Things not to wear when welding

[rocco16 at sbcglobal.net (Larry)]

Sounds like urban legend, since there is no oxidant in the butane, it can't
explode in the BIC.  Burn mightily, yes, coming out in a big tonque of fire,
but not explode in the manner mentioned.

Larry


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Klun" <jklun@earthlink.net>
To: "Dan Smith" <sad_rocc@yahoo.com>
Cc: "Julie Macfarlane" <juliemac57@hotmail.com>; <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: Things not to wear when welding


> Dan and y'all:
>
> The story below is quite true.  In 1966 when the first BIC plastic
> lighters came out, lots of sailors bought them because they were cheaper
> than Zippos.  A Naval Safety Bulletin was issued to the entire Navy in
> late 1967 early 1968 forbidding any one who was welding from keeping the
> plastic lighters in their breast pocket.  The Bulletin referred to an
> accident that occurred to a sailor who was welding ashore.  (At that
> time, the welding 'leathers' were more like butchers aprons- covered
> most of the body but did leave the breast pockets unprotected.)  A spark
> from the sailor's welding torch struck his breast pocket, burned through
> to the lighter and it caused the lighter to explode.  The bulleting
> referred to the resulting explosion as equivalent to the explosive force
> of a stick of dynamite resulting in the sailor's death.  I do know that
> on our ship, any sailor assigned to welding and repair had to be
> 'inspected' by his leading P.O. or his Division Officer before being let
> loose with a welding torch....
>
> Dan Smith wrote:
>
> ><snip>    He also knew of people (or stories of said people) who always
kept their lighter in their breast pocket while welding and an errant piece
of molten metal would land on/near the lighter, melt through it and blow off
the person's torso.
> ><snip>
> >Dan
> >
> >
>
>
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