Wilson's Photographic Magazine
New York 1914
Flashlight Dangers.
An alarming experience befell a press photographer attached to the staff of an
illustrated newspaper a short while ago. He was engaged securing a flashlight portrait
of a group of people in a small room in a hotel when immediately after the flash of
the magnesium it was discovered that the windows of the rom had been blown out,
several ornaments in tile interior smashed, along with other minor damages to fragile
articles. A careful survey of the circumstances enveloping the apparent mystery
revealed that the operator had used too large a quantity of flash powder, and its
ignition in conjunction with the other heated gases always present to some degree in
a warm room, was quite sufficient to cause a slight explosion. No personal injury was
reported after the accident, but it will be a precaution worth the while in future for
flashlight photographers to not only make sure not to overcharge their apparatus
with powder, but to open the windows for a few moments before commencing
operations. This would permit of the escape of any accumulation of inflammable gas
and is particularly worthy of observation when flashlights have to be made in gas-lit
rooms.
Four Hurt in Flashlight Blast
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Four Hurt in Flashlight Blast.
The New York Times, October 3, 1930.
GLEN COVE, L. I., Oct. 2— One man’s hand was blown off and another man
and two women suffered burns tonight in an attempt to take a flashlight picture of
a group of men and women at an outing at the beach at Sea Cliff. The party was
made up of 180 employes [sic] of the Queens Electric Light and Power Company
of Jamacia. An overcharge of flashlight powder, according to police caused the
explosion. Daniel Robey of 80-12 Seventh Avenue, Woodhaven, L. I., was
removed to the Parkside Hospital here, where it was reported that his hand and
part of the forearm had been blown off.
---------
Because PHOTOFLASH powders are hazardous in any quantity,
one might regard their processing and the manufacture of
cartridges and bombs as the most hazardous in pyrotechnics.
Herbert Ellern - Military and Civilian Pyrotechnics
Whole Can of Flashlight Material Is Exploded.
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BOY’S BURNED BY POWDER.
Whole Can of Flashlight Material Is Exploded.
A bottle of flash light powder set off by two boys in Brooklyn last night
resulted in the hurried dispatch of the culprits to St. Mary’s Hospital and an
investigation by the police of the Brownsville Station as to whether a bomb had
exploded, as several excited witnesses hastily reported.
The boys are Isaac Goldberg, 14, and Abraham Wangrowsky, 12, both of
138 East New York Avenue, Brooklyn. With several playmates they were setting
off charges of the powder on a trash can in front of Lowe’s Palace Theatre, at
East New York Avenue and Douglas Street, when the contents of the bottle
accidentally ignited.
Bystanders said they were knocked down by the explosion. The boys were
seriously burned and cut by flying glass.
The New York Times, August 13, 1922.
Man Hurt in Flashlight Blast
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Man Hurt in Flashlight Blast.
Arthur David of 217 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn, a commercial photographer, was
burned and cut last night at 7:45 o’clock at Seventh Avenue and Forty-third
Street when a quantity of flashlight powder exploded in a holder when he ignited
it in an attempting to take a picture of the front of the Rialto Theatre. The force of
the explosion was so great that a window in the Times Building barber shop was
broken. David was taken to Polyclinic Hospital and later sent home. James A.
Meehan of 423 West Forty-ninth street, a bystander, suffered minor hurts by
flying pieces of the metal flash pan.
The New York Times, January 5, 1917.
Two "Strong Men" - Knocked Over by Concussion
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FLASHLIGHT BLAST BURNS CAMERA MAN
Two "Strong Men" Whom He Was Photographing Knocked Over by Concussion.
DINERS NEXT DOOR IN PANIC
News Services Employee taken to Hospital in Serious Condition From Explosion.
Arthur S. Sasse, 25 years old, a photographer for the International News
Service, was taking pictures of two "strong then," prospective competitors in the
Olympic Games, at the Attila Strength Institute., 2,034 Fifth Avenue, last
evening. He had made eight when on the ninth the flashlight exploded, blowing
his camera to bits and knocking him over. His right forefinger was torn off and
he suffered serious burns about the eyes and lacerations and contusions. He
was taken to Harlem Hospital in a critical condition.
The concussion shattered the large front windows on the Firth Avenue side
of the Institute, attracting a throng and throwing of their feet both “strong men"
and several spectators inside. In the excitement a report started that a boiler
had exploded, which threw a score of diners in a restaurant next door into a
panic. An alarm was flashed to the West 123d Street Police Station bringing
Captain John McCarthy and the reserves.
