The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-12 00:00:00

GUNPOWDart MANUFACTORIES.

(From the Mechanics' Magazine.)
The fearful explosion at the Hounslow Gun-
powder Mills will necessarily for a while draw
men's attention to the consideration of the causes of
such disasters, and the more philosophical and pro-
fitable means of their prevention. We have had
enough of these accidents to convince us that gun-
powder is a chemical combination of an extremely
treacherous nature. Although not so uncertain as
gun-cotton and fulminating silver it is, from the
difficulty of defining to what length it may be
trusted, of the same coquettish family. Guncotton,
it has been proved in the making of rockets, may
be rammed by a succession of gentle taps, or by
the whole force of hydraulic pressure some nine
thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times with
perfect impunity, am! then a child shall drop a mere
rod upon it and cause the loss of many lives. Fulmi-
nating silver may be stirred with impunity two or
three times a-day in a wooden bowl with a wooden
stick for a period of some ten or fifteen years, an d
yet this simple act shall at some other time scatter
into space a large factory, spread dismay throughout
Bond-street and Piccadilly, and- strike the in-
genious inventor of wire-cartridges a corpse. With
gunpowder, copper as a metal has, from the
time of Roger Bacon, been supposed to be
friendly, and men have not doubted that the
former would patiently submit to be knocked
about by the latter with the greatest unconcern ;
yet after such a fact has been almost universally '
accepted as beyond dispute, experiments in France
and Austria incontestibly prove that under special
circumstances copper is as liable to produce its
ignition as iron. Indeed, at the accident at Hatton,
about a year ago, a spark was seen to escape from
the copper tool used by one of the men. And now
we have iron rollers substituted at the Hounslow
Powder Mills in lieu of stone, as iron is considered
to ensure an additional safety from accidents.
- When we visited the works on Thursday we
found the pressing-house, or rather the site where
it had stood, bearing every evidence that it was
upon this spot that the explosion first took place,
the greatest corroboration being in the fact that
the hydraulic press in the centre of the building
yet remained almost uninjured. Not only that
the accident originated here, but that the press
itself was the cause of it, we feel fully convinced.
The four uprights of the press were still standing,
somewhat, however, DLit of the perpendicular. The
bottom was nearly perfect, but the whole of the
top had been blown away. This would be just
the effect which might have been anticipated from
an explosion taking place within the press. It
acted in some wise as a huge piece of ordnance,
scattering destruction around, but leaving itself
intact.

Now, does not extreme pressure necessarily in-
volve an explosion taking place within the press. It
acted in some wise as a huge piece of ordnance,
scattering destruction around, but leaving itself
intact.

Now, does not extreme pressure necessarily in-
volve friction of particles, and does not friction of
particles, under certain circumstances, and in
countless instances, produce ignition? If the reply
is in the affirmative, what is there in the nature of
sulphur, or charcoal, or saltpetre to exempt them
from a well-ascertained law ? We believe we are
not alone in pointing with suspicion to this
machinery. Very well-grounded fears respecting
its danger have been openly expressed by the best
informed men upon the works, and if we are not
misinformed, so strong was this feeling during the
period of its construction that the foreman of the
works, after respectfully protesting against its
adoption, resigned his appointment rather than run
the risk he saw in its use.
Fear does not, however, appear to exercise much
sway over the men who work in these dangerous
trades. Eight men were killed on the Wednesday
and more than eighty.had, directly or indirectly,
offered to supply their places before even their
mangled remains were consigned to the grave.
Surely, then, the inducement must be great ; the
pay must be liberal, and the hours short. If the