Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-05
DYNANlTE-TESTS.
ueUr. zALiNskrs CURIOUS exPeR,-
MeNTs AND EXPERIENCES
NsG Ope-renth Many Lives Lest In
Usiae Dynamite - with the DID, Fash
ssaed Powder Breaking Ar0os
P1ate-reoulisr Emects.
New York Times.

| New York Times.
MANY people who read about dyna
mite explosions aud 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
suuf," said Q manufacturer recently.
ITO The public tho word dynamite con.
jures up pictures Of powdered rocks and
mangled limbs To those familiar with
explosives II savors only Of that which 10
safe and useful People hear st
oace when u disaster happens but
Of 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 rifle powder were
used in blasting. Fuses were made that
would burn away gradually until the
charge was reached When bla, is failed
to 40 Oh the miner or qusrryman often
went TO the hole In which the powder
was placed 70 see what was the matter.
aad got his head blown o.. Sometimes
the fuse burned 20 rapidly that workmen
were struck down by showers OF flying
rock before they could reach place Of
safety. Now that has all been changed
dynamite is not fired by fuse. but
BY electricity. A little copper cap Oiled
with illuminate is placed in the charge
From this zap the wires are run TO place
Of safety. After the workmen have all
retired thG foreman Connect, the wires
with . little battery. pulls lever or
presses Q buttOa. and OF goes the blast II
is safe 10 say that not one tenth as many
lives are lost in using dynamite rs with
the old fashioned powder In fact loss Of
life or damage 10 property is now invAri
ably due TO criminal carelcssness.
sThe word dynamite covers half dozen
differenf Oom .ounds in which nitro
klycerine Is the explosive. The nitro
Siycerine Is usually mixed with some
sort of material that furnishes little gas
when the explosion takes place, but there
| IL one high explosive made of y mixture.
8 pef cent of gun cotton and = per cent
Of nitro -glyceriue This leaves no ash
A more powerful explosive than this com
bination Is not made, aud yet it is singu-
lsrly safe
In the course Of his experiments with
the dynamite throwing gun at Fort Lsfs
yette. Lieut. Zalinski has had some Gu
rious experiences The geistine Or guu
cotton mixture is imported in little brown
rolls. that can be twisted and bent around
like rubber, or iorn apart like tough jelly.
Lieut. lslinski has placed the rolls on
iron plates and dropped big stones on them
from height of twenty fee. without ex-
ploding them Held in the tiame Of Q
lamp the roll took fire and burned brill
isnuy, but ouly ~ hot grease might But
the most singular feature Of this power.
ful explosive WAS the fact that there could
be local explosion in mass of 1t with
out setting off the whole loL Having fired
Q n.e ball into bag Of it, there was .
very distinct flash and explosion where the
ball entered IL
-On another occasion Lieut. Zalinskt
wishing to break big iron plate apart.
laid alternate cartridges Of dynamite and
gelstine along the line Of fracture aud ex
ploded them with battery. The dyna.
mite went off . usual. aud so did eli but
two Of the gelstine cartridges These two
were each about ono half consumed. the
remaining portions being found. black.
oned and charred. after the OK AOsioa. Ii
was concluded that the gelatine must be
exploded by illuminate TO get it TO explode
at sll. and. to make sure Of its full effect.
II must he first confined
.When the attention Of Lieut. 2alinski
Vas called to the fact that naval officers
had tested dynamite by hanging 100
pounds of it against big armor plate for
ship aud then exploding 1t. with the re
suit of mere dent in the armOf plate. he
proceeded TO make similar experiment
An eight ounce cartridge was hung
against 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 . few pOundS the inscribed
circle of which was considerably larger
than the circumference of tie cartridge.
was hung over another cartridge placed
on another plate of iron. Behind this
plate q second was placed Light y this
blow big hole through both platea
In another experiment twenty pounds
Of dynamite placed in thin iron cylin.
der, which stood on emo on . pile Of
boiler plates. was tamped with q few
tnches Of sand laid loosely on top The
explosion drove hole through SIX inches
Of solid iron and blew the small frag
ments of the cylinder through three-quar
ters of an inch of iron that was standing
near 1 do not intend to sim lly hang q
cartridge Of dynamite on the side of an
enemy ship, said the lieutenant 1 in
tend TO throw il against the ship with
great velocity. If the cartridge weighs
2OO pounds and Is forced against the side
Of the ship with We otity sufficient to
carry it far beyond the ship. there will be
tamping Of . certain number of foot
pounds due to the inertia of the cartridge.
Ii the naval Gers 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 q pualic
exhibition given over year ago q shell
holding fifteen pounds Of dynamite was
thrown to the Long Island shore of the
Nsrrows and exploded at the forward
end. 1t made no impression on the sand
bank which 1t struck beyong moving the
grass for rod or two around Other
cartridges. however. threw up large guam
sities Of earth and broke open the rock,
| while one that fell in the water and ex-
plOded beneath the surface tore out Q
great crater in the bottom. After that
the shells were arran ,ed to explode from
the rear end of the charge. The de.
structive effect IN an open air explosion
was thereby increased from twenty 70
I wenty five fold
II think this is due. said Lieut. Zaliu
ski. TO the fact that it takes time for the
dynamite to explode When dynamite
oAVOuu M CAptouVt tsoNCA ~ tuC lOt " 04u
end Of long shell goes off the gas for
ward acts q Q cushion to hold back the
force of the gas that is formed from the.
remainder of the charge. II the exploder
Is placed at the reSr of the cylinder Of
dynamite the gas from particles Of dyns,
mite Immediately around the explOder
serves only to drive the remainder OF the
charge forward with so much more force
70 the greater destruction Of the object in
front of il
when the charge of dynamite Il ex.
plOded under water II is found best to
fire the charge from the forward end Of
the torpedo. because water ID the best
possible tamping. -
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