The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-24
THE SMOKELESS POWDER
MANY VARIETIES USED BY ARMY
AND NAVY, ALL SLOW-BURNING.
Each Grain Is Perforated from End to
End-Dinerence in Size-ResuIt of
Years of Experiment.
Washington Star.


had been made from black to smokeless
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 to discover whether
or not there were different kinds of gun
powder or whether the kind adapted for
use in a shotgun would serve in a 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 it 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 or
that in the manufacture of smokeless pow
ders about five times the number that were
formerly manufactured were turned out
for trial.
The tests of the government experts to Sc
cure powder that would answer every pur-
pose cover a number of years of 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 and
equal to every emergency that might arise.
| The explosive power of the powder. its
adaptability to the arms in in the
| United States army its condition under diff
| ferent atmospheres and it's convenience OF
! transportation, well 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 different
| 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-
| tons under which the guns are fired
There are at present more than fifteen
| kinds of smokeless powder in in the
| army and navy of the United States, and
| If the tests continue and the adoption OF
4 new powders goes on there will be twenty
| five or thirty different kinds before the War
| and Navy departments are through with
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
Il no nRn nf
| lieved, however, that the government will
| 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
1 are, many OF them, large concerns and are
| heavily capitalized. They have a great adj
/ 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 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
it's 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 to-day the manufacturers
of the United States turn out the best and
| safest grades of smokeless powder in the
| world. A feature of these powders is that
no matter how small it may be each in
| dividual grain has a carefully made per-
| foration 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
| proiectile from the barrel OF the gun. All
| of the powder is slow burning when a
match is touched to IL in the open air, but
| the moment Ii 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 a glass bead. Ii is of a brownish
| color and semi-transparent. Only small
| charge is needed in the ordinary rife
cartridge, so small that If cartridge is
| shaken the powder 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-quarters of an inch
| long. 1t is darker than the small rifle
powder and is of a reddish hue. The 16-
inch rifle of the army takes a grain that
IS slightly larger in diameter than the 3d.
| inch, but is shorter and more nearly trans
parent. In addition TO this the grains have
seven small perforations instead of one.
The holes are all much smaller in diameter
than an ordinary pin, but are all clear and
can admit air. Most of the other powder
is of the same general shape and style OF
the 1.6-inch army, except that there is a
difference in size. The largest powder is
made for the new sixteen-inch gun. None
of this size was obtainable when a Star
reporter visited powder manufacturer re-
Gently, but a grain of the size used in the
twelve-inch naval guns was secured. This
grain was of about the same color as that
of the 3.2-inch army field gun, but was
one inch in diameter. The holes in this
were seven in number and were about as
| large i'm diameter as the grain of powder
| used in the krag-Jorgensen. At present
the government Is buying most of its pow
der for the army from one firm. 1t does
| not intend to do this at all times. however
as the powder manufacturers are continu-
ally experimenting with new materials and
| improvements in the old grades are rapidly
| developed.
| The powder used by the English govern.
ment in the small arms of the army and
| probably in the navy, too, is called cordtt
| and is about the size of grain of the
powder for the American mountain gun
| but is much longer-an inch and half oil
two inches long The powder gets its name
| from its extreme fiexibility, as a grain has
| all the flexibility of piece of cord of the
same length and can be bent and twisted
| in any shape tied in knot. This pow
| der is made in long lengths resembling long
| strands of cord and is then cut to the de-
| sired lengths.