IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS TO IMPART SAFETY PROVISIONAL SPATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts, of Titusville,
Pennsylvania, United States of America, at present of 34, South-
ampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS TO IMPART SAFETY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Augustus
Leonard Roberts at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 14th March 1873.
I, EDWARD AUGUSTUS LEONARD ROBERTS, of Titusville, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, at present of 34, Southampton Buildings, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS TO IMPART
SAFETY THERETO FOR BLASTING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
There are two principal classes of explosive compounds, one igniting
on application of heat, such as gunpowder; the other upon the sudden

page_text: :
agitation of its particles, as by a blow, such as fulminating gold,
fulminating silver, fulminating mercury, compounds of chlorate of
potash and tannin, besides many other mixtures and compounds. In
the dry state these latter substances are very dangerous, but according
to my improvements they can be rendered comparatively safe to handle
by mixing them with water or other fluids or hygroscopic and other
salts, or materials which attract or absorb and retain water or other
fluids, some of which can by their decomposition assist the chemical
change, and thus enhance the effects of the explosion when the com-
pounds are exploded. The fluids thus introduced require much heat
to volatilize them and absorb heat in their volatilization, they in con-
sequence protect the otherwise dangerous explosives and render it a
matter of difficulty to explode them, whereas under ordinary circum-
stances these compounds explode most easily by friction or percussion ;
they will not do so when prepared and treated in the manner and after
the mode herein specified in accordance with my Invention.
In making one of these preparations I grind the following ingredients
to fine powder, each separately, and then well mix one part of ferro-
cyanide of potassium and one part of lump sugar, then take two parts
of chlorate of potash and grind this separately to fine powder, then add
from 15 to 25 per cent. of water or thereabouts, and well mix the water
with the chlorate of potash powder so as to make a thin paste, which
paste is to be well incorporated with the mixture of ferrocyanide of
potassium and sugar so as to form a homogeneous mixture or paste.
In this manner all risk of danger is rendered most remote, and large
quantities of such hitherto dangerous materials may be manipulated
with the greatest safety. Compared with liquid nitro-glycerine it will
represent bulk for bulk nearly if not more gaseous volume.
Nitro-glycerine is notoriously uncertain and dangerous, easily exploded
on percussion or even on agitation, but this improved mixture can
hardly be exploded by ordinary percussion or friction, or even by firing
a bullet into it, or by striking it the heaviest blow with a sledge
hammer on an anvil, yet it can be readily and certainly fired by
detonating a small quantity of the mixed materials in a dry condition
on the top of a wet cartridge of the powders, or by using a small case
of the dry powder as a detonating charge.

page_text: Nitro-glycerine or other fulminates may be used in place of the dry
powder for a similar purpose.
These improved explosive compounds treated according to my In-
vention, especially those mixed or combined with water, are rendered
so completely harmless that they may be stored for any length of
time without any decomposition occurring that would give rise to
dangerous results. In this manner and according to the way above
specified I can deal with many mixtures well known as of a fulminating
and dangerous character, such as carbozotates, white gunpowder, mixtures
of chlorate of potash, chlorates, per-chlorates, or nitrates with sulphur,
sulphides, cyanides, ferrocyanides, ferricyanides, and suitable compounds
of carbon or carbon itself, and mixtures of sulphur and its compounds
with chlorate of potash, and render them not only safe to handle but
comparatively harmless until placed in the precise circumstances needed
for their explosion; I also thus render them more safe for stowage. In
consequence of these mixtures being semi-fluid they easily fill the shell,
cases, or cartridges of whatever form in which they are placed, and
render them when sealed capable of resisting any uniform pressure from
without as when they are lowered to a considerable depth below the
surface of water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
AUGUSTUS LEONARD ROBERTS, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, United States
of America, at present of 34, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts,
Her special license that I, the said Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts,

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING Ex-
PLOSIVE COMPOUNDS TO IMPART SAFETY THERETO FOR BLASTING AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward
Augustus Leonard Roberts, 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 Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts,
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 has for its object improved means of rendering
fulminating powders and all fulminates that are dangerous to handle
in a dry state comparatively safe and useful for blasting and other
purposes by mixing them and using them mixed or combined with
water or some other suitable fluid or materials, such as hygroscopic 2
salts, in such proportions as shall render them non-explosive by ordinary
agitation, friction, or by a blow or concussion, but yet leave them
sufficiently explosive to be capable of being fired by any detonating
or fulminating compound, or by some of the same material in a dry
state.
Explosive compounds treated in accordance with this Invention may
be packed or enclosed in air-tight envelopes of any suitable shape and
material or construction, so as to preserve them unchanged. The
mixing of explosive compounds with fluids in this manner renders
them more dense, thus allowing a greater amount to be held in a 3
given space.

