The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-03 00:00:00

Mr. Gale's Gunpowder Experiments.

These interesting experiments, having for their
object to show how gunpowder can be rendered
non-explosive, and yet have its explosive properties
restored at pleasure, were repeated yesterday at
Westminster in presence of a distinguished com-
pany. They have been already performed at Devon-
port in presence of Lord Templetown, Admiral
Fanshawe, and a number of other military and
naval officers of distinction assembled for the pur-
pose ; at Mount Edgecumbe, in presence of their
Royal Hignesses the Prince and Princess of Wales ;
at Wimbledon, on the grounds of the National Rifle
Association ; before the Secretary of State for War,
and afterwards, by the noble Lord's desire, in pre-
sence of the Ordnanoe Select Committee at Wool-
wich ; at the French Embassy ; and on Tuesday last
in presence of his Royal Highness the Commander-
in-Chief, the Quartermaster-General, the Adjut.-
General, and other heads of the military profession.
The invitations to witness the experiments yester-
day had been issued with the object of niakjng the
invention still more widely known, and among those
present were the Marquis St. Germain, Attache to
the Italian Legation, Sir J. D. Hay, Sir. R. Mayne,
Mr. R. Palgrave, Sir Charles Fox, ' C.E.; Admiral
Fanshawe, Capt. Hall, R.N., Sir. A. Buller,-AI.P.,
Sir Malcolm M'Gregor, Mr. Hubbard, M.P., Mr.
White, M.P., Mr. J. Glaisher, Mr. Barry, Mr. T.
Lucas, Mr. Bateman, C.E., Mr. Maclean, .C.E.,
Mr. Peter Graham, Capt. Shaw, of the Fire Bri-

gade, &c.
The experiment took place on a portion of the
land in rear of the lofty range of buildings just erected
in Victoria-street, opposite the. Westminster Palace
Hotel. A strong fire contained in a temporary stove
of piled-up bricks, and a large wooden table to
support the materials about to be experimented
with, formed the only appliances iequiSite, except
some slow matches, fuses, and a red-hot poker.
Mr. Gale, in the first instance, exhibited his own
powder, which on former occasions was spoken of in
general terms as the protective.mixture, but, having
been patented, is now declared to be simply glass
ground as fine as possible. He next proceeded to
test its qualities when mixed with gunpowder in
various quantities. Equal proportions of the ground
glass and gunpowder, when placed together in a
bowl, went off like a squib ; and nearly the same
result followed when the quantity of the separating
powder was doubled. As soon, however, as the pro-
portion had been increased from 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 there
was a visible slackening in the amount of combustion,
explosion no longer taking place ; and 4 to 1 is stated
to be the proportion by weight—though to the eye
the bulk infused into the powder looked larger still
—at which the mixture may with impunity be sub-
jected to the action of fuses and red-hot pokers.
The general outline of these experiments must now
be familiar to the public through the descriptions
which have been published ; but yesterday severer
tests were resorted to. A good-sized bundle of this
diluted gunpowder—if the phrase could be applied to
a mixture from which all moisture was excluded—
was placed upon the fire ; and, though the paper in
which it was wrapped soon burned away, none of
the results followed which might have been expected.
Instead of a loud roar and destructive burst of flame
from the parcel, the fire itself seemed in danger of
being extinguished by the dead weight of powder
pressing it down ; and it was only herb and there
that small puffs of dust flew out between the bricks,
when isolated grains of the powder went off, dis-
gusted as it were with the apathy prevailing around
them. This experiment was repeated more than once,
and each time with success. Finally, a keg contain-
ing some pounds of the mixture, which Mr. Gale
had previously stirred about with a red-hot poker
without producing any other result than great
smoke and occasional jets of flame, choked almost
as soon as they showed themselves was 'placed upon
the fire. But even here the united efforts of the
gunpowder and stove proved unable to set fire to
the staves of the barrel, so potent is this powdered
glass as a fire annihilator. The actual grains of
gunpowder in the mixture caught fire and burnt
away whenever they were stirred and brought in
contact with anything to ignite them ; and two or
three times, when Mr. Saunders poured out the
mixture quickly from the barrel, it looked like
liquid flame. But the power of mischief ended
with the consumption of the individual grains.
The mass was soon as black and cold as ever. A
further experiment, the suggestion of which was
due
originally to Lord Bury, was also tried. It is
supposed
epnothat
pti n practice the mixture might not
aerl ee
elements
ewn ittshw sufficient
thereforee ci ent care,
improperly and th at
distributed. To carry out the idea a certain
amount of raw powder was placed in the centre of
a still larger quantity of the mixture and set fire
to. The result was the same as in the case of gun-
cotton placed upon gunpowder. The highly in-
flammable material went off in smoke, and the resi-
due remained uninjured. After each' experiment
portions of the mixture which had been exposed
successfully to the action of the fire were sifted, and
the gunpowder, once withdrawn from its safety en-