E X P L O S V E S

A RT H U R M A RSH AL L

C h e mic a l I n sp e c to r , I n dia n Or dna n c e D e p a r tm n t

e

SE C OND EDI TI ON

Vol . I

H I S T O RY AND M AN U FA C T U R E

WI TH 77 I LLUS TRATIONS

P H I L AD E L P H I A

P B L A K I ST O N S SO N
’
. C O .

10 1z W AL NU T ST RE ET
 D E D 6 A T E D .

352 T e r mi s s i o n
G the fl i g ht Tl fo n o u m b le
" '
o

D A V lD L LOQD G E O RG E , MP . .

P R I ME MIN lS T ER

iEu mp e a n W
e

w ho b a r i ng the g r e a t ar l
a so s er v e b

his W i ng a nb (fl o u n tr g as

G ha n c e llo r o f the T x c he q u er
mi n is te r o f m u ni ti o ns

a nb

S e c r e ta r y o f S ta te fo r W ar

“
Ar ma Vi r u mq u e C a n o

V ir g i l .
 PRE FAC E TO SE C O ND E D I TI O N
TH E fact that a s econd edition of thi s work has been c alled fo 1 only a year
after the publication of the first indicates that it was really wanted The .

Great War has meantime c ompleted the second year of its c ourse but has ,

not caused the introduction o f any ve 1 y novel explosives despite sensational ,

statements of s o me j ournalists Certai n aspects of the manufactu re of e x

.

plosives have h owever become of greater importance and have therefore

, , ,

been treated in greater detail i n thi s edition P icric acid trinitrotoluene .

,

and other nitro aromatic comp ounds were formerly m erely b y products of
- -

th e dye industry and c onsequently their manufacture seemed only to call

,

for brief notice in a work on explosives Now however they are bei n g made
.
,

on a very large scale m factories specially erected and thei l supply has become ,

a matter of national importa nce i n every c ount 1 y in E urope B e fo 1 e the W a i .

nitric aci d made from the air could hardly anywhere c ompete with that manu
fa c tu r e d from sodium nitrate but the blockade of Germany has altered this
, .

Thu s does history repeat herself for in th e Napoleonic wars E ngland c ut

,

o ff the supply of potassium nitrate from India to France and caused a great

development of the French saltpetre industry The blocka d e has also cause d .

Germany to pay m ore attention to chlorate and perchlorate explosives and

th ose made with liqui d oxygen .

The publication of L es P ou dr es a i E x p lo s ifs by L Ve n n in and G Ches , . .

neau has enabled me to improve the description of French explosives and

,

methods As in the first e dition but little space has been given to explosiv e
.
,

sub stances that have not any commercial military or theoretical impor ,

tance A systematic account of all classes of explosives orga ni c and inorganic

.
, ,

will b e found in the work of Ve n nin and Chesneau j ust mentioned .

'

I h ave spared no trouble to make the work as reliable and useful as pos
sible to those engaged i n making and dealing with the explosives used in thi s
tit a n tic struggle and I h e pe that in thi s way I have assiste d slightly in spite
of the fact that I am detained far from the principal theatres o f war There
, ,

are of c ourse some matters in c onne x ion with explosive s which cann o t be
published .

My best thanks are given to my former fellow student G C Jones fo r very ,

. .
,

kin dl y un dertaking the revi s ion of the proofs a n d the preparation of th e

index thus not only relieving me of much work but also greatly expediti n g
, ,

the publication of this edition My former colleague William Barb o u r h a s

.
, ,

made a number of u seful s u ggesti o ns a n d s u pplied me w ith c o pie s o f s ome

papers which I c ould not o therwise have o btained i n time .

A MA R SHALL . .

NAI N I TAL I N D I A , .

Feb r u a r y , 1 9 1 7 .
 PRE FA C E TO FI RST E D I TI O N
S IN C E t he late Mr . Oscar Guttmann published his work on the Ma n u fa c tu r e
o f E x p lo s iv es in 1 8 9 5 no c o mprehens ive book on thi s subj ect has appeared

in E nglish . In t he interval t he e x plosives industry has un dergone many

c hanges every branch of it has developed enorm o usly e ven that of black —

po w der ; and scientific investigations have t hrown light on many of the

pr o blems that arise in the manufa c tur e a nd use of explosives E specially .

d ur ing the last few years many obscure points have been cleared up It i s .

h oped therefore t hat t he presen t work wil l be f o un d to supply a real want .

I n a si ngle book of modera te size it is not possible to treat in detail every

p o int t hat arises in con nexi o n with e x plosives Consequen t ly it has bee n .

ne c essary t o restric t i t s scope in some d irec tions The methods of using .

explosives belong rather to the subj ect s of ball i stics blasting etc a n d the ir , , .
,

ful l di sc ussion w oul d alone requ ir e a larger work than t hi s Therefore they .

have only been referre d to briefly Detail s of manuf acture al t hough often
. ,

of mu c h practical importance can o nly be learnt properly in the factory :

,

c onsequen t ly they have been omit te d in many cases Pr e p o sa ls made in .

patent specifications have not bee n dealt wi th unless they possess practical
or theoretical importance for more deta iled information concerni ng pate nts
relating to explosives the reader sho ul d refer t o w o rks such as those of
R E s c ales
. . Subj ects which are treate d ful ly in the ordi nary scientific or
te ch nical te xtbooks have o nl y been d ealt wi th in so far as they t hrow new
light on problems c onnecte d w ith explosives .

On the other hand an endeavour has been made to increase the useful ness
,

o f the book by colle c ting allied facts from scatte red source s and placi ng them ,

in j uxtapositi o n w ith o n e another Some subj e c ts which are o nl y mentioned

.
,

briefly or not at a ll in other book s have been trea te d more full y t han their
. .

intrin s i c imp o rtance w ould other w i s e have c all ed fo r Numer o u s references .

to original paper s e tc have been given to assis t t hose w h o require more

, .
,

d etail ed inf ormation concerning the subj e c ts d ealt with Co nsi d erable s pace .

ha s been g iven to matters connecte d w ith the di ffic ult and intricate que s tion
of the s tability of ni tro ce llul ose and allied compound s
-

I am indebted to my “ i fe for her valued help in revi s ing the bo o k My

.

thanks are also due to Mr W Rin t o ul Mr J Th o rburn and Mr \V R Mo o re

. .
, . .
,
. . .

for assis tance in re v is ing the proofs .

It is my earnest hope that t he b ook may be of help to my c o untry in the

pre s ent time o f emergency .

A MA RSHALL . .

