IM. PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE AND USE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Clark, of No. 9, Northumberland Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE AND USE."
Sealed the 9th October 1868, and dated the 11th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th April 1868.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of No. 9, Northumberland Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF
EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE AND USE,"
to be as follows:-
1. The main object of my Invention is the production of a granulated
explosive compound or gunpowder, of which the basis is vegetable
fibre in the form of grains or particles of the shape and size suitable
for the purposes to which this gunpowder is to be applied. Some of
Prices

page_text: An
to stand the pressure of at least 5 atmospheres, and fitted with a
man-hole at the top, and an outflow tap with a sieve or cullender
over it at the bottom, and are then submitted to the action of high-
pressure steam the necessary time to soften the wood, dissolve the
soluble substances contained in it, and thoroughly open the pores or
cells, which being effected, the steam is condensed, and the water of
condensation with the solluble substances extracted from the wood, is
drawn off from the vessel by opening the outflow tap at the bottom.
If necessary, this operation is repeated again or many times.
alkaline or accidulated solution (if requisite to complete the purification
of the fibre) is injected into the vessel, and kept boiling for at least an
hour, and then run off through the tap. Streams of boiling and cold
water alternately are then run through the mass of grains. For the
purpose of decoloration I make use of animal charcoal. The processes
of cleansing and purifying the wood grains being completed the contents
of the vessel are run off into a vat having a cullender at the bottom
or at the end, and the grains are thus separated from the liquid. The
wood grains are then washed by running hot and cold water through
them in a long trough divided into compartments by canvass or wire
partitions with a cullender or sieve end, and afterwards drained and
dried.
5. Inside the steaming and purifying vessel above described is fitted
a shaft with arms, to which a rotary motion is imparted for the purpose
of stirring the grains in the vessel whilst they are undergoing the
cleansing and purifying process above described.
6. For this method of treatment of vegetable fibre I consider all
plants of the nature of cane or bamboo are especially adapted; and to
convert them into grains I subject them to similar treatment to that
above described for the wood of trees or shrubs. By splitting cane or
bamboo longitudinally into filaments, and cutting them into short pieces
in a machine on the principle of a chaff cutter, grains of any suitable
size may thus be readily formed.
7. When textile plants, such as cotton, hemp, flax, formium tenax,
cocoa-nut fibre, or other like plants form the basis of the compound
I cleanse the material thoroughly from foreign substances and impurities
by submitting it to the action of steam in a close vessel, and by boiling
in a solution of alkalis or acids as each case may require. I then
reduce the fibre to pulp after the manner and by any of the methods

page_text: or processes employed in paper-making. If I wish to form this vegetable
pulp into grains before converting it into pyroxyline I employ two
methods.
8. One is to manufacture the pulp into sheets or boards of the
required thickness by pressure, or the ordinary mode of making card-
board; then to puncture these cards or boards with small holes in close
proximity; and, lastly, by stamping or otherwise to cut the sheets or
card boards into small equi-formed grains or particles.
9. The other method of converting the pulp into grains is to make
use of a frame similar to that for making paper by hand, having a
metallic bottom perforated with small holes and closed underneath with
a sheet of fine wire, so that by dipping this frame into the pulp it will
take up a sufficient quantity of the pulp to fill the small holes in the
metallic bottom. The water will run off, and the pulp will set in the
holes, and when partially dry may be turned out in the forms of grains.
The paper grains in whichever way produced are then immersed in
sulphuric acid, and dried, by which process they will become hardened
and retain their form.
10. In the production of grains or particles of wood, cane, bamboo,
or vegetable pulp before converting them into pyroxyline especial care
is to be taken to render each quantity or parcel submitted to the
chemical processes herein-after described uniform in density and in
specific gravity in order to obtain uniformity of explosive force in pro-
portion to bulk and weight the exact uniformity of strength, weight,
and bulk relatively to each other being indispensable to obtain perfect
regularity in the use and action of the explosive compound, and an
essential condition to its commercial success. To obtain this uniformity
I attest the specific gravity of the grains by weighing the contents of
a standard measure containing about 50 or 100 lbs. at a time, and
having ascertained the weight of each lot or quantity so weighed I mix
different lots, and bring all to an average weight, and I carefully adapt
the chemical substances employed to this average standard weight, thus
insuring the above-mentioned triple uniformity.
11. The grains of vegetable fibre, whether of wood, canc, or textile
plants, being formed and prepared as above described, are immersed in a
solution of alum or tannin, in which they are well stirred, and then taken
out and dried. This operation may in some cases be dispensed with,

