The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-30
eMoKELEss POWDER.
a Remarkable Compound sosn to be
Used I'm Our Navy.

| a Hemar2abio compound Soen to be
Used in Our Navy.
It has been remarked that gunpow'
der is to the gun what the soul is 10
the body. It gives 1t life and makes
1t Of some account. 1t Ia the means to
an end. Gunpowder drives the shot
that the man behind the gun aims at
the enemy, and enables him, II he be as
skilful as most OF the narksmen In
the United States Navy are, to demol-
ish his target, whether 1t be bird or
q man or ship or fort.
Ordinary gunpowder, the kind one
buys In store, is mechanical mix
ture OF rs parts of saltpetre, Is parts
Of charcoal and 10 parts of sulphur.
The properties such a mixture possess
ses may be altered to any desired ex-
tent by changing these proportions;
the method Of treatment also modiaes
the character Of the resulting powder,
and the size and shape of the grain
likewise influence the action of gun
powder.
To manufacture gsnpowder quanti-
ties Of each ingredient are thoroughly
mixed in the proper proportions, In
machine called mixer; the compost
ton resulting from this is known as
green powder. Green powder must be
subjected to the incorporation process,
an extremely dangerous one, for 1t Is in
the Incorporating room that nearly all
powder mill explosions occur.
The green powder Is put into tub,
where heavy runners of three or four
tons weight grind 1t into homogene-
GUS mixture. After incorporation the
mill cake" as 1t is called, is crushed
between gun metal rollers, then 1t is
subjected to different treatment, &C
cording to the kind Of powder to be
produced, whether grain, pebble or
prismatic. Granulated powder is the
ordinary grain gunpowder OF COM
merce. Pebble powder, or giant pow
der, or blasting powder-for all three
are practically the same-is quite like
grain powder, except that each grain
is OF the average size Of pebble. Pris-
matte powder is the kind used in our
service to drive shot home, therefore
short description of It may not be un-
interesting.
I The powder charges for guns Of the
United States Navy are made up Of
hexagonal prisms Of brown gunpow-
der. Brown gunpowder contains usual
ly about 81 parts Of nitre, three parts
Of sulphur and fifteen parts OF under
burned charcoal, which accounts for
the chocolate color of the powder.
Prismatic powder passes through the
same process as other powders, only
the grains are pressed into prisms by
hydraulic machinery instead of being
and glazed. The prisms thus
formed are one inch high and three
quarters Of an inch on the sides; there
Is round hole, half an inch in dame
ter, through the middle Of each hexa-
gon.
Smokeless powder Is 80 called be-
cause when exploded it produces no
smoke. As matter Of fact, however,
. light, thin, transparent vapor is usu-
ally seen, but 1t quickly disappears.
smokeless powders, from the nature Of
he ingredients employed in making
hem, leave no residue when exploded,
he products of the combustion being
gaseous, whereas in ordinary gun pow
lers, whether black or brown, the
products are partly gaseous and partly
'olid, the solid parts being visible in
he deposit left In the bore of the gun,
n the bits of fire blown out OF the mug
lie at the time OF discharge and In the
hick, heavy smoke that hangs about,
|bscuring the view.