NAI N I TAL I N D IA
, .
 C O N TE N TS
P AG E

L I ST OF P R INCIPAL ABB RE V I AT ION S

IN T R OD U C T ION
Ex pl o si o n Ex plo s i ve G a s e v o lu t i o n Hea t li b era t i o n Sens i t i vene s s :
Co ns t i t uen t s o f e x plo s i ve s Ox ygen c arriers Co m b u s t i b le c o ns t i t uen t s
Ni t ro ar o ma t i c c o mp o und s Ni t ri c e s t ers S mo kele s s p o w der s En do
—

t hermi c c o mpo un d s Vel o ci t y o f e x pl o s i o n I n c o mple t e d e t o na t i o n :

S t ab ili t y Summary

PA RT I : H I S T O R I C AL
C HA PT ER I
E ARLY H I ST O R Y
Gunpo w der Co nfu s i o n o f t erms Inc endiary mi x t ure s Greek fire
fi r e Sal t pe t re The Chinese The In dians Ro ger Ba c o n The
In v en t i o n o f fi r e arm s Summary Gi b b o n
-

C HA PT ER II
D E V E L OPM E N T OF G U NP OV
VD ER

Early manuf ac t ure E arly p o w der makin g machinery Inc o rpo ra t ing mil l :
-

S t amp mill s Ad di t i o ns to gunpo w der Co rne d p o w der P re s s e d po w der

Breaki ng do w n Co mpo s i t i o n o f gunp o w der Te s t ing gunp o w der Fire
arm s Do u b le b arrelle d gun s Rifle s Cann o n : Pr o j e c t ile s Incen di ary
-

mi s s iles Shell Fuse s Hand grenades Infernal ma c hine s

-
Fire
w o rk s Mili t ary mine s Blas t ing

C HA P T ER III

P R O G RE SS OF E XP L O S I V E S IN TH E E I G HT EE NTH
AND NIN E T EE NT H C E NTU R I E S
Ber t h o lle t Chl o ra t e Igni t ers Fo rsy t h s de t o na t o r l o c k Ful mina t es Cap s
,
’

Fu s e s Gun c o tt o n Ni t ro gly c erin e Amm o nium ni t ra t e e x pl o s i ve s :

- -

Sprengel e x pl o si v es Co al mi ne dangers
-
Cheddi t e I n s pe c t i o n o f
e x plo s ive s Smo kele ss po w ders Pi cri c a c id Tro t y l
 C O NT E NT S
PAG E

PA R T II : B L A C K P O ‘V D E R

C HAP T ER IV
MAN UFA C TURE OF SALT P E T RE
Ni t re depo s i t s Frenc h s al t pe t re in du s t ry Art ifi c ial ni t re b e ds En li s h g

sal t pe t r e indu s t ry Fo rma t io n o f ni t ra t es Bert hel o t s researc he s Ba c ’

te r ia l ac t i o n Indi an s al t pe t re in du s t ry In dian refinery Ch ili ni t ra te

”
de p o s i t s Co n versio n sal t pe t re Refining sal t p e t re Sal t p e t r e fro m
t he a t mo s phere

C HA PT ER V
MANUFA C TU RE OF C HA R CO AL AN D SUL P HU R
Ch arc o al Wo o d u s e d Di s t il la t i o n Compo s i t io n Bro w n c harco al :

Sul phur Si c ilian s ulphur B y pro du c t s ulphur Lo ui s iana sul phur

-

Re fining sulphur P ro pert ie s Fu nc t i o n s o f s u lphur

C HA PT ER VI
MA N UFA C TU RE OF G U NPO W D ER

Adv an t ages a nd di sad van ta ges Co mpo s i t io n Grin ding t he ingre dien t s :
Weighing a nd mix in g Inc o rp o ra t in g o r milling Au to ma t i c drenc hers
Rem o vin g t he mill c a ke Breaking d o w n P re s s ing G r anula t ing o r co rn
-

i ng Dus t ing a n d glazing S to vin g o r drying Fini s hing a nd b len ding :

Cu t po w der s Mo ul ded po w ders Blas t ing po w ders Sprengs alpe ter :
C a h u ec it P e tr o kla s t it B o b b ini te “ a te r s o lu b le po w der P ro du c t s
l -

o f e x pl o s i o n

PA R T III : AC I D S

C HA PT ER VII
SUL P HU R IC A CID
Manufac t ure P urifi c a t i o n Co nc ent ra t i o n Mel t ing po ints -
S pec ific gra vi
t ies Cal c u la t i o ns Supplie s in w a r t ime -
.

C HA PT ER V III
NI T R IC A CI D
Manufac t u re Re c o v ery of ni t ro u s fumes Sto rage The di s t ill a t i o n Ni t r e
cake Ni t ri c a c i d fro m t he a t mo s phere D irec t o x i dat io n Cyana mi de
pro c e s s Se r p e k s pro c e s s Ha b er s pro c e s s Os t w ald s pro c e s s Pro
' '
’

pe r t ie s S p ec ifi c g ra vi t ie s Free zing p o in t s Bo iling po in t s Va po ur

- -
 C O NT E NT S x 1

P AG E

C HA PT ER IX
MI X E D AND WAST E A CID S . MANIP ULAT I ON
Mi x e d a ci d Mi x ing t he a c i ds
Pr o per t ie s o f mi x e d a c i d s Spe c ifi c gra v i t ies
Vapo ur pre s s ures Wa s t e a c i d Gun c o tt o n w as t e ac i d Ni t r o glyc erine
- -

w as t e a c i d Ni t r e c o mp o und w a s t e a c i d Deni t ra t i o n plan t Ma ni pula t i o n

-

o f ac i ds Ma t erial s Rai s ing a c i d Oleum

PA R T IV : N I TR I C E STE R S OF C A R BO H Y D R A T E S
C HA P T ER X

TH E O R Y OF NI T R AT ION OF C E LLUL O S E
S t age s o f ni t ra t i o n o f c ellul o s e Highe s t a tt aina b le ni t ra t i o n S o lu b ili t y :
S o l u b le ni t r o c ellul o s e : Quan t i t y o f a c i d Co ns ump t i o n o f a ci d Eff e c t o f
—

ni t r o us a c i d Tempera t ure a nd t ime o f ni t ra t i o n Na t ure o f t he c o tt o n

Ni t ro c o t t o ns o f lo w ni t ra t i o n Pyr o x ylin Co llo di o n
-

C HA PT ER XI
C E LLUL O S E
Na t ure o f c ellul o s e Lign o c ellul o s e Co mp o und c ellul o s e s Rea c t i o ns o f
-

c ell ul o s e Wi t h s ulphuri c ac i d Wi t h ni t ri c a c i d Mer cerize d c o tt o n :

Vi s c o s e Cellul o s e b en z o a t e s A ce t a t es S c h w ei t z er s reagen t Hydra t e ’

c e llul o s e Ox y c ellul o s e
-
Ni t ro o x yc ellul o se e tc
-
Vi s c o si t y
, Over
.

b lea c he d c o tt o n Ni t ra t e d mer ceri z e d c o tt o n Eff e c t o f dilu t e al kali

Co tt o n u s e d in manufa c t ure ; Wo o d c ell ul o se Ac t i o n o f b a c t eria S t rue
t ure o f c o tt o n fi b re Dea d c o tt o n

CHAPTER x ii

MA N U FA C TU RE or NI T R O C E LLUL O S E
- L/
Pi c kin g t he co tt o n Tea s ing Dry ing Ni t ra t ing Ab el s pro ce s s Cen t rifugal ’

pro c ess Dir e c t di pping Di s pla c emen t pr o c e s s Hya t t ni t ra t o r High

ni t r o gen gun c o tt o n P ar t ially s o lub le ni t ro c o tt o ns
—
S o lu b le ni t ro
-

c o tt o n s P yr o c o ll o di o n Co ll o di o n fo r b las t ing gela t ine Co ll o di o n fo r

o t her purp o s es

C HA P T ER X III
TH E STAB I L I ZAT ION OF NI T R O C E LLUL O S E
-

Earl y me t h o ds B o iling P ulping Rem o val o f fo reign b o dies Po a ching :

Blending Add i t i o n o f c al ciu m c ar b o na t e Mo ulding e tc The b ea t er : , .

