Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-12-23
JAPANESE Explosive
SOMETHING ABOUT THE TER
RIBLE sHIMosE POWDER. :,
Nature and Effectiveness Explained
by Its nventor-simplicity
of Its Compo-

The explosive used in the Japanese
navy bears the name of its inventor.
DR.. Shimose. The destructive pow er Of
this explosive was nionstrated dur
Ing the recent naval engagements. says
the Shanghai Times A few days ago
the inventor, DIR. Shimose. delivered u
lecture in Toxic, In which he explained
the nature and use of the powder. The
inventor said that. according to their
use, explosives were classified under two
headings. namely. those for mining and
those for military purposes. the latter
being again classified into those for dis
charging and those for destructive pur-
poses. "Shimose" belonged to the lat
ter category. and was never used for the
purpose of discharging shots. The ex-
plosive used by the European powers for
warlike purposes was gun cotton. But
manifold inconvenience attended the
use OF gun Gotten: for instance. when.
Cried too much. 1t exploded even by
slight friction.
In ORDER to prevent this danger. II was
necessary to combine it with water to
the extent of 90 per cent, in which case
ii burned with difficulty when irnited.
But when the water exceeded 90 per cent.
gun cotton would not explode Again.
owing to possible evaporation. the water
contained in gun cotton did not main
tain IN equal quantity making its safety
unst able. Sometimes 1t world become
moldy. thus losing most of its explosive
power. which could not then be easily re-
stored. At present the most powerful
explosive power in the world was blast
ing gelatin. which was used by Ameri-
cans. though not for military purposes.
1t was Jar superior 10 gun cotton in de-
s.rurtiye power. and eould be quite safe
iy handled in ordinary times Ono de-
feet however. of gelatin. was its epsy
free-zirr. Frozen gelatin would e1rlode
from the slightest cause. and this fact
made it unfit for military purposes.
The "Shimose" explosive was very sim
ply constituted. but it was sufficiently
safe to be used by the navy
Continuing. DR.. Saimose said neither
the filling a an iron hammer rron it,
nor ignition. nor the fr;rg OF bullet
into it. would cause his exnlosfve 70 cx-
plcfp. In such eases il would hnrn like
turpentine. but tho fire could be eviir-
guished bv = cupful OF water. Ccrb'ned
with a certain ingredient. it hcG euffi-
c:snt explosive power for ve~lise ruT-
poses. Among the explosives n the
world tn American gelatin t.t the
greatest destructive power: Sbfmose
~ ~, nd n ,,,ft fol
owing Ia ORDER. To illus rate the ex-
rloasye POWER OF Shinaose. a ssnall Grrn-
fity placed upon an iron pla.e enc or Two
inches thick would when exploded. per
forate the plate for The area covered by
the powder At az e3rerinsn, carried
out al Eugtnuma. 9oshu. a six-inch Shi-
moze shot was fred al coal store rrc-
tected with armor plata similar 10 that
CT certain cruiser. The shot maGe
hole about three feet in diameter whsre-
as In the case of the ordinary shot. the
diameter OF the hole was only six inches.
1t burst On contact with the plate. while
the other EXPLODED only ~hen it had
travelled about three feet after 5~ass try
shroHsh he plate The Shimose shell
wss blown into 1900 or 1000 pieces,
While It's other brol e up into teIl or Is
frsrrrc -ss. This trcm6 Gus rcwer vas
testified to by the fact that Dlneisc 1t
on ne yarisg Was strucs by moro IT, a.
1GA frsrran.~ of the shell. The p.acirg
OF one ssch shot on the c,-cF would near
The wcnniing Of all the crew there Ru.
the explosive was not intended for the
'fll.re II men. but fer the dest ruction
Of warshfrs. One more rntewors h. FRA
|,tsre OF the Shimose powder q included
+ The doctor was the fact that It's cost was
about half that os c1:n cotton.