Evening journal., 1899-09-11
POWDER FOR THE NAVY
Government Will Manufacture
1t.
A BIG PLANT NEAR INDIAN HEAD

a Blu ELhNl NhAh INDIAN ubhD
1T WILL TURN OUT TWO THOU
SAND POUNDS OF sMOKELESs
POWDER A DAY-MARKS A DIS
TINCT DEPARTURE BY THE.
GOVERNMENT.
The Federal government has taken a.
step which will materially affect the
DuPonts, Of this city, and other pri-
vate powder manufacturing concerns.
A dispatch from Washington says that
the Navy Department expects to begin
the manufacture of smokeless powder
at its powder mills, a few miles back
from the Potomac river, near Indian
Head, within the next two or three
months. Work on the mills has been
pushed energetically. and at present
about 1900 men are employed. Ad-
miral ONeil chief of the Bureau of
Ordnance, accompanied by Lieutenant
Seymour, of the bureau, inspected the
work during the last week, and was
much pleased at the progress made.
Already about a dozen buildings are
completed; the electric light plant,
said to be one of the finest in the
country, is installed, and the stand
pipe, 12O feet high, is up. There are
ten or twelve other buildings well along
toward completion. Altogether the
group of buildings will number twenty
four or twenty-five. with capcity of
1000 pounds of smokeless powder
daily. This daily output seems large at
first thought but one of the big thir-
teen inch guns of the Indiana uses l.
600 pounds Of powder at a single shot
The various buildings Of the powder
plant cover a wide area about four
miles back from the river. The gen.
eral purpose has been to keep the
buildings as far apart as the require
ments of manufacture would permit in
order to avoid the dangers of explo-
sions. For that reason there is no
large central building, but many small
Cles. each having a distinct branch Of
u.c yder making. They are arrang-
ca also with a view to the prevailing
winds, so that the risk Of having the
fumes of acids borne by the wind is
reduced to a minimum. One building
is used exclusively for the picking pro
cess; another for the mixing; another
for the acids. In this way each stage
of manufacture is detached from all
the others, not only reducing the
chances of accident, but also givins
some security against widespread dam
age in case Of explosion in any one
stage of the process. Another precau-
tionary measure has been the building
Of light paper" walls at the ends of
the buildings. These readily give to
the pressure of an explosion. leaving
the main walls of the structure stand
ing, and materially reducing the loss
which occurs when an explosion is
closely confined.
In order to connect the many build
ings and permit the powder process
to be carried on expeditiously, a COM
plete trolley car service is to be in
operation. This will keep the material
in its various stages moving forward
from building to building until com
pleted. The electric plant serves the
three-fold purpose of running the ma
chinery, running the trolley car SER
vice from mill to mill and supplying
light for the plant
The opening OF the mills will mari
a distinct departure by the govern
ment. Heretofore all the supplies o.
powder have been drawn from private
sources. The first appropriation made
by Congress for a powder factory wal
about 5000, 900, but in the last Nava
Appropriation bill s1,OOOOOO was givei
for the purchase "or manufacture" o
powder. This permits a part of tn
last appropriation to be used for tn
mills now in course of construction
Commander Cowden is in charge of tn
work OF construction.
This Is but the initial STEP AS tn
present supply of smokeless powder
inadequate to the demand the privat
concerns will not feel the effect, but
should the experiment prove a sue
cess, and the government go into tn
manufacture of explosives on a larg
scale the local mills must of necessit
be affected to their detriment.