Dust explosions have been with us for a long time. The first record of
a dust explosion occurred in Turin, Italy, on December 14, 1785 [1].
The detailed record of this event is left to us by Count Morozzo. The
event took place in Mr. Giacomelli's bakery. We know from his account
that the weather was unseasonably dry, that a boy who worked in the ba
kery was using a shovel to stir and transfer the flour to a chute from
a store room to the bakery, and he had a lighted lamp to work by. The
rest, as the saying goes, is history. No one was killed and the build
ing was saved by the sagacious fact of having plenty of windows. Since
that first record, of course, there have been many explosions with mu
ch loss of life and significant economic consequences.