Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1886.
Complete Left, 16th Sept., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 18th Oct., 1887.
RESERV
Воротаму
CHCFRU али
I HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents 6 Breams Buildings Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows :—
The explosive character of hydrogen marsh gas, ethylene, ammonia, and other
combustible gases when mixed in due proportions with oxygen gas or nitrous oxide
and fired is well known. It is also well known that coal-dust and other combustible
dust disseminated in oxygen gas and even in atmospheric air burns when ignited
with explosive rapidity. Under ordinary conditions of density such mixtures are
too bulky to form suitable substitutes for gun-powder and other explosives; but in a
highly compressed state they become very suitable for charging shells and torpedoes
as well as any other explosive chamber capable of holding gas under strong pressure.
Bulk for bulk a mixture of oxygen gas compressed into o part of its original bulk
at the ordinary temperature with the quantity of coal-dust needed for complete
combustion, gives off when it explodes as many units of heat as gunpowder, but as
the combustion of the former is far more rapid and more complete its useful effect is
in reality much greater.
As
Next to oxygen for the aforesaid purpose, rank, nitrous oxide and nitric oxide.

page_text: they can be liquified they may be injected in a liquid state into the chamber of a shell
or torpedo which of course must contain besides, the requisite quantity of combustible
matter.
The combustible substance requisite for utilizing the gaseous oxidising matter
aforesaid may be gaseous, liquid or solid-of combustibles normally gaseous may be
mentioned hydrogen marsh gas, ethylene, dry ammonia, cyanogene, acetylene, oxide
of carbon. Suitable liquid combustibles are all vegetable and animal oils, alcohols,
ethers, bi-sulphide of carbon. Of solid combustibles I may name coal-dust, pulverized
rosin, sugar, starch, woodmeal, naphtalene, sulphur.
Charging the chamber of a shell or torpedo first with a solid or liquid or compressed
gaseous combustible and then with compressed oxygen or other oxidising gas, offers
no practical difficulty and is effected substantially in the same manner as the com-
pression of carbonic acid for the purpose of liquifying that substance which is carried
on, on a large scale for industrial purposes. As the compression of gas developes
considerable heat, due care should of course be taken, to cool it to a perfectly safe
temperature, prior to its entering the shell or torpedo chamber. When the charging
is completed a small steel or copper ball or equivalent valve provided at the inlet
opening will, being automatically moved by the inside pressure, prevent all escape of
gas until a suitable screw-fastening still more effectually excludes leakage.
In consequence of the high gas-pressure inside a shell or torpedo chamber, as herein
explained the time fuse when such is used, has to be connected with a special powder
chamber in the shell, the charge of which on being fired, will break through a
partition, which separates it from the gascous charge and fire the same.
If the shell
has no time fuse and contains a gaseous explosive, which does not of itself explode on
striking, then it should also be provided with a special powder chamber containing a
charge to which the striking shock sets fire and this charge on breaking through the
partition which separates it from the gaseous charge will cause the gaseous charge
also to explode.
In order to attain or exceed with the explosive mixture heretofore described, the
power of dynamite and other violent explosives, the compression needed is very
considerable. In order however to obtain a very powerful action without having
recourse to extreme compression the following means is adopted. Fill the shell or
torpedo chamber with a very safe and strong porous explosive and then compress into
the said chamber oxygen or nitrous oxide or nitric oxide or mixtures thereof in
explosive proportions with a combustible gas. In each case the compressed gas not
only adds to the power of the aforesaid explosive (which should contain such excess
of combustible matter as the gaseous oxidising matter may require) but also greatly
quickens its explosive combustion. Such is the case even when the compressed gaseous
oxidiser consists of atmospheric air especially if mixed in explosive proportions with a
combustible gas.
The aforesaid quickening action is of high importance for it permits to make use
of the very safest explosive which are generally too sluggish for practical use.
