The Red Cloud chief., 1883-07-06

A representative II the Cincinnati
CSmmerriai CARTE recently called 90
do. W. j. N. Gordon. II tina: city. Ia
ind oui something about nitro-giyces-
ne. - that gentleman had once made
the article himself. and Row furnishes giy-
rcfns to TN. largest manufacturers of H.
"Mr. Gordon" asked the scrih-s:
Is m nitro-giyeeripc made in shs.
pa1 IL the country"
None u made IN or around CIncin-
nsts. The nearr.; factories are AT Chi
ago and Cleveland Al the latter
place the article Il made largely for
use ia shooting oil wells"
is IL used in it. fuid .ia.sf'
lin blasting oil wells the nitro
giyc.rine j. used ss n fluid. in cans
You know Roberts has n patent on that
Use On which he has made several mill
ion dollar; aud in this connection he
has had more lawsuits than aimo>; any
man in the United States"
How j. n!iro-glyceripe mate''
The process j. very simple. and II
pur: materials are ussd j. 40, near n
dangerous n Is generally supposed. A
mixture Of nitric and suiphuric acid il
poured over giycsrine in m open vessel;
q chemical combination cur heavy
fumes are given of; when they cease Ia
he evolved a sirupy fluid. slightly vel.
'ow. IL left This i nitro-glyeerine.'
is that ALP
THAT l. about all. OF cour-c il must
b. carried on with caution. and the ye--
sel j. generally kept in ice. After IL /
produced il is KEEP; nj q low iempera-
iure and sometimes frozen. However,
.nitro-glyccrine i, not easily ignitesi. and
il and dynamite have Ia bc exploded by
q blow or by electricity: generally ih'
latter means is used.
What is dynamite?"
lit j. nothing more than n solid form
II nifro-glyccrine. aud il safer Ia handle;
in fact. il Is less dangerous than ord
nary gunpowdcr. Carbonate of mag
nesia, sil;cious ashes. on som. othei
light substance with great absorbing
power. j. saturated with two Oh three
times IL, weight of nitro-glyccrine."
.How does the explosive force Of
nitro-glycerine compare with that oi
gunpowder?'
THAT j. very hard { say One vol.
ume Of powder. when ignited. produces
eight hundred volumes If gas. One
volume Of nitro-glycerine in exploding
produces l0.:3si volumes Of gas. or thir-
teen times rs much. But the difference
in powder is much greater; for while
powder takes an ~appreciable time 10
burn. the combustion Of nitro-glycerine
is instantaneous. In the form of dyna-
mite it j. by far the mo satisfactory
explosive for blasting purposes. Pow
der only splits a rock in a few places,
and the large fragments have To be
drilled and again exploded. One charge
of dynamite generally does the job.
The rock is splintcred into thousands If
pieces, and only has to be carted oil.
The force of this instantaneous cxplo-
son is so terrible that il a pint can Of
nitro-glycerinc be merely laid on a
bowlder weighing a ton or SO. and ex-
ploded by electricity, il will shat,er the
bowlder. The mere weight of the air
above is too much 10 lift SO instantane-
and the rock below is shattered.
When was ni;ro-glyccrinc first
nsed?"
1T was known tn drugg'ss many
years ago. We made il in very small
quantities before the war. and il was
known As n very dangerous article. bat
was not used for blasting at that time.
We sold it To homeopathic physicians.
who gave il rs n remedy for headache.
to that which is caused Iy inhal-
ing the vapor. or by taking Il very
small dose of il. Nitro-glyccrine was
used in blasting by Nobel. a Swcde.
in Hamburg. in 1864. He saturated
gunpowder with it.. making a sort of
In the early years Of the
manufacture many accidents occurred
through the use Of impure ingredients.
rs ! said before: now it is not 81 dan
cerous ~ powder. You re.ollect Il ear
of it caught fire several years ago. but
il took so long To explode that every one
got out f the way. and though a ravine
was dug along the track twenty fee,
deep and nearly a hundred feet long no
one was hurt"