Litchfield enquirer., 1877-11-08

and a reasonable one only will satisfy them, As an explosiye it hes no canal; and, II safe, not only the Echo but aH
 our farms would be greatly improved by it's general use. If we are left to the le0nclusion that some cartridges can be used safely while others cannot, who that
 values his life will be so presumptu.
 @uw mW @6 Mi. Carr had used it with care several tfnnee, but with otle 4dsu&l care ghiBs1iast chargeeys sesded ghisd iifes sdo Messfstz Var They &a0ed wadSAHcsds lhSi theoFyu that, ilME Cdfr AAfl9 natCia sssaH0 T6a6i0deiDdh This 2ees pocket ana s4whiIe 4eeiinR for the eaps fred amAtch which idred the explo. defs and their explosion exploded othe powder which he held in his left bhand.1 Nov there is no proof that matches and cars were iHj theE same pocket. and mo pf6df that hS e1ploders exploded asz all. Appleton ih hisq Eney elopedia,, page S7, 2 afGdle SExpaesioAs sain references to Dynaa mitd saysgT7 l}aa qTsds ,9t2ae na besodxe , itosltiS also :pfoba5le that if Dynauifte is' cafelebsly n9de fit may c0ntaih an excess of Nitro gIycerine which may become a sourcAtf Sefi0tis accfdefat. "Ssbi91 nhai 9ti 1 IslLNbw.if the cartridge Of Giant P0w-d def khfch Mr. iCaffd held life his hand there did exist asf Eexcess Of nfta6lglycef f fine, would mot 9he ejaculation of air, through tlfs scaftridge 1b0th ends having been exposed by removing the paper in which iE vas lenveloped1a bei sufficient to catise the texplosion?' o9 t949se a9iSuh sal Which of these explanations yarney's sees, or Appleton 8, shall we endorseei Give tis more light hiDoo 199'a4a NEFF. <-l 2 There can be no doubt of the impor, tance of our correspondents inquiry about this tremendous explosive. When MT. Palmertop. the agent of the Giant Powder Co.,, was here recently, blasting rocks on the farms of Mir. Starr and Sher- if Baldwin, we questioned him closely about the accident to MT. Carr, and its probable canse. He had never seen any full newspaper report of the affair, but at tributed the accident, not to the explo- siveness of the dynamite, but to some want of care in using the caps. These caps contain much more Illuminating powder than those used for small arms, and re- semble the caps employed in the discharge of heavy ordnance They will explode cartridge of dynamite at the distance of four inches, and, when the fuse which is inserted in them is left with a sharp edge, MT. Palmerton9 considers that there is some danger of exploding the Illuminating powder of the cap from crowding down the fuse If acap had exploded in this way, or from contact with matches in Mir. Carr's pocket. within four inches of the cartridge of dynamite MT. Carr held in his hand at the time of the explosion, the ac- cident is easily accounted for. MT, Pal merton does not consider the giant pow der itself at all dangerous. It can be ex- ploded by severe concussion, as when struck by hammer on an anvil. but not by ordinary handling or in transportation. The powder which he had here certainly did not explode when exposed to the air; for we saw him break open a cartridge, and fire the powder, which fzzed away without any explosion. We give below the part of AppIeton's article on "Explo- sives"' which treats of dynamite, entire:
 Dynamite is finely pulverized silex, or silicious ashes, or infusorial earth,
 (more frequently the last) saturated with about thzee times it's weight of Nitro glycerine and constituting mass resem- ling damp Graham flour. The pulveru-
 lent form prevents the transmission of ordinary sudden shocks, except under pressure of a couhned space. The pres sure of 5he inert mineral constituents servee ala0 to ahsOrb heIt so that high ltempera'Aare cannot be so easily lmpart- CD to the whole; but when imparted, this teu1 pel &fnre effects great expansion of tie gases and increased effectiveness of explosion. Ienlted in the open air, ,dy- naalte burns quietly with nitrous fumes.
 Exploded Casually by means of fulmina.
 ting fuse or cap) it gives carbonic acid,
 nitrogen and hydrogen, aud leaves
 white ash with little or no smoke Under of dynamite is equal or superior to that
 of nitro-gl, cerine; fact not surprising, if it be rem. mbered that the latter is liable
 to scatter lnexploded drops by reason of the maximum rnpidity of it's ignition. Dynamite x aoto generally recognized Gs
 the safest of alt explosives, It is not af-
 fected by prolonged temperature of 100o C., nor Is 1t as dangerous as nitro glycerine when 1t solidities Cat soc O.. Neither light nor elect icity nor ordinary shocks cause it to decompose or explode. The principal dangers connected scith cts
 ase are those cf tte strong illuminating posOders used i1a the percussion fuses to explode it. It is also possible that if Dy-
 namite is carelessly made, it may contain
 an excess of notro- -glycerine, which, over coming the capillary force of the mineral particles, may be source of serious acci- dents. Moreover, it may be that freezing, or thawing after freezing. has a tendency to segregate the oil. t. ..es .1 ..-,e ze..,a B We have italicized tue portions (except
 that already quoted by our Roxbury cor
 respondent) bearing upon the question of
 the safety of dynamite. From such facts
 as we have been able to gather regarding
 the sad accident which resulted in Mir.
 Carr's death, we should certainly think it
 most probable that it was the explosion l of @ cap which occasloned the explosion
 of the dynamite. It does not appear that
 there was any such concussion as would
 have exploded the nltro-elyoerine had any drops of it soaked out of the dyna-
 mite, and it further appears that Mir.
 
 Carr has engaged with the cap when last
 observed before the explosion. Sad as
 the accident was, it does not strike us
 as one that ought to prevent people from
 taking advantage of the most effective ex- plosiyei ever yet discovered for dealing with the abouldefsa which dis6guref SO
 many of our New Englahd 'farna.g If we
 are not nisipio iorasd, dynamite is nov ,s
 much nsed for blasting, where the shivsr- ing and removal of rocks is' desired, and land it is also employed at thsp west to re-f
 move, stampps from land, from which forest
 trees have been, recently cleared. to Nor lhaye ws heard of those4 accidents from I its use which would be certain tos ill the papers fit werethe dangerous explosave
 our Roxbury correspondent seems to Hear. as9yo1 41sH eGn48B99os Q a nsaH .1a