Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-01

jelly of cotton.
To this jelly are added the quantities
of nitrates known to be necessary that
the proportions in the finished pro-
duct will be such that every particle
of 1t will be burned up when the
powder explodes
Gun Cotton
In this stage the product is known
as guncotton, name it acquired be-
fore the process of breaking down the
tibrous condition was discovered. Gun
cotton is very terrible explosive 1t
is the material which makes the mines
that are planted about the harbors of
Europe and so deadly that no vessel
strikes one. 1t Is the material that is
inside the war heads of the torpedoes
that are launched from submarines.
1t was a charge of this guncotton,
probably not more than a hundred
pounds of it, that tore the Lusitania
in two and caused her to sink Eighty
pounds of cotton from Texas and
twenty pounds of saltpeter from Chile
did the terrible work
This guncotton is too powerful for
the purposes served by powder. Ex-
ploded in the breeeh of a gun 1t would
tear 1t to pieces. To convert gun
cotton into. gunpowder 1t is necessary
that It's explosions should be slowed
down and it is adulterated to accom-
plish that end. When the jelly-like
mixture is just right to make modern
smokeleas it is squeezed through the
molds and cut off in the lengths de-
sired for the final product
Even In this time when powder is
attempting to dominate the world 1t
may not be generally known that the
grains" Of modern smokeless may
be as big around as a broom handle
and thraa inrhaa long Thau Of
that size for the big, sixteen-inch
guns that are to guard the Panama
Canal. A twelve-inch gun uses a
grain the size of your thumb, six
inch gun one as big as a section of
lead pencil an inch long and so on
down.
Each of these grains of powder has
seven perforations running through it
Ilengthwise. These perforations are
to regulate the rapidity of it's burning.
They give more surface exposure. This
powder burns as would a piece OF
paper ignited in its center with the
flame spreading always toward the
outside. The bigger the grains the
longer IL will take them to burn up.
This is as 1t is intended for the ex-
perts want the powder to burn longer
in a big gun than in a small one
Gunpowder explodes slowly and keeps
pushing the projectile all the way
ooWn the Darrel OF the gun. Its ex-
plosion is most violent Just before II
is all burned up and this gives the
protectile a great push just as 1t
reaches the end of the barrel The
grains for the big guns are bigger be-
cause they must burn longer in push
ing a projectile all the way down a
longer gun barrel.
This smokeless powder has come
into being since the Spanish Amer
lean war 1t is used by all nations
and is always made of the same raw
materials-cotton and nitrate. In
Europe, however, 1t assumes different
forms. English powder looks like a
bundle OF sticks tied together and
thrust into the breech of a gun. The
French make up their powder, in
strips that look like chewing gum.
So. when a great war broke, the
powder-makers of nations were most
anxious to keep in touch with the
sources of cotton supply. When the
| command of the seas passed into the
hands OF the allies there arose the
great difficulty on the part of the Ger
mans of maintaining the supply OF cot
ton for powder. America, in the mean
time, had become alarmed over the
closing down of European mills and
the loss OF cotton markets. America
did not know of the quantities of cot
ton that would be necessary in tha