The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1879-02-20
SCIENTIFIC.

NOUel Applications Of Dynamite rom
a long article on trials with dynamite
In N Of our London exchanges, we
condense the following valuable report
Of Its use In breaking up a wrecked
iron ship and otherwise: The wreck
was that Of the steamship Oscar, OF
Leith, which ran ashore at Whitby /;
she was Of 1858 tons gross, S25 tons net
register, 26l feet long,, 81 feet beam, 20
feet depth OF hold, and ITO horse power.
A futile attempt was made 10 break her
up with gunpowder; subsequently dy-
Mantle was tried. A charge was made
up In common canvas hose from o 10 10
feet long, consisting Of 80 pounds Of
dynamite, with an extra 10 pounds In a
lump fixed firmly 10 the end. The diver
took this charge and placed 1t In the
.lazarette, the heavy end being fixed
against the stern frame and the tail part
trailing forward along the starboard
side as the wreck lay on that side. AT
ter the diver cleared out the charge was
exploded, the result being that the
stern frame and all the steering gear
were smashed out and lay on the rocks,
and the %starboard garter was parted
right away. The next charge, placed
In the port bow close 10 the fore foot,
blew the fore foot away and ripped the
port bow plates through, and the wreck
fell over separated from the keel up
ward. Several small charges were tn en-
exploded In the cylinders and on the
condenser, breaking them up. A five
pound charge, lowered into the crank
pit, blew down the remaining part of
the engines and condenser in such an
affectual name that the diver was en-
abled to send up the condenser and
about two toni of brass in half an hour
the next day. The charges were fired
by the ordinary slime sea fuse" a long
length of which takes as much as a
quarter Of an hour or twenty minutes
to burn to the charge. This Is a great
loss Of time in a tide, and in future cleo
tricity will be applied. No trouble was
taken to make the canvas hose that en-
closed the charges waterproof, though
dynamite is practically unaffected by
water for several hours. Put In India
rubber hose 1t would remain for a long
time under water without being iDjuri-
ously affected. In work of this character
it Is completely successful where gun
powder and gun cotton have failed, and
being of a. plastic nature, 1t possesses
advantage of being moulded and press
ed iuto any snaps, such as angles,
square holes, etc. Iron masts, beams,
chains, and wire rope are cut of by ty-
ing small canvas hose containing dyna-
mite round them, and then exploding
1t. In the instance of the iron steam
ship City of Venice, which went ashore
on the rocks, after every other plan to
raise anu haul her off had failed-she
had rocks through her bottom in some
places four feet high-dynamite was
tried. The rocks p~rOtruding through
the vessel were first removed by use Of
small charges; the tops of the rocks
outside of the vessel were then blasted
away, and the vessel was got off with
out further injury, and saved. SO pow
erful and effective an agent should be
better understood and applied to o.
purposes than 1t is. Not only can it be
used to remove rocks surrounding a
vessel, but in the case of a vessel
stranded on a sand or mud bank a
channel could be excavated, it seems to
us, by the use of long tubes filed with
the dynamite; and for open cuttings for
roads such tubes could be laid in fur
rows made by machines like those In
use for excavating for drain tiles, and
fired with good and economical results.