Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-06-20

EXPLOSIVES
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* * * SSs-SlsZ.
armor plate against which it was dis.
charged. The explosion within the
hull would be weIl-nigh disastrous in
most cases.
The picric explosive, such as lyddite
is deadly paradox. In many cir
cumstances which seem likely to stir
it into warmth it is quite harmless. Il
may be laid in a die into which a punch
descends with great force, CT it may
be laid on an anvil and struck heavily
with a sledge hammer, but there vii
be no explosion. Throw il into {
white-hOt furnace and it will not ex
plod, stir it with white hot iron and
it will merely burn away with
smoky flame, which will go out when
the iron is removed 1t may be mixed
with gunpowder and the powder ex
ploded, but the lyddite will remain as
before. 1t may be melted and poured
into shells in which when cool it forms
a compact mass, and no danger is
said to attach to the process. 1t may
be slowly heated in a pan and it viii
simply evaporate. This strange agent
may be used to light a candle, to cook
a meal or boil water; it will keep for
any time. water does not affect il, and
it is safe. stable and valuable explO-
sive
But when exploded in the proper
way its effects are terrible. Sir
Andrew Noble confined lyddite in a
cast-iron shell, and exploded it III a
chamber OF steel Afterward he
found a black mass, which he believed
to be unconsumed carbon in the cham
Der. but when he tested It with mag
net he found it was the cast-iron shell
reduced to impalpable dust by the
shock. A 92-inch shell loaded with
lyddite was fired at target 1900 yards
away. When it burst, fragments of the
shell were thrown back nearly half
mile toward the gun, while scraps Of
steel were thrown sideways for nearly
a mile.
AT that distance men felt heavy
blow en- their faces from the concus-
sion. and at the target there arose a
cloud of green smoke as high as the
clock tower at Westminster. The ter
rible explosion at WOOlwich resulting
from some mishandling of the stun
was a dreadful example Of its power.
And vet, when used in warfare against
the beers its effects we're far less de-
structive than the experiments led the
authorities TO expect, and though in
most stubborn obstacles in general use,
it does not always exert its Wanted
powers. paradox, indeed.
1t was thought that in lyddite the
last word had been spoken in high
explosives, but this is now realized to
be a mistake. There are many ex-
plosives of which picric acid is the
base. and they are constantly undergo
ing change and modification. There
are some thirty different items" in the
Dictionary of Explosives" in all of
which the base is picric acid, and
with some of these paradoxical and
biabolical agents of destruction the
enemies of the east are fighting today.
The latest development is claimed by
Gel. Hope. 1t has yet to be tested. but.
if ii proves capable of doing what he
claims for it. is a departure from the
present lines. for it contains neither
nitro compound, phosphorus, sulphur
nor chlcrate. nor indeed any kind of
dangerous ingredient" No extreme
Of climate. it is said, will effect it; it
is cheap. can be made rapidly. handled
safely, its manufacture involves no
risk
Yet here again the paradox creeps
in. for the new explosive, ''veloxite,"
will impart higher velocity to any
-prcjectile than any explosive now on
the market. it is suitable for all arms,
does not destroy the gun and is abso-
Iutelv smokeless. It is terrible to
think that so much ingenuity should
be devoted to the creation of these
agents CT destruction. but the greater
the power of destruction the greater
the risk in war, the greater becomes
the anxiety to preserve peace, and,
after all. they assist man in many
forms of productive enterprise. Once
again we finish with a para V--for
that which is invented TO destroy also
increases mans power TO create and
Observation-Disclosures Chronicle.