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Title: Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise

Author: P. Gerald Sanford

Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15308]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NITRO-EXPLOSIVES ***

Produced by Case Western Reserve University Preservation Department, Curtis Weyant, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

NITRO-EXPLOSIVES

[Illustration: DANGER BUILDING SHOWING PROTECTING MOUNDS. (See page 6.)]

NITRO-EXPLOSIVES

A PRACTICAL TREATISE

CONCERNING THE

PROPERTIES, MANUFACTURE, AND ANALYSIS OF NITRATED SUBSTANCES, INCLUDING THE FULMINATES, SMOKELESS POWDERS, AND CELLULOID

BY

P. GERALD SANFORD, F.I.C., F.C.S.

Public Analyst to the Borough of Penzance; late Consulting Chemist to the
Cotton Powder Company Limited; and formerly Resident Chemist at the
Stowmarket Works of the New Explosives Company Limited, and the Hayle
Works of the National Explosive Company Limited

~Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged~

PREFACE.

In compiling the following treatise, my aim has been to give a brief but thoroughly practical account of the properties, manufacture, and methods of analysis of the various nitro-explosives now so largely used for mining and blasting purposes and as propulsive agents; and it is believed that the account given of the manufacture of nitro-glycerine and of the gelatine dynamites will be found more complete than in any similar work yet published in this country.

For many of the facts and figures contained in the chapter on Smokeless Powders I am indebted to (amongst others) the late Mr J.D. Dougall and Messrs A.C. Ponsonby and H.M. Chapman, F.C.S.; and for details with regard to Roburite to Messrs H.A. Krohn and W.J. Orsman, F.I.C. To these gentlemen my cordial thanks are due. Among the authorities which have been consulted in the general preparation of the work may be mentioned the Journals of the Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, the United States Naval Institute, and the Royal Artillery Institution. I have also referred to several volumes of the periodical publication Arms and Explosives; to various papers by Sir Frederick Abel, Bart., F.R.S., and General Wardell, R.A., on Gun-Cotton; to "Modern Artillery," by Capt. Lloyd, R.N., and A.G. Hadcock, R.A.; to the late Colonel Cundill's "Dictionary of Explosives"; as well as to the works of Messrs Eissler, Berthelot, and others.

The illustrations have been prepared chiefly from my own drawings. A few, however, have been taken (by permission) from the pages of Arms and Explosives, or from other sources which are acknowledged in the text.

P.G.S.

THE LABORATORY,

20 CULLUM STREET, E.C.

May 1896.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In the preparation of the Second Edition of this work, I have chiefly made use of the current technical journals, especially of the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. The source of my information has in every case been acknowledged.

I am also indebted to several manufacturers of explosives for information
respecting their special products—among others the New Explosives Company
Ltd.; Messrs Curtis's and Harvey Ltd.; The Schultze Gunpowder Company
Ltd.; and Mr W.D. Borland, F.I.C., of the E.C. Powder Company Ltd.

To my friend Mr A. Stanley Fox, F.C.S., of Faversham, my best thanks are also due for his help in many departments, and his kindness in pointing out several references.

The chapter on Smokeless Powders has been considerably enlarged and (as far as possible) brought up to date; but it has not always been possible to give the process of manufacture or even the composition, as these details have not, in several cases, been made public.

P. GERALD SANFORD.

LONDON, June 1906.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION.

The Nitro-Explosives—Substances that have been Nitrated—The Danger Area—
Systems of Professors Lodge, Zenger, and Melsens for the Protection of
Buildings from Lightning, &c.

CHAPTER II.—NITRO-GLYCERINE.

Properties of Nitro-Glycerine—Manufacture—Nitration—Separation—Washing and Filtering—Drying, Storing, &c.—The Waste Acids—Their Treatment— Nitric Acid Plants

CHAPTER III.—NITRO-CELLULOSE, &C.

Cellulose Properties—Discovery of Gun-Cotton—Properties of Gun-Cotton—
Varieties of Soluble and Insoluble Gun-Cottons—Manufacture of Gun-Cotton—
Dipping and SteepingWhirling Out the Acid—Washing, Boiling, Pulping,
Compressing—The Waltham Abbey Process—Le Bouchet Process—Granulation of
Gun-Cotton—Collodion-Cotton—Manufacture—Acid Mixture Used—Cotton Used,
&c.—Nitrated Gun-Cotton—Tonite—Dangers in Manufacture of Gun-Cotton—
Trench's Fire-Extinguishing Compound—Uses of Collodion-Cotton—Celluloid—
Manufacture, &c.—Nitro-Starch, Nitro-Jute, and Nitro-Mannite

CHAPTER IV.—DYNAMITE.

Kieselguhr Dynamite—Classification of Dynamites—Properties and
Efficiency of Ordinary Dynamite—Other forms of Dynamite—Gelatine and
Gelatine Dynamites, Suitable Gun-Cotton for, and Treatment of—Other
Materials Used—Composition of Gelignite—Blasting Gelatine—Gelatine
Dynamite—Absorbing Materials—Wood Pulp—Potassium Nitrate, &c.—
Manufacture, &c.—Apparatus Used—The Properties of the Gelatine Compounds

CHAPTER V.—NITRO-BENZOL, ROBURITE, BELLITE, PICRIC ACID, &c.

Explosives derived from Benzene—Toluene and Nitro-Benzene—Di- and
Tri-nitro-Benzene—Roburite: Properties and Manufacture—Bellite:
Properties, &c.—Securite—Tonite No. 3.—Nitro-Toluene—
Nitro-Naphthalene—Ammonite—Sprengel's Explosives—Picric Acid—
Picrates—Picric Powders—Melinite—Abel's Mixture—Brugère's Powders—
The Fulminates—Composition, Formula, Preparation, Danger of, &c.—
Detonators: Sizes, Composition, Manufacture—Fuses, &c.

THE FULMINATES.

Composition, Formula, Preparation, Danger of, &c.—Detonators: Sizes,
Composition, Manufacture—Fuses, &c.

CHAPTER VI.—SMOKELESS POWDERS IN GENERAL.

Cordite—Axite—Ballistite—U.S. Naval Powder—Schultze's E.C. Powder—
Indurite—Vielle Poudre—Walsrode and Cooppal Powders—Amberite—
Troisdorf—B.N. Powder—Wetterin—Normal Powder—Maximite—Picric Acid
Powders, &c. &c.

CHAPTER VII.—ANALYSIS OF EXPLOSIVES.

Kieselguhr