El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-27
WAKE
THE.R0#HH.6H
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Great Factory Is Devoted tc
the Making of Nitro
Glycerine Alone.
AERIAL BOMBS
MADE SECRETLY

r ONDON, Eng, Feb. Elbow the
British make their explosives is de-
- scrfbed by a writer who was given
permission to go through a factory
now turning out much OF the material
used in the British and French shells
The factory grounds are connected
by telephones and tram lines, says the
writer, and in addition to the Dulld-
ings there are a number Of embank-
ments. Some of the sheds are highly
dangerous. First among these comes
the nitrating room, in which a tank
filled with a mixture of nitric ana
sulphuric acid is kept in a state of ViO-
lent agitation by means Of compressed
air jets, shot up from the bottom.
Above the acid, a small stream Of pure
glycerine trickles in. Below the vat is
a pool of water in which the Vats con-
tents could be drowned were the mix
ing to go wrong. The acids when mixed
with the glycerine, become nitro-glyc-
erine-ten times more powerful than
gun powder and likewise explode at
the slightest shock.
No Trace Of Red Allowed.
The fumes arising from the tank are
closely watched while the contents are
cooled by means of chilled brine, forced
through a coil of pipes at the bottom.
Should the slightest trace of red APP
pear,t he attendant must drown the
stuff on the second.
When ready, the crude explosive runs
through lead pipes to another room.
There it is allowed to settle in vats,
and the surface is SKINNED off. If the
compound has not been properly mixed,
a ring of peacock green appears on
the surface of the tank, and the at
tendants dash out of the building to
save themselves if they can.
The third building is devoted to the
washing of the nitro glycerine to get
rid of the excess free acid. Two wash
ings are gone through the first in pure
water agitated by compressed air Jets,
and the second time in water to which
a strong solution of soda has been
added to neutralize the remaining
traces of acid.
Made Into Dynamite.
Nitro glycerine is now used for many
purposes in the form already reached.
But to make dynamite, it is taken to a
fourth shed, where finally ground wood
pulp and Chilean saltpetre are added
This yellOWish, soapy mixture is
harmless unless fired by strong con-
cussion, generally by a cap of fulmi-
nate of mercury, an explosive that goes
off at the merest touch.
Dynamite is rarely used in torpe-
does, because gun cotton is more con-
Yenient. Some forms of it, however,
enter into submarine mines.
The making of melInlte and picric
acid and of trinitrO- tuluol. the terrible
explosive used in aerial bombs, is kept
from the public, while absolute secre-
cy surrounds the making of cordite,
lydditea nd the mysterious %" powder.
Not even the workmen and the chem
lists employed in making these explO-
sives knows the combinations into
which they are mixed for service use.
II is said that some of the materials
turned out in the explosive factories.
which employees and chemists think are
absolutely necessary to the production
OF service charges, are not used at all
They are asked for simply to mislead
possible traitors who would betray
government secrets.