Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-18
SMOKELESS POWDER
Many Varieties Used by the
Army and Navy.
ALL SLOW BURNIN G
EACH GRAIN IS PERFORATED
FROM END TO END.
An Aid to Combustion-Differe il
Size-Result of Years Of
Experiment.

To the vast ma jOrity Of the people OF the
United States the statement that change
had been made from black to smokeiesS
powder in the army and naval FORCES OF
the country meant that the soldiers had
quit using the small black grains so COM
mon in the hardware shop. and had adopted
a different kind of grain which emitted no
smoke when ignited @
To most people the word gunpoWder
means only one thing-the kind Of powder
sold by gunsmiths and hardware merchants
for use in shotGuns. The average citizen
did not take the trouble tosdiscover whether
or not there were. different kinds of gun
powder or whether the kind adapted for
use in a shotgun would serve In thirteen
inch naval rifle. Nor did it occur to the
average citizen that there was any differ
ence in the various brands of powder, If he
knew there was more than one brand. For
this reason this same average citizen could
not understand why 1t should require such
a long time to change from the black TO
the smokeless. 1t did not occur to the
casual observer of military or naval AFFAIRS
that there were as many different kinds OF
ordinary powder there were guns OF
that in the manufacture of smoheless pow
ders about five times the number that Were
formerly manufa ctured were turned Out
at the factories and sent to the govern
ment for trial.
The tests of the government experts to Sc
cure q powder that would answer every pur-
pose cover number of years or the closest
kind of investigation. For years the ord
nance officers of both the army and navy
worked like beavers to secure for this gov
eminent a powder that would be better
than that used by other governments ana
equal to every emergency that might arise.
The explosive power of the powder, ITS
adaptability to the arms In use IN tne
United States army, it's condition under dlr-
st,
transportation. we'll as ease of manufac-
ture, were some of the things that entered
into the calculations Of the investigators
and at the same time they were required
by the circumstances to secure dl1erent
kind of powder for every kind of gun used
in the service.
Many Varieties Needed.
The scope of the Investigations pursued
by the investigators was therefore very
wide and long time was necessary to ar
rive at the proper result. Every powder
mill in the country submitted to the gov
eminent the products of it's plant for test.
and each mill submitted different kinds for
use under different conditions. 1t would OF
course be much more convenient to the gov
eminent If it could secure powder which
would do for all guns, but that would be
impossible because of the different condi-
lions under which the guns are fired.
There at present more than fifteen
army and navy of the United States, and
If the tests continue and the adoption OF
new powders goes on there will be twenty
five or thirty different kinds before the War
and Navy Departments are through win
the experiments. Several years ago the
government undertook to manufacture
smokeless powder for the navy itself, and
with this end in view experiments have
been carried on at Indian Head by the ord
nance experts of the navy. 1t Is not be-
heved, however, that the government VIII
be able to successfully compete with the
outside firms that are engaged in the manu-
facture of explosives.
The corporations owning the various
powder mills throughout the United States
are, many of them, large concerns and are
heavily capitalized. They have great ad-
vantage over the government In that they
have in their employ men who have been
engaged in the manufacture of all kinds
of explosives for a number of years. and
in addition to this have unlimited means
to use in paying high-salaried chemists,
ETC., for trials tests, etc. The result Is that
the government has not had the success in
its experiments with smokeless powder that
has come to the private manufacturers.
Perforated Grains.
The development Of the art of making
this highly explosive material has pro-
crossed slowly in the United States, but it
has progressed with great steadiness. and
the result is that today the manufacturers
or the United states turn out the best ana
safest grades Of smokeess powder in the
world. feature of these powders Is that
no matter how small it may be- each indi-
vidual grain has carefully made perfora-
ton through the center. In the case of
the larger size grains there are five or six
Of these holes running straight through
the grain. The holes are made to assist
in the generation of the gas which gives the
powder the explosive force and propels the
projectile from the barrel of the gun. All
Of the powder is slow burning, when a
match is touched to 1t in the open air, but
the moment it is confined the force Of the
explosion, which is instantaneous, is almost
beyond reckoning.
The powder used in the Krag- Jorgensen
rife Is little larger than the head of an
ordinary pin in diameter and looks very
much like glass bead. 1t Is of brownish
color and semi-transparent. Only a small
charge is needed in the ordinary rifle car
fridge. SO small that If cartridge is shaken
the power can be heard to rattle in the
shell. The next size is that used In the
one-pound field gun, such as Is used in the
mule or mountain batteries. This powder
is yellow. The grains are about two-fifths
OF an inch in length and are about the
diameter of a small pin head. The next
size grain Is for the 3.2-inch army field
gun. This grain is about an eighth of an
inch in diameter and three-duarters of an
inch long. It Is darker than the small
rifle powder and is of reddish hue. The
6-tneh rifle nf ha fakoS a