The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-04-09
LIABLE NlO EXPLODE.
HARMLESS HOUSEHOLD GOODS THAT
ARE REALLY DANGEROUS.

Dangcr-Odditics OF junction.
At the premises of an English COM
pany there occurred some time ago a
disastrous fire which completely gutted
an enormous building and caused losses
aggregating 100000. The fire was at
trihuted to nm explosion of malt.
Any fine in1ammable dust when
mixed with n certain proportion of dry
air will explode. There was previous
similar accident in New York candy
manufactory. A terrific explosion
which wrecked the entire building was
discovered to be due to the fact that
particles 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 IRE
damp have been caused by dry coal
| dust suspended in the galleries having
been accidentally fired. Even so appar-
| entity as innocent n substance as flour
becomes fcarfully explosive when
mixed in suitable proportions with dry
air.
Another substance that has proved to
be extremely dangerous when stored III
large quantities is chlorate of potash.
4 disaster some years ago in Dig Lon
don factory proved the destructive
powers of this simple remedy for colds.
Sugar and chloratc of potash mixed
form an explosive which has been tried
for blasting purposes, but 80 dangerous
n. compound is 1t that any explosive
containing these ingredients is not like
ly to pass the government tests in this
county.
good many years ago it was dis
covered that cellulose soaked In strong
nitric acid changed from substance
no more harmful than paper to fierce
explosive. The number of materials on
which nitric acid will work a similar
transformation is almost endless.
Wood, paper, straw, coal. peat, pitch
starch. sugar. tea tan, phosphorus, iron.
zinc. copper and magnesium are only Il
few that could he named.
One of the best known and most ter
riblc of these mixtures is nitroglyccrin,
which is simply nitric acid ana COM
mon glycerin mixed together and al
lowed to fall into stream Of water.
Dynamite is nothing more than nitro
glycerin absorbed by some spongy sub
stance Alum. asbestus plaster OF par
is, sawdust, bran, meal, even dried ana
pounded 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 In
1916, is the form of nitro compound
usually employed in war. 1t is manu-
factured from ordinary cotton waste
treated with mixture of nitric ano
sulphuric acids.
There is one very curious point about
guncotton. 1t cannot be made IRON
: raw cotton in the bale; waste cotton Is
necessary for It's manufacture. 1t seems
as if the bleaching to which manufac
tured cotton has been subjected has
5 something to do with fitting the waste
= for becoming explosive material. Oil!
3 waste Is, however, completely useless
for making guncotton, and If even
=. little is careessly used Il whole batcl
of the manufactured product may b,
spoiled.
Guncotton Is so extraordinarily sud
den in its action that small quantit.
has been exploded in contact with
heap of gunpowder and has failed t
set fire to it.
The great advantage which guncot
ton possesses over all other explosive
is that damp does not injure it. Il
fact, wet guncotton eXplodes with jus
as great violence as dry, but Is o
course much harder to fire. Conse
Quenty it is one of the safest eXplc
sives to carry, as it can be thoroughl
wetted before packing and kept we
during transport. For mining purpose
or for use in war guncotton is usuall
compressed into hard cakes.
The cordite which is now used 1
British military rifles is rather NOR
compound substance, being compose
of thirty parts of guncotto
mixed with fifty-eight of nitroglyceri
8 and five parts of mineral jelly. 1t
formed into little cords each three
l. eighths of an inch in diameter. Thes
/, are made up into little fagots whic
/ are placed in the cartridges.
d What seems a very odd substanc
< from which to make an explosive
n gutta percha. But by the action of n
: tric acid it can be turned into form
g dable detonator.
II Each country has its pet powder. Th
II United States uses picrate Of ammonii
# the French have beautiful, sem
f transparent. chestnut colored powde
! made of the nitrates of potassium an
barlunl. Besides these there are dozen
of explosives with fancy names sue
as balllstite, cannonite, riheite, randit
d plastomenlte. These vary in size an
l. shape of grain, color and power, bl
IS they all depend on the action of nitr
S, acid for their explosive force.-Atlant
4 Constitution.