The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-12-22
VALUE OF DYNAMITE.
The Many Useful Purposes Which
It Serves.
Hasmicss and Safe to Handle II Precan.
ttons Are Taken Both Heat and
Percussion Needed to Explode
IEMethods OF Man ufacturc.

4t-Metuo4S OF NAN QxActurCs
Z Dynamite is a name that. 10 the ma
jority of people, is synonymous with
it is very safe and useful commodity
when properly handled. and will not
explode except under peculiar condi-
tions- When a match is applied il win
merely burn and sizzle as the ordinary
red FIRE does, says the Providence Jour
nal, and ninety-nine times out of Q
hundred it may be thrown from the
harm. To explode the substance there
must be the heat and concussion COM
bined. and this car be obtained only by
the use OF the dynamite cap or fulmiu-
ate of mercury, discharged either by a
lighted fuse or by the passage of an
electric current.
The explosive substance itself is
mass of sawdust or lamp black soaked
in nitro-glycerine. Either of these two
preparations is called dynamite. There
is another, the latest explosive vet in
vented, which is obtained by mixing
the nitre-glycerine with gelatine, or
any suitable sglutinous substance.
This is called forcite. and has the
double advantage over dynamite of be-
ing safe to handle and more effective
in it's working. The dynamite is made
up in sticks or cartridges. generally Of
half pound weight, and held in hol-
low pape cylinders eight inches long
and one and a quarter inches in diane
ter. For shipment these sticks are put
then five of these packages are placed
in a strong wooden case, and in that
bulk they are sent out from the facto-
ries to the selling agents. 1t is not
brought here by train, and neither is
ordinary gunpowder, for that matter,
because none of the railroads which
run freight lines in Providence will
carry any kind of explosives. But the
dynamite is brought as far as Acton,
Mass, in the freight cars, and then
carried from there in four-horse teams.
1t takes the team day and half to
make the trip, and the selling parties
paw the carriage. OF course there is
-
here by train; sometimes it comes
marked as soap or some equally harm
less commodity, and the freight hand
lers throw il around accordingly, and
very frequently workmen who are going
a short distance by train out of town to
do some blasting take enough with
them in yalise 70 cause fullfedgcd
modern railroad horror If it should
go off.
In the retail stores, where the dyna
mite is for sale, there is no unusual
precaution taken in the storing OF it.
1t is kept under the counter or on the
shelves, very much the same as com
careful to keep his dynamite cartridges
at one end of the store and the dyna-
mite caps at the other. The latter is
the more dangerous of the two, and it
is when they are brought together
that dynamite is a most excellent
thing to keep away from. 10 is the cap
and the cartridge that are 10 often con-
founded in the accounts of explosions.
etc. The prevailing idea about Anar-
chist Lingg's death is that he exploded
a cartridge in his mouth; instead it
was the much smaller but just as dead
ly cap.
The explosive retails for anywhere
pound. according TO the percentum Of
nitro-glycerine with the sawdust or
lampblack. The uses to which the
dynamite isppt in everyday work on
the farms, lodges and highways are
many, forstfnpIe rock blasting, remov-
ing bowlAers. breaking up iron, clear
ing tree strrnps and shattering ice and
frozen ground. It has been frequent
" nsedsa - Benedict pond, where its ex-
plosion under water, after a drowning
accident. has brought to the surface
some body that could not be secured
with the dragging irons.
II the charge is 10 be used under
water or in break ing up ice the cap
has 20 be made water-tight where the
fuse enters before it is inserted In the
cartridge by filing in the opening
with tar or some kind Of grease.
Water does not injure the dynamite,
but it must be kept from the fulmin-
ate The powder is injured. however.
and its power greatly diminished BY a
low temperature. High explosives
freeze a. temperature OF forty de-
grees TO forty-three degrees. Fahren-
heit, and when in this condition will
explode. IL a: ali, with hat little effect
So to use them in cold weather the
vorkrnen have some eoDtFiysnce for
warming the cartridge, either by leav-
ing II in an iron kettle which IS i'm
mersed In larger one containing hot
water. or BY burying IL In sand heated
90 a temperature Of seventy degrees.
Carelessness in this part OF 'hs work
has on several occasions resulted in a
premature explosion and accident, for
while both conclusion and heat are
generally necessary TO produce any re-
suit, either one Of the two agents alone
may do so. a. was the case IL the re-
cent catastrophe a; esntander.
There is one rule of safety that is al
ways heeied in blasting experiments
II the charge fails 70 explode after the
fuse has been lighted or the current
turned on the operator Siii never Gig
i. out 20 find the reason Fghy--it n too
apt to act ike the fresraeser that tie
small boy picks uP afser be thinks i
has gone Of, or ike The ioy pistol thas
isn't loaded NbeG the first sttsrnps
I. unsuccessful, second chsrgs -
placed IN close proximity - he trSi,
and when that goes they both 20.
shoaian't Try FrD~Tinue1ss-
Il ate piece ~ rssiEee pie last night
irs. before going - bed
.auner IA ~. fecI Y Eea ven AwoSa