The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-21
THE KING OF EXPLOSIVES.
WHAT NITRO-GLYCERINE rs AND
now III SHOULD BE USED.
The Experience OF Man who has Manuiac-
tured n Milton Pounds Of lt-hs Various
Forms md Their Comparative Value.


thirty Years ago the German chemist sch0n-
beln discovered that iron behaved In a peculiar
manner when immersed in mixture OF CON
cantiated nitric and sulphuric acids. Instead "
dissolving, IL remained perfectly passive and
unchanged. THIS led him to test his solution by
putting some cotton N u. 10 his great surpilsV,
out again, squeezed II out washed out all the
acid, and put IL In the drying apparatus In order
to have 1t ready for analysis the next day.
When he came back his cotton was not there,
and none OF his students OF whom he Inquired
had seen any hing OF II. lie was convinced that
somebody mad been very careless and repeated
the experiment.. THIS time, however, the Pro.
fessor himself witnessed the Disappearance or
| his cotton when the heat became sufficiently
strong; ana this showed him that change had
taken place In Its structure
| The new compound received the name Of gun
| cotton, and the inventor took out patent Tor II
| IN 1913. Sir John Herschel spoke In the strong
| est terms Of rs great explosive power. AZ =, "a
| meeting Of the British Association, he said 1T
With the very widest powers, by WHICH they
could tear up rocks, ana almost ca. GOWN
| hiDit al the dinner table, aud discuss the ques-
| ton whether II was "A true chemical compound or
| only "A mechanical mixture formed by the re-
tention Of some OF the acid In the pores OF the
| cotton. Inc dispute was settled by SObrero'
| pupil Of Pelouzc, and now Professor " Chelnls-
| try in the University Of Turin. Walter Crum
| having shown that gun cotton, or pyrorviin, Is a
| compound IN which some OF tue hydrogen Of
| the cotton T. replaced by hyponitric ACID, So
| brero made similar compounds with gum, sugar,
| dextrin, mamma, and finally with gycerine, wnere
| II was evident that there could ne no simple alb
| aorpttOn. Ihis in 1913 Nothing further
was heard OF his invention Of nitro-elycerine un-
I'll the Crmean war; when IL WIS rumOrcd that
| Admiral Napier was prevented from taking
| Cronstadt because he was afraid OF torpedOes
| charged with the new terrible explosive by
In 1884 tue Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel,
| obtained a patent for the application Of nitro
| g,cerine to blasting purposes. lie found con-
siderable difficulty IN making II explode with
esar " anu s wS of he cart
ridge or nitroglycerine In the centre OF tue gun
powder cartridge.
MORE EXPLOSIONS IN HoBoKEN.
The lecturer next exhibited the properties Of
nitro glycerne. A slip OF paper saturated with II
was GIFTED, and burned with aIght blush hame
while another slip saturated with nj, ro-benzol,a
and gave on much dark smoke, showing the
greater proportion Of carbon In It's composition.
This nitro bonzol, from which artificial bitter
almond htvOring Is also made, Is sometimes
mixed with ntrO-glycerine In orderto neutraze
ITS explosive qualities and render IL safe for
TRANSFORMATION. Ii can then be exploded ouly
by means OF some powerful Illuminate or oy
supplying 1t with oxygen through the addition
Of chlorate OF potash.
| A little nitro-g lycerine spread upon an anvil
exploded win iOud report when struck WIN
hammer; nitro-gNcenne mixed with one,tnifd
ol nitro Denzjl did not explode until chlorats
Of potash was added, ana not then at the 1rst
Inc glycerlne from which nitro-0lycerlne Is
made Is so common compound that II REQUIRES
no description. 1t was nfst obtained rs resi-
due Ia the manufac ture Of diachylon or lead
plaster. obtained by boiling olive oil and nth
gieedily absorbs moisture from the atmosphere;
lumber neary hlled with glycerine will Draw
about three-eighths OF AN men OF water from
the air in a night Nitro ycerine on the con-
trary. is insoube In wa:er. When tasted, or
even touched with the hands, II produces per
sstent throbbing headache but the system
soon becomes accustomed TO II, and II tnen
ceases to have any effect. NitrO-gy cerine Is
obtained by adding gradu half pound 81
Rlycerine TO mixture OF one pound OF pitric
acid and two pounds OF suiphurIc acid. Nari
Gus conditions enter into its manufacture.
, which cause the product to be more or less
easily exploded. The result Is elycerine IN
"a o. three equivalents
gen are replaced by hyponitrc acid.
> IT'S TERRIBLE RECORD.
