The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-12-12
Gun POWDER.


We are indebted to a friend abroad for files
of late foreign papers, which contain much
matter of interest. In looking over the Lon
don Standard, of late date, we find an account
of an experiment with gunpowder, made be-
fore Queen Victoria, which may be of interest
to some of our readers, thoughswe are aware
that many of them have experimental suffi-
GENTLY with this article, within the last four
years. But as the telegraph has chained the
lightning, and " Britannia rules the waves"
we are sare many persons will be rejoced to
find that gunpowder has been reduced to non
explosive form, even under fire" by the ge-
MUS of man. We don't know anything of
Mr.. Gales antecedents, but presume he be-
longed to the Quartermaster or Commissary
Department, during the Crimean War. The
Standard says
On Friday afternoon the Queen, accompa-
MED by their Royal Highnesses Princess Hee-
ma, Princess Beatrice Prince Leopold, and
Prince Louis of Hesse, witnessed experiments
with Mr.. Gales protected gunpowder in, the
orangery at Windsor Castle. The expert
ments were conducted by Mr.. Gale and Mr..
Saunders, and throughout the proceedings Her
Majesty manifested the greatest interest. A
bowl of the protected gunpowder having been
produced, portion of it was separated in or
der to show the facility with which the gun
powder could be restored The bowl with the
remainder of the protected gunpowder was
then held by Mr.. Gale, while slow-match
was allowed to burn down into the powder
This produced no effect beyond lighting few
grains. Vesuvans were then thrown in, and
finally Lord Bury test was applied, which
consists Of exploding a small quantity of neat
gunpowder in the midst of the protected pow
der. This part Of the proceedings appeared
to be especially interesting to Her Majesty
who expressed her concern that Mr. Gale was
| holding the bowl too near to himself 1t was.
however soon apparent that there was no
danger
The Princess Beatrice and Prince Leopold,
who were not present at the commencement,
joined the Queen at this moment, and her Ma
jesty was pleased to request that the expert
ments might be repeated. As they were per-
formed a second time her Majesty herself ex-
planned them to the Royal children in man
ner which showed her desire that they should
under stand them
The Queen asked Mr.. Gale if he had recent
ly discovered the invention, to which he re-
piled that the explosion Of the seige train at
Inkermann was the first occasion on which
his attention was seriously directed to the sub
ject, and since that time he had been making
various experiments in order to perfect the in
vention The experiments We're brought to a
close by placing bag of protected gunpow-
der upon fire, when it was gradually con-
sumed without any approach to all explosion
The Queen on leaving said, Mr. Gale |
thank you, have been much pleased and in
terested in the experiments. 1t is wonder
full invention, and ought to be made very, We
ry useful"
1t had been arranged that the experiments
should not occupy more than quarter of an
hour, but her Majesty manifested so much in
terest in them that they were extended over a
period of more than 40 minutes.
Instead of using IAN ordinary sieve in the
experiments before her Majesty a new model
separator was used, by means of which a more
perfect and instantaneous separation of the
gunpowder is made. THIS machine enables
the gunpowder to be separated just as fast as
it may be required for use in filling shells Oh
making fireworks, Or any similar operation in
which danger now arises from the accumula-
ton Of explosive powder.