The International News Service, 226 William Street, said later that Sasse
had been employed two or three months.
The two "strong men" were Gus Tammmin of 27 Gove Street and Harry
Glick of 100 East 118th Street. Sasse lived at 4,542 Bronx Boulevard, the
Bronx. The appointment for the photographs had been made by a Bronx
newspaper.
The New York Times, January 30, 1924.
Explosion in a chantry
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EXPLOSION IN A CHANTRY
Stained Glass Windows Shattered in the Little Chapel Attached to Grace Church
FLASHLIGHT MIXTURE DID IT
A Photographer Was Preparing to Take a Picture of the Place—His Assistant Used the
Wrong Ingredient.
About half a dozen of the tanned-glass windows in Grace Chantry, the little chapel
adjoining Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, on the south side, at Broadway and
Tenth Street, were broken by an explosion yesterday morning, arising from the mistake
of a photographer's assistant. He used an explosive powder as an ingredient of the
magnesia powder which furnishes the illumination for flash-light pictures and the result
was a general surprise.
The photographer, Gustavus W. Parch of Pach Brothers, 935 Broadway, had been
engaged by the vicar of Grace Chapel, in East Fourteenth Street, the Rev. George H.
Bottome, to take a picture of the chantry far use in the work of the parish, and had
placed his camera in the rear, near the windows on the Broadway side, and facing the
altar, shortly after 10 o'clock. The only other persons there were Mr. Porch's assistant,
and Miss Bertha Thomas, who plays the church chimes, and who was looking over
some music books in the front part of the chantry, in preparation for the litany service at
noon. The flash-light had been decided on, as the stained windows make the ordinary
light in the room poor.
The mixture was placed on the instrument used for the purpose, and lighted. A
heavy explosion followed; there was a sound of breaking glass, and a rush of blinding
smoke, which filled the chantry, and Miss Thomas escaped in terror through the door
leading to the church, in which she found William Robinson, the janitor.
“What's the matter?" he inquired. “It's back in there," said she, pointing to the
chantry, from which the smoke poured. Robinson ran in and was greeted by a call for a
doctor. Mr. Pach's hand was bleeding from a cut several inches long, where a flying
piece of the instrument had struck him. His assistant was standing by in helpless
confusion, but unhurt. Pieces had been knocked here and there from the walls, and a
number of the stained-glass windows had been ruined by ugly holes.
The janitor summoned an ambulance from St. Vincent’s Hospital, and Mr. Pach was
taken thither in order to have his hand dressed. It was found afterward that he was not
badly hurt, and he went back to the task of taking pictures some hours afterward, as if
nothing had unusual had happened.
It will cost about $?50 to replace the windows. A member of the firm Pach Brothers
said yesterday that he though they would have to reimburse the church. The windows
were a gift of Miss Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, who built the chantry in 1879.
The New York Times, December 23, 1897.
.... "largest flash-light picture ever taken"
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AN UNEXPECTED BOOM
THE PULITZER CELEBRATION COMES NEAR BLOWING UP THE CITY HALL
Every precaution possible was taken to surround the formal opening of the
Pulitzer Building last evening with large attractions of all sorts. A lack of
precaution on the part of a photographer who was given a point of vantage on
top of the City Hall in order that the " largest flash-light picture ever taken" might
be made, served to fill out the programme in an unexpected but remarkably
successful manner. The photographer was prepared to make the effort of his
professional career. To provide for any contingency, he took extra quantity of
explosive material to furnish the flash lights.
The crowd that had collected in the City Hall Park had been somewhat
disappointed over the fireworks, there having been a little misunderstanding as
to the hour the display was to be made. Just as everybody was wishing that
some piece never before seen in the way of pyrotechnics might be set off, there
was a tremendous explosion that shook the very alphalt pavement of the plaza.
Nobody knew what It was, but everybody was satisfied that the firework's
display should end with it.
The ambitious photographers great effort hart been stopped. The explosion
was caused by his flashlight compound. Just what mixture he used is not
known, but the Sergeant in the City Hall Police station said that he thought it
was dynamite and gun-powder. The old City Hall shook on its foundations. A
stone weighing at least 300 pounds was loosened by the concussion, and half a
hundred panes of glass were broken. Fortunately the great stone fell to the
ground without coming in contact with any luckless individual. The explosion
was felt in all the great buildings along Park Row, and in the Pulitzer Building a
large pane of glass was broken, The photographer and his assistants escaped
without injury except to their professional pride.
