Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1903-03-18
LIABLE TO EXPLODE
HARMLESS HOUSEHOLD GOODS THAT
ARE REALLY DANGEROUS.
Sugar and Chioratc of Potash Is
wicked Combination, and Flour
Dust and Dry Air Is FrauEht Win
D,nrer-Odd,tieso of GuncottOn.


Dancer-Oddities of GuncOtton.
At the premises of an English COM
many there occurred some time ago a
disastrous fire which completely Quilted
on enormous building and caused losses
aggregating 100000. The fire was at
tributed to al explosion of malt.
ANY fine inIlammable dust when
mixed with a certain proportion Of dry
air will explode. There was previous
similar accident in a New York candy
mandatory. \ terrific explosion
which wrecked the entire building was
discovered to BE- due to the fact that
partirIes of fine icing sugar had been
allowed to invade the room where the
furnaces were.
An eminent authority on explosives
declares that many of those accidents
in coal mines usually attributed TO nre
damp have been caused by dry coai
dust SUSPENDED in the galleries having
been accidentally fired. Even 50 appar-
emily "a innocent q substance as flour
Incomes fearfully explosive when
mixed in suitable proportions with dry
air. I
Another substance that has proved to
be extremely dangerous when stored In
large quantities is chlorate OF potash.
"a disaster some years ago In big Lon
don factory proved the destructive
movers of this simple remedy. for colds.
Sugar and chlorate of potash mixed
form an explosive which has been trleo
for blasting purposes, but so dangerous
a compound is it that any explosive
containing these ingredients is not like
!ly to pass the government tests IN this
country.
4 good many years ago it was dis
covered that cellulOse soaked in strong
nitric acid changed from substance
no more harmful than paper to a fierce
explosive. The number Of materials on
(which nitric acid will work similar
Transformation is almost endless.
Wood, paper, straw. coal, peat, pitch,
starch. sugar tel tan, phosphorus, iron,
zinc, copper and magnesium are only a
few that could be named.
One of the bNSt known and most ter
rible of these mixtures is nitroGlycern,
(which is simply nitric acid and COM
mon glycerin mixed together and al
Flowed to fall into n stream Of water.
DYNAMITE is nothing more than nitro
glycerin absorbed by some spongy sub
stance. Alum, asbestuS. plaster of par.
lis, sawdust. bran, meal, even dried and
bounded potatoes. have been employed
for this purpose, but the substance
most commonly employed is what is
Known as "kieSel guhr." or spongy
earth This is the kind of clay formed
of minute fossil shells, great beds OF
(which are found in Germany and 9TH
er parts Of the world.
GuncOtton, which was first made III
1916, is the form Of nitro compound
usually employed in war. 1t is manu-
fractured from ordinary cotton waste
streated with mixture Of nitric and
Isplphuric acids.
= There is one very curious point about
,suncOtton. 1t cannot be made from
raw cotton in the bale; waste cotton Isl
necessary for its manufacture. 1t seems
as if the bleaching to which manufac-
,tured cotton has been subjected has
something to do with fitting the waste
for becoming explosive material. Oily
waste is, however. completely useless
for making guncottOn, and if even a.
little is carcleSsly used a whole batch
of the manufactured product may bel
spoiled.
GuncOttOn is so extraordinarily sud
den in its action that a small quantity
has been exploded in contact with (
heap of gunpcwder and has failed to
set fire to it.
The great advantage which guncOt-
ton possesses over all other explosives
is that damp does not injure it. In
fact, wet guhcotton cxplodes with just
as great violence as dry, but IS of
course much harder TO fire. COnSc-
quently it is one of the safest eXplo-
,sives to carry, as it can be thoroughly
wetted before packing and kept wet
during transport. For mining purposes
or for use in war guncotton Is usually
compressed into hard cakes.
The cOrdite which is now used IN
British military rifles is rather more
compound substance, being composed
OF thirty-seven parts of guncottol'
mixed with fifty-eight of nitroglyceriI
and five parts OF mineral jelly. 1t is
formed into little cords each three
eighths of an inch in diameter These
are made up into little fagots which
are placed in the cartridges.
What seems a very odd substance
from which to make an explosive is
gutta percha. But by the action of nj
trio acid it can be turned into formj'
dab!e detonator.
Each country has its pet powder. The
United States uses picrate of ammonia;
the French have beautiful, semi |
transparent. chestnut colored ro"'ilfy,'