page_text: There are two principal classes of explosive compounds, one igniting
on application of heat or a spark, such as gunpowder; the other
igniting upon the sudden agitation of its particles, as by a blow,
such as fulminating gold, fulminating silver, fulminating mercury,
compounds of chlorate of potash and tannin, besides many other
mixtures and compounds. In the dry state these latter substances
are very dangerous, but according to my improvements they can be
rendered comparatively safe to handle by mixing them with water
or other fluids, or hygroscopic and other salts or materials which
attract or absorb and retain water or other fluids, some of which can
by their decomposition assist the chemical change, and thus enhance
the effects of the explosion when the compounds are exploded. The
fluids thus introduced require much heat to volatilize them and absorb
heat in their volatilization, they in consequence protect the otherwise
dangerous explosives and render it a matter of difficulty to explode
them, whereas under ordinary circumstances these compounds explode
most easily by friction or percussion; they will not do so when prepared
and treated in the manner and after the mode herein specified in accor-
dance with my Invention.
In making one of these preparations I grind the following ingredients
to fine powder, each separately, and then well mix one part of ferro-
cyanide of potassium and one part of lump sugar, then take two parts
of chlorate of potash and grind this separately to fine powder, then
add from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. or thereabout, and well mix
the water with the chlorate of potash powder so as to make a thin
paste, which paste is to be well incorporated with the mixture of ferro-.
cyanide of potassium and sugar so as to form a homogeneous mixture
or paste. A small per-centage of glycerine or other fluid substances
which have an attraction for water may be mixed with the water, i.e.,
the water which is mixed with the explosive, in order to preserve it
from being dried by the atmosphere and other drying influences. In
this manner all risk of danger is rendered most remote, and large-
quantities of such hitherto dangerous materials may be manipulated
with the greatest safety. Compared with liquid nitro-glycerine it will
represent bulk for bulk nearly as much if not more gaseous volume.
Nitro-glycerine is notoriously uncertain and dangerous, easily exploded
on percussion or even on agitation, but this improved mixture can

page_text: hardly be exploded by ordinary percussion or friction, or even by firing
a bullet into it, or by striking it the heaviest blow with a sledge
hammer on an anvil, yet it can be readily and certainly fired by
detonating a small quantity of the mixed materials in a dry condition
on the top of a wet cartridge of the powders or paste, or by using a
small case of the dry powder as a detonating charge.
Nitro-glycerine or other fulminates may be used in place of the dry
powder for a similar purpose.
These improved explosive compounds treated according to my In-
vention, especially those mixed or combined with water, are rendered:
so completely harmless that they may be stored for any length of them.
without any decomposition occurring that would give rise to dangerous
results. In this manner and according to the way above specified I
can deal with many mixtures well known as of a fulminating and
dangerous character, such as carbozotates, white gunpowder, mixtures
of chlorate of potash, chlorates, per-chlorates, or nitrates, with sulphur,
sulphides, cyanides, ferrocyanides, ferricyanides, and suitable compounds
of carbon or carbon itself, and mixtures of sulphur and its compounds,
with chlorate of potash, and render them not only safe to handle but
comparatively harmless until placed in the precise circumstances needed
for their explosion; I also thus render them more safe for stowage. In
consequence of these mixtures being semi-fluid they easily fill the shell,
cases, or cartridges of whatever form in which they are placed, and
render them when sealed capable of resisting any uniform pressure from
without as when they are lowered to a considerable depth below the
surfaces of water.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing or carrying the same into practice, what I claim is,-
First. The process herein described for treating explosive compounds
and compositions to render them comparatively safe by combining them
with water or other liquid, or with a hygrometric salt so as to form a
paste, as and for the purpose herein-before specified.
Second. The method herein-before described for exploding moist or
wet compounds such as herein-before described, by igniting near them
or in contact therewith a fulminating or detonating material, as herein
described.

page_text: Third. The combination in the same charge of moist or wet explosive
compounds such as herein described, with dry powder capable of being
exploded by a spark or with a percussion powder, substantially as herein-
before described.
Fourth. The preparation and treatment of explosive compounds sub-
stantially as herein described, by combining dry powders with water or
other liquid so as to render them safe in handling and in use, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Augustus Leonard Roberts,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three