Amongst such explosives an intimate mixture of 80 parts by weight of nitrate of
ammonium with 6 parts by weight of coal-dust or 16 parts by weight of sulphur or
equivalent combustible, ranks very high in point of power and safety, but needs the
vivifying influence of compressed oxygen or other oxidiser mixed or unmixed with a
combustible gas, in order to develope instantaneously its full energy. In similar
manner the aforesaid compressed gas quickens the explosive combustion of all sluggish
explosives such as moist gun cotton, nitrate of barium and nitrate of sodium powders.
Even when uncompressed the presence of oxygen gas especially if mixed in
explosive proportions with hydrogen, quickens the combustion of sluggish explosives.
For such purpose the atmospheric air which fills the empty space of the powder
chamber is replaced by the aforesaid gas or gases.
As oxygen gas and the oxidisers heretofore mentioned are eminent stimulators of
combustion, it is not absolutely necessary as with most other explosives that the
combustible substance should be intimately mixed with the oxidising agent. It may
even be separated therefrom by a hermetically closed partition, the construction of

page_text: the shell being in such case similar to that adopted for Sprengel's explosive called
Hellhoffite and other explosive mixtures wherein the combustible and oxidising
matter occupy separate shell chambers. But whilst such explosive ingredients owing
to their liquid or solid state are comparatively slow to mix and consequently only
produce partial explosion such is not the case when one of the ingredients is gaseous
and still less when both are gaseous.
The high pressure which a shell as herein described is to sustain so far from
weakening it renders it more resisting and even permits of increasing the volume of
its chamber for us it has to sustain inside the gun a very high pressure on its outside
it is clear that the inside pressure must counterbalance in part the outside strain.
Dated this 18th day of December 1886.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Explosives and in the Use of Explosives,
Especially in Shells and Torpedoes.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 6 Breau's Buildings,
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer do hereby 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 :-
The explosiveness of hydrogen, marsh gas, ethylene, ammonia (N H³), and other
combustible gases, when mixed in due proportions with oxygen gas or nitrous oxide,
and fired, is well known, and also that coal dust and other combustible dust dis-
seminated in oxygen gas, and even in atmospheric air, burns, when ignited, with
explosive fierceness.
Under ordinary conditions of density, such mixtures are too bulky to form suitable
substitutes for gunpower and other explosives; but the inventor has found that in a
highly compressed state they become very suitable for charging shells and torpedoes,
as well as any other explosive chamber capable of holding gas under strong pressure.
Bulk for bulk, a mixture of oxygen gas compressed into rather less than part of its
original bulk, at the ordinary temperature, with the quantity of coal dust needed for
complete combustion, gives off, when it explodes, as many units of heat as gunpowder,
but the combustion of the former is far more rapid and more complete, and its
useful effect is therefore in reality much superior to that of the same volume of
gunpowder.
Next to oxygen, for the aforesaid purpose, ranks nitrous acid, and nitric oxide. As

page_text: they can be conveniently liquefied, they may be injected in a liquid state into the
chamber of a shell or torpedo, which of course should contain, besides, the requisite
quantity of combustible matter in explosive proportions.
The combustible matter requisite for combining with the gaseous oxidising matter
aforesaid may be gaseous, liquid, or solid. Wherever, in this specification, I refer to
gaseous combustibles or guscous oxidizers, I mean gases which in their natural state
are permanent, and which can only by artificial means be liquefied or solidified,
and such gaseous matter I shall hereinafter call normally gaseous. Of gaseous com-
bustibles adapted to the purposes of this invention, may be mentioned hydrogen,
marsh gas, ethylene, dry ammonia, cyanogen, methylene, and oxide of carbon.
Suitable liquid combustibles are the vegetable and animal oils, alcohols, ethers,
and disulphide of carbon. Of solid combustibles, I may name coal-dust, pulverized
rosin, sugar, starch, wood meal, naphthaline and sulphur.
The charging of the chamber of a shell or torpedo, first with a solid or liquid or
compressed gaseous combustible, and then with compressed oxygen or other oxydizing
gas, offers no practical difficulty, the compression of the gas being effected substan-
tially in the same manner as is the compression of carbonic acid for the purpose of
liquefying that substance, which is carried on on a large scale for industrial purposes.
