The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-11-07
HIGH EXPLOSIVES.
MYSTERIES IN THE MAKING OF
NITRO.GLYCERINE.
How the Numerous Compounds
arc Made-Wonderful Uses or
the Explosives in Mining
and Agriculture.

it is, vastly superior in strength to gun.
powder, but the discovery of newer and
far more powerful explosive compounds
have taken the name away from gun-cot-
ton entirely. Powerful explosive as it is,
that substance is weak compared with
the numerous compounds based upon
nitro -glycerine.
The first high explosive, according to
the classification of the present, was
originally discovered and put into prac-
tical use by distinguished chemist. He
made it by slowly digesting ordinary
glycerine ut a low temperature, in mix
ture of equal parts of nitric and sulphurlc
aids. In this operation the oil slowly
separates and falls to the bottom of the
vessel. It is of yellowish color, and
has a sweetish, not unpleasant taste. If
ignited in the ordinary methods en-
ployed in burning other intiammable
oils it burns in a similar manner to
them, but if it be lgnited by percussion
it instantly explodes with almost incon-
ceivable force.
So sensitive IS nitro glycerlne to con-
cussion and percussion that if it be
dropped only few feet or struck even q
slight blow it will explode. An ex-
ample of this wonderful property of the
stuff occurred few years ago in Panama,
when the sldden ignition of quantity
of it converted wharf and ware
house into mass of unrecognizable
fragments, inflicted damage to the ex-
tent of about million dollars and sud-
denly ended number of lives.
Careful investigations soon demon
strated that the change which converts
a harmless substance like glycerine into
such powerful explosive is made by
the substitution OF molecules of nitrogen
and oxygen for atoms of hydrogen in
the original compound. When this is
done with great care and the process is
carried through the last stage, the re-
sultant liquid is nothing more than a
vast mass of gas held together by the
weakest and most unstable bonds.
It was soon seen that the same law OF
substitution could be applied to Other
bodies with exactly the same results. If
applied to cotton fibre it produces the
familiar gun cotton. Applied to ordi-
nary gelatine it produces nitro-gelatine.
As q matter of curiosity it has been ap-
piled by chemists to great variety of
substances. and high explosives have
been produced from linen. sawdust,
bread, coffee grounds, tea leaves, cigar
cites, hay, old clothes, and number of
other materials. In fact, DR.. Chandler,
who is in his line the most distinguished
authority in the country, once said that
there was hardly a substance in ordinary
use in household life, but what by prop.
er treatment could be converted into an
explosive compound powerful enough to
totally destroy the largest building in
the city.
The alarming number of accidents
which occurred from the use of Mobiles
oil, as we'll as the great value Of the dis
covery in mining, quarrying and ex.
cavating operations, called the attention
of scientists to the matter and they went
to work to find some means of destroying
the danger without impairing the
efficacy of the compound. They soon
discovered that if nitro-glycerine be
absorbed by any pulverulent body it
would afterwards explode only by per-
cussion, and that the percussion had to
be comparatively powerful. 1t was
mixed with fine clay made into cart
ridges or nodded in forms, to be sold in
bulk. Some German chemists employed
sawdust as IN absorbent and produced
what is now known as dynamite. Others
have used plaster OF paris, chalk,
magnesia, Fnller's earth and other inert
powders, and have produced the various
explosi es known as rendrock, racka-
rock and the like.
The latest discovery in this line was
very recently reported from London and
is that of new compound called cabro-
dynamite. 1t is composed of ninety
parts of o-glyceriue.
1t is difficult to over-estimate the
economic value of these high explosives.
Some Ores like the copper ores of the
upper Lake Superior region, are almost
proof against gunpowdcr blasting. The
rock and metal together are so hard that
two charges out of every three Of gun
powder are fired out as if from cannon
without shatterng the ore. If the high
explosives are used the expansive power
is found to be 90 great that the ore is
shattered in every direc ion. The di.:er-
ence is so great that while gunpowder
may be said to blow up and sideways,
all the great high ex plos.ves blown
downward as we'll. This property has
been utilized in many ways, notably in
the removal of reefs and other obstruc-
tions in the New York harbor. Diamond
Reef, off the Battery, and number of
the smaller rocks off Hell Gate were de-
stroyed by lowering heavy charge of
nitro-glycerine or dynamite directly
upon the sub-aqueous surface of the
rock and exploding it by means of an
electric wire. In every case the rocks
were shattered and the channel improved
from one TO FIVE feet in depth.
Farmers find the high explosives espe-
cially valuable in clearing new land of
stumps, as a single cartridge will make
tne kindling wood of stump that it
would take two men week to remove.
Another and most reprehensible use
of the explosives is the killing of fish.
One small cartridge exploded under
!urtar will kill every fish within 200 feet
of it.
In shooting wells, too, the high ex-
plosives are valuable. When q we'll
runs dry two or three heavy charges are
commonly lowered to the bottom and
exploded with an electric wire, the
theory being that the little veins or lis-
sures in the substratum, through which
the oil or water flows, have become
clorged or choked up so that the fluid
no longer finds its way through. The
high explosives are powerful enough to
shatter the rock for MANY Yards in every