The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-15

/ ato stuuIeu It's properties, but they al APP
peared TO be shy OF manufacturing il on a
/ large scale though little was then known
/ OF us value as a blasting agent Alfred
/ Nobel, the Swedish engineer, was the first
/ large quantity of il. He discovered a SIM
/ pie ana comparatively safe method for its
manufactures on large scale and
! means by which it might be readily eX-
/ p-oded; In company with Others, he butt
/ Two ntro-giycerlne factories, one near
/ S1ochholm and the other near Hamburg.
Inc compound soon found its way as q
! pdStlng agent into Germany. England,
sweden and the United States.
During 1864 and 1865 Nobel took out
/ many patches for what he called NO
/ beis blasting oil" The demand became
/ SO great that the factories could not fll
oruers The glory OF the blasting oil was
short-lived. Almost simultaneously from
/ an parts of the world came news of fright
Iul accidents caused by the premature eX-
/ plosion of nitro-glycerine. The Stockholm
| factory blew up in 1864; in the harbor Of
| Colon, on the Isthmus of Panama, a cargo
| OF hltro-Slycerine en- route for San Fran
! cisco exploded on the steamer European.
! 1he steamer was destroyed. much prop
J erty was injured, and several lives were
| iost; similar accidents happened in Eng
land, New South Wales and California.
| Inc newspapers, by their descriptions OF
/ the accldonts, filled the public mind with
| a dread of the explosive that still re-
! mans. sweden and Belgium prohibited
| ITS manufacture, and there was a protest
| against it in all parts of the world No
/ pei possessed true courage, and he COM
! batted public opinion. He claimed that
!
| OF carelessness. and that o-glycerine
| was no more dangerous than gunpowder.
! lie continued to experiment BY mixing
| mtro-glycerlne with porous substances,
| and causing its absorption by them, he
| succeeded in diminishing its danger. Mix
| Ell with absorhents, mtro-glycerine be-
comes dynamite, and the danger of hand
! ing il is greatly reduced.
When the great oil fields of Pennsyl-
| Nanta were opened it was found that par
! affine was apt to clog the wells, cover the
! sponge-like oil rock like a seal, and keep
| back the natural flow of oil. Various
| methods We're tried to clean out the wells
| and increase their flow. Gunpowder was
| lowered into the wells and exploded with
| good effect. One day trial was made of
! ntro-glyceTine, with such results that 1t
| instantly came into favor. Factories were
| established in all the different oil fields
and new industry. sprang INTO life, an
! industry that has left a red trail on every
| page of the history of the oil regions.
. Inc writer PAID VISIT recently TO the
| Rock nitro-glyCerine factory near How
| ard Junction. on the Buffalo. Rochester
and Pittsburg railroad. Approach TO the
factory is indicated by board sign nailed
on sapling just above the road. on 1t
is printed in capital letters, "Glycerne
Place The factory IS situated at the
up the hillside from the railroad, and is
hemmed in on two sides by a forest. The
factory and buildings. ten in all, are
spread over ten acres. The buildings
are all one-story high built of hemlock
board and implanted. The largest of the
ten did not cost more than $50, and some
of that sum. Brick buildings would look
pretter, but would be blown up just as
easily, and they cost more to replace than
the shabby hemlock structures. The fore
man, J. H. Ward, is an expert. lie has
been making and handling nitro-giycerine
for eighteen years and has had many mar
row escapes. He is one of the most care
full foremen in the country, and when a
new hand comes to the learn the bust
ness he watches him very closely for sew
eral weeks. The second time the new
Rand becomes careless he is discharged,
if his first offense does not wipe him out.
II want you TO stay here all forenoon
with me- he said, when his visitor mad
explained his errand, and I'll show You
made, and if you'll only ask questions
enough, I'll tell you all l know about the
business, and I've been eighteen years
learning it."
He lighted the gas under the boiler
in the boiler house, and speedily put on his
factory suit and pulled on a pair of rub
Der boots. Then he wanted to know if his
visitor had any matches, firearms, pipes,
or cigarettes in his pockets.
If you have he said. you must leave
them outside. They are not allowed in
the factory. A match head accidentally
dropped on the floor caused the last eX-
plosion we had here.
BY the time the steam was blowing off
the other employees arrived, and Mr..
Ward led the way down the hill to the
edge of the woods to long, low building
that looked from the outside very much
like backwoods saw mill. The building
was about sixty feet long and thirty fees
Wlue lNefe was a covered platform on
the upper side, where twenty or more iron
drums the size of a sugar barrel were
stored. The drums contained the raw ma
terials used in the manufacture of the
nitro-glycerine, and each one when filled
weighed 1850 pounds The drums are NOV
ed up the hill from the railroad station
on a narroW-gauge railroad by horse
power. At the upper end of the factory
is. an engine that furnishes The power to
drive the machinery. Near the center
of the building is a wooden tank eight feet
across and four feet high, inside of which
is a covered iron tank for which the wood
en- tank forms water jacket The iron
tank is lined with lead and coils of lead
pipe circle about its walls. Through the
coils a steady tream of cold water is kept
running when the tank is in use. This
iron tank is called the agitator, and in
1t the chemicals are mixed that form the
nitro-glycerine. In the center of the agi-
tator are two broad iron paddles which
make 100 revolutions a minute when rum
ming. The chemicals can only be mixed
at low temperature. The moment the
contents of the agitator become too hot
a red flame flashes across the surface of
the iron tank, and unless the temperature
is lowered al once the compound takes
fire, an explosion comes and the factory
and employees go on an aerial excursion
without return tickets.
On a platform four feet below the agi-
tator is another large wooden tank into
which the contents of the agitator are
poured, thoroughly mixed This is the
washing tank. on another platform four
feet lower are two small wooden tanks
into which the nitro-glycerine is drawn
ready TO be canned, and taken to the mag
aZines.
Nitro-glycerine is nitric and sulphuric
acids mixed with common glycerne such
as you buy al the drug store for chapDed
hands. The acids are first run into the
agitator. and the odor that permeates ev-
cry corner of the factory is beyond words
70 describe. It cuts the lungs like a sharp
knife. Two small copper tanks rest on the
cover Of the agitator. They are filed
with glycerine From the bottom of each
copper tank small pipe leads down into
the agitator, where the glycerine drips |
from perforated pipe two feet in length. |
after the fashion of water from a street
sprinkler, when the mixing begins Be-
fore the glycerine throttles are opened the |
engine is started up and the pulleys and |
belts are tested. The water is turned into |
the coils OF pipe, the foreman mods and |
his assistant turns on the steam. The en- |
gine clanks, the belts squeak. and the pull |
leys whirr The glycerine throttle is turn !
ed and the oil drips from the pipe, the |
paddles revolve rapidly in the agitator, |
and the work Of mixing begins
For 1--WE minutes the men do nothing but |
watch the flow of glyeerine, and the work +
looks as simple as churning with "A water |
wheel for power. Then the foreman gra bs |
"a no ffY1p astp md Il %