IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Augustus Abel, of the Royal Arsenal,
Woolwich, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
Sealed the 23rd June 1868, and dated the 24th December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Augustus Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th December 1867.
I, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS ABEL, of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the
County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved production of explosive compounds
capable of being employed as substitutes for gunpowder or other explosive
mixtures or compounds for blasting and for other similar purposes, and
consists, first, in the employment of a mixture of what is known as gun
cotton produced from cotton or from other filamentous materials, and employed
either in a filamentous or in a pulped condition in conjunction with a large
proportion of an oxydizing body, such as chlorate of potash, nitrate of potash,
or nitrate of soda, or mixtures of the same together with a small portion of
alkali or of an alkaline carbonate, such for example as carbonate of soda.

page_text: The mixture and incorporation of these before-mentioned substances is to be
effected either by mixing the same in a dry state, and then adding a sufficient
quantity of water in order that the whole may be converted into a semi-fluid
consistency or mass, from which by the application of heat and with continued
agitation and incorporation, the water is to be evaporated until the mixture
assumes a pasty consistency, and the resulting plastic mass is then granulated or
moulded into dises, sheets, or any other desired form. The product is to be
dried and is then suitable for being employed for blasting or other similar
purposes; or instead of mixing the substances in a dry state as herein-before
described, the oxydizing compound, such as chlorate of potash, nitrate of
potash, or nitrate of soda, or mixtures of the same together with an alkali or
an alkaline carbonate, such as carbonate of soda, are dissolved in water, and
the solution, by preference a boiling saturated solution, is mixed with what is
known as gun cotton produced from cotton or other filamentous materials,
the same being employed either in a filamentous or in a pulpe condition, and
during intimate incorporation this mixture is to be evaporated as before
mentioned to a paste or plastic mass capable of being granulated or moulded
into pellets, sheets, discs, or into any other desired form. The resulting
product is to be dried and is then suitable for employment for blasting or
other similar purposes.
The proportions of the above materials which I have found to give good
results are from 30 to 60 parts by weight of the oxydizing materials, with
from 70 to 40 parts by weight of gun cotton, and about 1 part by weight of
the alkali or alkaline carbonate, but these proportions will vary according to
the precise nature of the ingredients used and to the purposes to which the
resulting product is to be applied.
.
The second part of my Invention consists in impregnating either partially
or completely with what is well known as nitro-glycerine granulated o
moulded masses of the products resulting from and produced by either of the
processes before described, which masses are then to be coated with a
protective covering, consisting, for example, of paraffin or bees'-wax applied
either in a melted state or in solution, or they may be covered or coated
with a solution of india-rubber, gutta percha, gun cotton, shell-lac, o
other impervious material. The products thus obtained will be suitable fo
blasting or such other purposes where very powerful explosive action i
.desired.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick-Augustus Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS ABEL, of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fou. th day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Augustus Abel, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Augustus Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick Augustus Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved production of explosive compounds
capable of being employed as substitutes for gunpowder or other explosive
mixtures or compounds for blasting and for other similar purposes, and consists,
first, in the employment of a mixture of what is known as gun cotton produced
from cotton or from other filamentous materials, and employed either in a
filamentous or in a pulped condition in conjunction with a large proportion of an
oxydizing body, such as chlorate of potash, nitrate of potash, or nitrate of soda,
or mixtures of the same together with a small portion of alkali or of an alkaline
carbonate, such for example as carbonate of soda. The mixture and incor-
poration of these before-mentioned substances is to be effected either by mixing.

page_text: the same in a dry state, and then adding a sufficient quantity of water in order
that the whole may be converted into a semi-fluid consistency or mass, from
which by the application of heat, the water is to be evaporated during continued
agitation and incorporation until the mixture assumes a pasty consistency, and
the resulting plastic mass is then granulated or moulded into discs, sheets, or
any other desired form. The product is to be dried and is then suitable for
being employed for blasting or other similar purposes; or instead of mixing
the substances in a dry state, as herein-before described, the oxydizing com-
pound, such as chlorate of potash, nitrate of potash, or nitrate of soda, or
mixtures of the same together with an alkali or an alkaline carbonate, such
as carbonate of soda, are dissolved in water and the solution, by preference a
boiling saturated solution, is mixed with what is known as gun cotton produced
from cotton or other filamentous materials, the same being, employed either in
a filamentous or in a pulped condition, and during intimate incorporation; this
mixture is to be evaporated as before mentioned to a paste or plastic mass
capable of being granulated or moulded into pellets, sheets, discs, or into any
other desired form. The resulting product is to be dried and is then suitable.
for employment for blasting or other similar purposes.
The proportions of the above materials which I have found to give good
results are from 80 to 60 parts by weight of the oxydizing materials with
from 70 to 40 parts by weight of the gun cotton, and about one part by weight
of the alkali or alkaline carbonate, but these proportions will vary according to
the precise nature of the ingredients used and to the purposes to which the
resulting product is to be applied.
The second part of my Invention consists in impregnating either partially
or completely with what is well known as nitro-glycerine granulated or
moulded masses of gun cotton either such as are produced according to the
Specification to certain Letters Patent granted to me and bearing date 20th
April 1865, No. 1102, or combined with other materials by either of the
processes before described, which masses are then to be coated with a
protective covering consisting for example of paraffine or bees'-wax applied
either in a melted state or in solution, or they may be covered or coated
with a solution of india-rubber, gutta percba, gun cotton, shell-lac, or
other impervious material. The products thus obtained will be suitable
for blasting or such other purposes where very powerful explosive action
is desired.
.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
generally the combination of nitro-glycerine with nitro-cellulose or ligneous

page_text: matter treated with nitric and sulphuric acid, as I am aware that this has
already been proposed; but what I claim is,-
First. Combining gun cotton in a filamentous or pulped condition with one
or more oxydizing bodies together with an alkali or alkaline carbonate
and consolidating such compound, substantially as and for the purposes set
forth.
Second. Combining granulated or moulded masses of gun cotton with nitro-
glycerine, substantinlly as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
Third. Combining nitro-glycerine with granulated or moulded masses of gun
cotton previously incorporated with oxydizing and alkaline bodies, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
Fourth. Providing the compounds set forth in the first, second, and third
claims with a coating of paraffine or other protective materials, substantially
as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, in the the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
F. A. ABEL. (L.S.)