Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1919-12-30
Mad Sold to America Secret
of Making Explosive
From Air.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
Built in Eight Months It Con.
WnceS Kaiser of His Defeat.
BY GARRETT SMITH.

pHTtmtut VI tAe ShIteu SIneSo TAS
made 1t possible for America, until
then utterly lacking in ammunition
and In facilities for making 1t, to man.
ufacture unlimited quantities Of pow
erful explosives out of air and rock.
1t was largely the knowledge Of this
fact that forced Germany to surrender
when she did.
The secret was secured from Ger
many herself. It was an open busi-
ness transaction between business
men, whereby we apparently acquired
nothing more military than process
for making high grade fertilizer
known as cyanamid.
Frank Sherman Washburn, head OF
the group Of business men who bought
this process, conceived the germ Of
the idea in the early nineties while In
South America as consulting engineer
In connection with the production and
shipping Of Chilean nitrate of soda.
Nitrogen compounds are an essential
-,, .A,,t u,ho
part Vi al eol'e
only aVallaole natural nitrate uepUni.s
In large quantities are In Chile. This
supply was diminishing. Germany,
which had been taking about one
third Of the Chilean nitrates, was al
reaoy experimenting WIN Processes
Tor tnelr artihciai prouuc'ioh' LII i0o'
MT "asnou'h secureu III ei"ony
the American rlsnts ei me esaha",u
process wnlch mao oeen lh'eh'eo' !"
that country
Turning Air Into Weapon.
BY this process air, which is a mix
ture Of about four-fifths nitrogen gas
and one-fifth oxygen, is placed in con-
tainers and subjected to pressure and
cold until 1t turns to liquid. Then
the nitrogen is distilled In much the
same manner as alcohol is separated
from water. But before this nitrogen
can be used as a fertilizer 1t must be
combined with a chemical combination
of lime and carbon known as calcium
carbide. produced by burning ordinary
limestone In big rotary kilns and COM
hinine II in the electric furnace with
carbon supplied In the form of ordi-
nary coke.
CyanamId thus produced contains
the elements of ammonium nitrate, one
of the most powerful of modern explo-
siyes. BY one process ammonia is ex
tracted from the cyanamid. By an
other process nitric acid is extracted
from another batch OF this same sya-
namid- Then the ammonia ana nltrlc
acid are combined anu there you nave
ammonium nitrate READY LOT packing
into shells with TNf.
There are three KINDS OF explosives
used FOR oursIing SHELLS III "ouerh
warfare-TNT, pieric acid and ammo
mum nitrate. Tho united states was
equally deficient In raw materials ana
plants for manufacturing all three Oh
these explosives. Under the pest Oh
conditions the cost OF either INt or
nitric acid is about two ana one-nall
the cost Of ammonium nitrate. But
the United States was wholly depend
ent upon Chilean nitrate OF soda as a
raw material for ammonium nitrate
with the exception OF small prouuc-
ton Of nitrogen from the cokins OF
coal The Chilean supply was 4,ooo
miles away from New York CITY by
way Of the Panama Canal, ana the
route by way of the Straits OF Magel-
Ian is nearly twice as long.
A Record Building Operation.
Shortly after the war began in Eu-
rono the German government entered
into the fxation of air nitrogen for
military explosives on a vast scale. 1t
WIS NOT, however. until the fall of 1917
thar the United States government
took It m.
THO Ordnance Department asked Mr.,
Washburn,s company to organize a
subsidiary corporation. known as the
Air NItrates CORPORATION. with Mr..
Washbprn as president, to act as
AGENT of the government for the con-
strurtiop and operation Of the air nj
trotes nlant at Muscle Shoals, Ala
Mans This CORPORATION provided the
designs, erected the equipment in the