Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-06-30
Explosives.


! A representative of the Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette recently called OH
Dr.lW. j. M. Gordon, of that city, tc
find out something about nitro-glycer-
inc, as that gentleman had, once, made
xhe article himself, and now furnishes gly-
cerine to the largest manufacturers Of it.
i* "Mr.r Gordon asked the scribe:
sis any; nitro-glycerine made in this
part of the countrypN W. Az
"None. is made in or around Cincin-
natl. The nearest factories are at Chi
cago and Cleveland. At the latter
place the article is made largely for
use i'm shooting oil wells"
els it used in its fluid statep"
"In blasting oil wells the nitro
glycerine is used as a fluid, in cans.
You know Roberts has patent on that
use on which he has made several mill
ion dollars; and in this connection he
has had more lawsuits than almost any
man in the United States.''
''How is nitro-glycerine madep"
"The process is very simple, and if
pure materials are used is not near as
dangerous as is generally supposed: A
mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid is
poured over glycerine in an open vessel;
a chemical combination occurs; heavy
fumes are given off; when they cease to
be evolved sirupy fluid, slightly yell
low, is left. This is nitro-glycerine.'
.'Is that alp"
"That is about all. OF course it must
be carried on with caution, and the YES
sci is generally kept in ice. After it is
produced it is kept at low tempera-
ture and sometimes frozen. However,
nitro-glycerine is not easily ignited, and
it and dynamite have to be exploded by
a blow or by electricity; generally the
latter means is used"
"What is dynamitep"
cit is nothing more than solid form
of nitro-glycerine, and is safer to handle;
in fact, it is less dangerous than ordi-
nary gunpowder. Carbonate of mag
nesia, silicious ashes, or some other
light substance with great absorbing
power, is saturated with two or three
times its weight of nitro-glycerine."
Chow does the explosive force of
nitro-glycerine compare with that of
gunpowderP"
"That is very hard to say. One vol
ume of powder, when ignited, produces
eight hundred volumes of gas. One
volume of nitro-glycerine in exploding
produces 10, 1884 volumes of gas, or thir-
teen times as much. But the difference
in powder is much greater; for while
powder takes an apprecable time to
burn, the combustion of nitro-glycerine
Is instantaneous. In the form of dyna-
mite it is by far the most satisfactory
explosive for blasting purposes. Pow
der only splits a rock in a few places,
and the large fragments have to be
drill and again exploded. One charge
of dynamite generally does the job
The rock is splintered into thousands of
pieces, and only has to be carried off,
The force of this instantaneous explo-
sion is so terrible that if pint can of
nitro-glycerine be merely laid on
bowlder weighing ton or so, and ex-
ploded by electricity, it will shatter the
bowlder. The mere weight of the air
above is too much to lift so instantane-
ously, and the rock below is shattered.
"When was nitro-glycerine first
used?"
at was known to druggists many
years ago. We made it in very small
quantities before the war, and it was
known as very dangerous article, but
was not used for blasting at that time.
We sold it to homeopathic physicians,
who gave it as a remedy for headache,
similar to that which is caused by inhal-
ing the vapor, or by taking a very
small dose of it. -glycerine was
first used in blasting by Nobel, Swede,
in Hamburg, in 1864. He saturated
gunpowder with it, making sort of
dynamite. In the early years Of the
manufacture many accidents occurred
through the use of impure ingredients,
as 1 said before; now it is not so dam
gerous as powder. You recollect car
of it caught fire several years ago, but
it took so long to explode that every one
got out of the way, and though a ravine
was dug along the track twenty feet
deep and nearly hundred feet long no
one was hurt