San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-24
NITROGLYCERIN.
HOW SOME DEADLY EXPLOSIVES
ARE MANUFACTURED.

Some Remarkable Facts About Dyna-
mite and Its Parent. Nitroglycerin.
Stirring "a Sensitive Mixture.
Come up to the factory some day, and
I'll show you how we make nitroglycerin,"
was the invitation | received one afternoon
in the oil country from an extensive manu-
facturer of the terrible explosive.
The invitation was very cordial one,
but there were considerations which made
me somewhat slow in accepting it. I'VE
have about seven tons of dynamite in one
magazine, and two tons of glycerin in an
other" said my would be host These
were among the considerations which de-
tered me.
But" he added, there's no particular
danger in looking at the dynamite unless
the building catches fire. You can play
baseball with the cartridges, and they will
never strike back, or you can pour the
dynamite out on the ground and set fire
to il without being injured. Unconfined
the explosive will burn harmlessly, but i
should not advise you to touch match to
a loaded cartridge. When the gases ex-
pand they do SO in extreme haste, and II
anything tries to restrain them it breaks.
and some one gets hurt"
The nitroglycerin man laughed rather
grimly Then, apparently thinking that
he had not made his invitation quite allur-
ing enough, he continued: But it's diff
ferent with nitroglycerin. Baseball and
fireworks are strictly prohibited Glycerin
is easily offended, and when it resents an
affront the world hears about it, but the
object of it's dispeasure never does.
"Glycerin is as tickle and changeable,
too, as the wind One day slight shock
will explode it, and the next you may hit
a can with hammer and live to tell the
story
THE glycerin's readiness or reluctance
to explode doubtless depends upon its quail
ity. One run of stock may be well washed
and clean, and another may be full of i'm
purities. If can is filled to the very
corks too. so that the substance within
has no opportunity to wash against the
sides, do not think it will explode so cas-
lily as one which is three-quarters or seven
eighths full"
TONS OF DYNAMITE
found the dynamite and nitroglycerin
factories at opposite ends Of a picturesque
little valley, several miles from the town.
Both structures were of very crude archi-
lecture and resembled ordinary sheds or
barns But from the moment we rode
down into the narrow gulch the air seemed
filled with whispers of death.
When we entered the dynamite factory
and the glycerin man pointed out the big
boxes full of loaded cartridges, explaining
that the dynamite made here was merely
wood pulp saturated with nitroglycerin,
hardly heard what he said, but watched
him with hawklike vigilance,
He picked up slender brown paper tube
that looked like Roman candle, and
which he said was a dynamite cartridge
held my breath until the tube was safely
deposited upon the table again. He poured
some of the dynamite, which closely re-
sembled sawdust, into a shell and rammed
II down with round stick as one would
load musket.
Nothing of an alarming character hap
pened, and began to breathe with more
regularity was more at ease as we left
the seven tons of dynamite behind, but the
same horrible feeling of suffocation and
GOODNESS came over me again as we ap
preached the more dangerous nitrogly
cerin mandatory
This building contained several huge
wooden watts. "A few pals and barrels, an en-
gine and great iron, kettlelike re
ceptacle.
The iron receptacle was called an "agi.
tator," and, simply described, consisted OF
a small kettle within a large one. The
space between the two was constantly filled
with stream of cold water from a tank
Oh the hillside. The inner kettle was fitted
with several paddles, which were turned
by a crank.
About 1900 pounds of acids, sulphuric
and nitric mixed, were poured into the
smaller kettle. A thin but continuous
stream of gycerin slowly followed; the
engine began to pant, the crank revolved,
the paddles churned the glycerin and
acids, and the manufacture of nitroglyc-
erin was going on before my eyes.
MAKING THE DEADLY LIQUID.
Ny host controlled the flow Of glycerin
by means of a stopcock, aud watched the
agitator and the thermometer which reS
istered the heat of the perilous mixture
with unremitting vigilance.
"Nitroglycerin," my friend said, sis
formed By the action Of nitric and sal
phuric acids upon glycerin. When those
red fumes come up. the greatest caution