Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1899-06-08

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candle, and which he said was q
dynamite cartridge. / held my
breath until the tube was safely de-
posted upon the table again. He
poured some Of the dynamite, which
closely resembled sswdust, into o
shell, and rammed it down with q
round stick as one would load q
musket.
Nothing Of an alarming charac-
ter happened, and began to breathe
with more regularity. / vas more
at ease o. We left the seven tons of
dynamite behind, but the same hor-
rible feeling Of suffocation and cold
ness came over me again, as we ap-
preached the more dangerous nj
tro-glycerine factory.
This building contained several
huge wooden vats, Q few pals and
barrels, an engine and q great iron,
kettle-like receptacle. The glyce-
rine man and his assistants remov-
ed their coats, and were soon at
work.
The iron receptacle was called an
fagitator,' and simply described.
consisted Of q small kettle within q
large one. The space between the
two was constantly filled with q
stream of cold water from tank
on the hillside. The inner kettle
was filled with several paddles, which
were turned by Q crank.
About fifteen hundred pounds of
acids, sulphuric and nitric mixed,
were poured into the smaller kettle.
A thin but continuous stream of
glycerine slowly followed; the en-
CINE began to pant, the crank re-
volved, the paddles churned the
glycerlne and acids, and the manu-
facture OF nitro-glycerine was 60
ing on before my eyes.
My host controlled the flow Of
glycerine by means Of a stopcock,
and watched the agitator and the
thermometer which registered the
heat of the perilous mixture with
anremitting vigilance.
"Nitro-glycerine," my friend
said, sis formed by the action of
nitric and sulphuric acids upon gly-
cerine. When those red fumes come
up. the greatest caution must be
observed. They indicate that the
oil 10 on fire, and if the mixture
gets warm enough an explosion viii
follow.
edo you see that thermometer ?
The mercury registered sixty-fve
degrees centigrade a minute ago,
but it is seventy degrees now, and
still climbing higher. We must
stop this at once. Halloo! More
steam there 70
He shut of the oil as he spoke,
and a second later the paddles in
the agitator were churning the mix
ture much more rapidly. began
to edge toward the door, but the
glycerine man called me back.
"I've got it under control now"
he said. "The paddles have whip
ped the oil under the acids and ex-
tinguished the fire. The mercury
Ia falling, and can turn on the
oil again now with safety, But if
had not shut it off at once, and if
the paddles had not developed more
speed, you and l would have en-
joyed foot-race together down the
valley. When the mercury gets up
to about ninety degrees centigrade,
it 10 much safer to be somewhere
else than in its vicinity. This
stream of cold water constantly
circulating about the base Of the
agitator keeps the mixture cool.
When the weather becomes warmer
we are obliged to use ice."
After two hundred and twenty.
FIVE or thirty pounds of glycerine
had been put in the agitator and
stirred long time, the entire mix
ture was emptied into the drown
ing tank Then it was transferred
to the other tanks and carefully
washed, and at the end of about
four hours the milky, amber-tinted
nitro-glycerine was poured into rec
tangular cans. These cans were
deposited in q huge iron safe, and
the explosive was ready for the oil :.
well shooters
The shooting Of oil wells is the
discharge Of nitro-glYcerine at the
bottom of the wells. in order to i'm
crease their flow. Nitro-glycerine,
rather than the safer dynamite, is