IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND OF BLASTING CHARGES FOR MINING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Joseph Mackic, of 3, Delalay Street, in
the City of Westminster, Camille Alphonse Fauré, of 44, South
Road, Faversham, in the County of Kent, and George Trench, of
Broomfield House, Oare, Faversham, aforesaid, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND
OF BLASTING CHARGES FOR MINING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Scaled the 5th March 1875, and dated the 20th October 1874.
·PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Joseph Mackie,
Camille Alphonse Fauré, and George Trench at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th October.
1874.
We, SAMUEL JOSEPH MACKIE, of 3, Delahay Street, in the City of
Westminster, CAMILLE ALPHONSE FAURÉ, of 44, South Road, Faversham,
in the County of Kent, and GEORGE TRENCH, of Broomfield House, Oare,
Faversham, aforesaid, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND OF
BLASTING CHARGES FOR MINING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is, 1stly, to cheapen the manufacture of
the explosive; 2ndly, to increase its strength; and 3rdly, to pack it
into cartridges that will best suit the purpose of loading a mine and of
firing the same.
In the manufacture of gun cotton large amounts of acids are used for
the purpose of converting a relatively small weight of cotton into gun
cotton. The surplus acid, which is subsequently wrung out of thic con-
verted cotton, is remanufactured at a considerable expense. Now we
use less acid in the process of conversion of cotton into gun cotton, and
after the conversion we saturate the nitric acid of the waste acid
with a base, thus forming a nitrate, the quantity of which is that just
required to give the best effect when mixed with the gun cotton. The
material we prefer to use for converting into nitrate by this process is
carbonate of baryta.
We incorporate together the gun cotton and nitrate of baryta either
in the dry or wet state.
We pack the explosive material into such form as will best fit any
awl in the contral part of the packet or cartridge wo
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Samuel Joseph Mackie, Camille Alphonse Fauré,
and George Trench in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
JOSEPH MACKIE, of 3, Delahay Strect, in the City of Westminster, 3
CAMILLE ALPHONSE FAURÉ, of 44, South Road, Faversham, in the
County of Kent, and GEORGE TRENCH, of, Broomfield House, Oare,
Faversham aforesaid, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Samuel Joseph Mackic, Camille Alphonso
Fauré, and George Trench, Her special license that we, the said Samuel
Joseph Mackie, Camille Alphonse Fauré, and George Trench, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel
Joseph Mackie, Camille Alphonse Fauré, and George Trench, our exc-
cutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND OF BLASTING CHARGES FOR
MINING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Samuel Joseph Mackic, Camille Alphonse Fauré, and
George Trench, our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and scal
one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said Samuel Joseph Mackic and
Camille Alphonse Fauré, on behalf of ourselves and the said George-
Trench, 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 :—
The object of this Invention is, firstly, to cheapen the manufacture of
the explosive; secondly, to increase its strength; and thirdly, to pack.
it into cartridges that will best suit the purpose of loading a mine and of
firing the same.
In the manufacture of gun cotton large amounts of acids are used for:
the purpose of converting a relatively small weight of cotton into gun
cotton. The surplus acid, which is subsequently wrung out of the con-
verted cotton, is remanufactured at a considerable expense. Now we

page_text: use less acid in the process of conversion of cotton into gun cotton, and
after the conversion we saturate the nitric acid of the waste acid with
a basc, thus forming a nitrate, the quantity of which is that just
required to give the best effect when mixed with gun cotton. The
material we prefer to use for converting into nitrate by this process is 5
carbonate of baryta.
We incorporate together the gun cotton and nitrate of baryta, either
in the dry or wet state.
We pack the explosive material into such form as will best fit any
desired borc hole, and in the central part of the packet or cartridge we 1
insert a tube to receive the capped fuse. The tube extends to some
distance down the centre of the packet or cartridge, so as to allow of
the cap of the fuse being well in the charge and out of reach of any
object or instrument that may be used in ramming home.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention we will proceed 1
to describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
In the first part of the process for manufacturing explosive compounds
we proceed in the same manner as that now generally adopted in the
manufacture of gun cotton, that is, one pound of cotton is steeped in a
bath of mixed acids, being one part of nitric acid, specific gravity 1·52, 2
and 3 parts of sulphuric acid, specific gravity 1.850. This pound
of cotton is picked out of the bath and strained until it contains no
more than 10lbs. of acid. After a few hours, during which this cotton
is left digesting in the acid, it is wrung in a centrifugal machine, and
about 8lbs. of the acid is extracted. Now in our process this waste or 2
surplus acid is then mixed with some nitric acid in proportions of about
9 of the former to 1 of the latter, and is used again for steeping a
fresh batch of cotton, so that the original 10lbs. of acids, plus the one
pound subsequently added, go to convert 2lbs. about of cotton into
gun cotton, that is, we use about 6lbs. of acid to one pound on the 3
average instead of 10lbs. as by the ordinary process.
The degree of conversion of the second pound of cotton is about five-
sixths of that of the first pound, and as they are mixed together and sub-
sequently incorporated with the nitrate of baryta mentioned below we
are enabled to make this a very strong and cheap explosive.
•
The theoretical quantity of nitrate of baryta required to make a
thoroughly complete combustion is about one part of nitrate to every
3