Al kaline me t h o d o f s t a b ili z a t i o n Sulphuri c e s t er s Vel o c i t y o f h y dr o ly s i s

o f ni t r o c ellul o s e
-
U S Ord nan c e me t h o d
. Cellul o s e ni t ri t e s P ro duc t s
o f de c o mp o s i t i o n \Va s h ing c o ll o d i o n c o tt o n
x ii C O NT ENT S
P AG E

NI T R IC ES T ER S OF O TH ER C AR B O HY D R AT E S
Ni t ro s ta rc h Ni t re sugars
- -

PA R T V : NI T R I C E STERS OF G L Y C E R I NE
C H APT ER XV
G LY C ER IN E
So urc e of g ly oe r ineS o ap b o ilin g P ur ifi c a t i o n o f spen t ly e Co nc en t ra t i o n
Au t o c la v e pr o c ess Co m b ine d pro c ess Tw i t c hell pro c e ss Fermen t p r o
c es s Di s t illat i o n

C HA PT ER XVI
MA N UF A CTUR E or NI T R O -
G LY C ER I N E
Early me t h ods Mo d ern plan t Ni t ra to r Inj ec to r Separator Prew a s h
ta nk Wa s hing Fil te ring IVa sh w a te rs Af t er separa t io n Re c en t
- -

impro vemen ts Ab o li t io n o f coc ks Fume ho o ds P lugs fo r air h o les : -

So fte ning t he w as hin g w a te rs Was hing o perat io ns Lab yrin t hs Ni t ra to r

arran emen t s Ac i ds a n d y iel ds Time o f separa t i o n Co n veyan c e o f
g

ni t ro glyce rine Gu t te r s Lo c a t i o n o f fac t o ry Ai r supply Limi t b o ard s :

- -

Thund er s t o rm s -
General prec au t io ns Se n si t i venes s

X VI I
C H AP T ER
L O W F REE ZI N G NI T R O G LY C ER IN E
- —

Freezin g o f ni t ro gly c erine e x pl o s i ve

-
E ff ec t o f a ddi t i o n s
s Super c o o ling :
-

Din i t ro gly cerin e Dini t ro c hl o r hy dr in Dini t ro a c e t in

- — -
Dini t ro fo r mm :
-

Te t rani t ro dig lv ce r in e Di ni t ro glyc o l Ni t ro i so b u t yl

- - - -
glyc erine ni t ra te 2 2
23

PA R T V I : N I T R O A R O MA T I C
-
C O MP O U ND S
C HA P T ER X VI I I
B Y — P R OD U C TS OF CO AL D I ST I LLAT I ON
Aro ma t i c c o mpo un d s Di s t illa t i o n o f c o al Co al ta r : No menc la t ure Be n zo l
—

fro m ga s Di s til la t i o n o f c o al ta r To luene fro m pe t ro leum C a r b o h c a c rd

P hen o l fro m b enz ene : Naph t halene : Yiel d s
 C O N T E NT S xiii
P AG E

C HA P T ER XIX
NI T R O D ER I VAT I V E S OF A R O MAT IC HY D R OCA R B ON S
Nitro benzene C H NO Ac c i den t s Dini t r o b en z ene C H (N0 ) Trini t r o
-
, B 5 2
-
, G 4 2 2

b en z ene , Ni t r o t o luene C H NO Dini t ro t o luene C H

~

, 7 7 2
-
, 7 e

N 0 2 4 Trin i t ro t o luene C H N O -
Was t e aci ds
,
P urific a t i o n o f
7 5 3 s

t rini t ro t o luene The t rini t ro t o luene s Ac c i dents Pro perties Dens ity
- -

Mon o ni t ro naph t halene C mH NO

- -
Dinitr o naph t halene C H N 0
, 7 2
-
, JO 6 2 4

Trini t r o naph t halene C mH N 0 Te t ranitro naph t halene C H 4N 0

-
, ,, 3 G
-
, IO 4 8

C HA P T ER XX
O TH ER NI T R O A R O MAT IC CO M PO UND S -

Anil ine C GH 5NH 2 Diphenylamine (C 6H 5) 2NH H e x a n itr o diphenylamine , ,

-

(C GH 2N 3 O G) 2NH Ni t ro aniline s Ni t r o me thy la niline s

—
Manufac ture -

o f t e t ryl P r o per t ie s o f t e t ryl Higher ni t r o deri v a t i v e s o f me t hyl aniline - -

Pi c ri c a c i d , C GH 3N 3 0 7 Pr o per t ie s Higher ni t r o pheno l s S t yphni c a c i d , -

C GH 3N 3 0 3 Tri ni t r o c re s o l -
,
Pi c ra t e s a n d t rini t ro
c r e s y la te s Trini t r o anis o le C GH gOCH , (NO z) 3 Kine t ic s o f nitra t i o n
-
,

PA RT VI I : S M O KE L E S S P O W D ERS
C HA P T ER XXI
SL OW BU R NIN G SM O K E L E SS PO W D ER S
-

Drying t he n itro c ellul o se Al c o h o li z ing Inc o rpo ra t i o n Shaping the

-

p o w der P o u dr e B Ru s s ian po w der Rumanian p o w der Belgian

p o w der : Am eri c an p o w der Spani s h p o w der Balli s t i t e Fili t e : S o leni t e
German po w ders Co r di t e Weighing t he gun c o tt o n Measuring the -

ni t r o glyc erin e
-
Mi x ing In co rp o ra t ing P ressing Drying Japanese
p o wder Spo r t ing rifle p o w ders Ax i t e Mo ddite

XX II
C HA P T ER
RE QU I RE M E NTS OF A SL O W BU R NIN G SM O K E L E S S PO W D ER
-

Rate o f b ur ni ng Fo rm o f p o w der Pr o gre s s i v e p o w der Ero si o n Nitro gly -

c erin e v ni tro c ellul o se po w ders Er o s i o n B a ckfl a sh Muz z le flame

.
-

Pr o du c t s o f e x pl o s i o n Test ing pro pellan t s Effi c ien cy

C HA P T ER XX III
FAST BU R NIN G SM O K E L E SS PO W D ER S
-

Sh o t gun p o w ders Co ndens ed po w ders Bulk p o w ders Ingre dien t s Manu

-

fac t ure o f b ul k po w ders Ameri c an me t ho d 33 grain p o w ders 30 grain - -

p o w ders Frenc h p o w ders German p o w der s Americ an po w der s

Aus t rian p o w ders Requiremen t s Tes t ing s h o t gun p o w ders P o w ders -

fo r tren ch ho witz ers Blank po w ders

 CO NT E NT S
P AG E

So l ven t s a va ila b le E t her alco h o l Na t ur e o f co ll o id s Ma nuf ac t ure o f

ac e t o ne P ermangana t e t es t Impur i t ie s Ac e t o ne fro m s t arc h Ac e t o ne
fro m ace t y lene Rec o very o f so l ve n t s Ace to ne rec o very Vo la t ili t y of
ni t ro glyce rine Va po ur e x plo s ions To xi c i t y o f v apo urs
-

PA RT VI I I : BL A S I I NG
' ‘
E X PL O S I VE S

NI T R O -
G LY CERIN E HI G H E X P L O S IV E S
V
ufac tu re of d yna mi t e P ro pert ies of d ynami t e Frenc h
dyn ami t es Ameri ca n
po w der Dyna mi t e No s 2 a nd 3 Gela ti nized explo si ves Bo x es fo r j e lly
.

