The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-30
NITRO-GLYCERINE.
Where and How the Explosive is Man
ufactured-Its Use in Oil Fields.

Nitro glycerine and its peculiarities
are little known, even in localities
where it is made. People generally give
it a wide berth, and even less number
know how it Is manufactured Proba-
bly, in no place in the United States is
there such a great amount of the ex-
plosive used as in the Indiana oil fields.
Indiana has four o-glycerine facto-
ries-two near Montpelier, Black
Knightstown. The Findlay Glycerine
company and the F. G. Garthwalt COM
pany have their factories on the
Spaulding farm, two miles out of Mont
peler, and they are seldom visited by
curious people.
The explosive is made from compo-
siton of acids and glycerine. 1t is gen
orally pale yellow in coor and quite coll
orless when pure. 1t is odorless, and
has a sweet, pungent, aromatic flavor
If touched with the skin it will pro-
duce a severe headache. A large tank
called an agitator is where the fluid is
mixed, and the mixture is composed Of
equal parts of nitric and sulphuric acid
Inside the tank are several paddles, like
those of a churn, and is is here that
the real danger in the manufacture ex-
lists, The paddles are put in operation,
and a steady stream of sweet glyce-
rine is turned into vat until two hun
dred and fifty pounds are thoroughly
mixed with the fifteen hundred pounds
of acid. The chemicals coming in con-
tact produce an intense heat, and in or
der to obviate the danger cold water is
4,
srees Fahrenheit a red vapor almost
like fire, arises. If cutting off the sup
ply of glycerine in the agitator does
not lower the temperature it is time to
say farewell, Before ninety degrees are
reached nothing but atoms of the
structure and its contents are left.
In its manufacture water is used to
flood the Workroom, since a drop fall
ing on the floor might lead to an expo-
sion. Not nail is to be found in the
floor of the factory, and the visitor is
cautioned not to drag his feet. Those
who make the dangerous fluid say that
a jar will not cause an explosion; that
friction and fire are the only agencies
by which it can be discharged One
may pour barrel of nitro-glycerine
from a high building to a cement walk
below and it will not explode, but a
small quantity of it dropped from the
same height in can will blow the
down. A sharp conclusion in
stantly touches it off. Factories be-
come useless after few years opera
ton and have to be destroyed. The
timber becomes saturated with nitro
glycerine and an explosion is imminent
at any time
The average production of glycerine
from fifteen hundred pounds of acid
and two hundred and fifty pounds of
glycerine is about one hundred and for
ty quarts. The glycerine concerns in
Ohio and Indiana are in trust, and
the price within the last few weeks has
been advanced from eishty-five to nine
ty-tWo cents per quart. About one
hundred and sixty quarts constitute an
average shot for an Indiana oil WELL
While magazine explosions are not
rare, the real cause of the blowing up
never becomes known. Those who are
close enough to see the cause always
go up with the building. The average
time for shooter or nitro glycerine
maker to remain in the business does
act exceed five years. Death is instant,
md no one has ever recovered from a
ro-glycerne accident Bodies are
orn to atoms no larger than bits os sau-
age. Two years ago a magazine in tn
northern pant of Blackford county went
Up. and George Hickok, Harry Woods
md two horses were practically ami
lilated. The wages of employees of the
actores range from one hundred and
twenty-five to one hundred and fifty
dollars month.
Strange as it may seem, the man who !
made and exploded the first pound of !