New-York tribune., 1901-04-07
JOHN BULLS GUNPOWDER.
HIS GROWING DISCONTENT WITH
CORDITE
w VlTH
GLYCFRINE AMI MORE GUNCOTTON


troubles reported was the deterioration of the
powder in hot climate like that of India. This
difficulty partly remedied by changing the
variety of guncotton employed in making the
compound. Then there were grave questions
as to the soundness of the cortiite patents. which
covered process nearly like of NObel's
that lawsuits resulted. Again it has been OBJ
served that the gases produced by the combus-
ton of the British smokeless powder have "a
highly destructive effect the lining of guns.
And this objection forms the chief basis of a
fresh campaign now being waged against
cordite.
An address on the subject was recently deliv-
cred before the Society of Arts. in London by
Lieutenant a. T. Dawson. The effects Of
erosion arr manifest in two ways 1t eats away
enough metal along the bore To spoil the aim.
and it enlarges the cavity at the breech in
which the projectile is placed so that the shot
is forced further forward by ramming than is
desirable. The effect of this latter evil is that
the chamber in which the explosion first occurs
is unduly enlarged. and the power of the gun is
impaired. AS for the first mentioned difficulty.
it is alleged that one of the 4I-inch guns i'll the
Transvaal campaign varied in its range some 4'D
yards. \ good deal of ordnance that went out
To South Africa year two ago has been
sent home badly eroded' and unfit for service.
Comme nting this of things. En-
gineering" remarks that in the Transvaal war
the guns employed too small and too few
for the fault To have serious results but
it adds A very lamentabe position would
be created if with two
first class maritime powers. in which the
long range and efficiency of the gun must
practically control the final result And
this periodical and Lieutenant Dawson are
probably not alone in recognizing the need Of
remedial measures.
The particular reform which is being
urged is the adoption of different style of
smokeless powder. Nobel. though not the in
ventor OF nitrogly ycerine. was the first to find Il
way to utilize it in blasting. Mingling it with
:, certain kind of absorbent earth. he put it IN
a safe and convenient shape for mining pur-
poses This mixture is dynamite. He also de-
vised various other Explosive compounds ir
which nitroglycerine the principal constitu
ent. Abel and Dewar followed him closely in
this respect in making corlitc. The latter CON
tains ~ per cent of nitroglycerine, 81 Of gum
cotton and > of vastline
Something like ten years ago Hiram Maxim
instituted two three improvements in smoke
less powders. In the first place. the Euncot-
ton that h employed was what chemists call
"trinitrocelIuIose" instead of the ''dinitroceu-
lose" which others had used. The former has
high explosive qualities. and nearly equals nitro
Elycerine in power and what is much more i'm
portant. it is a stable compound 1t does not
undergo change readily. The deterioration of
cordite resulted from the fact that the auncot-
ton in it "dinItroccllulose." which is a nota-
bly, unstable compound. Then Maxim added
oily substance. preferably castor oil to his MKT
ulc to prevent detonation and finally he greatly
diminished the quality of nitroS Iycerine in his
powder. and relied much more largely upon
suncotton for his explosive effects. Some
powder that he supplied To Russia contained
only - per cent of nitrogly ycerine and in an
other lot. which he manufactured for expert
II per cent.
Individual inventors and governmental chem
lists all over the civilized world promptly fol
lowed up this last innovation by deVSins smoke
less pow ders in which glyceTine played an unim-
pOrtant part part at all. of late years
toward euncotton. ''nitroceuose,'' eNpIo-
sives. Germany tried "ballistite." powder
with io per cent of nitroglycerine. for a time.
This was regarded an improvement ON cordite.
but the German authorities afte:ward insti-
tuted experiments looking to the of a prac-
ticaly pure guncotton. American ordnance nf-
fcers do not like to talk about the precise
position of the powders used in this country,
possibly because the policy of the government is
not fully settled. and because further changes
may yet he deemed advisable I:ut some of th..
powders that have been subjected official
tests and have given highly 2yratifyu, results