El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-07-19
Many EmbarrassmentS

/ smoke OF the old black powder was
/ due 10 Incomplete combustion and was
I the residue left over after the explos-
| ION Smokeless powder is a product
/ too refined for any such waste.
Another fact which is quite novel
10 the uninitiated is the fact that this
smokeleSS powder comes in grains
that range in size from a fragment OF
macaroni to a section Of a broom
stick Smokeless powder grains ara
cylinders An eight inch gun would
use a smOkeless powder, the grain Of
which is about as big as a lead pen
II and one inch long. a Il inch gun
would use grain which was as big
as a brOomstick and three inches long.
Guns OF different sizes use different
grains. and the rapidly Of the ex-
plosion Of the powder depends upon
the size OF thes- grains Big guns re-
quire a slower explosion than small
ones.
Must Burn Clearly.
But whatever size they are. the
com oustion Of every particle that en-
tiers into them is complete. Now the
reason that this powder must be put
in silk bags instead Of cotton or linen.
or bags Of any other material. is be-
cause the silk bags viii be completely
burned W in the explosion Of the
powder and nothing at ali viii be left
while this would not be true Of any
other cloth. When we came to make
war on a stupendOus scale il was
necessary that we should have
great quantities OF silk from which 10
make powder bags
During the war we asked for con
tracts on large scale from all manu-
facturers of silk in the United States,
and in addition let extensive contracts
IN Japan and China Big mills under
a number OF flags were turning out
silk for this war use when peace came
The left over silk from these sources
to the 100000 yards which
is row TO be sold.
When the director Of sales found
himself in possession of all this car
fridge cloth and was told that il was
silk. he was inclined to be skeptical &
On the face Of It 1t did not look very
much like silk. On the contrary it Z
might very readily be mistaken for a
cheap burlap. differing little from an
ordinary gunny sack
An investigation revealed the fact
that this silk was made OF the first I
Of the cocoon Of the silk
worm which feeds upon the mulberry 4
tree The silk had not had the Gus I
tomary refining and was coarser and /
than most cloths. 1t still con-
tanned the oil which usually is refined 4.
out Of It.
Boiling Improves 1t.
The director of sales investigated .
the possibility Of improving the ap-
1earance of this cartridge cloth. It
was found, for instance. that II II was
boiled for a day in water containing
olive oil soap that It would tighten I'D
It's weave and lose its gummy nature
and become a material OF quite differ
mt appearance It would then be the
same sort Of cloth that goes into
mems suits made Of that silk called
longee. Many other experiments we're
.ried in refining this cartridge cloth,
md it was learned that it could be
treated to get a wide va
tself to dyeing. that II could be made
generally usuable dress goods. So
{ happens that the government IS Of
'ering the whole Of its stock for sale
n such a way that the original in
-estment in this cartridge cloth may
lot prove a great loss. or possibly
nav not prove to be a loss at all
VIII Sell Wholesale
II selling its cartridge cloth the
finds, however, that il
viii be advisable to dispose Of It on
wholesale basis only 1t has noIi
he machinery developed to cut half
Iozen yards here and there and retaihi
to its individual citizens Ire
Individual citizen might not be able
o refine the cloth in a satisfactory
vav at anv rate. therefore. the gov
rnment hopes to sell this material TO
he big manufacturers of materials I
aade Of silk. There IS no question Dut
Thar these manufacturers VIII &C
ufre great quantities of cartridge
10th. and there Is little question but ]
that II VIII find its way into those I
laterials which viii be on sale in .
~ good stores throughout the lano Z
D the near future