The Saint Paul globe., 1903-08-09

robbed him of the glory of his achieve
ment
This is the story of Hathamite, the
latest marvel among explosives-the
crowning work of George M. Hatha-
ways life-in a sentence.
Though fates irony decreed that he
should have no hand in the triumph
of his own handiwork, the fruit of his
genius lives after him; for he left
the priceless secret he had given his
life to wrest from the realms of the
unknown, as legacy to his family.
His dying command to his son and
namesake was that his. discovery
e should be put to the supreme test on
= the day originally announced and in
the presence of a gathering of experts.
. In obedience to his fathers wish,
the son conducted the experiments
with the compound he had made from
his fathers formula.
The results were astounding and in
honor of the dead inventor the new
force was christened "Hathamite"
WhlIe the hills among which his body
was sleeping We're reverberating with
the shock of its tremendous power.
II was lifting tribute to the genius
of one of Pennsylvania most prolific
sons and monument to his life's
chiefest work.
Terrible but Safe.
revolutions, for it's properties are those
which governments have devoted mil
lions 10 Ind and inventors given pre-
cious years to discover.
1t is at once the most terrible de-
stToyer and the most harmelss sub
stance in the world.
In an experts hands, with the aid
of the knowledge that releases its ter
rlflc power, its energy is Irresistible.
In an infants grasp it is as safe
as rag doll baby in the family nur-
Sery.
1t is because Hathamite has given
lndisputable evidence of the possession
OF these contradictory qualities that
NAe experts are at sea and the deepest
reasoning gives no satisfactory expla-
nation of the phenomenon.
outside OF the small gathering who
watched the inventors work while he
was living and who by his express de-
sire witnessed the tests after he was
dead, there are few who will believe
the story of what Hathamite did and
what it permitted to be be done to 1t.
"A naval authority who is one of the
inspectors of ordnance at the great
carnegie steel works in commenting
upon the operations after witnessing
them said:
The conclusions to be drawn are
best shown by the confidence shown hy
lrst he showed criminal carelessness.
but atterward admired his confidence
Ihe writer of this comment was
Lieut.. Commander j. T. Rohrbacher.
y. ,. N, one of the foremost experts
on explosives in the governments
service, whose work in connection with
the ordnance made at the Carnegie
works has won high praise for him
from department superiors
Qualities of Hs+bano;4a
The qualities of Hathamite can he
made elearest to- the lay mindFby saw
ing that it successfully resists every
attempt-but one-to release its ire
mendous energy.
FIRST OF all, it is composed of gran
uIar particles compressed into any
is put.
1t can be pounded to a fine powder
by sledge hammer.
lighted matches can be thrown into
1t with impunity
Smells can be exploded in its innoe-
date vicinity.
1t can be thrown in any quantity
INTO blazing fire and dense smoke
with scarcely any odor is the result
1t can be melted to a jelly-like con-
slstency and poured into any sort of a
receptacle - :"
mass of 1t can be shot into by a
TlIle eall-the most difficult known test
~ WI!eh science may put the explosive
resisting power of any substance
This about completes the list of the
assraVated attempts that may be made
TO explode Hathamite and there are a
sillaIl coterle of experts who witnessed
lheln all who are willing to stake their
reputation for veracity that the new
substance withstood them ALL
10 accomplish these properties ce
-foft !,
life. - e--'oi
NO one knows how many thousand
uines IN the course of the long wears
OF research that George M. Hathaway
LOOK MS life IN his hand in putting the
1orce ne was preparing for the worlds
use TO the supreme safety tests
1t is matter of local history in the
mountain town of Wellsboro, in Tioga
county, where the inventor lived and
dled, that during the years he was
working to perfect Hathamite no man
woman or child in the place was sure
that Welisboro wouIe be on the man
the next hour or the next day.
And yet they loved the man who hv
reason of over 500 inventions brought
1ame INTO the mountain hamlet and so
great was their confidence in Hatha
way that the town council permitted
MN to conduct his experiments within
the precincts of the town, privilege
navy SIdCe removed from his
successor, his son, the possessor of the
secret by which the explosive is pro-
While the safety of Hathamite is
propably its cardinal virtue-for bv If
the problems of transportation. hand
ilng, packing, manufacturing and test
ing al dlsappear-yet it's energy Is
enormous and the tests that proved its
hafmIessness under the most irving
circumstances also proved it's power.
Ihese tests were made at WelIshoro
and We're exhaustive,
Given Full Test.
what they were and what thev did
was Iold by an eye witIsess, one of the
experts in the confidence of the in
Ventor. AZ
FIRST very small quantity of Hath
amlte was placed between tW huge
cakes of ice, out of the center of which
small hole had been dug to hold the
explosive
Then the ice was frozen together
with salt, the Hathamite remainin, he
tween the cakes for over an hour. and
when thoroughly welded was exploded
by means of battery and PERCUSSION
cap. s'''''-o o-t
All that remained after the energy
mad eXerted itself were small piles of
driven snow. The ice had been in
stantly blown into particles of infinite
Smallness.
The next experiment was the placing
of one and q half O11Ooacs oe