Diminu ti o n o f se n s i t i venes s a nd s t a b ili t y Ge ligni t e Ge la t ine d yna mi t e

W ra pp er s 40 per ce n t d ynami t e Am erican gela t in dynami t e s Fo rci te
.

Fr enc h gela t inized e x pl o si v es Lo w fre e z ing explosi v es Safet y explosi ve s

-

Chlo ra t e dangers Sprengel e x plo si ves Pr o méth ée o r 0 3 Ra c k a ro c k - -

Cheddi t e Stee li te Sil es ia Po t a s ium pe rc hl o rat e ex plo s i ves Pe r mo ni te

s

Alk a l ite P o la r ite M B po w der Amm o nium perc hl o r a t e explo si v es

s . .

Favier e x plo si v es G ris o uni tes Ammonals Sa b uli t e Griso u t in e

Ix max or N AMES
Ix mzx or S UB J EC TS
 L I ST O F P RI NC I P A L A B B RE V I A TI O NS

J O U R N ALS , ETC .

A a nd
. E . A r ms a nd E x p lo s iv es .

A ng . Z ei t ch
s ri ft fur a n g e u a nd te
'
C h em ie .

AR . . A n n u a l Rep o r ts f H al l I ns p ec to r s o f E x p lo s i ves
o .

B er . B er ich te f th e
o G er ma n C h e mi ca l S oc i e ty .

B u ll . B u lle ti n o f U S B u r ea u . . o f Ill i n es .

C h em I . nd . D ie ch emis che I nd us tr i e .

C he m Tr a de J C h emi ca l Tr a de Jo u r na l
‘

. . . .

C ornp t. R en d . C o mp tes Rend u s .

C Z . C h emiker -
Zeitu ng .

J . S o c C h em . . Jo u r na l o f th e S oc iety o f C h emica l I n d u s try .

I nd .

P
. et S . Ill émo r i a l des P o u d r es S a lp é tr es et .

P h il . Tra ns . P h ilo s o p h i ca l Tr a n s a c tio n s 0 / th e Ro y a l S o ciety .

P r oc . RS . . P r o ceedi n g s o f th e Ro y a l S oc i ety .

S R.. S p eci a l Rep o r ts of H al l I n s p ecto r s o f Ex p l os i ves . .

S S . Z e its chr ift fur da s ges a mte S ch ies u nd S p ren gs tofi w es en

Tr a ns . C h em . Tra ns a ctio ns o f the C h emi ca l So ci e ty .

S oc .

B O OKS
C halo n . L es Ex p lo s ifs 111 oder n es .

C u n dill a n d D ic ti o na r y o f E x
p lo s i ves .

h
T o ms o n .

Gu n p o w de r a nd A mmu n i tio n , b y L ie ut H im
.
-
C o lo n el e.

The RI a n u fa c tu r e of E x p lo s iv es , b y O G u tt mann
. .

I o nu men ta P u lver i s P y r ii , b y O
IV . G u tt mann .

Tw en ty Yea r s
’
P r o gr es s i n E x p lo s i v s b y O G u tt man n
e , . .

Th e R is e a nd P r og res s o f th e B r i tis h Ex p lo s i ve s I n dus tr y .

Th e N i tr o -
cellu los e b y I Vo r d e n
I ndu s tr y , .

Ill ili ta ri s ch e S p e ng teckn i k, b y B Zs c h o kk e . .

L es P o u dr es et E x/ p los ifs , 1 9 1 4 .

O TH ER ABB RE V I AT I ON S
b o iling p o in t-
G 0 . .
g un c o o tt n .

c ub ic c e n t ime t r es . tn
m e l i g p o in t -
.

c o ll o di o n c o tt o n N c . . n tr u
i o c e ll l o s e
-
.

d in itr o g ly c e in e N g r . . n itro g ly c e rine

-
.

di nit r t o lu e n e
o Sp g . . r. s p c ifi c g ra v i t y
e .

g ram m e s . T/ n / t . t rin itr t lu n o o e e.

Te m p e ra t ur e s a r e lw a y s in d e g re e C n t igra de u nle s s
a . s e o t h e r w is e s t a t e d .
 I N TRO DU C TI O N

E p l i n E p l s ive G a E vo lut io n H e a t L ib ra t io n
x os o x o s e Se n s i t iv e n ees Con
st it ue n t o f E p l ive O y g e n C arrier C o mb u t ib le
s x os s x s s Co ns t i t u e n t s N t r i o
aro mat i C mp und N it ric E t ers Sm ke le s P w d r
c o o s s o s o e s E nd o t he rmie C o m
p o un d s Ve l c it y f E p lo io n I n c o mp le t e D e t o na t io n
o o x s St a b ili t y Su mmary

WH E N gas or vap our is released so suddenly as to cause a loud noise a n E plo ion x s ,

explosion i s said to occur as for instance the e x plosion of a ste am b oiler or

, , ,

a cylinder of compressed gas Great and increasing use is made of explosive .

processes in gas petrol and oil engines for driving ma c hinery of all kinds
, , .

In these engines the material that e x plodes is a mixture of air w ith com
bustible gas vap our or fi n e lv com minute d li quid and in the explosi o n these
, ,
-
,

are suddenly c onverted into water vap our and the o x ides of carbon which ,

latter are gases Although all these things are liable to e x plode none of
.
,

them are called explosives ; this term is confined to liquid and solid sub
sta nces which produce much more violent eff ects than e x ploding gaseous
,

mixtures because th e y o c cupy much smaller volumes originally

,
.

An e x plosive i s a so lid or liquid sub sta nce or mixture of substances which E plo i e x s v .

i s liable on the application of heat or a blow to a small portion of the mass

, ,

to be c onverted in a very short interval of time into other more stable

substan c es largely or entirely gaseous A considerable amount of heat i s .

also invariably evolved and consequently there is a flame ,

.

That evolution of gas (or vapour ) is essential in an e x plosion is rendered G a E lu s vo

evident by considering thermit This consists of a mixture of a metallic “ n .

0

o x ide generally o x ide of iron with alumi ni um p o w der When suitably

, ,
.

igni ted the aluminium i s converted into o x ide and the iron or o ther metal
i s s e t free in a short interval of time with the evolution of an enormous quantity
of heat but th ere is no exp losion It i s indeed because n o gas is evolved
, .

that thermit can b e used as it is for local heating and welding , ,

.

