AN IMPROVED EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th May 1880. A communication from
abroad by John Malcolm Lewin, of Paris, France.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND."
[A communication from abroad by John Malcolm Lewin, of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to an improved explosive compound composed of the
following substances, namely:-
Nitro-glycerine
Nitrate of potassium, of sodium, or of ammonia
Palmitic acidulated oxide of cetyl (oxyde cétylique palmitino-
acidulé (cetoceum))
Carbonate of lime
Lignine
-
19
-
60 parts.
16 parts.
1 part.
1 part.
6 parts.
16 parts.
Wood or animal charcoal or peat-moss (sphagnum)
With the exception of the nitro-glycerine not one of the above named materials
is explosive alone or uncombined, but when prepared chemically all of them become
so in combination with nitro-glycerine, and to such a high degree that the explosive
substance resulting from this combination is superior in strength and in respect to
safety of manufacture to all other explosive materials heretofore known com-
mercially. It may be conveyed from place to place and used without the least
danger, moreover it may be preserved or kept without deterioration.
The proportions of the constituent parts of this improved explosive compound
may and should vary to a slight degree, especially when designed to be employed
for exploding submerged rocks and for use in mines under water. I therefore
increase or reduce the relative quantity of one or several of the ingredients of the
compound without effecting any quantitative diminution of the latter, as above
indicated.
This improved explosive compound possesses the following distinctive qualities or
properties, namely :-
Its explosive force exceeds that of all explosive materials heretofore employed or
discovered.

page_text: Fifty grammes of this compound are sufficient to force a projectile through a
sheet of iron 10 millimetres in thickness, and by employing a sufficient pro-
portionate quantity the thickest iron plates may be pierced; consequently this
compound may be employed with special advantage in torpedoes and in mines for
the purposes of warfare.
If exploded by means of a capsule or cartridge, the explosion of the whole mass
is complete.
By reason of its chemical composition, the said compound affords the greatest
security in manufacture, transport, and use; it does not explode when a flame is
applied to it, nor by ineans of a match, nor in consequence of an ordinary blow,
that is to say, the explosion only takes place when a capsule or cartridge
is used.
If heated to a temperature of 190° centigrade, it ignites but does not explode.
When used it does not give off hurtful gases; it is free from all sulphurous
impurity, and consequently the products of combustion, gaseous and solid, are not
mixed with those combinations of sulphur, such as sulphurous acid, sulphuret of
hydrogen, sulphate of lime, and sulpho-prussiate of lime, which are so dangerous to
the health of workmen, but on the other hand this compound contains the aforesaid
cetylic oxide (oxyde cétylique palmitino-acidulé), a substance which upon being
burned becomes reduced to an oily gas perfectly free from danger.
The said improved compound contains an excess of carbonate of lime, and
possesses at the same time the good quality of neutralizing itself, consequently it
is less dangerous to manufacture than any other explosive compound; moreover
it may be transported, used, or kept without risk or danger, and will not deteriorate
by keeping.
In the preparation of the said improved explosive compound I may employ
processes and apparatus ordinarily used for the manufacture of explosive substances,
and the said processes and apparatus may vary according to the greater or less
quantity of the said compound to be manufactured.