page_text: 12. The next process is to convert the grains of vegetable fibre into
pyroxyline by treating them, as in the manufacture of gun cotton, with
a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids of the specific gravities and in
the proportions required according to the well-known process for that
purpose. After being drained from the excess of acids and washed in
cold water, the grains in the state of pyroxyline are steeped in a solution
of alum, or boiled in a solution of potash, and after being well drained
and dried are immersed in a solution of nitrate of potash or soda alone
or combined with from 5 to 10 per cent., more or less, of caustic
alkali or alum; this is the last process to convert the grains into an
explosive compound. They are drained in a sieve or cullender from
the excess of the solution of nitrate, and spread out on frames with
wire or canvass bottoms, and dried in a stove room at a temperature of
150° to 200° Fahrenheit. As a final process they may be coated with
collodium.
2ND. THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE FIBRE INTO GRAINS AFTER
IT IS CONVERTED INTO PYROXYLINE.
13. The vegetable fibre, whatever may be its nature, whether obtained
from the wood of trees and shrubs, cane and bamboo, or textile or
other plants is, by any process which may be most convenient,
reduced into powder or a finely comminuted state by grinding or
pounding. Wood sawdust, or shavings, and textile or other plants in
the state of dried pulp or fabrics may be made available. The vegetable
fibre from whatever source or in whatever form obtained, whether
paper cloth or otherwise, is to be subjected to the same treatment
as that described under the 1st head for the purpose of cleansing and
separating from foreign substances. Wood converted into grains and
after undergoing such cleansing and purifying processes is to be
converted into pyroxyline in the usual manner before referred to,
care being taken to stir the vegetable powder or pulp constantly
during the time of its immersion in the acids, so that every particle
may be completely and uniformly saturated by them.
14. The pyroxylinised vegetable fibre if not in sufficiently small par-
ticles may be further reduced by rubbing or grinding in a damp or dry
state. It is then mixed with nitrate of potash or of soda and gum,
starch, dextrine, sugar, or other soluble substances in which carbon
and sulphur, both or either, are chemically combined, that is, one
of those substances or some of them combined in proportions

page_text: regulated by the chemical equivalents of the materials so mixed
together. I find he following mixture and proportions produce good
results, namely, 100 parts of vegetable fibre in the state of pyroxyline
40 to 50 parts of nitrate of potash, and 10 to 15 parts of starch. But
I do not limit myself to these materials or these proportions as cach
of them requires to be varied according to the kind and strength of
the gunpowder intended to be produced. The mixture of the materials
is effected by making the starch or other soluble carboniferous substance
used into a mucillage, and by adding a sufficient quantity of water
to dissolve the salts and saturate the pyroxyline so that the whole
may by stirring and kneading the mass be made into a thick paste.
This mixing process requires great care in order that the materials may
be intimately and equally blended throughout the whole mass.
On the perfection of this mixing process the quality and uniformity
of the explosive compound greatly depend. It may be materially
facilitated and improved by heat communicated by the admission of
steam into the mass during the mixing process or by a steam jacket
to the mixing vessel. Edge rollers may be used to complete
the mixing process.
15. The mixed paste is then brought to the requisite consistency
by evaporation at a moderate temperature and made into cakes which
being in a slightly moist condition are brought to the proper density
by compression and finally submitted to a granulating or corning process
similar to that employed in the manufacture of ordinary black gun-
powder. To complete the manufacture of this pyroxyline gunpowder
the grains after being dried at a temperature of 150° to 200° Fahrenheit
may be varnished with collodium or a solution of zyloidin.
16. Compression of the grains or particles (prepared by the 1st
method,) to the right degree by weight being an essential principle
in using my gunpowder to develope its explosive force, I have invented
an apparatus for loading and compressing charges of powder in cart-
ridges, of which the following is a description:-I construct a scale
beam having a tablet or plate at one end, and an arm like a steel
yard at the other end, the latter being of such length that a weight
at its extremity shall be increased at least 10 times in its action
on the plate or tablet. In using this apparatus the case or shell
containing the charge of powder is placed on the plate and the
force intended to be applied for compression is regulated by

