The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-13

10 SIN WaSnlnSS, the mass VIII SHOW iN
reddening of blue litmus paper it IL
pronounced chemically pure nitro-slyc
crime and is ready for the next process:
in the manufacture of dynamite.
From the glycerine house the iiquiC
explosive is carried in fibre pals, 10y
men wearing rubber boots and rubber
mittens, to the mixing house. Where il
is dumped into wooden trouShs eacl
holding $50 pounds. 1t is there mixed
with various absorbents to form dyna-
mite, the absorbent material, whicf
may be wood-pulp, l1isselguhr, peal
moss of diatom earth being added t.
the nitro glycerine in the trough anc
thoroughly mixed into stiff paste
with wooden hoes. Not a particle OF
metal is seen about the mixing room
for metal on metal might generate q
spark and one spark would mean That
a new building and new worlNmen
would be required Immediately there
after.
The troughs are dovetailed, after he
fashion used by japanese carpenters,
and the hoe-handles are attached by
wooden pegs The operatives wear
rubber boots and mittens and metals,
matches and tobacco are tabooed, as
indeed they are about the entire prem
ises. The absorbent used principally at
the works is a diatom earth, obtained
in the state of Washington. II looks
like chalk, and is really very much
like it, consisting Of the microscopiGal
shells of infusoria that lived a few
geological ages ago.
Kieselguhr is a German infusorial
earth used by all European manufac-
turers and eXtentively imported to this
country for making dynamite, but the
Washington product has been found
CT FlE4f ion nv N,II
Peat moss is also imported, though
there are great areas of peat in this
country which could probably produce
an article equally good for the purpose.
Wood pulp, made from cedar spruce
and other deciduous woods, is also
used. Snuff-colored pulp differs some
what from that used for making paper,
having been chemically treated for the
express use to which it is put.
Magnesia is also used to some extent
as an absorbent. The diatom earth,
kieselguhr and magnesia are all some
what lumpy when arriving in their
crude state and are dried at great heat
in iron pans, thence passed through
grinding machines which turn out the
stuff as fine as flour. 1t is then used,
while freshly dried and ground, before
it has had a chance to absorb moisture
from the air The peat moss is also
dried and ground before taking to the
mixing house, while the wood pulp has
already been ground and merely re-
quires drying.
From the mixing house the dynamite,
for such the nitro glycerine has become
through mixing with absorbents, is TAX
en- TO the cartridge house. The pasty
mass is taken from the mixing through
with the wooden hoes and loaded in
wooden wheelbarrows shod with rubber
tires and is again taken in charge by
men with rubber boots and mittens, by
whom it is wheeled through a covered
passageway of wood with a wooden
floor. Arrived at the cartridge house,
which is in another ravine, hence pro-
tected against the force of explosions
in the glycerine house or mixing
house, it is dumped into wooden hop
pers. At the bottom of these V-shaped
hoppers there is wooden slide, below
which is a tin funnel ending in a tin
cylinder just the size of a dynamite
cartridge.
The paper for the cartridges has been
prepared previously in a separate
building, by girlS who work with al
most inconceivabie speed and precision
Sheets of tough cartridge paper made
of the best quality of rope manila are
cut by hundreds Of thousands in size
Is by 10 inches. The girls deftly
wrap these pieces of paper about wood
en- cylinders each II inches in diameter
except in the case of special -sizeC
cartridges. which are made both small
er and larger, though the size first Civ
en- is the standard-and with a quicl
motion q dab of paste has been ap
piled. the paper pressed down over i
and the completer case is thrown in
side a tin band which holds so com
pleted cases. These are tied in bundles
when the tin case is filed and stored
in big bins.
The girls work by the piece and be
come SO expert that they earn large
wages, the work being not only light
and hence fitted for female labor, bui
it having also been found that girls
can do the work more rapidly thar
boys or men. The bundles of cart
ridge cases, after counting, are taker
to an adjoining room and dipped in {
tank of paraffine, kept liquid by gentle
heat. They are then ready, when dried
for use in the cartridge house, where
an empty case is inserted over the con
tinuation of the tin funnel which il
lust fits, the little slide is withdraw
and automatically admits just the righi
quantity of dynamite, which is PRESSED
down with a wooden plunger by the
operative
The dynamite has become like danlr
sawdust in consistency and packs read
ily. With a deft motion the filled case
is removed from the bottom of the fun
mel, the top and bottom crimped into
place and a dynamite cartridge is COM
pleted The finished cartridges are
placed on wooden trays which when
filled are placed on a table scale set
at fifty pounds and cartridges are add
ed to or taken from to bring the proper
weight. They are then wheeled to the
packing house where they are boxed III
fifty pound cases. The boxes are spec
tally made of the best clear stuff pine
for knotholes in giant powder cases
might give rise to trouble in future
handling, where the miners exercise
little of the care noted in all depart
ments Of the mandatory, but handle
the boxes as though they were filled
with soda crackers and would be unin-
iured by a little rough usage.
There is one building about the works
which visitors may not enter. 1t is the
experimental laboratory and the casual
caller might take a friendly liberty in
the handling of curious looking tubes
or bottles which would lead to the pain
full necessity of scrapng up his remains
from several acres of ground. The Wis
itor might also be too knowing and like
all other successful manufactures the
company possesses valuable trade Sc
crets which competitors would give a
great deal OF money to learn
There is one interesting object which
the visitor may Witness, however, out
side of the buildings. This is the artil-
lery of the works, consisting of a single
mortar firmly imbedded in the ground
The projectile is a steel sylinder foui
inches in diameter and weighing 8;
pounds, which fits smoothly in the NOR
tar, which is as carefully finished inside
as a rifed cannon though it has ne
rifing. This testing mortar is loaded
with "a grains Of dynamite-a small
teaspoonful-and the distance which tn,
3S-ponnd projectile is hurled averag es
about 60 feet. Larger charges are not
aIlnrnd as theN might hrRak the NOR.