Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1920-01-27
GERMANY UNDONE
BY OWN WEAPON
Had Sold to America Secret
Of Making Explosive
From Air.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
Built in Eight Months 1t Con-
vinceS Kaiser of His Defeat.
BY GARRETT SMITH.

BY 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 fertilizer
known as cyanamld.
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
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
third of the Chilean nitrates, was al
ready experimenting with processes
for their artificial production. In 1907
Mr.. Washburn secured in Germany
the American rights of the cyanamid
process which had been invented in
that country.
Turning Air Into a Weapon.
By this process air, which is mix
ture of about four-fifths nitrogen gas
and one-fifth oxygen, is placed in con-
tainers and subjected to pressure and
cold until it turns to a 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 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
bining 1t 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'
sives. 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 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
warfare-TNT, picric acid and ammo
mum nitrate. The United States was
equally deficient in raw materials and
plants for manufacturing all three OF
these explosives. Under the best OF
conditions the cost of either INT or
nitric 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 a
raw material for ammonium nitrate,
| with the exception of small produc
| ton of nitrogen from the coking OF
coal. The Chilean supply was 4,50C
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.
A Record Building Operation.
Shortly after the war began in Eu.
rope the German government entered
| into the fixation of air nitrogen fol-
military explosives on vast scale. II
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
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 in 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 chimneys. On February 16, 1918
ground was broken, and eight months
and eight days later the S6o,000,0W
Muscle Shoals plant began producing
ammonium nitrate. In that brief pc
| Rod $4,000 men had completed the
plant and around 1t, where not o
house stood before, had arisen a city
Of $4,000 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.