In all other respects the opening went off according to programme. The
building was so crowded that it was exceedingly difficult to get from one part to
another. Men in dress suits had apparently gone to get some-thing to eat, and
when it was found that special tickets were needed to entitle one to admission
to the refreshment room, the place was taken possession of by assault. The
Governors of a number of States were present, ….. &c., &c.
The New York Times, December 11, 1890.
Explosion at Launching of Columbia
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BRISTOL FLASHLIGHT EXPLOSION
List of Injured by Explosion at Launching of Columbia.
BRISTOL, R. I. June 11.—A revised list of the casualties resulting from the
explosion of the flashlight apparatus at the launching of the Columbia late last
night shows that several more were injured than at first reported.
Napoleon Sans Souci, ten years old, was killed.
Emillie Siddall, eleven years old, had both legs lacerated and was badly
wounded in the back: his condition is very serious.
George Balfour, ten years old, received severe scalp wound.
Luke Callan, eight years old. Had a piece blown from his leg, and it is
feared he will suffer from blood poisoning. He is at the Rhode Island General
Hospital.
George Belmore, twelve years old, had his scalp torn.
John Welch's ear was split and the side of his face was cut.
Isadore Shermika was badly lacerated on the knee.
John O'Neil was severely wounded on the left leg.
From a partial examination made this afternoon, it is believed that a large
three side tin reflector used by the photographers was blown to atoms by the
explosion, as pieces of tin have been taken from many of the wounds, and other
pieces were found imbeded [sic] in the woodwork near the scene of the
accident.
Dr. Williams, the medical examiner, has written to Attorney General Turner
to-day asking whether or not he will order an autopsy on the body of the San
Souci boy. If he does the case will be put in the hands of Coroner Spooner for
an inquest.
The New York Times, June 12, 1899.
He was fond of experiments ....
The WiZard is In - 12-6-2010 at 05:11
KILLED BY AN EXPLOSION.
A Druggist Meets His Death While Conduction an Experiment.
HACKENSACK. N. J., May 5.—Charles Sterns, twenty-six years old, a
druggist employed in Hudnut’s Pharmacy, was killed at his home at Maywood at
noon today while experimenting.
Sterns lived with W. D. L. Wilkins. He was fond of experiments and for that
purpose had a small frame building erected near the house. He was at work
there about noon to-day when an explosion occurred. He said previously that he
was going to experiment with flashlight materials. The laboratory was completely
demolished. All the windows in the house nearest the small building were blown
in. The concussion was felt a mile away.
Sterns was still alive when found. One hand and one foot were torn off. His
body and limbs were cut and torn, and he was badly burned. The Hackensack
Hosptial ambulance was summoned, but Sterns was dead before it arrived.
Coroner Ricardo took charge.
The New York Times, May 6, 1897.
Two Women Hurled Through Floor When Flashlight Powder Ignites.
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4 HURT IN EXPLOSION THAT WRECKS HOME.
Two Women Hurled Through Floor When Flashlight Powder Ignites.
BUILDING WALL BLOWN OUT
Jersey Photographer Burned Trying to Aid His Wife—:Helper May Die.
The New York Times, January 11, 1916.
HADDONFIELD, N. J. Jan, 10—Ten Pounds of flashlight powder exploded
this afternoon In the dining room of the home of Charles. Mills at 7 Regnillah
Avenue. One Wall of the house was blown out, it was set on fire, and windows
were broken in neighboring buildings.
Mr. Mills, his wife, daughter, and his daughter's fiancé, Arthur Teed, are in
the Cooper Hospital at Camden all badly burned. It is feared that Mrs. and Miss
Mills and Mr. Teed will die.
Mr. Mills has .a photography establishment near his home and was in his
studio working. In the dining room of their home Miss. Maria Mills and Mr. Teed
of 898 Haddon avenue Camden, were mixing the ingredients for ten pounds of
flashlight powder. Mrs. Mills stood at the end of the dining room table watching
them.
What set the powder off is not known. When the explosion occurred Mrs.
Mills was hurled through a window out upon the lawn with her clothing on fire. A
hole was torn in the floor and through this the young woman was hurled.
Teed was thrown through doorway leading into the parlor of the house
across the room and against the front door with such force that the door was
knocked from its hinges and was thrown with Teed into the street.