The attention OF the lecturer was nrst attracted
to nitro-gycerine IN 1867 by several terrible ex'
. | plosions which It has caused. One occurred IN
. New York CITY Ia Greenwich street, opposite tue
Wyoming Hotel. one Of tue guests of the hotel,
on polishing his boots, had noticed n reddish
vapor issuing from the box on which he rested
his foot. The hotel clerk took the box outside
and threw IL into the gutter. An explosion IN
stantly followed, by which every pane OF glass
, within hundred yards was shattered. pedes-
. trans were thrown DOWN, and the pavement
: Drokos -. IL turned out that the box con-
taned nitro;g cerine, left by guest as security
Tie next explosion was that OF the steamer
European, at Aspinwall, on the lsthmus OF Pan
. anna. FOrtv.seyen persons were KILLED, the YES
] sell the pier, and the warehouses near by were
, destroyed, aud the damage was over tl.OOO'Uo.
Directly after this an explosion occurred In The
: express office Of Wells, Fargo Il Co, corner OF
California and Montgomery streets, Sau Fran
cisco. EIgut persons lost their lives, and prop
a erty to the amount OF t250,OOO was destroyed.
: | Now here was substance manufactured at
q | Hamburg. Germany Carted 10 the VII RI load
! ed on board the steamer by stevedores; re-
! shipped at London 10 Panama; part Of 1t for
, | warded across the lsthmus by railway; thence
) lghtered To aud loaded upon the steamer tear
! ing twelve days voyage to San Fran isco,
Il where u was tahvh 70 tus express once nan
/ died wit the usual recklessness u erpressmen
ana yet II did not explode. These considera-
tions led the lecturer 10 Investigate the subject
=. after having maturely reflected on tue question
whether man :" who had home ought To EN-
bark IN so dangerous an enterprise, and navina
|. at one time concluded THAT he had better keeg
/ a peanut stand " than have anything TO do with
" nilro- glycerine without thoroughly understand
q lug ito properties.
o THE HoosAC TUNNEL
: The following July 1850 the lecturer was seni
u for by the engineers Of tine Hoosac tunnel. who
were DESTROYS OF Ending some one who would
take charge OF the manufacture ana use OF nj 70
+ Rlycerne, and be responsible for IL. lie accepted
- he position on the condition Of having aDso
y, Lutte authority TO employ and discharge all con
a nected with the use Of the explosive, and o.
" managing the operation without interference
y A preliminary experiment with charge OF al,
:, ounces OF ntro'glycerine proved so poweriu
II that those who heard the report thought hi
. whole works had blown up. Ihe lecturer rave
j. avery amusing account OF mis- first entrance int
9 the tunnel, carrying u pail nned with cartridge
IN one hand, his ipparatus IN the other and tn
10 fuses ON his person. All the miners were cleared
"a while the silence Of the place VS. interrupted
u only by the plash of water trlckhnE through tn
~ roof. When all the holes were niled and IA,
- wires connecting them were ominously nanglnl
: out OF the holes, resembling N ehaggeration .
rats tails, a sense OF anX ETY. and discomfort wa
unavoidable. Egetytnlng. however, went OF
satisfactorily, and the spark from the electric
machine exploded all the cartridges. Until tn
men were drilled sufficiently To be safely intrust
- ed with this business, the lecturer nad To II
e. the tunnel every eight hours, aud three Of tn
iis intervening hours we're used up in preparing
u tho charges. Five tons of uitTo-glyceTns wer
- thus used per month; and for the same amour
w OF rock blasted out, only one life was los
10 through nitro-glycerine, where thirty or fort
y were lost through Runpowder. 1t Is safe To sa
y. that the Hoosac tunn-! would never nave bse
~ completed without nitro Riycorins.
ls The lecturer then exhibited the electrical III a
~ chine, contained la a neat key. TO this he con
Us nectsd fifteen fuses, and exploded them befor
as s the audience. Inc machine IL trictional one
ni It's condenser having 45O incnes of surface, AM
al the rubber being six by eight inches. In prac
u tice, the fuses, instead OF being close togelhe
as In the experiment, are attached to cartridge
placed In holes from six To twelve feet Apart
which they I'LL about twO-thirds or two hlths
% As much as 5000 cubic yards OF solid rock nav
N been blasted out ~ one discharge AT Lake On IN
~ plain. The drill holes are made very deep, some
u times as deep as nifty feet Tney are first gau. u
M TO make sure that they will receive the cal
r. trdges Then the explOders are attached to tn
/ | nitro -gyceTlne cartridges, and these are INN,
10 Oh ttey passed into the drill holes. The hole
are next plugged with bung perforated To u
low the delicate connecting wires TO pass and I
o.. 4. f,. 4.