The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-02-20
LIABLE TO EXPLODE.
HARMLESS HOUSEHOLD GOODS THAT
ARE REALLY DANGEROUS.
sugar and ChIorate OF Potash Is n
wicked Combination, and Flour
Dust and Dry Air IL Fraugbt with
D.nxrr-Oddities of Guncotton.

DanRer-Oddities of Guncotton.
| 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
| tributed 10 an explosion OF malt.
ANY fine innammable dust when
! mixed with n certain proportion Of dry
| mir will explode. There was a previous
similar accident In New York candy
mandatory. A terrific explosion
! which wrecked the entire building was
| discovered 10 be due 10 the fact that
particles Of fine icing sugar had been
/ allowed 10 invade the room where the
| furnaces were.
An eminent authority on explosives
declares that many OF those accidents
in coal mines usually attributed TO fire
damp have been caused by dry coal
dust suspended I'm the galleries having
been accidentally fired. Even so appar'
ently as innocent n substance as Hour
becomes fearfully explosive when
mixed in suitable proportions with dry
nir.
Another substance that has proved to
be extremely dangerous when stored ID
large quantities is chlorate OF potash.
| A disaster some years ago in big Lon
don factory proved the destructive
powers Of this simple remedy for colds.
Sugar and chlorate OF potash mixed
form an explosive which has been trled
for blasting purposes, but so dangerous
n compound Is IL that any explosive
containing these ingredients Is not Ike
| ly 10 pass the government tests In TINS
country.
A good many years ago II was dis
covered that celulose soaked In strong
nitric acid changed from substance
no more harmful than paper TO herce
explosiye. The number OF materials on
which nitric acid will work similar
Transformation is almost endless.
Wood paper straw. cOnl peat, pitch,
starch, sugar. tea tan, phosphorus lron'
zinc. copper and magnesium are only
few that could be named
one OF the best known and most ter
riblc OF these mixtures Is nltroglycerin,
which is simply nitric acid and com
mon glycerln mixed together ana al
lowed TO fall into n stream or water.
Dynamite IL nothing more than nitro
glycerin absorbed by some spongy SUD
stance. Alum. asbcstus, plaster or par
is sawdust. bran, meal, even dried and
pounded potatoes, have been employed
for this purpose, but the substance
most commonly employed Is what IL
known as 'klcse guhr," or spOngy
earth. This Is the kind OF clay formed
of minute fossil shells, great beds or
which are found I'm Germany and 9th
er parts OF the world.
Guncotton. which was first made In
1916 IL the form OF nitro compound
usually employed In war. II Is manu-
facturcd from ordinary cotton waste
treated with mixture OF nitric and
sulphuric acids.
There IL one very curious point about
! puncotton. II cannot be made from
raw cotton I'm the bale; waste cotton Is
| necessary for its manufacture. Ii seems
M If the bleaching to which manufac-
turcd 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 II even
little is carelessly used whole batch
OF the manufactured product may be
spoiled.
GunCotton " SO extraordinarily sud
' den I'm its action that small quantity
has been exploded In contact with
heap OF gunpowder and has failed to
set fire TO II.
The great advantage which guncot-
| ton possesses over all other explosives
is that damp does not inJure IT. In
| fact. wet guncotton explodes with just
as great violence as dry, but Is OF
course much harder TO fire. Consc-
quently II is one of the safest eNplo-
! sivcs TO carry, as II can be Thoroughly
wettcd before packing and kept wet
during transport. For mining purposes
or for use in war guncotton Is usually
| compressed into hard cakes.
The cordlte which is now used In
| British military rifles is rather more
! compound substance, being composed
Of thirty seven parts of guncotton
| mixed with ffty-cight of nitroglyccrin
aud five parts OF mineral jelly. IL Is
formed into little cords each three
eighths of an inch In diameter. These
are made up into little fagots which
/ are placed I'm the cartridges.
What seems very odd substance
| from which to make an explosive is
gutta percha. But 10y the action OF nj.
| trio acid IL can be turned into formi'
! dablc detonator.
Each country has Its pet powder. The
! United STATES uses picratc OF ammonia;
! the French have beautiful semi
transparent, chestnut colorcd powder
made Of the nitrates OF potassium and
barum. Besides these there are dozens
/ OF explosives with fancy names such
rs ballistite. cannonite. rihcite. randite,
plastomcuitc These vary In size and
shape of grain. color and power. but
they all depend on the action Of nitric
acid for their explosive force.-Atlanta
| Constitution.