The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-01-25
A Nitro. .GIycerine ltactOry.

Near the village Of Tweed, Ontario,
and at the waters edge OF Stoco Lake, is
fair sized, unpretentious, isolated,
wooden building, the appearance of
which would cause stranger to inquire
why such good building was erected in
such an isolated locality, and why it was
SO closely guarded as solitary watch
man, day and night the year round,
checks the steps and inquiries the busi-
ness of the curious as they stray near.
As the eye passing upwards reads
'sNitro-glycerine factory, very danger
ousr' in big letters above the door, the
use for which the building is intended
and the necessity for watchful care over
it is apparent. At the door were seen
lying iron casks sheeted inside with lead,
and in these casks are imported the pure
glycerine and mixed acids used in the
factory.
A cask of mixed acid is hoisted
by machinery to the upper story
and dumped into mixing tub,
in which the mixing blades are
moved by a crank turned by man
who is stationed in tight box and has
in front of him thermometer. As the
glycerine runs into the acid, the vapor
is engendered in which life is scarcely
supportable, hence the man turning the
crank is stationed in close box. The
acid and glycerine in their admixture
rapidly heat, and the compound has to
be toned down by cold water or ice,
the greatest watchfulness is necessary
at this point, as the heat is allowed to
run up to eighty degrees, and the nitro
glycerine explodes at ninety degrees,
there remains but ten degrees of heat
between the known and eternity, or, rs
the manager remarked, il the heat was
allowed to run up to ninety degrees they
would not have time to quicker their
mouth to say good-by.
It is needless to say that, while the
work is going on, strangers are never
allowed to enter the building, as it is ne
cessary that every man should have his
individual attention at such times upon
his work. "Strict rules govern our
men," remarked the manager, ''as the
least venture at experimenting would
leave no one to tell how the accident
happened" The nitro-glycerine thus
manufactured has an explosive force ten
times greater than that of blasting pow
der, and is used on very heavy work, but
we sell very little in that shape remarked
the manager, as il is run down a tunnel
to the room below, where it is manu-
factured into dynamite. dualin or vigor-
ite, all of which have nitro-glycerine as
their basis, but are known by different
names to designate the degree of power.
As rapidly as possible the nitro -glycer-
fne is mixed with charcoal, wood pulp
or other mixtures, and reduced into a
commodity more readily handled; tJr
although dynamite is understood to be
extremely dangerous to handle, it is
rammed into the cartridges with stick,
with as little apparent fear of the result
as would be the case were the substance
so much dirt.
The cartridges are made to hold from
apound to two pounds each, and are care
fully packed each day and taken 10 an
| isolated magazine owned by the com
pany. The managerremarked: 81 have
to pay my men large salaries, although
the work is comparatively light, as &
very slight accident would put them ou
| of the way of dlawing their salaries.
have worked at the business for the pas
seven years and own a mill in Algoms
as we'll as this one here, but in this bust
ness life is the result of vigilancs."-
| Mana facturers' Gazette.