It i s also an essential condi tion that heat should be ev o lved in an explosive H a t L ib e er a

reaction otherwi se the absorption o f energ y d u e to the work done by the

,

e xplosion would cool the explosive and consequently slow do w n the reaction
until it ceased unless heat were supplied from w ith o ut Ammonium car
,
.

bonate for instance readily decomposes into carbon dioxide ammonia and
, , , ,

V OL . I . l 1

W W !
 I NTROD UC TI ON
w a t er b u t in s o d o ing it ab s orb s heat c onse quently t he re a ction is mu c h t oo
,

sl o w t o be explosive Ammoni um ni t rate on the o t her hand is decompose d

.
, ,

in t o o xygen ni t ro gen and w a t er w i t h t he e v o lu t i o n of heat and i s con

, , , ,

sequen tly li able t o expl o de A vi o lent impul s e is requi red t o s t a r t the

.

explo s ion b u t o nce i t is s tar t e d t he energy (or heat ) liberated suffi c es to

,

propagate t he explo s ion unle s s t he c on di t ions be su c h that the energy is

,

di s s ipated m o re rapi dly t han it is liberate d .

l ans iti v enes s . An o ther e s sen t ial fo r an e x pl o s ive i s t ha t t he reac t ion s ha ll not se t in
until an impulse is app lied If t he rea c t ion set in sp o ntane o usly it is ob v iou s
.
,

tha t its energy c ann o t be u t ilized in the form of an explosion A mi xture .

of s odium and w ate r e v olve s hy drogen wi t h t he li bera t ion of heat but reaction ,

s e t s in im mediately t he tw o sub s tance s c o me in con t ac t wi th one another .

Different explo s i v es require imp ul s e s of very di fferent strengths to cau se

them to explode S ome s uch a s di azobenzene ni trate are exploded b y
.
, ,

a s li ght touch ; t he s e e x plosi v es are of n o practical u t ility as th ey are too

unsafe Others such as fulminate of mer c ury are expl o ded by a m oderate
.
, ,

bl o w or a small flame ; the s e are u s ed p rinc ip a ll v for c harging caps and

det o na t o r s a s mall quantity serving to expl o de a large a moun t of s ome o t her
,

le s s sen s i t i v e e x plo s i v e Mos t o f t he explosive s n o w used can be e x ploded

.

by a blo w o nly if it be extremel y vi o lent and man y of t hem cannot be ,

exploded b y a flame in t he o pen in ordi nary c ircumstance s The te nde nc y is .

to use le s s sen s i t ive e x p lo s ives be c au s e they are s afer to handle but it sho u ld ,
”
ne v er be forg o t t en t hat t he term safe w hen app li e d to an e x plosive i s
“

, ,

only a c o mpara t i v e one The duty of an explosive is to expl o de and if i t

.
,

is not t rea t ed w i t h proper respect i t w ill sooner or later explode at the wrong
, ,

time w i t h extremely u npleasant re s ults .

Before the subj ec t of explosi v es w a s understo od s o w ell a s it is now ,

inventors w ere v ery liable to t hink an e x pl o sive was very po w erful and t here ,

fo re valuable merely because i t w a s very sensi t ive w herea s too great a degree ,

o f s en s i t iveness is really a most obj ectionable featur e In the mi d dl e of .

t he nine t een t h c en t ury many su c h mi x tures a s p otassium chlorate and pi c ric

a c id w ere proposed t hrough t hi s w ant of comprehension of a fundamenta l
c on di t ion .

tt
C ons i uen s t The e xp losive gaseous mixtures used i n gas and o il engines to w hi ch refer
o f Ex p l os iv es .
ence has b e en made are composed o f a c ombustible material c onsistin g largely ,

of carbon a nd hydr o gen and a ir the useful constituent of whi ch is ox y gen

, , .

Similarly nearl y a ll commercial explosives are c omposed partly of combustible

,

elemen t s of w hich c arbon a nd hy drogen are t he mo s t important and pa r t ly

, ,

of o x ygen c o mbined but not dire c t ly w i t h t he hydro gen and carbon On

. .

explosion t he o xygen combines with t he hydrogen to form w ater and with ,

the c arbon t o form c arb o n mon o xide or di oxi de o r a mixture of the two , .

It is the heat set free in this combus t ion t hat is the main o r ent ir e ca use of
 INT ROD UCTI ON
the rise of te mperatu r e The formation of th ese two oxides of carbon liberates
.

very di fferent quantitie s of heat ; 1 2 gram mes of carbon unite with 1 6

grammes of oxygen to form 28 grammes of carbon m ono x ide with the libera
tion of 29 large Calories and the same quantity of carbon unites wi th 32
,

gram mes of oxygen with the liberation of 9 7 large Calories .

Conse quently an explo s ive is considerably more e ffi cient if it contains

s u fficient o x ygen to oxidi ze the carbon entirely to di oxide but the e ffect is '

reduced to some extent by the relatively high specific heat of carbon dio x ide .

In some classes of explosives however a very high temperature is o b je c

, ,

tio na b le this is the case with smokeless powders and explosives for use in
c oal mines Smokeless p owders therefore are generally made of such a
.
, ,

comp osition that the greater part of the carbon is oxidized only to monoxide .

B ut there i s always some carbon dioxi de formed for it takes up some of the ,

oxygen from the water vapour and liberate s hydrogen or if the total quantity
of oxygen be V ery small there may even be free carbon produced In the
,

case of safety explosives for c oal mines the temperature of explosion is also
,

s ometimes kept low by restricting the prop ortion of oxygen but this means ,
'

i s not free from objection because carbon mono x i de i s poisonous Other .

met h ods are therefore adopted in some safety explosives to reduce the
te mperatur e .

The oxygen may either be contained in a separate compound such as O y g en , x

saltpetre which is mixed mechanically with the combustible material or ca ie s

, ,
rr r

the two may be combined together in a s ingle compound as i s the case with ,

ni tro glycerine trotyl and many othe r modern explosives

—
, ,
The substances .

rich in oxygen are often referred to as o x ygen carriers those most used
are ni trates chlorates and pe rchlorates in which the oxygen is uni ted to
, , ,
”
ni trogen and chlorine respectively Ordin ary g unpowder or
. black powder , ,

belongs to the class of explosives that have separate oxygen carriers in this ,

case saltpetre The table on page 4 shows the prop erties of th e principal
.

oxygen carrier s .

I t w ill be seen from this table t hat the prop orti on of available oxygen is
“

about the same in the chlorates as in the corresponding ni trates but whereas ,

the chlorates decompose with the evolution of a small amount of heat the ,

nitrates re quire a c onsiderable amount of heat to spli t them up excep t in the ,

case of the ammoni um compound E xplosives contain ing chlorates are con
.

sequently much more powerful than those containi ng nitrates but they are also ,

very sensitive unl ess special measures are adopted to render them more inert .

The perchlorates re quire considerably less heat to decompose them than

th e nitrate s and have more available oxygen
,
As they are now produced
.

at quite low cost by electrolytic methods it is not surprising to find that

,

they are being used more and more for the manufacture of explosives Ammo .

nium nitrate and perchlorate decompose with the evolution o f heat thi s ,
4 I XTROD UCT I OX
be ing due to t he fo rma t ion of w a t er bu t t he a v aila ble oxygen is di min i s h e d ,

b v t he s ame ca u se Ammoni um ni t r a t e ca n b e de t ona t ed b y i t se lf al t hough

. .

onl y w i t h diffi c ul t y and t hen gives a large v o l u me of g a s a t a compa ra t i v ely

,

lo w t e mpe r a t ure I n c o nse q uence o f t hi s lo w t empera t ure i t ha s been foun d

.

v ery u seful as a con s t i t uen t of sa fe t y e x plo s i v es for use in c oa l mine s bu t ,

i t al s o fo rm s par t o f many o t her hi gh explo s i v es A mmoni u m perc hlo ra t e .

s u ff e rs un d er t he di sa d v an t age t ha t amongs t i t s p ro duc t s of e x p losion is

t he poisonou s g a s hydrogen chl ori d e or h y dr ochlo r ic a cid
, ,
.

