Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-04-06
NobeI's Dynamite-works.
tSt Jamos's Gazette

W
[st. Jamoss Gazette.l
The factory lies in the heart Of great
expanse of sandy plain on the southwest
coast of Scotland. On approaching it
the visitor is hailed by the mounted
guard that patrols the environment of the
factory, and he will have to show very
satisfactory credentials before he is
allowed to 90 further. On the way TO
the managers house a village is passed
where live the whole of the operatives
employed in the mandatory OF
nitro-glycerine. 1t is merely a street
of small tenements standing on the
threshold of the palisades which
enclose NJ. NobePs houses. Some
distance from the managers house is the
shed where the practical process of
making nitro-glycerine is seen at a
glance. Before the visitor gets there,
however, he is Invested OF his watch.
chain, money, keys, and every particle Of
metal he may have about him. This
seemingly excessive precaution is per-
fectly necessary, for the fall of even n
penny on n floor containing grain of
the explosive might be attended with
disaster. Felt shoes have TO be worn.
In the first shed reached there is
large tank in which are two parts of oil
vitriol and one part Of the Tuning
nitric acid. A cistern above the tank
contains glycerine, and when this Is in
troduced into the acid the compound
known az nitro-Plycerine Is at once
formed. The operation IL, however, en-
extremely delicate one. Tho tank is in
charge of a workman upon whom the
whole responsibility of an explosion
rests. If too much glycerine IS nitro
duced into the acids at one time the
temperature Of the mixture may rise above
II Fahrenheit, and a spontaneous ex-
plosion viii at once follow; 80 that the
operatives eyes are never oil the Their
mometer-hls own hope OF safety lies in
keeping down the temperature OF the
mixture to some 7 or s. below It's explo-
siye heat. He is aided somewhat by ice
and cold water which are outside the vat
but the compound is occasionally err
ratio and will gain heat notwithstanding
all precautions. For such a case the
only alternative is to move n lever,
which lowers one side OF the tank,
and allow the whole OF the contents
to run through a sluice into a pond,
when it is about an even chance whether
it will explode ere 1t leaves the shed or
wait until it reaches the open.
The second step IS to wash the newly
formed chemical combination in water
which very slightly absorbs it. 1t IS
then put into Winchester quarts and
conveyed with the almost care into
wooden huts or dug-outs. As an instance
Of the extreme susceptibility OF nitro
Rlvcerine to concussion, II is re-
lated that a man was once seen 70
slip in the act OF deposltinS a
bottle in a hut he merely trlpped,
i'm the ordinary sense of the word. bat
there was An instant explosion and hardly
fragment Of the poor fellow was
gathered for decent burial Passing on
through other sheds, we see the mixture
of the nitro-Slycerine with peculiar
fOraniniferOus earth, the new substance
being dynamite This is then carried to
a long shed. where it is pressed into
cartridges by machinery, the opera
tiyes being young women. Not the
least curious of the many curl0sl-
ties ri these works are the ponds into
which the washing water Is run. Tradl-
ton has it that the decorative property
Of the water was not discovered until an
angler one day attempted to seduce the
fish with a Aay-hy. At his first cast,
however, the pond blew up. and he found
himself some hundreds Of yards away,
happily unhurt. TO obviate a similar
danger now Saturday is reserved ex-
clusiycly for cleaning the works III
every department, and among other
things for deliberately blowing up
the ponds. After consratulating him
self on safe journey through
the various houses, the stranger is apt TO
hurry from the factory and only to
breathe freely when he is again at the
station. He will not have failed, how
ever, to notice the many precautions
taken TO insure safety for those who
daily risk their lives in these very hazard
Gus operations. Each section OF the
operatives is distinguished by a pecu-
liar canvas suit with a cOiored
marking no one may go on any
pretence leaving his own department
The women work in felt shoes and bath
ing-dresses, and every single workman
or workwomen is stripped and reclOthed
before going to their labor. The explo-
siyes. TOO. are handled in the smallest
possible quantities, save in the first
room of manufacture, where enough is
made at one time to blow mp a
city. The nitro-glycerine itself Is It
Transparent, colorless. oily fluid, slightly
soluble IN water, but readily so in spirit,
ether, or fat. One tavorite way of de-
stroying it is by boiling it in potash,
when it decomposes, elycerine and nitre
being formed. Perhaps the most curious
use to which it has ever been pat is the
result Of the searching investigations OF
its medicinal properties by Dir. William
Murreil who found it almost q specific
for angina pectoris, neuralgia, aud many
deYelpments of heart-disease.