The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-08-07
A WONDERFUL EXPLOSIVE.
IT SEEMS NOTHING BUT WATER.
BUT IS VERY POWERFUL.

A Few Drops of the Mysterious Stuff
Make the Earth Shake Like an
Earthquake.
At about 81 o'clock an a recent after
noon people in the streets of Norwich,
Conn, felt the earth shudder slightly
and heard a far-away detonation that
seemed to come from below, and was
like phantom sound heard in a dream.
Some thought the sound was produced
by half-grown earthquake, but nobody
knew just what made it. The delicate
little seismic shudder and detonation were
caused, says the New York iSttn, by Mr..
William T. Chamberlain, the inventor of
Norwich, who had just touched off in
the rural depths Of Preston, four miles
from that city, part of an ounce of his
new explosive, for which he has not yet
thought up an appropriate name. 1t is
made out of water, and Mr.. Chamberlain
believes that in producing it he has pene-
tlated the secret of Keeley's motor.
Mr.. Chamberlain has spent the past ten
or fifteen years in inventing powerful ex-
plosives, projectiles and guns. He has
been to England twice, and his inven-
tions were investigated by the British
Government, but in each case they had
been partly forestalled by the products
of English inventors. In one instance in
which he showed the British experts a
safe method for manufacturing and hand
ling chlorine-nitrogen, which is the most
potent explosive known, he was nearly
successful in his negotiations. His most
ingenious invention was gun which held
balls loaded with compressed air, which
fred themselves from the weapon as soon
as the gunner pulled lever that suddenly
released the air.
After the little shock the other after
noon resident, suspecting its cause,
called on Mr.. Chamberlain, who had come
in from the country, and who said to this
visitor: eyes, did it. 1t was a great
success, too" The inventor continued,
tersely: 81 was four miles from the city
down, in low valley, when / lit it off,
and guess the shock was unlike any
thing you ever experienced before. Here
is pint bottle. You see it is full Of
water. l will pour some of it into a glass
for you to examine. You may drink some
of it. 1t won't hurt you. If you did
drink it, it would act mildly as ca
thartic. l have placed some of it on an
anvil and hit it with a sledge hammer.
Nothing happened. Have tried it in all
sorts of ways. No trouble with it. De-
tonators and conclusions failed to explode
it. It's nothing but water, you see. Yet
it's not water. You just let me drop a
piece of potassium in it, or apply fire
to it in any way, and you wouldn't
think it was water-well, you wouldn't
have time to think that it was anything
not here, for both of us and this house
with us would be sponged off the earth
in fraction of time. Here are some
minute fragments of 4-inch, wrought
iron, hollow ball, which ! burst with it.
placed six drops of the water inside it,
applied potassium, and most of the ball
was ground to powder, all except these
pieces, no bigger than raisins, which you
see. In my opinion this new force is
more powerful than chlorine-nitrogen,
and in its explosion the force is in all di-
rections. 1t can be made only from fresh
water, and not from salt or condensed
water, so that if it were to be used on
shin at sea, a supply of fresh water
would have to be carried. l have no
name to give to it yet. | call it simply
explosive water. No doubt it is another
application of the same force that has
been applied to the Keeley motor. No,
/ shall not place the discovery before the
United States Government; there would
be no use of it. | shall make the dis
covery known to various European
powers, and if l cannot do anything
with them, shall let it 60"
Mr.. Chamberlain says that his explosion
of a teaspoonful OF two of the explosive
water made fun in Preston. The shock
made his teeth chatter, although he was
a long way from the scene; it flung him
on the earth and nearly unjointed his
backbone; the ground reeled, leaves fell
in showers from the trees, and farmers
families ran out of their dwellings and
gazed at the ground, evidently thinking
that an earthquake rolled in subterranean
caverns. Flocks of frightened birds,
crows, and partridges, rose out of the
woods and flew chattering as fast as wings
could bear them, pigs grunted and ran,
COWS and oxen whlsked their tails and
cavorted in distant pastures, and seven
hens and a rooster fell off the edge of a
fowl house one hundred rods away,
picked themselves up, twisted their heads
skyward, and cackled in vague wonder.
Mr.. Chamberlain stole into the woods
and hastened home. He will try another
town the next time he feels like blowing