page_text: part of gun cotton so produced. We use generally a little less nitrato
in order to preserve a certain degree of sensitiveness to the mixture.
The Olbs. of waste acid above referred to, as obtained by the con-
version of one pound of cotton into gun cotton, are boiled in a pan
until all the nitric acid is extracted from the waste acid; the nitrio
acid vapours thus produced are collected and condensed in a tank, whero
the nitrate of baryta is formed by the addition of the base, viz., carbonate,
of baryta or sulphide of barium. The nitrate of baryta thus formed is
crystallized, ground, and dried. By this process the gun cotton is a
little weaker than the best gun cotton, on account of not being nitrated
enough in the converting process; but the addition of the nitrate of
baryta compensates for that, and morcover causes a complete com-
bustion, ordinary or even the best gun cotton giving when explodod
a large amount of unconsumed carbonic oxide which if consumed would
give an increase of energy.
We prefer nitrate of baryta as the oxidizing agent for our powder on
account of its sensitiveness to detonation, its smallness of bulk, its
resistance to damp, its cheapness, and particularly the little and quickly
subsiding smoke it gives on explosion, and whatever fumes or smell may
result from the incomplete explosion of a charge is less noxious than that
given by other oxidizing agents, such as nitrate of potassa. The requisite
quantities of gun cotton and nitrate of baryta, as above referred to, arc
then put in an ordinary gunpowder incorporating mill and subjected to
the process of mixing until the mixture is homogeneous. As this operation
is generally carried on with a certain degree of moisture (about 25 per
cent.), it is next dried in an ordinary drying house. The mixture when
dried consists of a very fine dense dust and is ready for use and may
be taken to the. cartridge sheds.
We will now describe more fully our improvements in blasting
cartridges to be used for mining and other purposes.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section; Figure 2 a side, and Figure 3 an
end view of the cartridge.
Figure 4 is a vertical section on a smaller scale of the cartridge,
together with the fuze by which it is to be exploded.
The cartridge is usually of a circular section, as shown at Figure 3. It
consists of an outer case of paper or any other suitable material, such as

page_text: cardboard or linen, and such like; the case is prepared first, and with
the central tube A in its place, and the copper wire B twisted round
the neck. The end C is left open for the introduction of the powder.
The powder is put in this shell by ramming it down by means of a brass
tube of a smaller diameter than the shell. The open end of the shell is 5
then folded down upon the powder, and a wood peg d driven into it to
keep it, shut. The copper wire at neck of the cartridge is left long
enough, so that it can be used to hold the fuse F when it is being loaded
in a mine hole.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner 1
of performing the same, we would state that we claim,-
First. The manufacture of explosive compounds by the process
substantially as herein described, the waste acid resulting from the
process of forming gun cotton being utilized to produce nitrate of
cotton.
baryta or other nitrate to be mixed with the
gun
Second. The combination of nitrate of baryta with the gun cotton,
substantially as herein described.
1
Third. The manufacture of blasting charges for mining and other
purposes, substantially as herein described, the case having a tube A
passing centrally into it at one end to receive the fuse, and the case 2
being filled from the opposite end.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Joseph Mackie and Camille
Alphonse Fauré, have hercunto set our hands and seals, this
Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
cight hundred and seventy-five.
2