Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1919-12-26
GERMANY uNDONE.
BY own WEAPON
Had Sold to America Secret
Of Making Explosive
From Air.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
Built in Eight Months It Con-
vinces Kaiser of His Defeat.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
b. GARRETT SMITH.


One Of the most romantic passages
in the secret history Of the World War
is the story Of how the Ordnance De-
partment of the United States Army |
made it possible for America, until |
then utterly lacking in ammunition |
and in facilities for making it, 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 1t was an open bust |
ness transaction between business |
men, whereby we apparently acquired |
nothing more military than a process |
for making a high grade fertiliZe |
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 ind
South America as consulting engineer
in connection with the production and |
shipping OF Chilean nitrate of soda |
Nitrogen compounds are an essential
part of all commercial fertilizers The
only available natural nitrate deposits |
in large quantities are in Chile. This
supply was diminishing. Germany
which had been taking about one
~ no oil
ready experimenting with processes
for their artificial production. In 1907
Mr.. Washburn secured in Germany
the American rights of the cyanan.n
process which had been invented il
that country
Turning Air Into a Weapon
BY this process air which is a mix
ture of about four-ffths nitrogen gaS
and one-fifth oxygen. is placed in con
tainers and subjected to pressure and
cold until it turns to a liquid. Thel
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 it must b,
combined with a chemical combinatio!
carbide, produced by burning ortinal
limestone in big rotary kiIns and com
bining it in the electric furnace with
carbon supplied in the form Of ortli
nary coke.
Cyanamid thus produced contains
the elements of ammonium nitrate, one
of the most powerful of modern explo
w 10 AN--
tracted from the cyanamid. BY an
other process nitric acid is extracted
from another batch of this same sya
namid Then the ammonia and nitric
acid are combined and there you have
ammonium nitrate ready for packing
into shells with INT.
There are three kinds of explosives
used for bursting shells in modern
worfare-TNT, picric acid and ammo
mum nitrate. The United States was
equally deficient in raw materials and
piants for manufacturing all three of
these explosives. Under the best c.
conditions the cost of either INT or
nit-ec acid is about two and one-halt
the cost Of ammonium nitrate. But
the United States was wholly depend
ent upon Chilean nitrate of soda as Il
raw material for ammonium nitrate
with the exception of small produc
ton Of nitrogen from the coking of
coal The Chilean supply was 4500
miles away from New York City by
way Of the Panama Canal, and the
route by way of the Straits of Magel-
| Ian Is nearly twice as long.
Record Building Operation.
Shortly after the war began in Eu-
rope the German government entered
into the flxation of air nitrogen for
military explosives on a vast scale. 1t
was not, however, until the fall of 1917
that the United States government
took 1t up.
The Ordnance Department asked Mr.
Washburn's company to organize a
subsidiary corporation, known as the
Air Nitrates Corporation, with Mr..
Washburn as president, to act as
agent of the government for the con-
struction and operation of the air nj
trates plant at Muscle Shoals, Ala
bama. This corporation provided the
designs, erected the equipment i'll the
chemical plants and supervised all the
other work. 1t also operated the
camp the town and the plant. Other
work is sublet to several of the best
known organizations in the United
States Westinghouse Church Kerr
Company built the plant buildings, the
camp the permanent city and utilities.
The j. G. White Engineering Corpora
ton designed and built the nitrate
acid plant The NJ. W. Kellogg Com
pany furnished the piping and built
the ctlimneys On February IS, 1918,
ground was broken, and eight months
and eight days later the S6OOO0,0oo
Muscle Shoals plant began producing
ammonium nitrate. In that brief pc
Rod $4,000 men had completed the
plant and around it, where not a
house stood before, had arisen city
Of 25,OOO inhabitants.
This plant when in full operation
was ready to provide Is per cent of all |
explosives to be used by all the allies
on all the allied fronts during the ex
pected spring drive Of 1919. ]
Cure for Poison Ivy.
Mrs. Evelyn S. Trenbath. wife Of the |
Rev. Robert w. Trenbath, rector of St. |
James's Episcopal church of Montclair, |
n j., has conferred a boon on suffer |
ers from poison ivy by announcing !
remedy which those who have tried it
say is most efficacious remedy. 1t |
Is simply the green leaves Of common
catnip rubbed on the affected parts I'M
III the juice runs.
This never fails. Mrs. Trenbath says, |
70 matter how advanced the case may /
BE-, and is simple to use. especially IL
the case Of children. The plant grows /