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10
EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, APRIL, 1915
Bottle Containing Diamonds. Before and After Fire.
DIAMONDS THAT PASSED THROUGH
THE EDISON FIRE AND
WERE RECOVERED
THE Jewel Department, before the fire, was located on the fifth floor of Building No. 15, which was swept clean by the flames. When the fire started at 5.17 P. M. on the afternoon of December 9th this Department was in full operation. Had the fire occurred half an hour later every diamond and sapphire would have been in the safe, as it was customary to turn in all material before closing time, at 6 P. M.
But at the time the fire occurred thousands of diamonds and sapphires were in use throughout the Department, some in trays, some mounted, some in process of cutting and some in vials or bottles. "Safety first" had always been the rule in the Edison factory, so that in accordance with the custom of frequent fire drills, the working force of this Department formed into line and marched out on the alarm of fire. For this reason, and the close proximity of the fire and smoke, the jewels were not gathered up.
On the morning after the fire, as soon as conditions would permit, under the direction of J. E. M. Simpson, head of the Jewel Department, workmen were set to work shovelling up all the debris on the concrete floors where this Department had been. Several large ash cans were filled. Then the floors were thoroughly swept and contents of the sweepings also saved.
This debris was then removed to the new location of the Jewel Department on the eighth floor of the Storage Battery Building, and a force from that Department set at work sifting it. Large sieves were used first, then smaller and smaller until a very fine sieve of one hundred meshes to the inch was reached. Each time the siftings were carefully scrutinized by experienced diamond cutters, who could readily detect the gems. In this way the loss, if any, was reduced to a minimum.
Mr. Simpson has kept careful and accurate tally of all salvage. Over 140,000 sapphires were recovered, and when it is observed that each sapphire is not over 3-16 of an inch long and thinner than a small pin — almost like a needle, some idea may be obtained of the delicacy and tediousness of the work of picking these out of ash cans.
The diamonds in use at the time of the fire were in four conditions — unmounted in trays, mounted, in glass bottles, and in a finished state ready for use in the reproducer. Over 25,000 separate diamonds in bottles were recovered, while those in mountings which fell to the floor and were gathered up in the debris, as well as those unmounted (gathered up also from the dust) totalled 64,658, and every one of them is as usable as if there had been no fire.
That it was a hot fire, even in the Jewel Department, is evidenced by the effect of the heat upon the microscopes in use there and upon the glass bottles containing the jewels. Over 100 Bausch & Lomb microscopes, valued at SI 10 each, were lost. What happened to them is shown in the illustration herewith of a perfect microscope before the fire, and the same as recovered after the fire. Strange enough in this relic shown, one lens inside the melted mass is loose and rattles when the mass is shaken.
Three Vials (Containing Diamonds) Were Fused Together by the Fire. Diamonds Unhurt.