page_text: suspending on the arm the required weight, which being done, the
pressure of a loading stick on the charge in the case till the plate
descends and gives the exact degree (determined by weight) of com-
pression required.
17. For the facility of carriage of the weight of this apparatus I
construct a box or bag to hold 10 to 20 lbs. of shot or bullets, which
being placed in the box or bag form the counterpoise to regulate
the resistance of the plate end of the beam.
18. Accuracy of charges by weight being an essential condition of
regularity in the use of the compound, I have contrived an apparatus
which will serve as a charger and give the exact weight. It consists
of a cylindrical charger having a lip or spout with a hook or an eye
by which to suspend it to the plate, or it may stand on the plate of
a scale (similar to a letter balance) regulated by a spiral spring.
The charge is placed under a funnel through which it is to be filled
with a proper charge by weight as regulated by the index of the
balance.
19. Having described the mode of forming pyroxylinised vegetable
fibre mixed with other substances into grains, I wish it to be under-
stood that the production of an explosive compound by the mixture
and combination of pyroxyline with such other substances as above
mentioned and described is an essential part of my Invention
independently of the mode of granulation referred to, but I do not
consider such granulating process to be part of my Invention.

page_text: thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said George Clark, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Clark, 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, usc, 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 AND PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE AND USE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Clark, 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
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said George Clark, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Clark, 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, usc, 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 AND PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE AND USE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Clark, 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 Georgo Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
1st. The main object of my Invention is the production of an
explosive compound or gunpowder, of which the basis is vegetable fibre
converted into pyroxyline and mixed with other substances herein-after
mentioned, of which the chemical constituents are nitrogen, carbon,
oxygen, and hydrogen, with or without sulphur or lime, these various
substances being combined with each other and with pyroxyline in
the manner and by means of the processes and mechanical contrivances
herein-after described. Some of the processes and applications of sub-
stances for the manufacture of explosive compounds mentioned or
referred to in the following description are well known and form no
part of my Invention, which consists partly in the use of substances
not hitherto employed, or in new combinations of substances suitable
for the manufacture of explosive compounds, partly in improvements
in or additions to processes already known and employed in such manu-
facture and partly in improved apparatus and mechanical contrivances
for carrying the said processes into effect.

page_text: 2nd. For the purposes of my said Invention I obtain vegetable fibre
from three distinct sources, or more properly speaking, in three different
forms, namely, 1st, wood of trees or shrubs; 2nd, canes and bamboos;
3rd, textile plants and products, and I convert the vegetable fibre
obtained in these different forms into pyroxyline by the method well
known and herein-after more particularly referred to, of making gun
cotton.
3rd. To produce the compound which is the object of my Invention
in the form of grains I employ two different methods, by one of which
the grains are formed before and by the other after the conversion of
the vegetable fibre into pyroxyline.
To render my description of the formation of vegetable fibre into
grains clear, I arrange it under the heads of those two methods:-
16T. THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE FIBRE INTO GRAINS BEFORE
CONVERTING IT INTO PYROXYLINE.
4th. Any kind of tree or shrub may be used, but I especially make
use of dogwood as being more homogeneous in fibrous and cellular
structure and specific gravity and more free from acids and resins than
other woods. I also use fir, willow, poplar, and horse chesnut, and
prefer the lighter and softer woods, which being more absorbent and
compressible than hard woods, are better adapted for the production of
an explosive compound from wood in the granular form, as particles
of such woods in proportion to their weight take up a larger quantity
of the chemical constituents with which they are combined as hercin-
after mentioned, and being more elastic and yielding, are compressible
into a smaller space, and consequently give greater explosive force with
a given weight or volume.
5th. Whatever the wood of trees or shrubs employed it is submitted
in the log or in pieces of convenient size to the action of steam in a
boiler and then converted into grains in any convenient or suitable way,
the method of such conversion forming no part of my Invention.
6th. The wood grains are placed in an iron or copper vessel capable
of containing five hundred or one thousand pounds of grains. more
or less, and of suflicient strength to stand the pressure of at least
five atmospheres, and fitted with a man-hole at the top to charge the
yessel, and an outflow tap with a sieve or cullender over the tap at

