IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MAXTRACTURE OR EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Joseph Mackie and Camille Alphonse
Faure, both of No. 3, Delahay Street, Great George Street, in the
City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MAXTRACTURE OR EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Joseph Mackie
and Camille Alphonse Faure at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th May 1873.
We, SAMUEL JOSEPH MACKIE and CAMILLE ALPHONSE FAURE, both
of No. 3, Delahay Street, Great George Street, in the Oity of West-
minster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," to be as
PROVEMENTS
follows:-
-
First. Gun cotton pulp alone or gun cotton pulp more or less mixed
with cotton fibres has been made into granules, sheets, discs, &c., and
gun cotton reduced to a powder by crushing has been made into

page_text: granules and scales, but in none of these manufactures has fibrous
cotton been hitherto made into these solid bodies.
According to this Invention gun cotton in a fibrous state as when
made from cotton waste or skeins, and without being previously reduced
to a pulp or to powder, is subjected to such a pressure that it will
assume permanently the form of the moulds; it is pressed in or will
be made into such solid form that it can be broken into lumps, or it
can be pressed between indented plates or rollers so as to form sheets,
offering the counterpart of such indentations, and which by being
broken up will divide according to the lines of least resistance, and
therefore form granules of premeditated size and forms.
This Invention will apply to any mixture or compound of gun cotton
in a fibrous condition and not reduced to a pulp or powder with any
other substance, such as nitre, sugar, and alkalies.
Second. Gun cotton reduced to an impalpable powder by being 1
crushed between rollers or otherwise, and more or less mixed with
some other materials has been caused to granulate by the natural
tendency of the material to do so, and by sifting; but when granules
are so made they are generally light and deficient in compactness, and
it is the second object of this Invention to give these granules the 2
requisite degree of compactness, and to that effect they are put in a
closed vessel with one movable side or piston, and subjected to an
energetic pressure; and in order to prevent them from sticking together
they may have the surface prepared with some powder, such as pipe
clay, or any other substance in powder. The substance on leaving the 2
compressing vessel will however assume the appearance of a solid mass,
but it will easily brake into granules if put into a corning machine, or
treated similarly, and the granules will have a tendency to separate
according to the outer surface of the former granules.
Third. The third object of this Invention is a new process of drying 3
gun cotton or other explosive of a solid nature, and consists in drying
in a current, or in contact of dessiccated atmosphere, and to this effect
the substance to be dried is put into bins upon shelves or trays, and
the dessiccated air or gas at the ordinary temperature, or more or less
heated, is introduced into the bins by pipes or channels, and by its 3
tendency to saturate itself with the vapours, either of water or of any

page_text: other volatile fluid with which the substance may be mixed, the air will
cause the substance to be dried.
The means of dessiccating the air or gas employed may be by passing
it through quicklime, chloride of calcium, or other matter or liquid
capable of retaining the moisture; or by first cooling the air and thus
condensing the saturating vapour, and afterwards restoring to it a
certain degree of heat when it will be comparatively dryer than before,
and capable of drying the gun cotton or other substance it may be put
in contact with.
The manufacture of gunpowder from finely crushed or divided gun
cotton, gun sawdust, gun starch, xylordin, pyroxylin, and other nitro-
genous products of cellulose linen, wood, &c., and incorporating or
mixing the same with rosin, shellac, ozokerit, collodion, glycerine,
charcoal, or soot, adding thereto nitre or saltpetre, as also the manu-
facture of mining charges of the same rendered plastic and water-
proofed by means of glycerine, ozokerit, and oleaginous fluids and
substances; also making gunpowder or mining charges by incorporating
or mixing together crushed or finely divided cotton, wood, linen, and
other fibrous substances with nitre or other oxidising substances, and
with or without nitrous, cellulose, or gun cotton. Fireworks and rockets
can be made of the same materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Joseph Mackic and Camille Alphonse
Faure in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 20th November
1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, SAMUEL
JOSEPH MACKIE and CAMILLE ALPHONSE FAURE, both of No. 3,
Delahay Street, Great George Street, in the City of Westminster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, 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 us, the said Samuel Joseph Mackie and Camille

page_text: Alphonse Faure, Her special license that we, the said Samuel Joseph
Mackie and Camille Alphonse Faure, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Joseph Mackie and
Camille Alphonse Faure, our 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE
COMPOUNDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Samuel Joseph Mackie and Camille Alphonse Faure, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of 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 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 Samuel Joseph Mackie, on behalf
of myself and the said Camille Alphonse Faure, 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 improvements in the manufacture of
explosive compounds.
1st. Gun cotton pulp alone or gun cotton pulp more or less mixed:
with cotton fibres has been made into granules, sheets, discs, &c., and
gun cotton reduced to a powder by crushing has been made into
granules and scales, but in none of these manufactures has fibrous
cotton been hitherto made into these solid bodies,
According to this Invention gun cotton in a fibrous state, as when
made from cotton waste or skeins, and without being previously reduced
to a pulp or to powder, is subjected to such a pressure that it will
assume permanently the form of the moulds it is pressed in, or will
be made into such solid form that it can be broken into lumps.
In carrying out this part of our Invention we prefer that the cotton
waste or skeins, or cotton fibre in such like fibrous condition should
first be carded on a carding engine to form it into a bat or fleece, and

