Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-10-21
HA'PENNYDIPITE.
Exposition of the Way to Manufacture
New High Explosive.

Exposition of the Way to Manufacture
a New High Explosive.
High explosives are booming just at
present. The world at large has been
let into the secret that to make
brand-new cite" it is merely necessary
to add something new to picric acid,
or, for the matter of that, fresh pro-
portion of something old. The thing
is SO easy that the most important
part of the business is the reclame.
Consequently it is highly probable that
certain citizens of the United States of
America, where the art of advertise
ment is best understood, will be able
to pose as first-class inventors for
some time to come. If Brown Jones
and Robinson wish to immortalize
themselves in this connection, all the
preparatory work they need is to read
up an article in Engineering on August
2, which shows what changes can be
made on high explosives by mixing
them together or by adding to them
small quantities of greasy substances,
such as castor oil, vase1ine or cod
liver oil. If our three friends will
each choose their oil, there is no rea-
son why samples of Brownie, Jones
tie and Robinsonite should not be on
their way to the war Office forthwith.
The Scientific American has also been
writing on the subject, and we regret
that it has joined the brass band to
serenade the most recent ute" with
surname to it. However, we can quote
a paragraph from this journal, which
purports to specify the requirements
of the United States government for
a high explosive:-
Perfect chemical stability, or keep
mig qualities, very great explosive
power, high specific gravity, given as
much force as possible per unit of
volume, great insensitiveness, so great
as to make it incapable of defamation
from she ok, rendering it not only safe
for projection from guns at high We
locities, but capable of withstanding
he far greater shock of penetration of
armor plate as thick as the strongest
armor-piercing projectiles themselves
can pass through. 1t should be com
paratively inexpensive to manufac-
ture. | should be capable Of being
melted at comparatively low tenn
perature, and it should be incapable
of explosion from ignition, enabling it
to be melted over an open fire, as oc-
casion might require, and without any
danger, for filing projectiles. It
should be incapable of defamation from
overheating, but should boil away
like water on the rise OF temperature
beyond a certain point 1t should
solidify in the projectiles, forming
dense and solid mass, incapable Of
shifting even on striking armor-plate.
1t happened one day last week that
this specification was put before
well-known authority On high ex-
plosives, with the inquiry as to
whether it was difficult to arrive at
such compound. He remarked with
emphatic tautology that he would pro-
duce 10-year-old girl who, with 10
minutes instruction, would make the
thing in 10 minutes. He would bet
6 10 on it. There is always a skeptic
in every company, and the particular
one present accepted the wager glee-
fully. Appropriately enough, it was
decided on the 10th.
On that day the young lady Of 10
was produced with certificate of
birth all complete, and took her in
structions in the stipulated time.
Then, being fully qualified as the in
ventor of an lite" she proceeded to
make her witch brew She first took
three teaspoonfuls Of picric acid, one
teaspoonful of di-nitrO benzol, and
saltspoonful of yaseline, these she
placed in small wedgewood mortar,
ground them up steadily for nine
minutes, and the compound was fin
ished This contained from 3 to per
cent of vaseline Upon testing, it
was found that it could be driven into
a piece of tool steel with a powerful
blow without exploding; such blow
as this would have readily set Off any
other kind of explosive that could be
produced, including pure picric acid.
The compound was then thrown into
a redhot furnace, without exploding;
it was boiled away over the fame of
Bunsen burner. without even taking
fire; it melted in warm water, was
stirred up with a red-hot iron, and was
still calm and unresponsive.
The next experiment was with pic