page_text: the bottom. The grains of wood are then (in this vessel of which
the man-hole is secured steam-tight) submitted to the action of high
pressure steam the necessary time to soften the wood, dissolve the
soluble substances contained in it, and thoroughly open its pores or
cells. These results being effected, the steam is condensed and the
water of condensation with the soluble substances extracted from the
wood is drawn off from the vessel by opening the outflow tap at the
bottom, the before-mentioned cullender or sieve being so placed and
fitted near the bottom of the vessel above the outflow that the wood
grains cannot run out of the vessel with the liquid. If necessary this
operation is repeated again or many times. An alkaline or accidulated
solution if requisite to complete the cleansing and purification of the
fibre) is injected into the vessel through a pipe fitted with a tap for
that purpose and kept boiling for at least an hour, and is then run
off through the outflow tap. Streams of hot and cold water alternately
are then run through the mass of grains in the said vessel. For the
purpose of decoloration I make use of animal charcoal. The process
of cleansing and purifying the wood grains being completed the con-
tents of the vessel are run off with water through a discharge tap
fixed in the vessel above the sieve or cullendar into a vat having a
sieve or cullender at its bottom, or side, or end, and the grains are thus
separated from the liquid. The wood grains are then washed by passing
hot and cold water through them alternately in a long trough divided
into compartments by canvass or wire gauze partitions with a cullender
or sieve end and the grains are afterwards drained and dried ready for
the next process.
7th. Inside the steaming and purifying vessel above described is
fitted a shaft with arms to which a rotary motion is imparted for the
purpose of stirring and agitating the grains in the vessel whilst they are
undergoing the cleansing and purifying processes above described.
8th. For the formation of grains of vegetable fibre under this head
I consider plants of the nature of cane or bamboo are especially adapted.
To convert those plants into grains I split the cane or bamboo longi-
tudinally into slips or filaments, and cut them into short pieces of the
required length in a machine on the principle of a chaff cutter, whereby
grains of any suitable size may be readily produced, and I subject these
grains to cleansing and purifying treatment similar to that above
described for the wood of trees or shrubs.

page_text: 9th. When cotton, hemp, flax, fornium tenax, cocoa-nut fibre, or
other textile plants or products form the basis of the compound 1 cleanse
and purify the vegetable fibre thoroughly from foreign substances and
impurities by submitting it in a closed vessel in the manner above
described to the action of steam and hot and cold water, and by boiling
it in solutions of alkalis or acids as cach case may require, I then reduce
the fibre to pulp after the manner and by any of the methods or pro-
cesses employed to make pulp for paper-making.
10th. If I wish to form vegetable pulp into grains before converting
it into pyroxyline 1 employ two methods, one is to manufacture the
pulp into sheets or boards of the required thickness by pressure or by
the ordinary mode of making cardboard, then to puncture these cards
or boards with small holes in close proximity, and lastly by stamping
or punching or otherwise, to cut the cards or boards into small équi-
formed grains.
11th. The other method of converting pulp into grains is to make
use of a frame similar to that used for making paper by hand having
a metallic or other bottom perforated with small holes and covered
underneath with a fine wire gauze. By dipping this frame into the
pulp it will take up a sufficient quantity of the pulp to fill the small
holes in the bottom of the frame. The water will run off through the
wire gauze and the pulp which will set in the holes when partially
dry may be turned out in the form of grains. The pulp grains in
whichever way produced are then immersed in diluted sulphuric acid
and dried, by which process they become hardened and retain their
form.
12th. In the production of grains or particles of wood, cane, bamboo,
or vegetable pulp, before converting them into pyroxyline, especial
care is to be taken to render each quantity or parcel submitted to the
chemical process herein-after described uniform in density and specific
gravity in order to obtain uniformity of explosive force in proportion
to bulk and weight, the exact uniformity of strength, weight, and
bulk relatively to each other being indespensible to obtain perfect
regularity in the use and action of my explosive compound and an
essential condition of its commercial success. To obtain this uniformity
I test the specific gravity of the grains by weighing the contents of
a standard measure containing about fifty or one hundred pounds of
such grains at a time, and having ascertained the weight of each lot

