, 1885-12-04
DYNAMITE TESTS.
LIEUT.. zALINsKPs CURIOUS EXPERT.
MENrS AND EXPERIENCES.
Not ms Many Lives Lost "a
Using Dynamite as with tho Old Fash
Toned Powder breaking Armor
P1ate-Pecuiisr Effects.


New York Times.l
"Many people who read about dyna
mite explosions and the occasional dam
age done to property by careless or
criminal use of the explosive have little
idea Of the real commercial value Of the
stu IT," said a manufacturer recently.
ITO the public the word dynamite on
ures up pictures of powdered rocks and
mangled limbs To those familiar with
explosives it savors only of that which is
safe and useful People hear at
once when a disaster happens. but
~ course there is no reason why
they should keep track of the
thousands Of times the stuff is used with
out disaster. Before dynamite was In.
vented gun powder and rite-powder were
used in blasting. Fuses were made that
would burn away gradually until the
charge was reached When blasts failed
TO go off the miner or quarryman often
went to the hole In which the powder
was placed to see what was the matter,
and got his head blown OIL. Sometimes
the fuse burned SO rapidly that workmen
were struck down by showers of flying
rock before they could reach a place OF
safety. Now that has all been changed.
dynamite is not fired by a fuse. but
by electricity. A little copper cap filed
with illuminate Is placed In the charge
From this cap the wires are run 10 u place
of safety. After the workmen have all
retired the foreman connects the wires
with q little battery. pulls a lever or
presses a button. and of goes the blast 1t
is safe 10 say hat not one-tenth as many
lives are lost in using dynamite us with
the ole -fashioned powder In fact loss Of
life or damage 10 property is now invari-
a1Iv dna IN criminal ne roIaaapaoq
@The word dynamite covers a half dozen
different compounds in which nitro
glycerino is the explosive. The nitro
glycerine is usually mixed with some
sort Of material that furnishes little gus
when the explosion takes place, but there
is one high explosive made of mixture.
8 per cent of gun cotton and o per cent
Of nitro-glycerine. This leaves no ash
A more powerful explosive than this com
bination is not made. and yet 1t is singu-
larly safe.
in the course OF his experiments with
the dynamite throwing gun at Fort Lafa
yette, Lieut. Zalinski has had some Gu
rious experiences. The gelatine or gun
cotton mixture is imported in little brown
rolls. that can be twisted aud bent around
like rubber. or torn apart like tough jelly.
Lieut. /alinski has placed the rolls on
iron plates and dropped big stones on then
from a height of twenty feet without ex
ploding them. Held in the fame OF Q
lamp the roll took fire and burned brill
iantly. but only as hot grease might Brt
the most singular feature Of this powe.-
full explosive was the fact that there could
be a local explosion in IA mass Of il with.
out setting oil the whole lot Having tired
a rife ball into a bag of it. there was a
very distinct flash and explosion where the
ball entered it
-On another occasion Lieut. Ialinski,
wishing to break a big iron plate apart.
laid alternate cartridges of dynamite aud
gelatine along the line Of fracture and ex-
ploded them with a battery. The dyna.
mite went off as usual. and so did oil but
two of the gelatine cartridges. These two
were each about one-half consumed, the
remaining portions being found. black
ened and charred. after the ex )losion. Il
was concluded that the gelatine must he
exploded by illuminate to get il to explode
at all. and. to make sure OF Its full effect
it must be first confined.
when the attention of Lieut. lalinski
was called to the fact that naval officers
had tested dynamite by hanging 100
pounds of 1t against a big armor plate for
a ship and then exploding it, with the re
suit OF a mere dent in the armor plate. he
DiONItItu W uldht u SlHliihI experiment.
An eight-onnce cartridge was hung
against a three quarter inch iron plate and
exploded. A slight depression in the
plate for the length of the cartridge was
the sole result Then an angle iron
weighing q few pounds the inscribed
circle of which was considerably larger
than the circumference of the cartridge.
was hung over another cartridge placed
on another plate of iron. Behind this
plate a second was placed. Light as this
tampiug was it enabled the dynamite 10
blow a big hole through both plates.
I'm another experiment twenty pounds
Of dynamite placed in a thin iron cylin
der, which stood on end on a pile of
boiler plates. was tamped with a few
inches of sand laid loosely on top The
explosion drove a hole through six inches
of solid iron and blew the small frag.
ments of the cylinder through three-quar.
tiers of an inch OF iron that was standing
near. Il do not intend to simply hang a
cartridge of dynamite on the side of an
enemys ship. said the lieutenant i in
tend TO throw 1t against the shin with
great velocity. If the cartridge weighs
200 pounds and is forced against the side
Of the ship with a velocity sufficient to
carry 1t far beyond the ship. there will be
q tamping of a certain number of foot
pounds due to the inertia of the cartridge.
If the naval iicers will make further
experiments they will alter their opinion
Experiments were made in applying
the exploder to different ends of the long
cylinder Of dynamite that forms the shell
OF the dynamite gun When, in n public
exhibition given over a year ago a shell
holding fifteen pounds OF dynamite was
thrown to the Long Island shore Of the
Narrows, and exploded at the forward
end. IL made no impression on the sand
bank which it struck beyong moving the
grass for a rod or two around Other
cartridges. however. threw up large guam
tiiits Of earth and broke open the rock.
while one that fell In the water and ex-
ploded beneath the surface tore out a
great crater in the bottom After thai
the shells were arranged TO explode from
The rear end OF the charge. The de
structive effect in an open-air explosion
was thereby increased from twenty "a
wsnty- five fold.
II think this Is due, said Lieut. Zalin
ski. TO the fact that Il takes time for the
dynamite to explode. When dynamite
around An exploder placed in the forward
end Of along shell goes of. the gas for
ward acts as a cushion to hold back the
force of the gas that is formed from the
remainder Of the charge. If the exploder
Is placed at the rear of the cylinder O
dynamite the gas from particles Of dyna
mite Immediately around the explode
serves only TO drive the remainder Of thu
charge forward with so much more fore
10 the greater destruction of the object II
front OF IL
when the charge of dynamite Is ex
ploded under water 1t is found best 4
hre the charge from the forward end o
H. ..wla 1890. -. = ~ -.