The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

Important Applications of Gun Cotton,

At the Royal Institution, on Friday evening, the
recent improvements in gun cotton again formed
the subject brought to notice, the lecturer on the
occasion being Mr. Scott Russell. In the previous
lecture on the subject, by Mr. Abel, the chemical
history of gun cotton, and the nature of the improve-
ments in its manufacture recently made in Austria,
were more especially dwelt on ; while Mr. Russell
principally directed attention to its uses. He stated
that at a late meeting of the British Association a
committee was appointed, of which he was a mem-
ber, to investigate the nature of the great improve-
ments which it was known had been made in Aus-
tria on gun cotton by General Leuz, but which
were kept a profound secret by the Austrian Go.
vernment. One of the first things the committee
did was to write to Gen. Leo; to request him to
come over and acquaint the committee in what his
improvements consisted. This impudent request—
as Mr. Russell admitted it to have been—excited a
commotion in Vienna, bat the young Emperor,
against the advice of his councillors, consented to
allow the secret to be known, and General
Leuz came to this country and informed the corn-
mitte whet it was. The object to be accomplished
in the manufacture of gun cotton to render it appli-
cable, was to diminish the rapidity of its combus-
tion, and its liability to accidental explosion. These
objects have been folly accomplished, as was pre-
viously stated by Mr. Abel, principally by spinning
the cotton into yarn before it undergoes the process
of conversion into gun cotton ; and it was shown
by that gentleman that by mechanical alteration of
the structure of the cotton fibre alone the explosive
material may be placed under complete control,
and that, as he said, you may do what you like
with it. What can be done with gun cotton, and
what cannot be done with it and its merits, com-
pared with gunpowder as an explosive agent, were
explained and illustrated by \lr. Scott Russell,
who, though he commenced by mentioning some
points of objection to gun cotton, finally removed
them, and represented it to be in every respect
superior to gunpowder, and to be capable of pro•
ducing far more destructive effects. As an illus-
tration of the different degrees of rapidity of com-
bustion attainable with gun cotton, he first ignited
a thick yarn of the substance which was suspended
round the gallery of the lecture-room, which burned
along at the rate of about one foot in a second. He
next took a piece about a yard long which flashed
in half a second ; and another similar length of the
most explosive kind, exploded instantaneously. A
remarkable property of gun cotton, whica consti-
tutes an immense advantage in its tue compared
with gunpowder is, that it leaves no products of
combustion, behind, and produces very little smoke.
Another important advantage is, that it is not in-
jured by moisture, and may be wetted and dried
without impairing its power. This was shown by
immersing a piece of gun cotton yarn in water,
which was then squeezed out, and, though still damp,
the outer surface rapidly ignited, and when the
remainder was squeezed the cotton again ig-
nited. This property is a great safeguard in
the manufacture of gun cotton, for all the pro-
cesses may be conducted under water, and it is
afterwards dried. For ordinary practical purposes
the rapidity of its explosion is reduced to an
equality with that of gunpowder, in which state
one pound propels a projectile from a cannon
with the same velocity as three pounds of guns
powder. The recoil of the cannon when gun
cotton is used is only two thirds the amount of
recoil with gunpowder; there is no fouling of the
gun, which remains also comparatively cool;
and the absence of smoke enables the gunners
to continue firing in casemated batteries and
between the decks of ships without annoyance. As
an explosive agent, gun cotton possesses some re-
markable peculiarities, the ceikes of which have net
yet been ascertained. A piece of loose gun eotton
fired on a balanced scale produces depression, the
whole force goieg off into the atmosphere without
any recoil. But if the gun cotton be enclosed in a
box or barrel, its explosive force in all directions is
much greater than that of gunpowder. Some im-
portant experiments on a large scale have been tried
with gun cotton made by a manufacturer of the sub-
stance in Suffolk. A palisade was formed with the
trunks of a number of large trees fixed in the ground
close together, and a small box filled with gun cotton
was exploded near them. A large gap was instantly
made, the trees having been cat asunder quite
straight, though at the top of the fractures the wood
was splintered into matches. Its destructive effect
was tried on two wooden bridges, which were com-
pletely splintered ; but the most important experi-
ment was the blowing up of a ship of 400 tone i
burden by means of 40tb of gun cotton encloseA
a barrel and placed under water at a dista-
of
o'ca- 90n
feet. The ship, it was stated, was cony
.".‘etely b
to pieces. The force of gun cotto-
mining operations is equally '77hen applied to
Cross Collieries it has be, .aafectlye. At the Clay
,a found that a blast with
one ounce of gun cot'
,on will remove from 60 to 80
cubic feet of coral, and it has been applied at the
slate quart- .
_es North Wales with equal success.
It is a
great advantage in using gun cotton in min-
-if or tunnelling that the work is not impeded by
smoke, which is a serious inconvenience when blast-
ing with gunpowder. Mr Scott Russell attributed
the remarkable diminution of recoil in explosions of
gun cotton to the absence of solid matter in the
products of combustion. In gunpowder the solid
refuse amounts to about 60 per cent. of the weight
of the powder, and the effort required to blow away
this'` rubbish," he considers, produces the additio-al
amount of recoil. In gun cotton, on the contrary,
there is scarcely any solid refuse, 25 per cent.
of the products of combustion consisting of
water; and he conceives that the expansion of this
water into redhot steam by the ignited gases during
their explosion is a main cause of the great explosive
force of gun cotton. Mr. Russell ventured also to
speculaten t ho
fa t g tuhne
cl
oo
twt
oe
tri droe
ag
yr e o
he e
of
INh,
na
gt c t caused
sbuybtshee_
dheonwseavt condensation t
ho
at
t thethe seteeeaeme i
en
ft ot
these
as
et e r; n d Hoof
claduemnitttecdon,
other peculiar properties of gun cotton are involved
in doubt, which he hoped the further investigations
of the committee of the British Association would
remove. He also mentioned that a commission had
been appointed by the Government to consider the
applieetion of gun cotton to artillery.

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