page_text: or quantity of grains so measured and weighed, I mix different lots
together and bring all so mixed to one average standard weight, and
I carefully adapt the quantity and strength of the chemical substances
employed to this standard weight, thus insuring the above mentioned
triple uniformity.
13th. The grains of vegetable fibre whether obtained from wood,
canc, or textile plants being formed and prepared as above described,
may be immersed in a week solution of alum or tanin, or of both, in the
proportions of two to five parts of one of them, or of both combined,
to one hundred parts of water. The grains are well stirred in this
solution and then taken out and dried. This operation is not indispen-
sible and may be dispensed with.
14th. The next operation is to convert the grains of vegetable fibre
into pyroxyline by the process employed in the manufacture of gun
cotton before mentioned, namely by treating the grains with a mixture
of nitric and sulphuric acids of the specific gravities and in the pro-
portions required and in the manner practised in the well known
methods of converting cotton into pyroxyline or gun cotton.
15th. After being separated from the excess of mixed acids by
draining and pressing or otherwise and by washings in cold water
according to the ordinary method of making gun cotton, the grains in
the state of pyroxyline may be steeped in a weak solution of nitrate of
soda, alum, lime, and carbonate of potash combined or of only one or
more of those substances in the proportion of about three parts of either
separately or any of them when combined to one hundred parts of the
grains by weight; or this steeping process may be dispensed with. After
being drained and well dried the grains are in a state to be converted
into an explosive compound by the process herein-after described in
paragraph 20.
2ND. THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE FIBRE INTO GRAINS, PARTICLES
OR PELLETS AFTER IT IS CONVERTED INTO PYROXYLINE.
16th. The vegetable fibre, whatever may be its nature, whether
obtained from wood of trees and shrubs, canc or bamboo, or textile or
other plants, is by any process which may be most convenient and
suitable reduced into powder, or a finely comminuted state, by cutting,
grinding, rasping, or pounding. Wood sawdust or shavings, or textile
plants in the state of pulp may be made available. The vegetable

page_text: fibre thus prepared is to be subjected to the same treatment as that
described under the 1st head for cleansing, purifying, and separating
from foreign substances wood or other vegetable fibre previously formed
into grains, and after undergoing such cleansing and purifying processes
the vegetable fibre referred to in this paragraph is to be converted into
pyroxyline by immersion in mixed nitric and sulphuric acids in the
manner before referred to as that employed for making gun cotton, care
being taken to stir the vegetable powder or pulp constantly during the
time of its immersion in the acids, so that every particle may be com-
pletely and uniformly saturated by them.
It
17th. The pyroxylinised vegetable fibre referred to in the last
paragraph being separated from the acids by draining, pressing, and
washing according to the plan pursued in the manufacture of gun
cotton and herein-before mentioned, if not in sufficiently small particles
may be further reduced by rubbing or grinding in a damp state.
is then dried or partially dried and mixed with nitrate of potash and
gum, starch, dextrine, sugar, or other soluble substance, or substances
of which carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, with or without sulphur or
lime, are the chemical constituents. that is to say, the pyroxyline is
mixed with nitrate of potash in combination with one, or two. or more
of the other soluble substances mentioned, and in proportions regulated
by the chemical equivalents, for the proportionate explosive properties
of nitrogen. carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen contained in the nitrate of
potash and the other substances so mixed together. I find the follow-
ing mixture and proportions produce good results, namely, one hundred
parts of vegetable fibre in the state of pyroxyline, forty to fifty parts
of nitrate of potash, and ten to fifteen parts of starch, or dextrine, or
sugar; but I do not. limit myself to that mixture of materials or those
proportions, as the materials employed and quantity of each of them
require to be varied according to the kind and strength of the gun-
powder intended to be produced. To these materials nitrate of soda.
or lime, or alum, or carbonate of potash, that is one or any two or more
of the last mentioned substances may be added in the proportions
mentioned in paragraph 15 only not in a weak solution but dissolved in
a small quantity of water.
18th. The mixture of the materials is effected by first adding
to the nitrate of potash and the other soluble substances mentioned a
sufficient quantity of water to make them into a mucillage or

