The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1908-10-10

n1trOglycer1n: one man was stirring
the nitroglycerin was removed. Ten
minutes after visited the boiler
house. which was perhaps fifty feet
distant. There sat the same pail of
up the furnace, while the other,
spreading out as wide as possible,
had interposed himself between the
scintillating source of sparks and the
pail of nitroglycerin.
'"The first motorite which I made
was formed into round bars of the
proper size by stufing the material
through die These rods were then
vanished upon the outside surface
and sealed into steel tubes, so that
when rod was ignited upon one end
it could not fire down the side of the
rod, but must be consumed from the
exposed end only. But, as I after
ward discovered, these rods were not
perfect in structure, as they con-
tanned. Longitudinal flaws, which,
though too small to be seen by the
naked eye, were still large enough
for the fame to enter under pressure
and cause an explosion. as will pres
emily be seen.
when my first motorite apparatus
was tested couple Of sticks burned
all right, as these happened to be
f1awless. The next went off with a
noise like ten-inch gun. Three of
us were, standing around the machine
and we all thought we were dead for
the instant; but the machine had not
actually exploded. The material had
blow out through the. safety valve,
slightly burning young man who
was assisting me.
IT then hired another place to con-
duct the experiment., as the above
episode had placed the machine under
suspicion at the first place. I was
soon again ready to repeat the test.
I thought I had discovered the trou-
BILE, but had not, for I had not yet
found out that the trouble was due
to the longitudinal flaws in the ma
terial. There we're two of us in the
room when the test was made--a
young Irishman and myself. He said
he was-not afraid II I was not.
Ready! The button was touched to
ignite the motorite. There was a
flash and terrific bang. The ma
chine was blown to fragments, which
were hurled in all directions about
the room, making deep dents in the
walls; but, fortunately, neither Of
US was hit. The windows were blown
out, sash and ALL then went away
from that place and built laboratory
especially for the purpose of making
further test This laboratory was
built with heavy brick walls, with
skylight which opened up twelve
feet square, and there were big double
doors and windows and the roof was
tied down strong to keep it from lift
ing of in the event apf an accident,
and provision was made for touching
off the machine from a position out
side the room, and behind barrier
my wife and I made the next test
alone. The button was pressed, and
a fearful explosion followed. One
fragment of the machine came out
at the door, embedding itself in the
barrier in front of us.
**Profting by the success of this ex-
pertinent, a full-sized torpedo appa-
ratus was next made and special
laboratory built on Lake Hopatcong
for continuing the experiments. After
one year of hard work I was ready
for the important test, and a COM
nnittee of my associates we're to visit
me the following day for the official
experiments. On this previous day
I was called away to Morristown, N.
j., as expert on a case in court, leav-
ing the laboratory in charge of my
assistant. While I was gone there
was an explosion which killed my as
sistant, and I found my place burned
to the ground. AS my assistant was
an old explosive man and a. very in
telligent and a very careful and re-
liable man, it is perfectly inconceiva'
BILE how he-if it was he--could have
produced an accident.
Mr.. Maxim's idea of rest is a
change of work, and during the last
nine years while resting from the
arduous tolls Of his profession he has
been working upon the origin and de.
velopment of human speech and the
"hiology Of literature,' including a
scientific unraveling of the subjects
of poetry, rhetoric and oratory.