HOT MAGIC.

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19884, 13 May 1936, Page 3

HOT MAGIC.

THINGS To BEWARE. Here's a simple trick: Take one oiled map and put it in the closet under the stairs. if the conditions are right. your whole house Will burst into flame in a couple of days. . . _ This amazing phenomenon or spontaneous ignition is vaguely familiar to many of us as a hazard of damp hay in barns or, perhaps, painter's overalls in the closet. But by believing that this threat is limited to a small field, thousands of householders constantly lay themselves open to treacherous fires. One could go on indefinitely citing such cases of hot magic: is raincoat hung in a closet; a bunch oi.’ moss dipped in varnish for decorative purposes: on old pile of furnace ashes kept too long in a damp cellar: chips in the bag of a, floor shaver used on a waxed floor (this one cost is lives in a home for the aged); tloor sweepings (especially when mixed with oily dust-laying compounds) waiting in a bag to be destroyed. Probably the fastest case or spontaneous ignition on record occurred in a railroad station where a closet burst into flame one hour after a painter hung his oily overalls there. And one of the oddest outbreaks involved a keg of iron iiiings kept on an oiled floor. The oxidation of the oil heated the iron to the point where it ignited the wooden keg. Another cause or mysterious tires is the misuse of electricity. The forgotten electric iron alone is charged with a big percentage of our electrical outbreaks. Next comes the abused extension cord, which. trampled under foot, squeezed in doors, hung on nails, and subjected to numerous other extraordinary punishments, finally gives up the ghost and blows out. ‘ The careful householder disconnects all lamp cords hei‘orc leaving the house meant for any substantial period of time. There‘s current in the cord right up to the switch, and a rupture in the cord will scatter a shower of sparks (usually white—hot metal) all over the place. The. tampering of the handy man about the house causes more blazes than. you could shake a dozen sticks at. The least excusable form or this tampering is the business or monkeying with the fuses—— putting in heavy fuses when lighter ones blow out or. worse vet. bridging the fuse with a penny 01' other metal to eliminate the bother of replacing the plugs: _No one knows how many dwellings have been sacrificed to this stupidity. . A {use is the safety valve of the electric circuit. int. ‘ weaker than the rest of the line so that any overloagllntsmggllllly $.33: the breek to come there rather than in some hidden wire. This‘problern of overloading is more vital in an old house than in one with new wiring, because installations made 10 to 15 years 8.50 didn‘t anticipate the present popularity of electrical appliances“ In such a house it‘s urgent to have an electrician investigate aux/frequency of blow i’uses before you make the error of- over_fußh-i th line and throwing an undue burden on the wiring. g e