H ea t e v lv d
o e
O x y ge n a v
ai l

Mo lec u la r De n s it v Re a c t io n
c a rr i e r

1 0 1 -
1 —
75 -6 4 4s
8 0
5 -
4 30 -5 4 13
-
70 -6 13 0
- - ‘
9
2G l 5 °
—
94 4
- —
3 6- 1
3 3 1 -1 —
1 6-5
Amm o ni u m 1 -71 N H 4N O 3 = 2H SO + N 3 + O

20 0 x e io , z x el 30
10 6 5 -
Xa C 10 3 = X a C l 30
30 4 3 3 -1 8 so

P e i chl o ra tes
-
.

Po ta s s iu m . l 38 6 °

KC lO 4 = K C l + 4O 51 5
1 226 Na C lO 4 = X a C l 4 0 10 -2
3 36 3 -
B a
(C l O , ) 2 SO
1 76 1 -8 9 3H , O 29 -5 25 - 1
50 + 3 }

P o ta ssium permangana t e and bi ch roma t e ha v e also been u s ed bu t t he v .

,

p osse s s no special a d v an t ages P ermangana t e exp lo s i v es a re of t en inc o n

. .

v e ni e n tl
y sensi t i v e A t t emp t s ha v e al.s o bee n mad e t o u se li qui d ox y gen .
,

w hi ch has t he ad v an t age of being c heap a n d con t aini ng 10 0 per cen t o f avail .

able ox y gen bu t t he di fi i c u ltie s o f empl o yin g a li q ui d w hi ch boils a t 20 0

,
°

C belo w t he ordinary t e mpera t u re are so g rea t t ha t t hese a t t emp t s w e r e

. .

given up The Germans a re ho w e v er ma kin g grea t eff ort s t o develop t h e se

. . ,

e xplosives for w ork in min es s o as to se t fre e a co rr espondin g quan t i t y of

,

ni t r a t es for mili ta r v u s e For t he sa me r eason t he G erman au t ho r i t ies a re

.

encoura gin g the u s e of chlorat e s and pe r chlo r a t es .

 I NT ROD UCTI ON
I n black p owder the combustibles are charcoal and sulphur in blasting Co mb tib le ; us
0 ° Stituent8
explosives many sorts o f organic matter have been used or proposed and ,
“ ‘

some inorganic substances su c h as potassium ferro c yanide ammonium , ,

o x ala te and antimony sulphide but those in common use are not very numer
, ,

ous For explosives containing nitroglycerin an absorbent material must be

.

used and of these wood meal is the most usual but flour a n d starch are con
, ,

s titu e n ts of some nitro glycerine exp losives and in a few cases such substances
-
,

as tan meal and prepared horse dung are present Cork charcoal has great -
.

absorptive p ower but its high cost prevents its use Or di nary charcoal
, .

i s a constituent of some e x plosives as also is coal dust American dyn amites ,

-
.

often c o ntain resin and sulphur and these constituents are sometimes met ,

with in other e x plosives Oily materials such as castor oil vaselin and
.
, , ,

paraffin wax reduce t h e sensitiveness of an explosive and one or other of

, ,

them may usually be found in a chlorate blasting explosive The addi tion .

of aluminium greatly i ncreases the heat of explosion ; it is present in the

explosives of the ammonal typ e .

Modern high e x plosives very frequently contain nitro derivatives of the Nitr e a ro - -

”
aromatic compounds obtained from coal tar especially the mono di and gig? ,

tri nitro derivati ves of benzene toluene and naphthalene The nitro group s
- -
, ,
.
-

in these compounds contribute o x ygen for the e x p losive reaction The .

trinitro comp ounds of substances containing only one benzene ring are
-

explosives in themselves ; trinitrotoluene for instance Trinitrotoluene is ,

.

not only a constituent of composite exp losives but is also very largely used ,

by itself as a charge for shell and submarine mines and for other m ili tary ,

and naval purp oses for which its insensitiveness c ombined with its great
,

violence render it suitable P icric acid (trinitrophenol ) i s also much used

.

for these purposes and trinitrocresol to a less extent Although they de to n

,
.

ate with great violence these trini tro comp ounds do not contain su ffi cient
,
-

oxygen to oxi di ze the whole of the carbon they contain even to the stage
of carbon monoxide Their p ower as explosi ves is t h erefore increased
. , ,

by mixing them with o x ygen car r iers Commercial expl o sives c o n taining .

trinitrotoluene always have also some other c o nstituent which can supply
the deficient oxygen .

Nitr o glycerine and the nitro celluloses are the principal members of Nit ic E te s
— - r s r .

another very important group of substances that can b e use d as expl o sives
without admi x ture Strictly speaking they are not nitro derivatives but
.
,
-
,

nitric esters The more highly nitrate d cell u lo s es su c h as gun cotton c o ntain
.
, ,

enough oxygen to c onvert all the hydr o gen int o water and the c arbon i nto
monoxide and even some of it i nto di o x i de Nitro glycerine C H s O not
,
.
-
, a g,

o nly has enough to o x idi ze entirely all its hydrogen and carbon but also ,

has a little oxygen left o ver Nitro glycerine is the most powerful explosive
.
-

c ompound known but its power i s increased by d issolving in i t a small pro

,
 6 I NTRODUCT I ON
p ortion of ni tro c ell ulose whi ch u t iliz es the excess of oxygen and at the sa me
-
,

t ime c onvert s it in t o a gela t in ous soli d known a s bl a stin g gelatin .

All smokeless po w de r s c onsist largely of ni troce llulose which has been ,

mo r e or less gela t iniz ed and c onverte d into a compac t colloid by means of

a sui table solvent ; many of them c onta in prac ticall y nothi ng else but in ,

o th ers the r e is a c onsiderable prop ort ion of ni tro glycerine Small percent —
.
:

ages of mi neral j e lly inorganic ni t rates and other substa nces are also added
, , ,

i n many c ases to immo v e t he balli s t ic s or the s ta bili ty P owders for rifl e d .

arm s a re always c o ll o ide d as completely a s p ossible whether they be for ,

small arms or ordnance to make t hem bur n slowly and regularly but
-
, ,

in sho t g un powders th e origin al stru ctur e of the nitro ce llul ose i s not
- -

a l w ays destroyed entirely as th ey are required to burn c omparatively

,

rapi dl y .

The r e are some exp losive c ompo u nds which do not depend for t heir action
on oxi da t ion or reduction These are endo t her mic substa nces whi ch de c o m
.
,

po se wi th t he evolution of gas and heat ; they are usually rather sensitive .

