The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-01-06
a Nitro-Glycerine Factory.

Near the village of Tweed, Ontario, and
at the waters edge of Stoco Lake, is fair
sized, unpretentious, isolated, wooden build
ing, the appearance of which would cause
a stranger to inquire why such a good
building was erected in such an isolated
locality, and why it was so closely guarded,
as solitary watchman, day and night the
year round, checks the steps and inquiries
the business of the curious as they stray
near. AS the eye passing upward reads
"Nitro-glycerine factory, very dangerous !''
in big letters above the door, the use for
which the building is intended and the
necessity for watchful care over it is ap-
parent. At the door were seen lying iron
casks sheeted inside with lead, and in
these casks are imported the pure glyce-
rine and mixed acids used in the factory.
A cask of mixed acid is hoisted by ma
chinery to the upper story and dumped
into mixing tub, in which the mixing
blades are moved by crank turned by
man who is stationed in tight box and
has in front of him thermometer. As
the glycerine runs into the acid, vapor is
engendered in which life is scarcely sup
portable, hence the man turning the crank
is stationed in a close box. The acid and
glycerine in their admixture rapidly heat,
and the compound has to be toned down
by cold water or ice, hence the greatest
watchfulness is necessary at this point; as
the heat is allowed to run up to 800, and
as nitro-glycerine explodes at 900, there
remains but 100 of heat between the
known and eternity, or, as the manager
remarked, if the heat was allowed to run
up to 900 they would not have time to
pucker their mouth to say goodbye.
1t is needless to say that, while the
work is going on, strangers are never al
lowed to enter the building, as it is neces-
sary that every man should have his indi-
vidual attention at such times upon his
work. ''Strict rules govern our men," re-
marked 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 powder, and is used on very
heavy work, remarked the manager, as it
is run down tunnel to the room below,
where it is manufactured into dynamite,
dualin, or vigorite, 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
glycerine is mixed with charcoal, wood
pulp, or other mixtures, and reduced into
commodity more readily handled for al
though dynamite is understood to be ex-
tremely 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
a pound to two pounds each, and are care
fully packed each day and taken to an isola-
ted magazine owned by the company. The
output of the factory is about 900 pounds
daily now, but the owners expect shortly
to increase the capacity to meet the re-
quirements of rapidly increasing demand,
as this is the only factory of the kind in
Ontaria, and the development of the mines
has rapidly increased the demand, as blasting
with powder has been almost entirely su-
perseded by the use of dynamite, which is
not only more efficacious, but also safer to
handle. The manager remarked: II have
to pay my men large salaries, although the
work is comparatively light, as a very
slight accident would put them out of the
way of drawing their salaries. have
worked at the business for the past seven
years, and own mill in Algoma as well
as this one here, but in this business life
is the result of vigilance "-Manutac-
turers' Gazette.