The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-04

4DOOoO pounds are to be ordered to re-
Plehlsh our arsenals and men-of-war
Shckeless powder is in itself a very in
eeIestlng commodity. but when the i'm
Inense mass contained in 1,O00C00 pounds
As considered with regard to what might
De called its collective capabilities the in
terest in the subject becomes cumulative
one Is apt to wonder where all of this
highly explosive material is TO come from,
now II is to be made. and how quickly;
how far 1T viii go toward equipping the
United States army; what its collective
force; what it would do to the landscape
IN general if exploded all at once
Snokeless powder is approximately a
dozen years Old. The first letters patent
Tor its manufacture We're issued to a
trenchman named Neille in 1886. A num-
Der OF different kinds have been patented
since then, but the one which has given
the most satisfaction in the United States
ana Great Britain is 'cordite." This par
tlcular variety was brought out by Sir
F. Abel and Prof Denver. 1t takes its
peculiar name from the fact that it comes
from the mixing machines in a long, cord
IKE formation, which il cut into suitable
lengths for use 1t Is not entirely smoke
less. In fact, there is no such thing as
smokeless powder. A little vapor proper
Tomato to the amount of powder is al
ways seen floating away after a discharge
II is 100000 pounds of this material which
the army and navy board intends to pur-
chase
Cordte fails naturally within the cate
CORY of the high explosives" Even aside
from its quality of limited smOkelessness
it recommends Itself, because Of its greatly
enhanced explosive quaFity bulk for over
the ordinary black prismatic powder which
has been used heretofore. In the mere
sending of bullets, one pound of cordite
will do the work of three pounds of black
prismatic powder, and as far as the gun is
concerned, with bore a trifie over half the
size. Even this estimate may be a little
TOO conservative, for with the quantity
exactly as stated above, the muzzle veloc-
ity is slightly greater with the cordite.
The very nature of the explosive would
promise this, however, for it is composed
of 50 parts of nitrogiycerin, 81 parts gun
cotton, and parts of vaseline, dissolved
by 1872 parts of acctone. The cordite used
in blank cartridges, however, contains no
vaseline.
The process of manufacture is a very
simple one. A weighed quantity of nitro
glycerin is poured over a given amount of
previously dried gun cotton. The two ingre-
dents are carefully mixed by hand, and
when sufficiently assimilated, the result
ing substance Is put into a specially desig-
mated kneading machine. Vaseline is added
during the kneading process and later the
acetone Is put in. The acetone gradually
penetrateS the other three substances and
a n.
formed. This paste is placed in another
machine from hole in the end of which
1t is pushed forth by hydraulic pressure in
strings that look for all the world like
spaghetti. The thread or cord Is contin-
uous and as Il issues like dough from the
machine it is reeled onto great iron drum
made ready to receive II. After a drying
process which takes from three days to a
week. it is cut by machines into required
lengths. It's consistency then is that of
hard rubber. 1t can be bent in the hands,
but will return to its original shape if re-
leased. If lighted it wilE burn brightly, but
ID will go out If blown upon smartly It is
comparatively hard to explode. 1t needs
TO be detonated by some other explosive to
set it off.
Not long ago a blacksmith placed a drop
of nitroglycerin on an anvil and struck
Ii with a hammer. The side of the black
smith shop was blown out, the man dis
appeared and where the anvil had stood
there was a ragged f1ve-foot hole. One
million pounds of smokeless' powder con-
tains $50, 100000 drops of the kind used
by the blacksmith.
Allowing for various shortages in hand
ling, shrinkage, etc, 100000 pounds of
smokeless powder will load approximately
l36, OO0, eco Krag-JorgenSen rifles. One mil
lion rife cartridges loaded with smokeless
powder would weigh three tons less than
If loaded with black prismatic powder.
This means that just so much less weight
will have to be carried by our troops. The
difference in weight and the corresponding
difference in bulk serves greatly to in
crease the capacity of the magazines as
well. Even as 1t is it win require 1000 900
pounds of the powder to fill ali the maya
zines of our forts. men-of-war and navy
yards.
The contracts for making the explosive
will be divided among the various powder
Of 4 he t~xy Il .,rsI1
these firms three months to make the
amount required. The cost to the govern
ment will be 50 cents a pound, or $500, 600
for the whole quantity
what Is a philosopher, Uncle Jim?"