Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1905-05-25
JAPANESE EXPLOSIVE
SOMETHING ABOUT THE TER.
RIBLE SHIMoSE POWDER.
Nature and Effectiveness Explained
by Its Inventor-Simplicity
Of Its Compo-
sition.

Tho explosive used in the japanese
navy bears the name of its inventor
DR. Shimose The destructive power OF
this explosive was demonstrated dur
ing the recent naval engagements. says
tne Shanghai Times. A few days age
tle inventor DR.. Shimose delivered 8
lecture in TOXIC, in which he explained
the nature and use Of the powder. The
inventor said that. according to theft
Sc, explosives were classified under two
.eadings. namc-y. 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 Int
ter category. and was never used for the
purpose of dischargins shots. The cX
plosive used BY the European powers for
warliAe purposes Vas gun cotton. But
manifold inconvenionces attended the
use of gun cot.cn; for Instance when
dried too much it exploded even by
slight friction
In order o prevent this danger. it was
necessary TO combine it with water to
the extent of 90 per cent in which case
il burned with difficulty when ignited
But when the water exceeded % per cent
gun cotton would NO, explode Again.
owing TO possible evaporation. the water
eontaincd III gun cotton did not main
tain an equal quantity making its safety
unstable Sometimes ii would become
moldy, thus losing most of its explosive
power, which could nolthen he 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 far superior TO gun cotton in de-
structive power and could be quite safe
ly handled in ordinary times. One de-
feet, however, of gelatin was it's easy
freezing. Frozen gelatin would explode
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. Shimose said neither
the falling of an iron hammer upon it
nor ignition. nor the firing of bullet
into it. would cause his explosive to ex-
plode. In such cases it would burn like
turpentine, but the fire could be exiin-
guished by cupful of water Combined
with certain Ingredient it had suffi-
cient explosive power for warlke pur-
poses. Among the explosives in the
world the American gelatin had the
greatest destructive power: Shimose
came next, gun cotton and dynamite fol-
lowing in order To illustrate the ex-
plosive power Of Shimose. Il small Guam
1ty placed upon an iron plate one ortwo
inches thick would, when exploded per
sorate the plate for the area covered by
the powder. AT an experiment carried
out at kugenuma. Soshu. six-inch Shi-
NOSE shot was fired at a coal store pro-
tected with armor plate similar to tina;
3f certain cruiser. The shot made a
hole about three feetin diameter. where
as IN the case Of the ordinary shot the
diameter Of the hole was only six inches
II burst on contact with the plate while
the other exploded only when il had
travelled about three feet after raseina
through the plate The Shimose she'll
was blown into 1000 or 1000 pieces
While the other broke up into ten or Is
fragments This tremendous power was
.estifed TO by the fact that a bluoiack 81
On the Varag was struck by more than
i60 fragments OF The shell. Tie Dlacing
of one such shot on the cr-ol you'd mean
the woundins Of al The crew there. pu.