Improvements in the Manufacture or Production of Gunpowder or like Explosives.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 28th Dec., 1891-Accepted, 6th Feb., 1892
:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture or Production of Gunpowder or
like Explosives.
1 JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of
Middlesex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention which has
been communicated to me from abroad by The Dynamite Actiengesellschaft Nobel
of Vienna in the Empire of Austria to be as follows:-
A practically useful smokeless gunpowder has not hitherto been prepared with
success from nitro-cellulose without the addition of substances which dissolve or
gelatinize the said nitro-cellulose such as acetic-ether, acetone, æther-alcohol,
methyl alcohol, nitro-benzol and the like.
The employment of such substances not only makes the product very expensive,
but also causes its chemical and projective properties to undergo alteration after it
has been stored for a length of time.
My foreign correspondents have found that a mixture of nitro-cellulose in the
state of fine meal with the di or tri nitro-derivatives of benzol toluol xylol or
naphthalene, is excellently suited for manufacturing a cheap and chemically stable
gun-powder or explosive which can be stored for a length of time without injury.
Any kind of cellulose can be employed for making the nitro-cellulose meal, and
the cellulose may be made into a mealy powder or flour by chemical or mechanical
means before the nitration of the cellulose. For instance the cellulose (cotton or
wood-cellulose) can be converted into hydro-cellulose or oxy-cellulose, if chemical
powdering is to be employed, and if mechanical means are employed, hard wood-
cellulose (such as that of phytolephas macrocarpa) may be pulverized in any
suitable apparatus to a meal or flour.
Nitration may be performed in the ordinary manner by means of sulphuric and
nitric acids, and is performed upon the cellulose after it has been converted into
the form of meal or flour by which means a fully homogeneous product is obtained
and a complete removal of acid is rendered possible which gives rise to a satisfactory
degree of chemical stability. The mealy and thoroughly neutral nitro-cellulose
obtained in this way is dried until it only contains about 10% of moisture (which
is necessary to allow of working it with safety) and is mixed intimately in any
suitable mixer or mill with di- or tri-nitro-benzol, di- or tri-nitro-toluol, di- or
tri-nitro-xylol or di- or tri-nitro-naphthalene.
The proportions of nitro-cellulose to the said nitro-derivatives depends upon the
projective force it is desired to obtain, and varies from 99 to 70 parts by weight of
the former to 1 to 30 parts by weight of the latter.
The mixture is pressed into cakes at a pressure of 1000 kg. to 2000 kg. per
square centimeter, the cakes are broken, granulated in a granulating machine
rounded, sorted, blackleaded or polished and dried, for which purpose the machinery
employed in the manufacturing of ordinary gunpowder may be employed.
Dated thi 0th day of A 1903
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture or Production of Gunpowder or
like Explosives.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of
Middlesex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has
been communicated to me from abroad by The Dynamite Actiengesellschaft Nobel
of Vienna in the Empire of Austria) and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
In order to obtain a practically useful smokeless gunpowder from nitro-cellulose
it has heretofore been found necessary to add substances such as acetic-ether,
acetone, aethyl-alcohol, nitro-benzene and the like. The employment of such
substances not only adds to the cost of the product, but also causes its propelling
power to become modified after it has been stored for a length of time.
My foreign correspondents have now discovered that a mixture of nitro-cellulose
in the state of fine powder or meal (as distinguished from the granular form)
employed together with the di- or trinitro-derivatives of benzene, toluene, xylene,
or naphthalene is well suited for manufacturing a cheap and chemically stable
gunpowder or explosive which can be stored for a length of time without injury.
In the manufacture of smokeless explosives considerable difficulty has been
experienced in obtaining the truly uniform or homogeneous nitro-cellulose which is
essential to the production of an explosive of uniform quality as regards its
ballistic or propelling power. By means of this invention it is rendered possible
to obtain, by the addition of the dinitro derivatives of the above mentioned hydro-
carbons to highly nitrated cellulose, precisely similar effects to those resulting from
the mixture of trinitro hydrocarbons with nitro cellulose poor in nitrogen.