The onl y c ompo u nds of t hi s class that are of commercial i mportance are
ful mina te of merc ury E g (C NO) and lead azide Pb N b oth of whi ch are
, 2, , e,

used only for explodi ng other e xplosives .

There a re o t her endo t hermi c explosive c ompoun ds in whi c h th e heat

li berated on decomp osi ng i nto their elements i s only of minor impor t a nce
c ompa r ed with the larger amount set free by the re di stribution of t he oxygen .

Su c h are te tryl and mono and di ni tro naphthalene -

.

The heat and gas evolved are the t wo principal factors which govern the
p ower of an e x plosive i e th e amount of work i t can do in t he way of
,
. .

di spl a c ing obj ects B u t t he t ime ta ken by the e xplosion is also a matter of
.

g reat import a nce .The rate of explosion i s measured by m aki n g a c olumn

of the explosive confi ni ng i t i f nece ssary i n a metal tube and measuring
, , , ,

t he t ime t ha t t he e xplosive wave takes to t ravel a kno w n di sta nce In black .

powder and similar ni t ra t e mixtures the velocity of exp losion i s onl y a few
hun dr ed metre s a s ec ond but w ith m oder n high explosives the veloci t y of
,

de t ona t ion is fro m t wo to seven t housand metres a second Thi s n a tu r a ll v .

makes them much more vi olent and d e s tructive E xplosives of the gunpowder .

type are used when earth o r sof t r o ck i s to be blasted or w hen the material ,

mu s t not be broken up to o much P ropellan t s for u se i n firearms are requi red

.

t o bu r n slowly ; for rifled arm s t hey mu s t be slower even th an gunpowder .

They are not e xplo ded by means of another hi gh explosive bu t me rely li t ,

by a powerful flame and shoul d t hen burn by c oncen t ric layers

,
The rate of .

burning increase s w ith the pressure i n the gun bu t for c ompletely gelat inized ,

po w ders i t is less t han a metre a second .

I nc o mp le te The mo re insensi t ive e xplosives such as trini t roto luene if fi red wi t h

, ,

a weak de t o na t or are only partially decompo s ed Not onl y is some of the .

 INT R O D UCTI ON
“

exp losive merely scattered but the velocity of the explosive wave is low
, .

Consequently the eff ect produced is comparatively small .

Another important property of an e xplosive is its stability I t should Sta b ility

. .

retain its properties and composition unchanged when stored even for a
long period . Above all it should not be li able to e xplode or ignite spon
ta n e o u s ly
. Nitr e ce llulose u nf ortunately i s liable to this defect and c o n s e
-
,

quently special precautions have to be taken in the case of smokeless powders

and other explosives c onta ini ng it .

The m ost important properties of explosives are : p ower sensitiveness S mma y

, ,
u r .

velocity of explosion stability and te mperature of exp losion The power

, .

depends up on the temperature of e xplosion and the quantity of gas a n d

.

vap our evolved The prices of the constituents and the ease and safety of
.

manufactur e a r e also of importance All these factors are dependent on the

.

c omposition of the explosive and some of them on its physical state .

H I ST O RIC A L
 C H AP TE R I

EARLY HI STORY

G un p o w d er C o nfu s io n o f t e rms I n ce ndiary mi x t u es G re e k fi r e \ Vi ld fi r e

r -

Sal t p e t r e Th e C hin e e Th e I n d ians Friar B a c o n Th e Arab s I n ve n t io n

s o f
fi r earms Su mmary G ib b o n
S IN C E the very earli est times man has been search ing for more and more G unp o wde r

effective means of killin g his fellow s and the beasts and bir ds that threatened
his safety or provided his food or clot h in g but there i s reason to beli eve that
,

the first exp losive gun p owder was not kn o wn before the thirteenth cent u ry
, , .

This i s a mixture of three sub s tances saltpetre sulphur and charcoal two
, , ,

of which have been kn own from time immemorial for sulphur occurs native ,

i n a state o f considerable pur ity in some volcanic di stricts and charcoal is ,

made by simply heatin g wood The early history of gunpowder and

.

exp losives generally is therefore closely c onnecte d with the di scovery of

methods of preparin g and purifying Saltpetre .

The in vestigation of t h is and other s imilar matters is rendered difficult C nf ion o us of

ter ms
not only by the scarcity of early records but also by the great uncertainty
,
.

a s to their true in terp retation W hen saltpetre g u npowder and guns were
.
,

discovered or invente d new words were not made but old terms were adopted
, ,

w hi ch had previously been used for somewhat similar obj ec ts Ou r word .

p owder for instance means any dust lik e material but the term smokeless
, ,
-
,

p owder i s now used to denote a class of substances which have nothing in

”
common with dust Gun is from the old E ng lish gonne which was
.
,

used to denote an instrument for thro w ing proj ectiles before the introduction
of gunpowder Sim ilarly the Ar abic bundu q (O W ) now used fo r any
.

rifle or sp orting gun formerly meant a pellet shot from a small catapult used
,

for sporting purposes Saltpetre (sal p e tr ae ) merely means salt of the ro c k

. ,

and the other Latin term for the same material nitrum (nitron nitre ) , , ,

formerly meant soda or any other white e ffl o re s ce nc e B oth nitron a nd .

natron in late Latin were derived from the Arabic ev j ku some of

the vowels being usuall y omit ted in writing that language as in shorthand .

Similar di fficulties occur with the term s i n other languages Nevertheless .

,

c onsiderable progress has lately b een made in ascertaining t he early history

of gunp owder a n d fi r e arms a n d vari o us wil d sta t emen t s as to the grea t
-
,

11
 EX PL OSI VE S
an t iquity o f t he kn o w ledge of gunp o w der in s o me c oun t rie s are now quit e
d isc r edit e d a s it is fou nd t ha t t he evi d en c e up o n w hi c h t h e se s t a t emen t s
,

were made w ill no t b ea r s c ru t in y .

t r l y I ucen
u
L o ng befo re t he di s covery o f sal t pet r e incen di ary ma t erial s had b ee n ,

used in warfare su c h as pitc h sulphur pe t roleum and o t her o ils B urni ng

, , , .

brand s were frequen t ly a t ta c hed to arro w s o r w e r e t h ro w n by means o f engines

( c at a pul t s )
, and t he d e s c rip t ions o f t he eff e c t s pro d uce d b
y t he s e e a rly fi re .

arms i s of t en s o fan c iful a n d exaggera t e d t hat t hey have bee n t hough t

t o imply t he u s e o f gunp o w der wi t h whi c h t hey reall y have no c onnexi on
, .

A ball o f burni ng pi tc h mix e d w i t h sulphur and naph t h a t h r o w n a g a in s t

a wooden bu ilding or s hip w ould cau s e a fire whi c h if n o t qui ckly e x tin ,

i s hed might r ve di s a s t rou s Su ch incen d i ary mix t ures were kn own

g u p o .

"
in E ngland as w ild fi r e The prompt appli ca tion of a bu c ket of w a t er
-
. .

or some sand w oul d h o w ever remove the danger Hen c e although is o la t ed

, , .
,

insta nces occur i n an c ien t hi s to ry where g r eat suc ce ss was a c hi ev ed wi t h

t hese incendiary mi xt u res they mus t generally have proved ineff ec t ive
, .