As the compression of gas develops considerable heat, due care should of course be
taken to cool it to a perfectly safe temperature prior to its admission into the shells or
torpedo chamber.
In the accompanying drawing,
Fig. 1 shews in longitudinal section a shell suitable for receiving a charge of
compressed gases, and
Fig. 2 shews also in section suitable mechanism for filling the shell chamber.
In Fig. 2, A is the hind part of a projectile; B the chamber which is to receive the
compressed gas; ea screwed in plug, with a small central hole, over which is placed a
small copper or steel ball d. D is a tube screwed in to the shell whilst the operation
of filling with gas the chamber B goes on, and which is connected with another tube e,
through which a compressing pump forces oxygen or other gas into the chamber B.
fis a screw by which a small cone g shuts off, at will, the inflow of compressed gas.
The mechanism operates as follows:-When oxygen or other gas, properly cooled, has
heen forced into the chamber B under requisite compression, then the screw f is turned
down until the cone y shuts off the inlet of gas. The tube D is then unscrewed from
the shell A. As the pressure inside the chamber B vastly exceeds the outside pressure
the small ball d is forced against the inlet in the plug c, so as to prevent all leakage of
gas until it is still more effectually stopped by a screw d', shown in Fig. 1, or by other
Suitable contrivance.
In consequence of the high gas pressure inside a shell or torpedo chamber as herein
explained, the time fuse, when such is used, has to be connected with a special powder
chamber in the shell, the charge of which, on being fired, breaks through a partition
which separates it from the gaseous charge, and fires the same.
Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, in the annexed drawing, show such a time fuse and powder
chamber. The time fuse being like that in common use, needs of course no description,
but at its inner end, its flame fires a charge of quick powder, which breaks through
the partition o, and sends its flame into the shell chamber B. The inlet e is of the
smallest practicable size, in order not to weaken the energy of the charge K, which has to
overcome strong resistance, since the tube which holds it has to sustain the great
pressure prevailing in the chamber B; the aforesaid opening e* may be made larger,
if a self acting valve like d, shown in Fig. 2, is provided to prevent gas leakage.
Should no time fuse be required, and the explosive mixture in the chamber B be of
such a nature as not to be fired by the shock of the projectile striking against an
armour plate or other obstacle, then, where the time-fuse is shown in Fig. 1, should be
placed a steel tube hermetically closed, and filled with quick gunpowder, such tube
reaching, if need be, down into the chamber B, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1.
When the shell strikes, the blow in such case fires the gunpowder charge, which
breaks through the steel tube wherein it is contained, and fires the main charge.

page_text: In order to attain, or exceed, with the explosive mixture heretofore described, the
power of dynamite and other violent explosives, the compression needed is very con-
siderable, but the inventor has found means of obtaining a very powerful action
without having recourse to extreme compression. For such purpose, he fills the shell or
torpedo chamber with a safe and strong porous explosive, and he then compresses into
the said chamber oxygen or nitrous oxide, or nitric oxide, or mixtures thereof, in
explosive proportions, with a normally gaseous combustible. In each case, the com-
pressed gas not only adds to the power of the aforesaid explosive (which should
contain such excess of combustible matter as the gaseous oxidizer can take up),
but also greatly quickens its explosive combustion, which quickening is of the utmost
importance. Such quickening takes place even when the compressed gaseous oxidiser
consists of atmospheric air, especially if mixed in explosive proportions with a com-
bustible gas not liquified under the prevailing pressure. The aforesaid quickening
action permits of utilizing explosives of extraordinary safety, but which are generally
too sluggish for practical use. Amongst such explosives, an intimate mixture of.
