The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-04-21
DYNAMITE.
What It Is, and Where and How It is
 Made.
New York Tribane.l


 The discovery of nitro-glycerine fac tory in Birmingham, England, few days ago. has excited not a little curiosity touching the manufacture of the terrible explosives which have come into promi- hence as agents of political agitation among the lawless and reckless classes of Russia and Ireland. That dynamite can be made in sufficient quantities to oyerturn all the government buildings m Europe, by a man of inoonsiderable chemical knowledge, and by the aid of the simplest household uten- sils-a few pitchers and jars-l, will sur prise many to know. And yet the pro cess is of the simplest imaginable kind Its good deal easier and quicker than to make griddle-cakes,' said Prof Dore- mus. day or two ago.
 The general principle that underlies all explosives used for firearms and blasting" said Dr. (. F. Chandler, 10 a Z,T5snf reporter, yesterday. Is com bina,ion of combus;ible matter with something rich in oxygen. 10 support combustion Tn such quantities that !, can burn withou, the immediate aid of the atmosphere Gun-po~der. which Is the oldest of all. is mixture of saltpeire. sulphur and chareoal and the most in- ieres,ing fac, about II Is tha, they say. now that i, doesn't explode. The new agents. such as eGa-cot,ou. n.tre-gise- enne. and others hke them. explode so much mere qlickly thai II has become necessary ether ,o hmi inc definition oi explode. oF ;o substitute isso words % indicate the difference. Either gnn-paw- der does not explode. or II de'lagra;es. 4shiie n.;ro-elscenne detona;es. Why. d man e9n walk eighty times as last as san-poader eNplodes. Ii you were to hre piece of gun-Poader eight feet in diameter. all over its exterior, II would take Il minute 10 burn up. This com paraiiYely slow combustion is exactly that which adapis it to use in firearms. II Il were te explode instantaneously. everything would have to give way be- fore ii but as IL burns gradually. 1t pushes the bullet faster and faster until it attains it's maximum speed. So they can and do regulate the size of the powder grains To the size of the charge ana the length of the gun. \ large F = DON | 10 peices. For blasting and tor pede work, however. and the devillsh re- ,0l;s which the socialists and nlhilis,s ln Europe are aiming al, the most powerful explosives are wanted. so that maximum results may be attained with minumim quantities. From the time of Friar Bacon to the present there have been great many substitutes for gun-powder invented iar bias ing purposes. such as pyroli,h, composed of potase and sal,petre, soda salipeire, flowers of sulphur. sawdus, and charcoal pyronone. composed oi soda silipetre, sulphur and spent tan bark: saNltragIn. composed of nitrate of bar>,a. charcoal and potash sal,petre. Schules powder. which attracted great deal of attention when l; appeared. com posed of sa~dus; that had been treated alth a solution nitric and sulphuric acids. so as to convert Ii into d sort of gun-pow- der. and then soaked in sal,pc,re solvent: haloNylin. mixture of charcoal. saltpeTe and prusslate of potash Augendre's white powder, composed of ohlorate of pol sh, sugar and prussiate of potash 1: Gallons powder. consisting of Chloraie ot potash and yellow suiphura,e Of arsenlo : Ehrhardt's powder made by combining chlorate of potash, ni,re of potash. char coN and tannln and Hahn's powder. composed ot chloraie of potash, sulphidc of antitnony. hafloal and speTnaace;i. In these mixtures the agents that support the combustion are saltpeire. chlora,e Of potash and nitrate of bay,a
 'ln gun-cetton. nitro g!yoerine and sim liar bodies. these agents are represented by the nliyl. which Is derived from nitric ac.d. and wi,h which the cotton. glyccr- inc. etc, are treated. \ great variety Of substances can be ntra,ed and made eN- pIosive. such as cotton. starch. the differ eni kinds of sugar. glyccrine and carbolic acid. These are the nitre substances. which do the terrible work of which we hear so much. The chemical name of vegetable fibre is eellulose. and you can have IS many kinds of nitro cellulose as you can hnd of vegetable tiber Cotton Is composed of eighteen par,s carbon. thirty parts hydrogen and fourteen parts oxygen. It burns slowly because the fourteen parts oxgen which il contains are only sufficient to burn the thirty parts
 
 that by treating cotton with nitric acid nine parts of the hydrogen could be re- placed hy nine ni,rils. each containing two parts ofoNygen, thus adding sGtiieien, oxygen to burn out not only the hydro gen but also the carbon ins;antaneouslv without the aid of the atmosphere. This substance is gun-eotton. The chemical formulas ot the two substances are as follows: Cotton < IS II % q is: gun cotton, ( IS II |, tN . sl 9 Q r,. Glyc- erIne IS ! body which can have it's hydro gen replaced with oxygen Tn a similar way. and the effect of ni,Fating glyoer- inc is. to make -glycerine. This was inven,cdin.lSl7. by sobrere, n Paris. and proved to be the most violen, cxplo- sivc discovered that could be handled with safety. but it remained merely chemical curiosity until Alfred Nobeibe- gan it's manufacture in Sweden in 1892. i.= recc.,i;--;.y !. .h.. ;.- --.ie.;nn is sn instantaneous throughout its entire mass that 1t produces the most violent shock.