The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1895-02-26
GIANT EXPLOSIVES.
NIrRO-GLYCERINE THE MOST
POWERFUL INVENTED BYaIAn
Dynamite is as Dangerous as Buzz
saw, But it Needs Strong Pro
vocation to Explode
Gun Cotton.

carelessly as they do carload Of DO
tatoes.
Before dynamite can be rnhdo the
manufacturer must make nitro. glycer-
inc, which is the father of dynsmite,
gun-cotton and dozen other forms
OF explosives. Nitro glycerire in its
pure form Is the most powerful ex-
plosive that man has invented, and
yet men carry it around in buckets,
ladlo it in and out of tanks md handle
it apparently without any particular
clution, though they know that if n
pound of it explOdes within speaking
distance of them their relatives will
not need to order collins FOR the re
mains. for there will be mono worth
speaking of.
Glycerine made by soarmalSers is
the base of nitro-glycerlnc. 1t is
brought to the factory In tank cars
and forced by compressed air to
storage tanks, from which it is drawn
when needed. The factory ia usually
ut some distance from any center of
population, and tho buildings are of
wood, with no stones or bricks, $50
that, as one of the workmen put it,
elf she goes she goes quick" Each
part of the process has building to
itself, and the buildings are separated
from one another by considerable
distance.
The mixture of the glyecrine. nitric
and sulphurlc acids, which make nj
troy ycerine, takes place in lead
vat. The acids are first mixed and
then the glycerine in the form of n
fine spray is introduced. The chemi-
cal reaction heats the mixture and the
temperature is carefully watched and
not allowed to go above n certain
point. When the mixture has cooled
to the proper degree it is drawn off.
The nitI oglycerine is an oily, sweet
tasting mixture, and so poisonous that
severe headaches are caused by simply
handling it. AS pure, 100 per cent.
nitro lycerine the explosive has no
commercial value, for the reason that
it cannot be safely shipped. But it is
seldom used in its pure form except
for shooting oil-wells, aud then it is
mixed on the spot, placed in tin car
tridges and dropped down the well.
Before it can be shipped or handled
with safety the nitro-g lycerine must
be mixed with ether substances and
for this purpose 1t is dipped out of
the storage tank into IL small tank
on push car and taken to build
ing, where it is mixed with the
"dope."
''Dopo" is combination OF nitrate
of soda, wood pulp and magnesia.
10 a1 Wit h, MI Il
III IL trough until the explosive is
thoroughly incorporated with it, and
it is then made into cartridges, and is
called dynamite. If seventy five
pounds of nitrog lycerine and twenty
five pounds of "dope" are mixed to-
gether the dynamite is called seventy
five per cent. dynamite; but if twenty
pounds of the explosive and eighty
pounds of 'dope" are mixed together
the product is twenty per cent. dyna-
mite. For rock blasting forty per
cent. dynamite is generally used.
The seventy-tive per cent. dynamite
is used for breaking up the snlaman-
ders which form in blast furnaces and
heating furnaces used in making iron
Sometimes the molten iron chills be-
fore it can be drawn oil, and solid
mass of the metal is loft which cannot
he broken up except with high ex-
plosives. This chunk of iron is called
IL salamander, and when one forms all
work in that furnace stops aud some
times the furnace must he torn down.
Dynamite is exploded by the full
inmate cap, which is placed in the
nj Il hafAr, y 20 4 -
the hole. Safety fuses and electricity
are used for exploding the illuminate
cap and the cap explodes the dyna-
mite. The safety fuse is SO construct
ell that it burns for three, five or ten
minutes, as desired, before the can
explodes, and the cap is fred by cleo
tricity by sending the current through
the platinum wire which is in the can
and which grows white hot when the
current is switched on. The gas lib
Grated by dynamite is the cause of the
headaches which make life miserable
for tho men who work around the ex-
plosive, and for this reason dynamite
is seldom used in tunnel work. For
such work gun-cotton is used. It is a
mixture OF nitro-glycerine and cotton
or wood cellulose and is somewhat like
soft gelatine in its looks. 1t gives ont
less fumes than dynamite and the
fumes do not causo headaches. Blast
ing powder is not used for rock work
to any great extent, but is used in
coal mines, and even there the various
ofTsprings Of nitro-glycerino arc driv-
ing it away.
Last winter on tho sanitary canal
several men were blown to pieces by
the dynamite which they were thaw-
ing out around fire. They were
warming it. because at forty degrees
dynamite freezes and loses to great
degree its explosive power. Men who
habitually handle the explosive carry
the cartridges in the bosoms of their
shirts TO warm them, aud when this
will not suffice they take their lives in
their hands by laying the cartridges
near blazing fire. At ordinary tenn
peraturos forty per cent. dynamite can
be handled with safety. 1t will not
explode by being struck with q ham
mer, nor will it shoot il thrown vio-
iently to the ground, but when heated
up to 800 degrees the dynamite be-