80 parts by weight of nitrate of ammonia with 6 parts by weight of powdered char-
coal, or 16 parts by weight of sulphur or equivalent combustible, ranks very high in
point of power and safety, but needs the vivifying influence of compressed oxygen or
other oxidizer, mixed or unmixed with a combustible gas, in order to develop
instantaneously its full energy. In a similar manner the aforesaid compressed gas
quickens the explosive combustion of all sluggish explosives such as moist gun cotton,
Nitrate of Barium, Nitrate of Sodium, and Nitrate of Potassium powders.-Even
when uncompressed, the pressure of oxygen gas, especially when mixed in explosive
proportions with hydrogen or other permanent combustible gas, quickens the com-
bustion of sluggish explosion, but of course much less so than when duly compressed.
For such purpose, the atmospheric air which fills the empty space in the powder
chamber is replaced by the aforesaid gas or gases.
As oxygen gas and the oxidizers heretofore mentioned are eminent stimulators of
combustion, it is not absolutely necessary, as with most other explosives, that the
combustible substance should be intimately mixed with the oxidizing agent. It may
even be separated therefrom by a hermetically closed partition, the construction of
the shell being in such case similar to that adopted for Sprengel's explosive, called
Hellhoffite, and other explosive mixtures, wherein the combustible and oxidising
matter occupy separate shell chambers.-But whilst such explosive ingredients, owing
to their liquid or solid state, are comparatively slow to mix, and consequently only
produce partial explosion, such is not the case when one of the ingredients is gaseous,
and still less when both are gaseous.
Instead of charging shells or torpedoes, as heretofore described, with compressed
gaseous oxidisers and liquid or solid combustibles, the charge may be inversely com-
posed of a powdered solid oxidiser, such as one of the nitrates of potassium, sodium,
harium, ammonium or lead, or chlorate of potassium or sodium, or perchlorate of
potassium or ammonium, conjointly with a compressed gaseous combustible such as
hydrogen, marsh gas, ethylene acetylene, ammonia. The aforesaid oxidisers may
either be used alone along with the aforesaid combustible gas, added in best explosive
proportions, which means in proportions corresponding with the chemical formulas for
complete combustion, or the gaseous combustible, in order to avoid its excessive com-
pression, may be replaced in part by a solid or liquid combustible, the remaining part
only being gaseous. Thus, for instance, a shell or torpedo may be charged with a
powder consisting of nitrate of potassium and half the quantity of charcoal and
sulphur which gunpowder contains, the other half of the combustible needed being
added in the form of compressed combustible gas.
The high pressure which a shell charged as herein described is to sustain, so far
from weakening it, renders it more resisting, and even permits of increasing the
volume of its chamber, for as it has to sustain inside the gun a very high pressure on
its outside, it is clear that the inside strain to which the shell is subjected must
counterbalance in part the outside pressure of the propelling charge.
The choice of the explosives herein before mentioned will depend on the object in

page_text: view. As heavy shells directed against armour plates have a comparatively small
chamber, it is needed to lodge therein the utmost amount of latent energy, and there-
fore the gaseous oxidiser used should be oxygen gas compressed to the utmost limit
that can practically be reached. For most other purposes the aforesaid nitrate of
ammonia powder, or damp guncotton, imbedded in the shell chamber in an atmosphere
of oxygen, or of oxygen and hydrogen or other combustible, normally gaseous, com-
pressed into Tou to a part of its or their original bulk, will give extremely satisfactory
results.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention;
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me from abroad
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. Explosive matter wherein either the oxydizing or the combustible element, or
both, consist of matter normally gaseous, compressed and confined, substantially as and
for the purposes herein set forth.
2. The combination with porous explosives of oxydizing matter normally gaseous,
compressed and confined, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
3. The combination with porous explosives, of an explosive gas consisting of a
mixture of combustible and oxydizing matter in explosive proportions, both normally
gaseous, compressed, and confined, substantially as and for the purposes herein set
forth.
4. Explosive matter consisting of compressed and normally gaseous combustible
matter, together with powdered or porous solid oxydizing matter, with or without the
addition of solid or liquid combustible matter to suit explosive proportions, substantially
as and for the purposes herein set forth.
5. Charging shells and torpedoes with explosive mixtures of which the whole or a
part consists of matter normally gaseous and compressed, substantially as herein
described.
'