Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-07
ON EXPLOSIONS AND EXPLOSIVES

or musket was created by the Arabs:
1t was made to propel arrows. There
is. therefore, no merit In attrioutlng
the invention of powder to Roger ba-
In the thirteenth century cannon and
"bombards" existed. but the inventors
name is a myth. Powder (black) was
used since the fourteenth century. 1t
consists: as saltpeter or azotate OF po-
tasse to 1875 charcoal and 12.6 sulphur.
Brown powder is made of calcinated
charcoal at 800 degrees only. in place
of 400 for black powder.
Its role as an explosive is limited.
powder is more powerful.
Until recent years black powder served
to charge musket and cannon. 1t keeps
well. But black powder has the
fault OF being too crushing. 1t acts
too quick; burns too promptly; II is
a projectile for it cannot be given a
good range except at the risk of smash
ing the gun.
Since the revolution attempts have
been made to render black powder more
by assuring slow combus-
ton. In Germany in 1881 chocolate
powder was invented (77 saltpeter, 20
charcoal. 3 sulphurl.
Black powder still plays a role In ar
tillery. 1t is employed in bombs with
balls or shrapneL
Is powder an instrument of clviliza-
ton, as asserted? Its advocates claim
that it was powder
Powder and that held the barbara
n.. ans in check. 1t has
O1SAAlldtlOH. aided civilization GER
tainly in an industrial way, opening
galleries in mines and in perforating
mountains.
having discovered chlorate Of potash,
he might substitute 1t for salt
peter IN black powder. 1t was possible
and rational, but dangerous. At the
powder mills of Essonnes both Berthe
lot and Lavoisier. who accompanied
him, narrowly escaped destruction In
the experiments made. In itself chlor-
ate of potash is not dangerous. but as
ISOLATED with sulphur it becomes ex-
cessively sensitive and redoubtable
Berthelot powder contained IS of
chlorate, 10 sulphur. Is charcoal. In
powder of 1S49. chlorate was
mixed with prussiate of potash and
sugar: in 1850 Melville powder was
arsenic and sulphate of potassium:
Davay, in 1852, mixed chlorate, nitrate
and prussiate. French, Russians, Eng
lish and Americans rivaled each other
IN attempting the utlllZdllOH VI CnlOT-
ate. In 1882 elaborated powder tn-
dustriaD made its appearance under the
name of asphaline. Then followed, in
turn, the prometheus, rack-a-rock.
cheddite, permonite, polarite, ajax,
dynobel
In 1899 Howard, an Englishman, OBJ
tanned the illuminate of mercury. Very
sensitive, 1t was employed in capsules
to explode explosives. illuminate of
mercury is still a mystery when en-
I,,$ f,,1 II,
mixed with moderatirg substances in
order to prevent its explosion. Full
inmate of mercury is employed in the
howitzer shell of the French IS and in
some other arms.
y X
In 1882 new type of explosive was
counot by treating
Developments starch. wood hbers
n and other sub
centrated azotic acid. This was the de-
but of nitro-celluloses, of which gun
cotton is a component.
In 1888 Pelouze repeated the expert
mentS of Bracounot and extended them.
He proved that all celluloses plunged
into azotic acid, then washed and dried.
furnished a most inf1ammable and util-
liable product in pyrotechnics. In 1S45
Dumas nitrified paper-a cellulose-
and used it as "nitramidine" in the
making of artillery cartridges or gar
gousses." In 1876 a SWISS Schoenbein.
discovered ozone, perfected the inven-
ton of Dumas by treating cellulose by
mixtures of nitric and sulphuric acids
and not by nitric acid alone. Schoen-
bein then obtained a more active body
and by the employment of cotton his
cellulose remains the best known.
Austria purchased Schoenbeins cellu-
lose and Won Lenk introduced some
changes, employing guncotton, but
with deplorable results, for guncotton
burst the cannon. Abel. the English
chemist, succeeded in employing gun
cotton reduced to pulp, washed it and
then compressed it. This guncotton
was still variable and of little value
for artillery. But Abel had an as
sistant named Brown, who found two
most important facts-the action of
Illuminate on compressed cotton dried
and that little dried cotton causes
the explosion of wet cotton. Thus wet
cotton can be stored and is much less
sensitive and it is this humid cotton
which is now employed in torpedoes.
Guncotton did not become a war ex-
ploslve until completed by Louis Men
ard, Flores Domonte and NJ Vieille
In 1916, in a note to the Academy of
Sciences. Menard and Domonte showed
that guncotton is soluble in a mixture
of alcohol and ether; thus dissolved
it becomes the well known collodion
utilized in surgery and in photog-
raphy. Thus was discovered the gela-
limitation of guncotton and smokeless
powder. 1t is no longer the crushing
and dangerous explosive of the COM
mencement, but a progressive and .ra-
tionalized' powder. the prototype of
such as the English cordite and of
nobel or balistite.
Cotton is essential in artillery. Smoke
less powder serves in bombs and balls
and for mortars. Its in
COCIOn Is stability was suspected in
Essential i 1Ss sen rsns mss hdu in
up at Toulon; in 1911 la Liberte" met
the same fate, disasters that were at
tributed to ''poudre B." These accidents,
it may be remarked, occurred on ship
board, where were united the precipitat-
ing conditions of heat and humidity
Stabilzants were sought and found by
Capt Lepidi du Bouchet in the diphe-
nylamine. which multiplied by five the
length of life of smokeless powder.
The detailed story of the discoveries
that have followed is too long to recite
here. An Italian chemist, Sobrero, found
nitroglycerin in 1876. The swede. Nobel.