When Dust Explodes


As destructive as a racketeer's bomb, combustible dust exacts its toll of business.
by Volta Torrey
HAUNTING America's castles—those gigantic, concrete structures dotting the shipping terminals—is a public enemy more deadly than all the ghosts of all the medieval citadels known to man.
"Combustible dust" is the name of this insidious foe. It lurks in 28,000 elevators, mills, factories and warehouses, a constant menace to the lives of 1,325,000 Americans and $10,000,000,000 worth of property. It explodes with more destructive violence than a gangster's bomb, haunts industry more persistently than its many victims' ghosts, and mocks inventors' efforts to circumvent, ensnare or confine it.