The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-15
sHIMosE POWDER.
About the Effective Japa-
nese Explosive.

The explosive .used1in the japanese
navy bears the name of It's inventor
DR.. Shimose. The destructive power
of this explosive was demonstrated
during the recent naval engagements.
A few days ago the inventor, Dr. Shl-
NOSE, delivered a lecture in Tok1o' IN
which he explained the nature ana
use of the powder. The inventor said
that according to their use, eXplo-
sives were classified under two head
ings. namely. those for mining ana
those for m~itary purposes. the Iatter
being again classified into those for
discharging and those for destructive
purposes "Shimose" belonged to the
latter category, and was never USED
for the purpose of diSchargfng Shots.
The explosive used by the European
powers for warlike purposes was gun
cotton But manifold inconvenience
attended the use of gun cotton; for
instance, when dried too much, 1t ex-
ploded even by slight friction.
In order to prevent this danger, 1t
was necessary to combine it with
water to the extent of 20 per cent, in
which case it burned with dlfhculty
when ignited. But when the water
would not explode. Again, owing to
possible evaporation, the water con-
tanned in gun cotton did not MAINTAIN
an equal quantity making it's safety
unstable Sometimes it would be-
come moldy, thus losing most of its
explosive power, which could not
then be easily restored. At present
the most powerful explosive in the
was used by Americans, though not
for military purposes. 1t was far SUI
perior to gun cotton in destructive
power, and could be quite safely han
died in ordinary times. One defect,
however, of gelatine was it's easy
freezing Frozen gelatine would ex-
plode from the slightest cause. and
this fact made it unfit for military
purposes. The ''Shimose" explosive
was very simply constituted, but 1T
was sufficiently safe to be used by the
navy.
Continuing, DR.. Shimose said neither
the falling of an iron hammer upon
it. nor ignition, nor the firing of a
bullet into it, would cause his explo-
sive to explode. In such cases it
would burn like turpentne, but the
fire could be extinguished by a cupful
of water. Combined with a certain
it had sufficient explosive
power for warlike purposes. Among
the explosives in the world the Amer
lean gelatine had the greatest de-
structive power; ShfmoSe came next,
gun cotton and dynamite following in
order To illustrate the explosive
power of ShimoSe, a small quantity
placed upon an iron plate one or two
inches thick would. when exploded.
perforate the plate for the area COW
cred by the powder At an expert
nent carried out at Kugenuma, SoShu,
I Six-inch ShimoSe shot was fired at
1 coal store protected with armor
plate similar to that of a certain
cruiser. The shot made a hole of
about three feet in diameter, whereas |
n the case of the ordinary shot the |
diameter of the hole was only six |
nches 1t burst on contact with the |
plate, while the other exploded only |
when it had travelled about three feet |
lfter passing through the plate. The |
shell was blown into two or |
hree thousand pieces, while the other |
broke up only into ten or fifteen frag-
nents. This tremendous power was /