By selecting a suitable nitro derivative of benzene toluene, xylene, naphthalene
or mixtures of such derivatives it is possible to provide a material having any
predetermined melting point. between from say about 70 to 214 degrees Centigrade,
this being a matter which may be of the utmost importance for obtaining the
required result. The varying amounts or percentages of nitrogen contained in
the aforesaid di- and tri-nitro derivatives, the great difference between their melting
points and the effect of the said derivatives resulting from these two factors upon
the ultimate product cause the latter to possess properties peculiar to itself.
The nitro cellulose in the form of a fine powder is preferably obtained from
corozo nut or the fruit of the phytclephas macrocarpa which is ground or reduced
to fine powder or flour. In the reduction and hydration or oxidation of the
cellulose when effected by means of chemical agents bye products are formed which
have an unfavourable influence on the chemical stability of the product and on this
account it is preferable to reduce the cellulose to a state of fine division by
mechanical means in place of by chemical action.
The nitration of the mechanically reduced cellulose powder may be performed
in the ordinary manner by means of sulphuric and nitric acids. By reducing the
corozo nut cellulose to the form of a fine powder or flour before proceeding with
the nitration a homogeneous nitro product is enabled to be obtained, the acid is
completely removed and a chemically stable product is the result. Such a result is
practically impossible when the nitration is performed on granulated corozo nuts
or other like unpulverised materials. The thoroughly neutral and dense or
compact nitro-cellulose powder obtained in this way is dried until it contains only
about 10 per cent. of moisture (which is necessary to allow of working it with
safety) and is mixed intimately in a mill working with spheres or in wooden drums
or in any other suitable mixer or mill with one or more of the di- or tri-nitro
derivatives of the hydrocarbons hereinbefore referred to.
The proportions of the several ingredients are preferably regulated as follows

page_text: namely from about 70 to 99 parts by weight of nitro cellulose to from about 1 to
30 parts by weight of the nitro derivative or derivatives.
The mixture is pressed into cakes under hydraulic or other pressure of from
1000 to 2000 kg. per square centimeter (or from about 6 to 12 tons per square inch)
the cakes are broken, granulated in a granulating machine, rounded, sorted, black
leaded or polished and dried, for which purpose the machinery employed in the
manufacturing of ordinary gunpowder may be employed.
No gelatinising agents or solvents are employed either in the mixing process
or in the pressing and the employment of suspending media in the production of
the homogeneous mass as well as the application of binding agents before the
pressing operation are likewise obviated and no heat is applied either in the mixing
or in the pressing. By these means complications are avoided and great economy
is effected.
The nitro cellulose in the gunpowder manufactured according to this invention
is not gelatinised-my foreign correspondents having ascertained that gelatinised
nitro cellulose is not only difficult of ignition but also leaves a certain amount of
unburned residue on combustion. The gunpowder according to this invention.
consists of compact but easily ignited and thoroughly combustible grains or
granules.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The manufacture of smokeless gunpowder or like explosive by nitrating
finely pulverised nitro cellulose and mixing it with the di- or tri-nitro derivatives
of benzene, toluene, xylene, or naphthalene or mixtures thereof substantially as
hereinbefore described.
2. In the manufacture of an explosive of the kind described in the preceding
claiming clause the method of mechanically mixing the finely pulverised ingredients
without the employment of a solvent or gelatinising agent or of a suspending
medium and without raising the temperature and treating the mixture so obtained
(without the addition of a binding agent and without heating it) according to the
methods usually employed in the manufacture of black or ordinary gunpowder by
pressing the mass under high pressure and subsequently granulating the pressed
product substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. In the manufacture of an explosive of the kind described in the first claiming
clause the employment of di-nitro derivatives of benzene, toluene, xylene, or
naphthalene, or mixtures thereof, in combination with highly nitrated cellulose and
the employment of tri-nitro derivatives of the said hydrocarbons or mixture thereof
n combination with nitro cellulose poor in nitrogen for the purpose of obtaining
explosives possessing equal propelling powers substantially as hereinbefore
lescribed.
4. In the manufacture of an explosive of the kind described in the first claiming
lause the method of obtaining ingredients of predetermined melting points by
egulating the selection or combination of the nitro-derivatives of the hydrocarbon
erein before specified, according to the result to be produced, substantially as
ereinbefore described.
5. As a new product of manufacture the smokeless explosive obtained as herein-
efore described.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.