page_text: should then be manufactured into gun cotton in the ordinary manner.
The gun cotton thus prepared we then either pass between powerful
pressing rollers to compress it into cakes or scales, or with a powerful
hydraulic or other press we compress the fibrous gun cotton between
indented plates to compress it into sheets, offering the counterpart of
such indentations, and which by being broken up will divido according
to the lines of least resistance, and therefore form granules of pre-
meditated size and forms.
This Invention will apply to any mixture or compound of gun cotton
in a fibrous condition, and not reduced into a pulp or powder with any
other substance, such as nitre, sugar, and alkalies. By thus taking gun
cotton in a fibrous state and at once compressing it into cakes or
granules we are enabled to manufacture cakes or granules of compressed
gun cotton at a much less cost than heretofore, and we claim as respects
this part of our Invention the manufacture of gun cotton in a fibrous
state either alone or mixed with other substances into cakes or granules,
substantially in the manner herein described.
Second. Gun cotton reduced to an impalpable powder by being
crushed between rollers, or otherwise, and more or less mixed with
some other materials has been caused to granulate by the natural
tendency of the material to do so, and by sifting; but when granules
are so made they are generally light and deficient in compactness, and
it is the main object of this Invention to give these granules the
requisite degree of compactness, and to that effect they are put in a
closed vessel with a movable rod or piston and subjected to an energetic
pressure, and in order to prevent them from sticking together they may
have their surface prepared with some powder, such as pipe clay, or any
other substance in powder. We prefer to employ for the purpose finely
divided pipe clay, and this should be intimately mixed with the granules
so that they may all be thinly coated with it before they are placed
into the compressing vessel, and subjected to pressure therein. The
substance on leaving the compressing vessel will however assume the
appearance of a solid lump, but will easily break up into granules
if put into a corning machine, or treated similarly, and the granules
will have a tendancy to separate according to the outer surface of the
former granules.

page_text: closed vessel, substantially as herein described, to give them the requisite
density or compactness.
3rd. The third object of the Invention is a new process of drying
gun cotton or other explosives of a solid nature, and consists in drying
in a current of or in contact with a desiccated atmosphere, and to this
effect the substance to be dried is put into bins upon shelves or trays,
and the desiccated air or gas at the ordinary temperature, or more or
less heated, is introduced into the bins by pipes or channels, and by its
tendency to saturate itself with the vapours, either of water, or of any
other volatile fluid with which the substance may be mixed, the air will
cause the substance to be dried.
The means of desiccating the air or gas employed may be by passing
it through quicklime, chloride of calcium, or other matter or liquid
capable of retaining the moisture, or by first cooling the air and thus
condensing the saturating vapour, and afterwards restoring to it a
certain degree of heat, when it will be comparatively dryer than before,
and capable of drying the gun cotton or other substance it may be put
in contact with.
The manner in which we prefer to carry out this part of our In-
vention, if chloride of calcium or such like absorbent of moisture be
used for drying, a stream of air, which is afterwards to be brought
into contact with the gun cotton or other solid explosive compound;
for the purpose of drying it, we place the chloride of calcium into
a chamber in which are partitions so placed that a stream of air
introduced at one end of the chamber shall be caused to travel in a
zig-zag course through it before passing away from the opposite end,
and at the bottom of the chamber are trapped outlets by which all
liquid may pass away as quickly as it is formed. The air thus dried
is then caused to enter a chamber in which is a coil of steam pipe,
and is thereby slightly heated, and from thence it is conducted into
a horizontal flue or channel, over the top of which are placed trays
with perforated bottoms upon which the gun cotton or other solid
explosive is laid, and the dried air rising up through such perforated
bottoms quickly carries off all moisture from the gun cotton or solid
explosive, or the dried air may be caused to travel through a chamber
in which are shelves for trays carrying the solid explosive compounds
to be placed on. When thus drying gun cotton we prefer that the air
should not be heated above 100° Fahrenheit.

page_text: We claim as respects this part of our Invention the drying of gun
cotton or other solid explosive compounds by the means substantially
as above described.
The fourth part of our Invention consists in the manufacture of
gunpowder from finely crushed or divided gun cotton, gun sawdust,
gun starch, xyloidin, pyroxylin, and other nitrogenous products of
cellulose linen, wood, or such like, by incorporating or mixing the same
with rosin, shell lac, ozokerit, collodion, glycerine, charcoal, or soot, and
adding thereto nitre or saltpetre. For example, a gunpowder suitable
for blasting purposes may be produced by combining from 5 to 10
parts of gun cotton with 2 parts of rosin and 1 part of saltpetre to
produce a gunpowder suitable for use; where more rapid explosion
is required less rosin would be used. If glycerine or ozokerit be used
in the manufacture an explosive compound of a plastic nature will
be obtained specially suitable for use for mining charges; or mining
charges of a plastic nature may be obtained by incorporating oleagenous
fluids or substances with the other ingredients.
We also according to our Invention manufacture a gunpowder
suitable for mining charges by incorporating or mixing together crushed
or finely divided cotton, wood, linen, and other fibrous substances with
nitre or other oxidizing substance in proper combining proportions, and
with or without nitrated cellulose or gun cotton.
We claim as respects this part of our Invention the manufacture of
explosive compounds by incorporating or mixing gun cotton or analo-
gous explosive compounds with rosin, shellac, ozokerit, collodion,
glycerine, charcoal, or soot, and with nitre or saltpetre.
Also, the manufacture of explosive compounds from crushed or finely
divided cotton, wood, linen, or other such like fibrous substances, sub-
stantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Joseph Mackie, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
S. MACKIE. (L.S.)