Protecting Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Locations
FROM the beginning electricity has been recognized as a potential fire hazard despite the fact that Public education along this line has been discouraged on the grounds that an admission of hazard would make the public afraid of electricity and thus bring about a reduction in the use of electric current. Years ago when electricity and gas were battling for supremacy in the field of artificial illumination there might have been some justification for soft pedaling the subject of electrical hazards. Today, however, there is nothing to take the place of our electrical facilities and, therefore, nothing to fear from the standpoint of competition through a frank discussion of the subject of electrical hazards.
Our first important commercial use of electricity was the arc lamp. Then came Edison with his incandescent lamp, next the motor, then our domestic appliances, and finally there has come the almost unlimited application and use of electricity industrially. In this era of expansion the industry has had to develop new equipment and new materials. Certain of these materials were not altogether safe nor satisfactory and had to be replaced with material that was safer. Other materials and equipment have been developed to take care of certain conditions and fire hazards and we have had to adopt metal enclosed wiring methods to a large extent, particularly in hazardous occupancies and in premises where the personal or property hazard looms large.
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