page_text: thin paste of about the consistency of cream, and then mixing the
pyroxyline into this mucillage so that the whole may by stirring and
kneading the mass be mixed into a thick paste. This mixing process
requires great care in order that the materials may be imtimately and
equally blended throughout the whole mass. On the perfection of this
mixing process the quality and uniformity of the explosive compound
greatly depends. It may be materially facilitated and improved by
heat communicated during the mixing operation either by the admission
of steam into the mass or by a steam jacket to the mixing vessel. Edge
rollers may be used to complete the mixing process.
19th. The mixed paste is then brought to the requisite consistency
by evaporation and made into cakes, which being in a slightly moist
condition are by compression brought to the proper density for granu-
lation in a corning machine and finally submitted to a granulating or
corning process similar to that employed in the manufacture of ordinary
black gunpowder. To complete the manufacture of this pyroxyline
gunpowder the grains after being dried at a temperature of 150° to 200°
Fahrenheit may be varnished or glazed with some suitable material;
or the mixed materials mentioned being made into a paste as described
in the 17th paragraph may without pressure and without undergoing
the corning process be spread out in thin layers in trays and dried, and
when so dried used as gunpowder for all purposes to which black powder
is applied either in its rough state or in grains or dust obtained by sifting,
or it may be compressed into pellets.
20th. With reference to the grains of vegetable fibre formed in any
one of the modes described under the head of the 1st method for the
formation of vegetable fibre into grains (sec paragraphs 3 to 15 inclusive)
after they have been converted into pyroxyiine and deprived of excess
of acids by the process herein-before mentioned, I treat these grains
of pyroxyline in the same manner as that described in paragraphs 17
and 18 for the treatment of vegetable fibre pyroxylinised previous to
its granulation, but with this exception, that the materials are not to
be ground or formed into a paste, the object in case of granulation before
conversion into pyroxyline being to preserve the granulated form of
the vegetable fibre obtained by the different methods described in
paragraphs 3 to.15, that is to say, the said prepared grains having been
converted into pyroxyline and separated from any excess of acids in the
manner above described are mixed with nitrate of potash combined

page_text: with gum, starch, dextrine, sugar, or other soluble substance or
substances of which the chemical constituents are carbon, oxygen,
and hydrogen, the said materials or any of them so mixed being formed
by the addition of water into a mucillage or thin paste of about the
consistency of cream, and all the materials mentioned are well blended
together by stirring, kneading, and mixing until they become one
homogeneous compound mass in a damp state. This compound is then
partially dried on metallic plates or otherwise at a temperature of 80°
to 100° Fahrenheit, being frequently stirred to prevent adhesion of the
grains to each other, and afterwards completely dried at a temperature
of about 150° Fahrenheit by being placed inside revolving cylinders
of iron or copper heated to the required degree, or with hot air passing
through the cylinders in order that by continued motion during the
process of final dissication the grains may be separated from and not
adhere to each other; or any other mode of drying which insures the
separation of the grains from each other may be adopted. Being thus
completed in a dry state the grains will be smooth and glazed, so as
to run freely like grains of black powder, and will form in this state
as well as that resulting from the processes described in paragraphs 17
and 18 an efficient explosive compound of greater strength than black
powder and suitable for all purposes to which the latter is applied. with
the advantages of leaving little or no residium and giving much less
smoke and recoil when fired from a gun or in blasting.
21st. Compression or ramming the grains or particles of my gun-
powder prepared by the 1st or 2nd granulating method to the right
degree by weight for loading cartridges being an essential condition
to develope its explosive force in use I have invented an apparatus
for loading and compressing charges of powder in cartridges, of which
the following is a description:-I construct a scale beam having a
tablet or plate at one end and an arm forming a steel yard at the other
end, the latter being of such length that a weight at its extremity shall
be increased at least ten times in its action on the plate or tablet.
In using this apparatus the case or shell containing the charge of powder
is placed on the plate and the force intended to be applied for com-
pression is regulated by suspending on the steel yard arm the required
weight, which being done the pressure of a loading stick on the charge
in the case till the plate descends gives the exact degree of compres-
sion required. This machine may be made to load one cartridge or a
number of cartridges at a time.

