The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-22 00:00:00

{CARLISLE MEETING-JULY 3.

Acceptances for the CUMBERLAND PLATE. The highest
weight accepting being 7st 81b, it has been raised to Bst
121 b, and the others in proportion.
• Age st lb
Privateer ... 5 8 12
The Clown 5 8 11
Red Earl ... ... 4 8 11
Holstein ... ... 4 8 0
Lady Durham ... 4 712
Selim ... 3 7 12
Arkenside... ... 4 7 11

Age st lb
Lady Vane ... 3 7 6
Flatcatcher ... 3 7 6
Deerhound ... 4 7 4
Elpha 4 7 4
Dart ... ... 3 7 3
Miss Williams ... 3 7 0
Lady of the Tees... 3 7 0
Bob Chambars ... 3 611
Dark Agnes ... 3 6 11
Archery ... ... 3 6 11

Pilgrim
Caithness ...
Fitzroy ...
Minnette

.., 4 7 9
...3 7 9
... 3 7 8
... 4 7 7

FIORSES STRUCK OUT OF THEIR ENGAGEMENTS
June 15, after 6 p.m., Moulsey, out of Liverpool Cup.
June 18, at 9 a.m., Nisita, out of the Exeter and Ches-
terfield Stakes, Newmarket. _ _ _

June 19, after 6 p.m., Buekfoot and Sisyphus, out of
Hungerford engagements. _ _ _ _
..
.. _

June 19, after 6 p.m., Buckfoot, Dawdle, Uarnizette,
Sisyphus, and Iconoclast, out of Liverpool engagements.

- -
June 21, at 9 a.m., Plunder, out of engagements at New-
market July Meeting.

Mr. Gale's Non-Explosive Gunpowder.

The final Government trials to test to the utmost
the value of Mr. Gale's discovery were made on the

largest scale on Wednesday afternoon and evening
in one of the Martello towers on the beach half-way
between Hastings and Rye. Everything connected
with these experiments was entirely managed by
the members of the Ordnance Select Committee, and
workmen from Woolwich Arsenal were employed
t 3 mix the strongest Government powder with the
protecting composition, to barrel it, and to stack it
in the Martello tower. Mr. Gale's only share in the
proceedings was that he furnished the protecting
compound, that his directions as to its mixture were
implicitly followed, and when all was ready he was
invited to be present at these official tests, which,

like all such, were very properly of the most severe
and exacting kind. In the result they proved most
triumphantly that Mr. Gale is right when he asserts
that by means of his mixture the strongest powder
can easily be rendered not only non-explosive, but
even almost incombustible, and this without in the
slightest degree deteriorating from its destructive
power when the powder is separated as it can be at
once from his protecting compound. On Wednesday,
certainly, all efforts to blow up five tons of powder
when mixed according to Mr. Gale's directions not
only proved utterly fruitless, but the powder actually
twice went out, and it was after all found necessary
to set fire to the woodwork of the Martello tower,
in which it was stored, in order to consume it at all,
and even then this was not entirely accomplished.
Nothing, therefore, could possibly have been more
complete than the success of the experiment, though
the value of the invention will perhaps be more fully
appreciated if we explain in a few words how simply
such an astounding result is brought about.
It is nearly 15 years s!lica ;L. Gale began to
direct his attention as a chemist and electrician to
the discovery of a material which when mixed with
gunpowder should render the whole mass at once
fireproof, waterproof, and airtight, and at the same
time be easily separable, and when separated leave
the gunpowder totally uninjured. It is needless to
say how many and how combined were the compo-
sitions tried before one at last was found to fulfill all

these apparently irreconcilable conditions. This
composition is nothing more nor less than powdered
glass prepared in a peculiar manner. The com-
monest glass is heated to a bright whiteness and
then plunged into cold water, which utterly destroys
all the little fibre and elasticity glass can ever be
made to possess, and renders it so friable as to be
easily pressed to powder between the fingers. In
this state it is placed in a machine shaped like a
cask, in which are many small iron shot, and the
machine being revolved rapidly a minute or a minute
and a half suffices to reduce the glass to a powder
so impalpable that even fine wheat flour is coarse
in comparison with it. This is mixed with the
powder in the proportion of two parts to one, if it
is only meant to render it non-explosive, but still
leave it fiercely combustible ; in the proportion of
three parts of ground glass to one of common pow-
der, if it is meant to make it almost incombustible ;
and in the proportion of four parts to one of the
strongest gunpowder to make the latter absolutely
harmless. Four parts are, however, generally consi-
dered necessary only for the strongest Government
common powder. The method of mixing the two is
simply by an adaptation of Robinson's cask cleaning
machine, which gives to the cask it holds a rapid
double motion, two minutes of which is sufficient
to blend the ground glass and the coarse grains
of powder perfectly. So complete is this mixture
that of 40 samples taken from as many casks after
two minutes mixing the relative proportions of the
two materials were found to be in all cases abso-
lutely exact. The 40 51b. samples when separated
were all found to contain precisely 11b. of gun-
powder and 41b. of powdered glass. The separa-
tion of the powder from the glass is made in a few
seconds by coarse copper sieves. The grain of the
best Government powder for cannon is nearly as
large as a coffee bean, and this coarseness, combined
with the fineness and weight of the powdered glass,
enables the two to be separated almost instantane-
ously, and a very simple piece of copper machinery
has been devised which will effect this process even
more quickly and on the largest scale.. One of the
most important questions to be ascertained was
whether the minute portions of the powdered glass,
which more or less adhered to the grains of gun-
powder after sifting, in any way affected its explo-
sive qualities. For some time past, therefore, the
Ordnance Select Committee have made a most care-
ful series of experiments to resolve this doubt, and
the decision they have come to is that neither in
rapidity of ignition nor explosive force is the gun-
powder deteriorated. Not only is it not injured,

but its complete preservation from damp—almost as
important in the case of powder as its preservation
from fire—makes Mr. Gale's method of mixing far
preferable to the present mode of stowage. The
objections to the bulk which powder when thus
mixed would occupy in the Government stores
have also in a great measure disappeared upon
examination. About 25 per cent. of the kegs in
which gunpowder is now packed are left empty
that the grains may be free to roll, and so pre-
vent their " cakeing." This necessary precaution,
however, induces another evil, which is that the
constant friction of the grains often reduces half
the contents of a keg to dust, and immense quan-
tities are thus yearly returned to the mills to be re-
corned before it can be used. Of course, against
all these evils of fire, water, friction, or deteriora-
tion, Mr. Gale's discovery is an absolute specific.
With the adoption of his plan - all the necessities