AN IMPROVEMENT FOR PREVENTING PREMATURE EXPLOSIONS IN EXPLOSIVE COM- POUNDS CONTAINING CHLORATE OF POTASH AS A BASE, AND FOR INCREASING THE EXPLOSIVE EFFECT OF SUCH COMPOUNDS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Pattison, of Nevada City, in the County of Nevada,
State of California, in the United States of America, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT FOR PREVENTING PREMATURE EXPLOSIONS IN EXPLOSIVE COM-
POUNDS CONTAINING CHLORATE OF POTASH AS A BASE, AND FOR INCREASING
THE EXPLOSIVE EFFECT OF SUCH COMPOUNDS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Pattison at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th February 1880.
JOHN PATTISON, of Nevada City, in the County of Nevada, State of California,
in the United States of America. "AN IMPROVEMENT FOR PREVENTING PREMATURE
EXPLOSIONS IN EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS CONTAINING CHLORATE OF POTASH AS A
BASE, AND FOR INCREASING THE EXPLOSIVE EFFECT OF SUCH COMPOUNDS."
My Invention has reference to that class of explosive compounds in which
chlorate of potash forms the explosive base, and it consists in the addition thereto
or intermixture with such explosive compounds of a vegetable flour or meal,
which will neutralize the tendency of the chlorate of potash mixture to explode
prematurely or spontaneously, and will render it perfectly safe to handle, and at
the same time furnish a due proportion of gases when the mixture is exploded.
I have discovered that in this class of explosive compounds much of the tendency
to explode prematurely is due to the solidification or caking of the compound after
it is formed into cartridges; that as long as the cartridge or caked mixture
remains in this solid and unbroken condition there is no danger of premature or
accidental explosion; but if the cartridge or cake should become broken or
fractured, the friction of the fractured parts against one another would cause the
explosion. This fracturing of the cartridge and the rubbing together of the broken
parts occurs when the cartridge is being inserted in the hole, and it is at such time
that accidental explosions take place.
The object of my meal or flour is to prevent the solidfication or caking of the
mass, so that the mixture will remain in a granular condition like a powder, and

page_text: thus not only avoid the danger of premature explosion, but keep the particles in a
loose condition, also by which they will explode more readily and more effectively.
The meal or flour from which I have obtained the best results is made from
mustard-seed, or from flax-seed ground coarsely, and intermixed with the chlorato
of potash compound in sufficient quantity to prevent the compound from hardening.
The proportion of the meal or flour to be used will vary according to the nature of
the chlorate of potash mixture to which it may be added, but the proper or sufficient
quantity will soon be learned by the person mixing it. Any vegetable flour or
meal possessing either in a greater or a less degree the qualities of those above
referred to can be used, but I prefer the meal made from flax-seed or from mustard
seed.
The addition of this meal or flour to chlorate of potash compounds serves to
retard the usual tendency of the compound to explode quickly, so that a larger pro-
portion of gases is generated, and the explosive effect is more extended and effectual,
especially in loose material such as gravel and earthly material of like character.
The gases arising from the burning of this powder or compound are neither
nnpleasant nor unhealthy.
Having thus described my Invention what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,―
The combination with an explosive compound having for its base chlorate of
potash of an oleaginous flour or meal to prevent premature and spontaneous
explosion, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth
day of January, A.D. One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
In presence of
JOHN L. BOONE,
EDWARD E. OSBORN.
JOHN PATTISON. (L.S.)