page_text: 22nd. For the facility of carriage of the weight required for this com-
pressing apparatus I construct a box or bag to hold ten to twenty
pounds more or less of shot or bullets, which being placed in the box
or bag form the weight or counterpoise to regulate the resistance of the
plate and of the beam to the ramming force.
23rd. Accuracy of charges by weight being an essential condition of
regularity in the use of the compound which is the object of my
Invention I have contrived an apparatus which will serve as a charger
and give the exact weight of the charge. It consists of a cylindrical
charger having a lip or spout with a hook or an eye by which to suspend
it to the plate of a scale (similar to a letter balance supported on a
column and a spiral spring), or such charger may stand on the said
scale plate and be placed under a funnel, through which it is to be filled
with the proper charge by weight as regulated by the index of the
balance.
24th. Having described the mode of manufacturing gunpowder by
mixing pyroxylinised vegetable fibre with other substances and pro-
ducing it in a granulated form I wish it to be understood that the
production of an explosive compound by the mixture and combination
of pyroxyline with such other substances as above mentioned, and
described in paragraphs 17, 18, 20, and in a state susceptible of being
granulated like black gunpowder is an essential part of my Invention
independently of the mode of granulation referred to in paragraph 19,
but I do not consider such granulating process after the compound is
produced in an explosive state by the processes described in paragraphs
17 and 18 to be part of my Invention.
25th. Some of the details of processes or operations and of quantities
and application of materials employed to carry out my Invention as
given in this the Complete Specification of my said Invention differ
from some of those in the Provisional Specification of my said Invention.
In all cases where such difference exists (none of which affect the
principle of my Invention) I wish it to be understood that the des-
cription hercin contained of such processes or operations and of the
quantities and application of the materials referred to are to be taken
as correct.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be carried into effect, I have to explain that in order
to render clear and intelligible the description of the processes and

page_text: operations of my Invention, and of the use and application of the
substances therein employed, I have found it necessary to mention
or refer to processes and operations and the use and application of
materials which have been previously practised or used and known,
and I wish it to be understood that I disclaim all right of Invention
to or in any of the last-mentioned processes, operations, or applications
of materials, or which are not comprised in the claims herein-after
mentioned; but what I do claim is,-
1st. Cleansing and purifying vegotable fibre in powder, particles,
or pulp, and extracting and separating therefrom foreign substances by
treating such grains, powder, particles, or pulp with high-pressure
steam, solutions of alkales, and acids, and animal charcoal, that is, with
all or any of them, in a close steam-tight vessel, as described in para-
graphs 6 and 7.
2nd. The construction in the manner described in paragraphs 6 and 7
of a steam-tight vessel and the apparatus connected therewith for
cleansing and purifying vegetable fibre in grains, powder, particles, or
pulp in the manner above mentioned in claim No. 1.
3rd. The use of cane or bamboo and the formation of those plants into
grains in the manner described in paragraph S.
4th. The formation of vegetable pulp into grains by the use of a frame
having a bottom of metal or other material with holes-in it, such holes
being closed with wire cloth or gauze underneath, and the construction
of the said frame as described in paragraph 11.
5th. Obtaining uniformity of weight and bulk of grains or particles
of wood and other vegetable fibre by ascertaining the weight of given
measured quantities of such grains or particles, and mixing those
quantities together so as to bring the mixture to an average standard
of weight in proportion to bulk in the manner described in para-
graph 12.
6th. The mode of producing an explosive compound by mixing
pyroxylinised vegetable fibre in grains, powder, or a comminuted state
with nitrate of potash and soluble substances containing carbon, oxygen,
and hydrogen, with or without sulphur or lime, in chemical combination
as mentioned and in the manner described in paragraphs 17, 18, 20.
7th. The apparatus for compressing gunpowder charges by weight on
the plan described in paragraphs 21, 22,

page_text: 8th. The apparatus for weighing measured charges of gunpowder, as
described in paragraph 23.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
GEO: CLARK: (L.S.)