The Portland daily press., 1872-12-24
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE.

| sieat ~ tne neat produced by the union
Vi .ness substances, that the ice cold water .s
ing 1re, and current of air which has beer
forced through an ice chest by steai-. power. Is
passed into each jar through a rubber tube.
Ii the mixture takes fire here, it will moi
explode, but will produce oxalic acid and nox-
,ous yapors at fearful rate. In about two
tnhOurs, when the glycerine has all run down
co,or ougn the syphon into the jars below, the
tbpvsund, tbra s, which contains only three and
! tnISe.lourlhs pounds of nitro-gycerine to
| each jar 1.-THE remainder of the 10 bounds be.
Ing acia ana water,) is poured inIo a VAT
whlch looks exactly like q huge soap kettle
such as may be seen at any of our large soan
manufactures. Indeed, the stuff itself now
looks very like soft soap. This vat contains
water at a temperature OF 70 degrees, and 45O
pounds of nitro-glycerine are poured in az,
once to be worked. After remaining in this
vat for Is minutes, the water is drawn off
and the nitro-glycerine runs out at the bot
tom. 1t is then washed six times more to re-
move all traces of the acid. This washing
must be performed very cautiously, as if a
particle of the oil should get on the flour and
stepped Cd, the unfortunate workmen who are
near would know what never hurt them. Yet
the professor has exercised such great care in
the manufacture and in selecting his men
that no accident has ever happened at the
factory proper.
As we stand by the door of the washroom
with just the least p wish that we were
some where else, man comes leisurely along
carrying what locks like sap-yoke and buck
cts across his shoulders. Each of these in
nocent looking buckets contains about 100
pounds of nitro-glycerine, which he is carry
ing to the refining room in the magazine, a
few hundred feet to the south down a little
hill. 1t is curious to think that there is
1c <I~tc o1, A,,;I
ries along In his buckets, like so much water,
to snnihilate brigaed. Following him to
the magazine, we find small building con-
tanning in the centre shallow vat set full OF
stone jars (''crocks" they are called each con-
tanning go pounds of nitro-glycerine. This
vat is nearly full Of warm water, which is
kept heated to 70degress by steam pipe from
the boiler at the factory. After the nitro
glycerins has remained in this 72 hours, all
the impurities hsve srisen to the TIP and been
SKINNED of, and it is leady for packing. 1t
is now pure, transparent and looks exactly
like refined lard oil. 1t il packed in tin cans
lined with paraf1n and Containing so pounds
each. This filling operation requires the
greatest car After it is completed the can
are pu in ice water 10 CONCEAL the oil, and
then ored in little wooden magazines hold
ing about 40 cans each. The only accidents
that have ever happened anywhere about the
WOTk nave Dccu Ab Tie uaSbLluc. 1uc
bu sting Of . steam pipe once caused an ex-
plosion in which no one was injured, and
another time the foreman in charge went
down to the magazine to take bath in vat
there, and, from some cause, no one ever
knew what, 1000 pounds went of, sharing
the country for miles, obliteratipg all trac=s
Of the building and blowing The poor man to
atoms. Strangely enough, the only part OF
his body ever found was his chin, which was
blown to the threshold of bis own door
The gutta perc covered wires used for
firing nitro glyeerine are also prepared here,
and large quantities Of raw gutta percha are
now on the way from Singapore, India, Prof,
Mowbray having decided to import his own
material. The priming an | the exploders are
made at the Office on Bank street, North
Adams.
Nitro glycerine freezes at forty-five degrees,
Farenheit, and cannot possibly be exploded
til it is thawed. This fact was discovered by
mere accident in the winter of 1858. Mr..
Granger, the engineer in charge of the east
end, came over to North Adams and pro-
cured the cartridges of fnitro-glycerine of Prof.
Mowbray. which the professor warmed up TO
80 degrees and packed in sawdust and blan-
kets. Mr.. Granger then started for the east
side across the mountains. The box contain
ing the cartridges was strapped on behind a
sleigh and covered with buffalo robes. In
making the journey the team became entan.
/ gled in one of those tremendous snow d:ifts
| FOR which Hoosac mountain Is famous, and
horse, man, cartridges and sleigh were soon
lying in one promiscuous heap. Mr.. Gran
ger gave himself up for lost, but no explosion
took place, and gathering his scattered treas :
ures he resumed his journey.
When he reached the east side and, put
ting IN ais cartridges. atsempts | To fire them,
| the f,.se AMI fumii at, ex; loded, but nothing
more. Here was a mystery. The cartridges had
been loaded nd primed by Prof Mowbrcy him.
SELF and ye5 they woul. not go of. After re-
| peated un-u cessful trials, Mr.. Granger heat
| ed them till the oil would run, ami ther APP
| plying the explodsr, produced the Uost sat-
| isfactory resi- Its. This gave Prot Mowbray
! the idea, which became an established fact
by subsequent investigation, that nitro-gy-
| csrine would not explode when frozen, and
| this little Incident has doubtless saved the
| lives of thousands. In a frozen state the il
is now carried all over the continent, 1000
| pounds having been transported by teams to
! different sections of the United States and
Canada during the past four years, and dur
| ing this time not q single accident has occur
| red while tue cans were in the hands of Prof.
| Mowbray's carriers. Tbres fine two-horse
| teams are constantly employed in delivering,
and as the railroads refuse to touch The stuff,
these teams make long trips, sometimes be.
| ing gone for weeks. In addition to these,
many North Adams teams are hired by the
| trip, but q messenger always accomp nies
the hired teams as the driver would not know
how to handle their loads in case of accident
During the whole of my visit to the works
the professor was talking in the most eheery
! manner, and often made me forget the pos
sibility of danger, yet, after all, it was with
| no little satisfaction that found myself out
side the gate, and on the way back to the
west shaft. After all, this feeling of timid-
ity. is far greater than there is any reason for
when it is remembered that more accident;
| taxe place at a powder mill in one month
than have occurred at Prof Mowbray's worka
| in four years, and that there is ten fold more
| danger from haE'lling common blasting pow
der than nitro-glycsrine, when packed for
transportation.