Mills ran out of the photography studio to the aid of his wife. Before he could
get the fire out she was burned to the waist and all her hair was burned off. Mills
and others dropped into the cellar to rescue Miss Mills, who was as seriously
injured as her mother. All her hair was lost and her body was badly burned. Teed
escaped with burns or the face and hands and arms, but several ribs and bones
In his body are broken and he suffers from shock.
The firemen pit out the fumes, but the downward force of the explosion blew
the hole through which the young woman dropped to the cellar and tore down the
pillars holding the centre floor beam. The house is so badly twisted it will
probably have to be torn down.
Henry Ford
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9 HURT IN PIER BLAST; FORD AND SON ESCAPE
Bottle of Flashlight Powder Goes Off After Auto Makers Are Photographed.
CROWD OF 2,000 AT SCENE
Glass Showered Over a Wide Radius—Berengaria Had Just
Landed 900 passengers.
Nine persons were injured by an explosion of flashlight powder
yesterday afternoon when photographers were taking
pictures of Henry Ford, Edsel Ford and the tatter's children on
their arrival home from Europe on the Berengaria. None of the
Ford party was injured. The casualties were among the
photographers and bystanders and consisted of burns and cuts.
The accident happened at 4:30 P. M. on the Cunard Pier 54 at
the foot of West Thirteenth Street. Nearly 2,000 persons
were on the pier and 900 passengers had just landed from the
Berengaria.
The Fords had just posed for several photographs when the
contents of a large bottle of flashlight powder, within ten feet
of the spot where Henry Ford and his son Edsel were standing,
were ignited. It exploded with a loud report and hurled bits of
flying. glass over a wide radius. Bits of glass cut through the
clothing of men walking thirty feet away. The blast shook the
pier and startled every one on it.
Ford Offers Aid.
Mr. Ford showed no alarm, but when he saw the victims
bleeding close to him he asked if he could do anything. His two
grandsons, Henry Ford 2d, and Benson Ford, who were standing
with their mother twenty feet away, were badly frightend.
The persons injured by the explosion were: ………
Rumor of Bomb Starts.
A rumor, spread among the crowd on the pier that a bomb had
been thrown at Henry Ford, but there was no panic. Mr.
Ford left ten minutes after the accident with Edsel and the family.
Directly after the explosion the injured persons. were taken by
the pier police and porters on board the Berengaria where,
Dr. J. D. Doherty, the senior surgeon, converted the starboard
side of the promenade deck into a dressing station. He was
assisted in treating the injured by Dr. A. S. Nicol, junior surgeon
and the two trained nurses on his staff.
Miss Gleed was felled by the force of the explosion and had a
wound In her side, which bleed freely as she was carried on.
board in a hysterical condition. Six of the victims were sent in
ambulances to St. Vincent's Hospital after having their wounds
dressed. Two of these were treated. and' later left for their
homes. Miss Bleed was detained on the liner for further
examination to see if she had received internal injuries. She was
so severely cut about the legs that she could not stand in
line to wait for inspectors and Cunard officers asked that an
"expedite" be granted to her, but this was refused. Later she was
taken to the hospital.
Schutz, the photographer, may lose the use of his right hand.
He said afterward that he had placed the battle of flashlight
powder on the pier by his feet with the cork out. After he, had
taken the pictures of Henry Ford and his family he swung the
"gun" on his right arm and as it fell the trigger was accidentally
pulled, the spark Igniting the bottle of powder.
The pier police employed by the Cunard Line had objected to
the flashlight pictures being taken and were ordering the
photographers away when Henry Ford interposed. and said! “I will
come. Let them take the pictures." The snapshots had
been taken and Mrs. Ford and the two boys went over to the
baggage just before the explosion. Henry Ford and Edsel ware
standing near by talking with Mayor James S. Long, deputy
surveyor when the bottle blew up.
Captain R. T. Munro, banker and son-in-law of ex-Premier
Stanley Baldwin. said the explosion sounded. like a seven-inch
shell going off. He and A. J. P. Howard, director of the Hudson Bay
Company, and also a son-in-law of the ex-Premier of Great
Britain are going to Canada on a fishing trip.
Tells of Trips Abroad.
Coming up the harbor Edsel Ford said that he had been abroad
five. weeks on a business trip combined with pleasure.
The Ford factory at Cork, Ireland, he added, was now turning out
all the tractors needed to supply the European market.
