The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-24
WAR TALK BY EDISON.
Powders That VIII Explode If n Man
shouts at Them.

shouts at Ihem.
Thomas A Edison in Chicago Inter-Ocean.
1T seems very odd to me that in all this
talk of war and battles and military equip
ments there should be 50 little said of what
might be called the familiar performance
Of high explosives. do not believe these
prospective volunteers, who are so anxious
10 go to war, realize the nature of the COM
pounds which viii be used for ammuni-
ton in the battles of the future. 1 have
seen some of these compounds do wonder
full things when carefully handled. What
will they do during the rush and hustle of
an ENLARGEMENT? Why. some of them
cannot be used for practical purposes,
they are so very powerful. That is one
trouble in making an explosive for use in
guns.
A gun is an engine, just as much so as
a steam engine. and you have to work it
on an economical principle You must save
your powder Just as much as you must
save your coal in the steam engine. Hence
these gunpowders are so composed that,
when Ignited. they will drive the bullet
along the gun barrel, gaining in power as
it goes, but so nicely balanced in explosive
action that the last speck of powder is
not utilized until the bullet has reached
the muzzle and is about to leave the gun.
Thus a gun is really heat engine. But,
as 1 have minated. the rending power of
some of these explosives is so great that
the bullet, cannot, so to speak, keep ahead
of t. Before the bullet reaches the muz-
zle of the gun the accumulated gases e.
hind 1t have increased so much in volume
as to overcome the lateral resistance of
the barrel. and the gun bursts.
you hear people talking of the dangers
arising from the handling of dynamite. 1
Ia
Gus to handle in the ordinary sense of the
word at least. ] remember once taking
quantity of dynamite out In the woods near
my iron mine up the state and trying to
explode 1t by such means as might enter
into any accident likely to occur in general
handling We did it as an object lesson to
the men as much as for anything else. We
burned it, threw big rocks at 1t, and tried
other ways of exploding 1t, but we couldn't
make st go OFF. We use lois of II for blast
ing purposes, but we never have had an
accident OF course. 1t produces frightful
effects when exploded in conjunction with
some other high explosive. Nitro glycer
rine on the other hand, is to be feared a
all times. I have heard of a blacksmith
who placed one drop of Il on an anvil and
then struck il a hard blow with ham,
mer. 1t must have been hard blow. 1t
blew out the side Of the shop and made
big hole under where the anvil had stood !
and the blacksmith did not even need bur
ial. But even this Is not to be compared to
iodide of nitrogen. It's explosive power is
equal to 4,O00 feet a second That is, if you |
laid train of it 1000 feet long and eX-
ploded one end of the train the explosion |
would be transmitted 10 the other end OF
the train in one second. don't know but |
under these conditions the cumulative |
character Of the effect would cause the !
other end OF the train to BECOME ignited |
even sooner than in one second. That speed |
IS greater than the accredited velocity OF |
sound which travels at the rate of l,4O0 |
feet second.
In fact there are explosives OF such !