THE PROTECTION OF NITRATE OF AMMONIA AGAINST DELI- QUESCENCE
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "THE PROTECTION OF NITRATE OF AMMONIA AGAINST DELI-
QUESCENCE and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
This invention relates to the protection of nitrate of ammonia against
deliquescence.
It is well known that the deliquescent or hygroscopic nitrates, of which the
nitrate of ammonia is the most prominent, have heretofore been employed with
various ingredients in the manufacture of explosive compounds, and that said
nitrates have been combined with such solid fatty or waxy bodies, as paraffine,
naphthaline, stearine, ozokerite, palmitate of cetyl, and hard pitch; and also that
in some cases some of these last named ingredients have been employed for
obviating the deliquescent tendency of said nitrates.
These solid fatty, or waxy, matters, when combined as heretofore with the
nitrates as protecting agents, result in a practically solid mass of protected nitrate,
which can only be fitted for use either by grinding or melting. The object of my
invention is not only to securely protect nitrate of ammonia against deliquescence,
but to maintain it in substantially its normal disintegrated condition so as to afford
a new article of manufacture and trade, suited for ready use in the manufacture of
bigh explosives, and permit the immediate admixture thereof with any of the well
known explosive substances or compounds heretofore employed.
To these ends my invention consists in protecting nitrate of ammonia in a
granulated, or in an otherwise divided condition, by jacketing the particles thereof
with a soft, viscous, fluid, or semi fluid, carbonaceous substance which will also
serve as a carbonaceous element in explosive compounds containing my protected
nitrate.
According to the said invention I use petroleum or any of the well known heavy
viscous educts or products thereof which have the capacity of readily enclosing
or enveloping the particles of nitrate by ordinary methods of mixing as distinguished
from the melting or grinding processes heretofore necessary in the prior use of
paraffine, stearine, naphthaline, or other similar solid waxy, or fatty, bodies.
It is obvious that, for use in explosive compounds, the nitrate thus protected
against deliquescence should be in a condition which will enable it to be readily

page_text: compounded with other bodies, as for instance, prior to applying the protecting
medium, the nitrate should be either ground, or granulated, although the latter is
preferable. For granulating said nitrate I proceed, in a manner well known to
chemists, to subject a quantity of said nitrate in its solid or crystallized commercial
form, to a melting temperature in a suitable vessel; I then transfer it to a vessel
provided with a water-jacket, and continuously stir the mass, while the temperature
thereof is steadily reduced, until, by the combined effect of cooling and stirring,
the nitrate is developed into a granulated condition.
Whether the nitrate be thus granulated, or otherwise reduced to a granular or
divided condition, it is then thoroughly mixed with about twelve (12) per cent of
the fluid or semi-fluid carbonaceous protecting medium, which forms a readily
applied jacket or coating for the granules of nitrate, and also serves as a car-
bonaceous element in such explosive compounds as it may thereafter be employed in.
I can obtain good results by the use of crude petroleum, but the protecting
media best suited for my purpose are the heavy educts or products of petroleum in
a fluid, semi-fluid, or viscous or soft condition, and in its application to the nitrate,
the per centage above named should obviously be varied, more or less, according to
the consistence of the protecting medium, it being understood that said medium
must be in such form as will enable the coating of the nitrate, without that
necessity for grinding or trituration, or the melting operation, heretofore essentially
incident to the prior use of paraffine, stearine, and other solid fatty or waxy
substances.
With a view to the greatest economy, I use petroleum, or in lieu thereof, the
soft residuary matter obtained from petroleum stills; but, at a slightly greater
cost, I prefer to use such well known soft educts or products of petroleum as are
known under various names, as, for instance, cosmoline, vaseline, paraffine, butter,
and paraffine jelly, all of which are well suited for my purposes, and I deem them
preferable to petroleum, mainly because they have no offensive odors, and are free
from earthy matter.
The protected nitrate of ammonia as described somewhat resembles moist brown
sugar, is readily distinguished from any prior preparation of such nitrates of which
the communicator of this invention has knowledge, and is not liable to become
lumpy or solid if exposed to low temperatures; nor are the granules or particles
liable to lose their coating under any of the circumstances incident to transpor-
tation, exposure, or use, and it is specially valuable for use in connection with
explosive salts which are in a finely divided condition, because the soft viscous and
oily coating of the nitrate enables it to be all the more readily and evenly com-
mingled with such salts, whether with or without the previous admixture of said
salts with an additional quantity of the same viscous protecting medium to serve
as a carbon element.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
Nitrate of ammonia in a finely divided, or in a granulated condition, protected
against deliquescence by a coating of petroleum, or its soft and viscous educts or
products, substantially as described.