Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-07-13
THE NCJES WORKS.
Dee cription of the Largest Dynamite Fac
tory in the World.

great expanse of sandy plain on the
southwest coast of Scotland. On APP.
preaching it visitor is hailed by the
mounted guard that patrols the envi-
ronments of the factory, and he will
have to show very satisfactory creden-
tials before he is allowed to go further.
On the way to the manager s house a
village is passed where live the whole
of the operatives employed in the man.
ufacture of nitro-glycerine. 1t is mere
ly street of small tenements, stand
ing on the threshold of the palisades
which inclose M. Nobel houses. Some
distance from the managers house is
the shed where the practical process of
making nitro-glycerine is seen at a
glance Bef re 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 perfectly necessary. for
the fall of even penny on floor con-
tainining grain of the explosive
might be attended with disaster. Felt
shoes have to be worn. In the first shed
reached there is II large tank in which
are two parts of oil of vitriol and one
part of the flaming nitric acid. A els
tern above the tank contains glycer-
inc, and when this is introduced into
the acid the compound known as nitro
glycerine is at once formed. The
operation is, however an extremely
delicate one. The tank is in charge of
a workman, upon whom the sole re-
sponsibility of an explosion rests. If
too much glycerine is introduced into
the acids at one time the tenn
peratUre of the mixture may rise above
II degrees Fahr., and a spontaneous
explosion will at once follow, so that
the operatives eyes are never off the
thermometer; his own hope of safety
lies in keeping down the temperature
of the mixture to some seven or eight
degrees below its explosive heat. He
is aided somewhat by ice and cold
water, which are outside the vat; but
the compound is occasionally erratic,
and will gain heat Notwithstanding all
precautions. For such case the only
alternative is to move a lever, which
lowers one side of the tank and allow
the whole of the contents to run
through n sluice into a pond, when it
is about an even chance whether it will
explode ere it leaves the shed or wait
until it reaches the open.
The sectOnd step is to wash the new
| Informed chemical combination in
water, which very slightly absorbs it.
1t is then put into Winchester quarts"
and conveyed with the utmost care into
wooden huts or dug-outs. AS an in
stance of the extreme susceptibility of
the nitro-glycerine to conclusion, it is
related that Il man was once seen to
slip in the act of depositing a bottle in
hut; he merely tripped, in the ordi-
nary sense of the word, but there was
an instant explosion, and hardly a
fragment of the poor fellow was gath
cred for decent burial. Passing on
through other sheds, we see the mix
ture of the nitro glycerine with
peculiar foramifcrous earth, the
new substance being dyna-
mite. This is then carried
to a long shed, where it is pressed into
cartridges by machinery, the operatives
being young women. Not the least
curious of the many curiosities at these
works are the ponds into which the wash-
ing water is run. Tradition has it that
the decorative property of the waters
was not discovered until an angler one
day attempted to seduce the fish with
a May-fly At his first cast, however,
the pond blew up, and he found HIM
self hundreds of yards away, happily
unhurt TO obviate similar danger
now, Saturday is reserved exclusively
for cleaning the works IN every depart
ment. and among other things for de-
l.berately blowing up the ponds. After
congratulating himselfon safe journey
through the various houses, the stran-
ger is apt to hurry from the factory
and only to breathe freely when he is
again at the station. He will not have
failed, however, to notice the many
precautions taken TO insure safety for
those who daily risk their lives in these
very hazardous operations. Each Sec
ton of the operatives is distinguished
by peculiar canvas suit with a col
ored marking; no ore may 60 on any
pretense, leaving his own department.
The women work in felt shoes and
bathing dresses, and every single
workman or workwoman is stripped
and reclothed before going to their la
bor The explosives. too, are handled
in the smallest possible quantities, save
in the first room of manufacture,
where enough is made at one time to
blow up a city. The nitro-glycerine
itself is u transparent, colorless, oily
fluid. slightly soluble in water, but
readily SO in spirit, ether or fat One
favorite way of destroying it is by boil
ing it in potash when it decomposes,
glycerine and nltre being formed. Per-
haps the most curious use to which it
hoe Ioo,, i IS 81