An Improved Manufacture of Nitroglycerine and Dynamite.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Sept., 1889-Accepted, 23rd Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Manufacture of Nitroglycerine and Dynamite.
I, HANS RITTER VON DAHMEN of IV Belvedere Gasse No. 3 Vienna, Austria,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved manufacture of nitroglycerine and dynamite,
whereby these substances are firstly prepared without danger of explosion, and
secondly whereby a perfectly safe product is obtained, inasmuch as the nitroglycerine
prepared according to this invention is, even without admixture of diluents such as
are at present employed, practically perfectly safe against accidental explosion by
concussion &c.
For this purpose I prepare nitroglycerine by mixing with pure glycerine in the first
instance the mono, bi, tri, or tetra-nitrates of a hydrocarbon, employing for this
purpose by preference the nitrates of the benzole group. This substance is mixed
with the glycerine in proportions that may vary from 3 per cent. hy weight upwards.
This mixture having been prepared, it is added to a mixture of sulphuric and nitric
acids consisting of two volumes of the former to one of the latter, the proportion of
the glycerine compound to that of the combined acids being about the same as is
now used in the manufacture of nitroglycerine. The mixture of these two ingredients
is effected under continued introduction of nitrogen gas, whereby the mixture is
maintained at such a low temperature as to render the operation perfectly safe and
free from the solution of nitrous fumes.
The compound thus produced is then washed three or four times with weak soda
solution at a temperature of about 50° C., thus effecting this operation in a much
more perfect manner than is the case with ordinary nitroglycerine, where the washing
can only be effected at a temperature of about 21° C.
For the manufacture of dynamite, the nitroglycerine thus produced is mixed with
infusorial earth or Kieselguhr in the same manner as in the manufacture of ordinary
dynamite.
Dated this 2nd day of Danamshan 1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, Agents for the Applicant..
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Manufacture of Nitroglycerine and Dynamite.
1, HANS RITTER VON DAHMEN, of IV Belvedere Gasse No. 3 Vienna, Austria,
Chemist, do bereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :--
My invention relates to an improved manufacture of nitroglycerine and dynamite
whereby firstly these substances are prepared without danger of explosion, and
secondly whereby a perfectly safe product is obtained, inasmuch as the nitroglycerine
prepared according to this invention, even without the admixture of diluents such as
are at present employed, is more safe than the ordinary nitroglycerine against
accidental explosion by concussion, while at the same time it withstands cold down to
25° below zero C without freezing whereby the dangerous operation of thawing
required for ordinary nitroglycerine when frozen, before it can be used, is entirely
obviated.
The invention consists essentially in first mixing with pure glycerine a mono, or
higher nitrate of a hydrocarbon such as those of the benzole or toluol groups and

page_text: then treating this compound with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids under
continual introduction of nitrogen or air.
In practically carrying out the manufacture I mix from 90 to 95 per cent. of
glycerine of a specific gravity of about 1,264 with from 10 to 5 per cent. of a nitro
hydrocarbon.
This mixture is then gradually introduced into a mixture of two parts of sulphuric
acid and one part of nitric acid, with simultaneous introduction of air or preferably
nitrogen gas, the proportion of glycerine compound to that of the acid mixture being
about the same as that used in the ordinary manufacture.
The product obtained by this means is then washed in a weak soda solution, and
then dried.
The value of the above described process lies more particularly in the higher nitra-
tion of the nitro compounds of the hydrocarbons simultaneously with the nitration of
the glycerine in one and the same treatment with acid mixture, whereby such a
change in the molecular constitution of the compound is attained that the great
tendency existing in ordinary glycerine to be exploded by concussion is considerably
reduced.
•
The high resisting power against the effects of low temperature also results from
the same cause.
The actual occurrence of the higher substitution of the nitro-hydrocarbons is shewn
most plainly by the fact that an actual physical change takes place in consequence,
such change being visible to the eye, as these products pass, after nitration as
described, from a liquid to a plastic condition.
The use of nitrogen gas in the above described process is preferred to that of air
on account of the fact, which I have proved, that the scum separating from the nitro-
glycerine is much less in quantity in the former case than in the latter.
.
For the manufacture of dynamite, the nitroglycerine produced as above-described
is mixed with infusorial earth or Kieselguhr.in the same manner as in the manufac-
ture of ordinary dynamite.
:
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
1. The process for producing nitroglycerine consisting in first mixing with glycerine
a mono or higher nitrate of a hydrocarbon such as nitro benzole, or nitro toluol, and
then treating this compound with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids, substantially
as herein described.
2. As a new manufacture, nitroglycerine that will not freeze when subjected to a
temperature below zero Cent., produced by the process referred to in the preceding
claiin.
Dated this 2nd day of September 1889
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.