The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-07-28

nurities still remaining rise to the surface
ms scum, and are skinned of with spoon.
The uitro-rlycerine Is then chemically pure,
TRANSPARENT as water, reffacls light power
fully, and Is ready for packing. The TIM
cans. lined with parafiine, and containing
m pounds each, are placed in a shallow
wooden trough, and the nitro gly cerine,
being poured from the crooks into cop
| per cans, Is again poured into the tins
through q gutta-percha funnel, the bottom
OF the trough being covered with thick
layer OF plaster of paris, which absoIbs
and renders harmless any drops OF nitro
gIycerine that may be spilled. The tins are
| then placed in wooden trough containing
iced water, or ice and salt, where the nitro
glycerine is slowly clysialIzed or concealed.
In this condition 1t Is slowed away in small
magazines, three hundred feet distant, in
amounts OF thirty or forty cans each, until
required for use. When the nitro-glyce-
rine is to be conveyed TO any point by teams
the tins are packed In open wooden
boxes, with two inches OF sponge at the
bottom and four rubber tubes. under
meath these are long enough to allow
the ends 10 come one inch over
the Top OF the tin on opposite sides, thus in-
terpOsing two elastic tubes between the out
side OF the Tin and the inside Of the wooden
box, rendering il perfectly safe to carry.
Each tin is cellular. e., from the top Of
each tin TO the bottom a tube passes, about
10 inches deep and IL inches in diameter,
for the purpose OF throwing The cODgealed
nitro-glycerine when the blaster is ready 10
use it, liquefaction being effected with wa
ter Of 20 to 90 degrees. The tins, being
! closed with a cork wrapped in bladder, are
put into sleigh or w0gon, covered in sum-
mcr with a layer Of ice and blankets,'and
may thus be carried any distance IN this
PURIFIED CRYSTALLINE STATE
as safely as so many tubs OF butter.
Perfect system pervades this factory, and
il is necessary 10 insure safety. 'fhe stead
lest men possible are selected for the work /;
three are employed in the acid house, work
ing in three shifts of eight hours each, but
they do not actually work more than seven
hours. Every movement is like ciockwork
every man has his place and special duty,
which he is expected to perform at the
proper time. In the morning at ! or 1880
two men dump the carbOyS OF acid into the
SOapstone tanks and mix them, while a
third is filling the glass jars with glycerine.
This operation takes about an hour. One
draws the acid another weighs il, and
third carries it to the tr0ughS. After an in
teryal, during which the acids cool, three
men attend closely to the converting OF the
glycerinc into tri-nitro-glycerine. After
the nitrO-gly cernc is dumped into the
water-tank, two men are employed in
washing it, while twO wash the stone
pitchers with water. The floors are kept
scrupulousy clean and perfectly free from
atoms OF nitro-glycerine, which, stepped
upon while the men are at work, might
send them to eternity, and the building to
smithereens. The room is then prepared
for next days operations, and by about
or o'clock, after six, or at most
seven, hours work, the days work is
done. Notwithstanding the extreme care
used to avoid accidents, the MOwbray
works have been blown upthree times, and
of the nine competent superiutendents that
have been in charge, eight have been killed
outright and their bodies blown to frag-
ments, while the ninth is yet living, totally
blind. The highest wages are paid. and in
order to render transportation easier and
safer, Professor MOwbray, within the past
two years, has built car expressly for the
purpose.