A NEW MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No, 28, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "A NEW
MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS." A communication from abroad
by E. Sanlaville and Rodolphe Laligant, both of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th November 1880.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS."
[A communication from abroad by E. Sanlaville and Rodolphe Laligant, both of
Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to a new manufacture of explosive compounds, consisting
mainly of the combination of chlorates with cellulose or other analogous elastic or
porous bodies.
The chlorates generally (MO CIO³) are at present only employed in the
laboratory, or to a very limited extent for industrial purposes, in consequence
of the great facility with which they become decomposed in the presence of
certain bodies. These salts are preserved from the action of external agents
when they are incorporated with a porous or permeable and elastic body con-
taining elements capable of combining with the oxygen of the. chlorate for
forming vapour of water or carbonic oxide, or both of these.
The absorbent body must also be capable of preserving the salt without
change, and of protecting it against any external influence that would effect its
decomposition.
The present Invention is based upon the following processes:-First. Porous
and elastic cellulose C12 H10010 is combined with two equivalents of a chlorate
2 M Cl +
2 (MO CIO) giving for the combination, 2 (MO C105) + C¹² H10010
12 CO + 10 HO. Second. The absorbent and elastic body of which cellulose is
the general type, allows the solution of the salt to crystallise within its pores, so
that the crystalline molecules being uniformly distributed throughout its mass, the

page_text: compound is rendered homogeneous while it retains the elasticity of the absorbent
body, and this elastic property neutralises or lessens the effect of any shocks to
which the body may be subjected to such an extent as to permit of its being handled
without danger. This is one of the essential properties of the said explosive
compound, for the production of which the process employed is as follows:-
A boiling concentrated solution is formed of any alkaline chlorate, to which is
added the cellulose in quantity according to the equivalent of the bodies that are
required to combine, giving if necessary an excess to absorb the whole of the
liquid. The mixture is well stirred while it is hot, if necessary in the presence of
steam, and it is then dried either in a stove or in the atmosphere. If desired a
body, such as gelatine, gum, and the like may be added, in order to assist in the
agglomeration of the particles, or to form a coating of varnish to the particles of
the compound.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th May 1881.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS."
A communication from abroad by E. Sanlaville and Rudolphe Laligant, both of
Paris, France.
This Invention relates to a new manufacture of explosive compounds, consisting
mainly of the combination of chlorates with cellulose or other analogous elastic or
porous bodies.
The chlorates generally (MO CI 05) are at present only employed in the
laboratory, or to a very limited extent for industrial purposes in consequence
of the great facility with which they become decompose in the presence of certain
bodies. These salts are preserved from the action of external agents when they
are incorporated with a porous or permeable and elastic body containing elements
capable of combining with the oxygen of the chlorate for forming vapour of water
or carbonic oxide, or both of these.
The absorbent body must also be capable of preserving the salt without
change, and of protecting it against any external influence that would effect its
decomposition.
The present Invention is based upon the following processes: First. Porous
and elastic cellulose CH O¹ is combined with two equivalents of a chlorate
2 (MO C105) giving for the combination, 2 (MO CI O³) + C¹² H¹º 010 = 2 M Cl +
12 CO + 10 HO. Second. The absorbent and elastic body of which cellulose is the
general type, allows the solution of the salt to crystallise within its pores, so that
the crystalline molecules being uniformly distributed throughout its mass, the
compound is rendered homogeneous, while it retains the elasticity of the absorbent
body; and this elastic property neutralises or lessens the effect of any shocks to
which the body may be subjected to such an extent as to permit of its being
handled without danger. This is one of the essential properties of the said
explosive compound, for the production of which the process employed is as
follows: A boiling concentrated solution is formed of any alkaline chlorate, to
which is added the cellulose in quantity according to the equivalent of the bodies
that are required to combine, giving if necessary an excess to absorb the whole of
the liquid. The mixture is well stirred while it is hot, if necessary in the presence
of steam, and it is then dried either in a stove or in the atinosphere.
If desired a
body, such as gelatine, gum, and the like, may be added in order to assist in the
agglomeration of the particles, or to form a coating of varnish to the particles of
the compound.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents,
I claim,―
First. An improved manufacture of explosive compounds consisting of the
combination of a chlorate with a porous or perineable and elastic body, such as
cellulose, capable of furnishing carbon and hydrogen for combining with the oxygen
of the chlorate, and the elastic properties of which obviate the danger attendant on
the use of chlorates as at present employed.

page_text: Second. The improved manufacture of explosive compounds herein described by
the explosion of which little or no smoke or delaterious gases are evolved.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-one.
CHA³. DENTON ABEL. (L.S.)