Before the Berengaria docked representatives of the Ford
Company, who were on the pier approached the Customs
officials and asked if Edsel and his family could leave the pier by
the lower floor and avoid the flashlight photographers and
the crowd of reporters waiting for him. The request was refused.
Mr. Ford did not have an "expedite," but his baggage was
rushed out first by the stewards and was quickly examined.
Captain H. McConkey, said that no flashlights would be
permitted to taken on board the Cunard piers or on the companies
steamships hereafter. IrC - 14-6-2010 at 09:21
With a track record of hurting this many people it would be wise if they just went to digital cameras. Or at minimum to the sealed flash bulbs of the
40's through 60's. hissingnoise - 14-6-2010 at 09:59
Quote:
it would be wise if they just went to digital cameras. Or at minimum to the sealed flash bulbs of the 40's through 60's.
Those things were not easily got over a hundred years ago. . .
IrC - 14-6-2010 at 12:11
It was a comment about the lack of modern day applicability to the subject. In short meant to convey doubts that anyone today needs to worry about
flash powder.
It was a comment about
the lack of modern day applicability to the subject. In short meant
to convey doubts that anyone today needs to worry about flash
powder.
Except on July 4th.
---
Well ... the military T95 Photoflash bomb weighed 926 lbs
and contained 450 pounds of powder.... I would worry
about that!
Output was 5 600 10x6 Candles.
Granted in the days of radar and IR ... I doubt you could
readily locate a working one.
However, this place do be The Art and Science of Amateur Experimentalism.
---
BERNARD E. DOUDA. "Thus, a silicone resin (Sylgard 182) 12.96 and a
curing agent (182 catalyst) 1.44 are blended, the blend mixed with Mg
(granulation 15) 54.4, and finally 150u NaNO3 31.2% added. The mixt.
was blended until homogeneous poured into a 16 in. dia. mold, and
pressed at 8450 psi. to form a candle 16 in. long and weighing 56.75
kg. (125 lbs.!), burning time 81 sec., burning rate 700.6 g./sec.,
candlepower 8,300,000."
dull noise followed by a cry of agony
The WiZard is In - 15-6-2010 at 12:20
AN EXPLOSION IN A THEATRE.
Mr. John McCullough bad a benefit last night at the Fifth-Avenue Theatre,
and played in “Brutus" and "The Taming of the Shrew," In the storm scene in the
second act of " Brutus," a dull noise followed by a cry of agony, came from
behind the scenes and was beard by the actors on the stage. The audience did
not hear the cry, and thought the nose a part of the play. It had been caused by
the explosion of a box of what are known as magnesium pellets, use to make a
representation of lightning. The right hand of Joseph Scullon, the gas man
attached to the theatre, had been shattered in the explosion, some of his fingers
being destroyed. He was taken to the New-York Hospital. The stage carpenter
said last evening that Scullon had been sick and had just resumed his duties. In
the storm scene he represented lightning by placing a magnesium pellet on a
wire disk over an alcohol lamp, and by touching a spring the lighted pellet was
propelled across the scene from the third wing on the left. He held a box which
contained about three quarters of a pound of the pellets in his right hand, and it is
believed that a spark ignited them. There was no alarm behind the scenes,
where appliances for extinguishing fire are always ready for use. Scullon has a
wife and family, and lives at No. 361 Third-avenue. It is not believed that he is
permanently disabled. The pellets were not thought to be more dangerous than
powdered resin or lycopodium blown-through a tube against a light.
The New York Times, December 11, 1880. The WiZard is In - 16-6-2010 at 10:44
It was a comment about
the lack of modern day applicability to the subject. In short meant to
convey doubts that anyone today needs to worry about flash powder.
Except on July 4th.
-------
You never know.....! There are more things Horatio....
Photoflash Bomb Wrecks Windows Near Air ‘War’
Mitchel Field, L.I., May 14.—A photoflash bomb used for night aerial
photography which failed to function in the air and exploded when it hit the
ground, blew all the glass out of the windows of Paul Bosarup’s farmhouse on
Fulton Street, East Hempstead, last night.
Bosarup’s house is on the south side of Mitchel Field, center of the aerial war
raging over the eastern seaboard. Last night Mrs. Bosarup and her two
daughters, Dana 3, and Anna, 5 decided they had had enough, even of mimic
war. Bosarup was not home when the bomb dropped across the road, but his
wife and daughters were frightened by the loud explosion. Mitchel Field workmen
replaced the broken windows and some of the damages sashes today.
