The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-07-13
smOksless Powder.

u
United States navy are, to demolish
his target, whether it be bird or a man
or a ship or a fort.
Ordinary gunpowder, the kind one
buys in a store, is isamechanical mixture
of 75 parts of saltpetre, Is parts of
charcoal and 10 parts Of sulphur. The
properties such a mixture possesses
may be altered to any desired extent
by changing these proportions; the
method of treatment also mOdifies the
charaCi ar of the res Ilting powder and
the size and shape of the grain, like
wise influences the action of gun
powder.
To manufacture gunpowder quanti-
ties of each ingredient are thoroughly
mixed in the proper proportions, in
machine called a 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 it is in
the Incorporating room that nearly all
powder mill explosions occur.
The green powder is put into a tub,
where heavy runners of three or four
tons weight grind it into a homOgene-
Gus mixture. After incorporation the
''mill cake" as it is called, is crushed
between gun metal rollers, then it is
subjected to different treatment, ae-
eording TO the kind of powder to be
produced, whether grain, pebble or pris-
matte. Granulated powder is the or
binary grain gunpowder of commerce.
Pebble powder, or giant powder 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.
Prismatie powder is the kind used in
our service to drive shot home, there
fore a short description Of it may not
be uninteresting.
The powder charges for guns of the
United States navy are made up ofhex-
agonal prisms Of brown gunpOwder.
Brown gunpOwder contains usually
about 81 parts Of nitre, three parts of
sulphur and - parts of unburned char
coal, which accounts for the chocolate
color Of the powder. Prismatic pow
der passes through the same process as
other powders, only the grains are
pressed into prisms by hydraulic ma
ehinery instead of being separated and
glazed. The prisms thus formed are
one inch high and three-quarters Of an
inch on the sides; there is a round hole
half an inch in diameter, through the
middle of each hexagOn.
Powder charges for ali our guns not
using fixed ammunition with metallic
cartridges are put up in woolen serge
cartridge bags, the prisms forming the
charge being carefully piled up in lay
ers of the diameter of the chamber Of
the gun, one on top of the other, 50
that the holes in the piles will be coin
cident. Brown prismatic powder ig
mites slowly; it is therefore, necessary
to put into each cartridge a prism or
two of quick burning black powder in
the center of the bottom layer, next to
the breech plug. BY this means the
flame is quickly distributed through
the entire charge. Each full charge in
its bag is kept in a copper cylinder
with removable heads. The cylinder
is passed from the magazine of the ship
up to the gun, where the ends are re-
moved and the charge pushed into the
gun chamber. All the powder charges
in service on board our ships are brown
prismatie, though smokeIess powder is
being tried, with view to its adop-
ton.
Smokeless powder is so called because /
when exploded it produces no smoke. /
As matter of fact, however, a light, |
thin transparent vapOr is usually seen,
but it quickly disappears. SmOkeless /
powders, from the nature of the in
gradients employed in making them,
leave no residue when exploded, the I
products of the combustion being gas
eous, whereas in ordinary gunpowders, |
whether black or brown, the products /
are partly gaseous and partly solid, the /
solid darts being visible in the deposit /
left in the bore of the gun, in the bits /
of fire blown out of the muzzie at the !
time of discharge and in the thick, 1
heavy smoke that hangs about, Obscur-
ing the view.
The composition of the smokeless
powder used in our navy is not known
except that guncotton is the principal
ingredient; in ali powders Of this class 1
some high explosive like guncotton,
nitroglycerin, the picrates OF a cOmbi-
nation Of those is employed as a base /
The smokeless powder made ut News
port for our navy is hard, lustreless
substance OF light yellowish sOlOr-
Ii is put up in the form Of sticks resena-
bling yermicelli in size and appearance;
that for the large ealiber guns LOOKS
like macaroni, having a cylindrical /
hole through the stick. The largest
size stick is about three-eighths inch in
diameter with hole through it about
one sixth inch in diameter.
Smokeless powder is extensively used |
abroad, nearly every foreign country
having some powder peculiar 20 itself
The one with which we are most IA
miliar is the English cOrdite- The guns
recently purchased from the Armstrong
firm, in England, and mounted on
board the New Orleans use eordite in
their cartridges.
1t is but question Of time when in
our navy brown gunpowder will be SUI
perseded by smokeless gunpowGer.-
y. Y. Herald.
''Spain has no chance TO win in this
fight" said Mr.. Manchester to Mr..
Norfhofda