The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1920-01-09
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.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
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 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
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 a mix
ture Of about four-ffths nitrogen gas
and one-ffth 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
N'Nil w tHNi do a lNl bitlLSt II uluSl ne
combined with a chemical combination
Of lime and carbon known as calcium
c9rbide, produced by burning ordinary
limestone in big rotary zilns and COM
hining 1t in the electric furnace with
carbon supplied in the form Of ordi-
uarv coke
CyaEamid thus produced contains
the elements of ammonium nitrate, one
r' we most powerful of modern explo-
sivCs BY one process ammonia is eX-
lracted from the cyanamid. BY an
other process nitric acid is extracted
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
Wurfare-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-half
the cost Of ammonium nitrate. But
Che United States was wholly depend
cnt upon Chilean nitrate Of soda as a
raw material for ammonium nitrate,
with the exception of a small produc-
Ton OF nitrogen from the cooking of
ccaI The Chilean supply was 4,50O
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.