing system, the use of portable electric lamps instead of lanterns or naked lights, enclosing of electric-light bulbs in strong wireguards or protectors and the possible use of vaporproof globes, and the locating of all fuses, switches, start¬ing boxes, motors, etc., at points where no dust is present. It is also advised to have the receiving bins from the grind¬ing machines as small as practical with the operations, as increased size gives in-creased space for dust clouds, and there- force opportunity for a more violent and destructive explosion.” (Safety Engineering. “The Explosibility of Grain Dusts,”. Vol. 28, 1914, p. 307.)

State of New York: “On June 24th an explosion occurred in the plant of the Husted Milling Company, of Buffalo, which wrecked the plant and killed thirty-three employees. An investigation of the disaster was made by the secretary of the Industrial Board whose findings and conclusions were presented to the Board and adopted by it. In connection with this investigation, and pursuant to a resolution of the Board, the mechanical engineer of the Department was directed by the Acting Commissioner of Labor to investigate the subject of dust explosions in flour and feed mills and their prevention, and report to the Board. Below are printed condensed summaries of the report of these two officials….

“Summary of Report of Secretary of Industrial Board on Husted Explosion.

“The Husted disaster, conceded to be a dust explosion, occurred at 3:52 p.m. on June 24th, apparently in the mill proper of the Husted Milling Company, located along Prenatt Street on the south, the ‘Nickle Plate’ railroad tracks on the east, almost to the Elk Street viaduct on the north, and to the rear end of the lot lines of Smith Street residence property on the west. The Husted plant consisted of two elevators, a mill structure, a warehouse of two stories. Several railroad tracks adjoined the plant… Much of the plant was four years old, and had been built, following a previous fire, on modern lines.

“The plant was so complete a wreck that nothing could be learned from an examination of it, save that it was not a boiler explosion, as the boilers were intact, and that the mill proper was the probable source of the trouble….

“Messrs. E. M. Husted and Clifford Husted, father and son, president and superintendent of the company, afforded us every facility for investigating, and expressed their earnest desire to learn the cause of the explosion, about which they professed ignorance.

“At my direction, Sidney T. Wilson, an inspector of the Department, in the Buffalo district, took photographs of the wrecked plant from various points of vantage. On July 1st and 2d he interviewed ten owners, super¬intendents, millers and millwrights in other but similar mills, as to their ideas of the causes of such explosions, and the means of prevention. On July 10th he interviewed twenty-seven employees of the Husted Milling Company, at the plant, in their homes, and in hospitals, as to what they knew of the explosions, the condition of the mill at the time, and made particular inquiries as to whether any one had ever been seen smoking in the mill. Each one interviewed said he had never seen anyone smoking about the plant….

“The superintendent and many employees testified [at an inquest], in fact every survivor employed in the plant. Much of it was graphic, some dramatic, but no one could throw any light on the cause. The testimony alleged that there were about one hundred seventy persons employed (it was a twenty-four hour plant); that they were running mostly on corn; that the previous Satur¬day (three days before) they had shut down and given the mill a cleaning all over, described as “thorough;” that they employed four men to sweep and clean all day; that they were working that day; that the machinery was in good order, the boss millwright having the day before, on his return from a vacation, examined personally every bit of machinery; that the mill was equipped with exhaust fans and up-to-date apparatus; that the ma¬chinery was so related and interdependent that trouble anywhere would soon manifest itself elsewhere; that dust conditions were “good;” that electric lights with wires run in conduits were used, mostly Tungstens; and all incandescents covered with a heavy wire guard. The globes were single, however, and the guard was to prevent theft. The superintendent described fully, and apparently frankly, the whole plant, its construction, lay-out, equipment, methods, and products. Employees followed. No contradictory testimony appeared. Some rumors of defects appeared in print but no one as a witness bore out anything like an offense or neglect.

“The following conclusions appear to me sound, and are respectfully submitted:

“That the Rusted Milling Company’s explosion appears to have occurred during the ordinary course of the day’s work, with no obvious, readily ascertainable deviation from current and usual practices;

“That the Coroner’s inquest pursued in apparent good faith, disclosed no deviation from accepted practices in the industry;

“That the Husted Mill, from all the evidence available, appears to have been conducted as carefully as such mills are usually conducted;

“That, as an explosion did occur, and thirty-three people lost their lives in consequence, the very lack of peculiarity in the circumstances ren¬ders the potential dangers in the industry the greater;

“That an industry in which grave dangers to life and limb exist, by reason of the explosive nature of the product made or transformed, is pre¬sumptively a dangerous trade, requiring special regulations for the protec¬tion of the workmen engaged therein;

“That the conditions under which such explosions occur being unknown or not fully known, constitute the more reason for thorough investigation and adequate control of the dangerous factors;

“That the board should appoint an advisory committee to recom¬mend rules and regulations to safeguard the workmen in the milling in¬dustry, the scope of the committee to include ‘health and safety in the grain and cereal milling industry’.” (State of New York. Department of Labor Bulletin 1913, Vol. XV, No 56. 1914, p. 393.)

Sources

National Fire Protection Association. Report of Important Dust Explosions: A Record of Dust Explosions in the United States and Canada Since 1860. Boston: NFPA, 1957.

National Materials Advisory Board, NRC/NAS. International Symposium on Grain Elevator Explosions (Preprint. Vol. I). Washington, DC: National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, July 11-12, 1978.

Price, David James. Dust Explosions: Causes and Methods of Prevention. Boston, MA: National Fire Protection Association, with permission of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 1922.

Safety Engineering. Vol. 28, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1914. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1914. Accessed 10-8-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=a9YMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

State of New York. Department of Labor Bulletin 1913, Vol. XV, Nos. 54-56. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Co., 1914. Digitized by Google. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=RZEoAAAAYAAJ