Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-06-08
Explosives.

representative OF the Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette recently called on
DR.. w. j. NJ. Gordon. of that city, to
find out something about nitro-glycer-
Inc, as that gentleman had once made
.he article himself, and now furnishes CIV
cerine to the largest manufacturers of it.
"Mr. Gordon" asked the scribe:
els any nitro-glycerine made in this
part of the country"
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
ase in shooting oil wells
"Is it used in its fluid state?'
SIN blasting oil wells the nitro
glycerine is used as a fluid, in cans.
You know Roberts has a 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 made?"
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
chemical combination occurs: heavy
fumes are given off; when they cease to
be evolved a sirupy fluid, slightly vel
low, is left. This is nitro-glycerine.'
''Is that allP'
THAT is about ALL OF course it must
be carried on with caution, and the YES.
/ sci is generally kept in ice. After il j.
produced it is kept at a 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 dynamite?'
1t 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.
"How does the explosive force OF
nitro-glycerine compare with that OF
gunpowder?'
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 10,3S4 volumes of gas, or thir-
teen times as much. But the difference
in powder is much greater; for while
powder takes an appreciate time t.
burn. the combustion of nitro glycerine
Is instantaneous. In the form of dvna-
rite it is by far the most satisfactory
explosive for blasting purposes. Pow
der only splits rock in few places,
and the large fragments have TO be
drilled and again exploded. One charge
of dynamite generally does the Job
The rock is splintered into thousands OF
pieces, and only has to be carted off.
The force of this instantaneous explo-
sion is SO terrible that if pint can OF
nitro-glycerine be merely laid on a
bowlder weighing ton or so, and ex-
ploded by electricity, it will shatter the
bowlder. The mere weight of the all
above is too much to lift so instantane.
ously. and the rock below is shattered.
When was nitro-glycerine first
uscd?''
ut was known to drugg;ss 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. Nitro-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 l said before; now it is not so dan.
gerous as powder. You recollect ca
of it caught fire several years ago, bu
it took so long to explode that every on,
got out of the way, and though ravin'
was dug along the track twenty fee
deep and nearly hundred feet long M
one was hurt