The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-08-10
MAKING HIGH EXPLOSIVES.
Charlotte Man Tells of Hazardous
Work at Hopewell Plant.


high explosives for foreign nations
at war are being rapidly filled, and
many contracts for ammunition and
explosives that were made year or
more ago, will soon expire, in the
opinion of Mr.. Preston Irwin, for,
mer Charlotte boy, who is at present
in charge of the gun cotton labora-
tory of the Dupont works at Hope
we'll, Va
Mr.. Irwin believes that the expira-
ton and completion of the first con-
tracts placed by warning nations for
ammunition and explosives, will soon
be at hand, and that there will be a
general renewal of contracts with
in the next few months, though there
appears to be doubt whether these
contracts will be as large as the first
ones placed. The allies appear to
be in better position today to manu-
facture all of their needed ammuni-
ton than they were at the beginning
of hostilities.
AS Mr.. Irwin told of the various
processes required to make the
finished gun cotton, he was asked If
there were not great danger all the
time in the work. "Well, I should
say there is always danger" replied
he with a smile, "but so many pre-
cautions have been taken and the
employees exercise so much care and
so many scientific plans have been
put in use to take away the danger
that think the number of accidents
has been reduced to a minimum
In the Hopewell plant it is posi-
Bile to turn out 100000 pounds of
finished gun cotton every "a hours
when orders are sufficiently rushed
to demand a full time operation Of
the immense Hopewell plant.
"While there were $4,000 men
working at the Hopewell plant a
year ago 1 should say that the num-
Der now is not more than 15,000,"
said Mr.. Irwin today. ut is thus
seen that the rush is somewhat over,
and that manufacturers are now able
to keep pace with the demands upon
them better than was possible year
ago. However, I should say that on
account of the difficulties in ship
ping, that much ammunition ordered
a year ago is just now reaching it's
destination among the countries
which placed their orders in Ameri-
ca .......
''The Hopewel1 plant said Mr..
Irwin, FUSED far above 1000 bales
of cotton or linters, each day when
running at top speed making gun
cotton, the sole product of che great
Hopewell plant. 1t is estimated that
100 pounds of cotton or linters will
make $50 pounds of gun cotton. This
is fair basis upon which to calcu-
late. The Hopewell plant is capable
of making at least one million
pounds of gun cotton every "a
hours"
Mr.. Irwin told Interestingly of the
complicated processes used in max
ing gun cotton. Strange though it
may seem, there is an almost unbe-
lievable quantity of water used in
making gun cotton. This is due i'll
part to the many washings, baths
and boilings, to which the gun cot
ton is subjected in the effort to ex-
tract all surplus acids from the mix
ture, and to- get the. product as clear
of all foreign matter as it is possible
to do with modern scientific methods.
After the linters or cotton have been
thoroughly cleaned and bleached,
they are dipped into the acids, nitric
and sulphuric acid being used, and
this imparts to the cotton it's first
essential qualities as an explosive.
In order to prevent the detonating of
the explosive, the gun cotton is kept
in a very moist state all of the time,
and is never allowed to become dry,
for that would mean chemical decom-
position and possibly an explosion.
The gun cotton is packed, very moist,
in alright boxes, and thus the mois-
ture in the cotton or linters is re-
tanned and the danger of an explo-
sion is removed.
The Hopewell plant makes only
gun cotton, and if it desired to take
this product and turn it into the
large or small grain powder for big
guns, torpedoes, etc., it is sent to
other finishing plants Of the DUPONT
company and there mulced into the
proper size. The gun cotton from
Hopewell, said Mr.. Irwin, is sent
away in the form of pressed cakes
or cubes, and has white appear