The one nota ble exception to t hi s is t he Gree k fi r e or -

t he s ecret of whi c h prevented t he conques t o f Cons ta n t in ople a n d E ur ope

by the Mo slem s for s everal cen t urie s About the yea r A D 668 some for t y . . .
,

six years after the flight of Mohame d from Mec c a to Medina the Arab s s t ill , ,

at the height of t heir conquering enthu siasm c ommenced to belea guer Con ,

s ta n tin o p le by land and sea w hen an ar c hi t ec t nam e d K a llinik o s fl ed fro m

,

Heli o p o lis in Syria to the Imperial ci t y and impar t c d t he sec r et of t he sea -

fi re .
”
This repeate dly spread such terror a nd destru c t ion among t he Moslem
fleet t ha t it was t he prin c ipal cause of th e siege being eventuall y raised after
,

seven years In A D 71 6 to 71 8 the Arabs again appeared before Cons tanti

. . .
,

n e ple wi t h eighteen h u ndred ship s bu t again w ere d efea t ed by the fi re ,

so e ffec t ually t hat afte r a stormy pa s sage only fi v e galleys re ente red t he
,
-

port of Alexandria to relate t he t a le of t heir various a n d alm os t in c r edi ble

di saste rs .

Ru ssian naval forces w ere similarly d efeated in 9 4 1 and 1 0 1 3 a n d t he -

,

P isans at the end of t he eleventh c entury .

What then w a s t he na t ure of t hi s sea fi r e

, ,
From the c ontemporary -

accoun t s w e kno w t hat i t was di s c harged from tube s or siphons in t he b o w s

of th e ships but its mode of preparati o n w a s kep t a c l o s e s e c r e t and it w a s
,
.

never u sed succe s sfully by any bu t t he Greek ruler s o f By zantium There .

appear s to be n o d o ubt t hat naph t ha w a s t he prin c ipal ingredi en t and i t ,

may also have c o ntaine d s ulphur and pitc h Col o nel H W L Hime ca me . . . .

to t he c onclusi o n tha t i t mu s t have bee n mixed w ith qui c kli me t he s lakin g .

of which by t he s e a w ate r rai s e d t he t e mpera t u r e to t he i gni t ion poin t of

-

t he s ul phur ‘
. I have m ade a number of a t t emp t s to produce igni t ion in t his
G np 1
dc nd A mm n it i n
u ou rL o n d n 1 90 4
a u o , o , .
 E A RLY HIST ORY
way but al t hough a fairly high temperature w a s reache d the sulphur never
,

caught fire The heat set free by the slaki ng of t he lime w oul d be ample
.

to raise the temperature to the igni tion point if there w ere n o loss of heat ,

but the reaction i s a slo w one c o mpare d with an e x plosion for instance and , ,

consequently much of the heat i s di ssipate d It seem s more probable that .

the naphtha w a s simply discharge d from a squirt or fi r e engine (sipho ) and -

,

t hat it w a s ignite d by means of a flame i n front of t he orifice a n d that the ,

se c ret consisted in t he method of c onstructing t he squirt or pump and of ,

using it so a s n o t to inj ure the u sers If this be so t he Greek fire di d not

.
,

di ff er greatly from the flame proj ectors n o w employe d by the Germans

-
.

”
Later the name Greek fi re w a s given also t o combus t ible mate rials W ild fi re - .

w hich w ere ignite d and then thrown by balli st ae or other mac h ines and w ere ,

used on land These compositions w ere semi solid masses o f sul phur pitch
.
-

, ,

naphth a a n d other substances that burn readily and w hen saltpetre had ,

been dis c overed this also w a s ad de d Su c h mi x tures may more corre c tly .

be called w il d fi r e ”
They w ere mu c h used by the Moslems in the Crusade s
-
. .

Thus J o invill e the faithful and devote d c o mpanion of St Louis in the di s

, .

astrou s si x th Crusade (A D 1 250 ) says t hat it c a me flying through the A D 1 250

. .
“
. .

air like a w inged long taile d dragon about the thi c kne s s of a hogshead with
—
, ,

the report of thunder and the velo c ity of li ghtning ; a n d the darkn ess of
”
the night w a s di spe lled by this dea dl y i llumination Nevertheless t he .
,

Greek fire on this oc c asion did very li ttle d amage That men li ke St Louis . .

and J oinville u sually ab solutely fearless shoul d have been terrifi ed by such
, ,

a cause and described it in such exaggerated la ng u a ge se e ms to have been

'

due to the fa c t that they looked upon it as a product of th e Devil B y 1250 . .

,

however the Arab s were acquainte d w ith saltpe t re and it is quite li kely
,
.
,

that they mi xed some with the incendi ary causing it to burn far more fiercely , .

Similar la n guage i s used in describing the incen di a ry missiles di scharged by

the Moors in Spain in battles and sieges of about the same date .

Saltpetre (potassi u m nitrate ) is formed in t he decomposi tion of ani mal a n d Saltpetr e .

vegeta ble matters U nder favo u rable condi tions it form s an e ffl o r c scc n c c
.

on the ground I t must have been by the investigation of such e ffl o r c sc c n ce s

.

that saltpetre wa s first discovered These e ffl o r e s c e n c e s are ne v er pure

.

and seldom c ontain more than a small percentage of p o tassium nitrate The .

ancients did not clearly di stin guish such deposits of sal t petre from t he simil a r
ones of soda which are found in some l o c ali t ies The first preparation of .

saltpetre of even m oderate purity from su c h a deposit w ould require con

s ide r a b le chemical k nowledge and i t coul d only have b e e n done in a country
,

where the deposits are plentiful that is in a c ountry suffi ciently w arm to
, ,

accelerate the decomposition o f t he organi c ma t ter and ha v ing a regular and

prolonged dr y season du ring w hich the depo s i t w ould c o lle c t and not be
washed a w ay Th e clim a te o f \Ye stern E ur o pe is consequently not favou r
.
 E XP L OSIV E S

able and moreover scien t ifi c kno w ledge and in ves t igation w ere very b a ckward
,

in E u rope in the ea rly Mid dl e Ages The p e ople w h o were most proficient .

in t his bran c h of knowledge a t that t ime were the Arab s or rather the Arabic
s pe a king people of Spa in Nor t he r n Af r i ca and S yr ia and many part s of
, ,

these coun t ri es have c limate s sui ta ble fo r the forma tion of sa ltpetre deposits .

Consequently i t is no t su r p r is ing that i t i s in Arabic that the first clear refer

,

en c e t o sa l t pe t r e i s to be fo un d T hi s is in t he w ritin gs of Abd Allah ibn

.

a l B a y t h a r a Spanis h Arab w h o di ed at Damascu s in 1 24 8

-
,
I t seems probable .

t hat t he Arab s and E gyptians kn ew s al t pe tr e in a fa irly pur e sta te about

1 225 .

The C hin ese appa r en t ly became ac qua inte d w i th saltpetre at about the
same peri od and i t i s possible that they were the origi nal di scoverers of salt
,
” 1
pe t re The E gyptians ca lled it Chinese sno w
. and it is si g nifica nt that ,

Chingis t he Mongol c onqueror brought Chi nese engineers wi th him in 1 21 8

, ,

to r edu c e the fortifi cations of t he cities of e ia P rs

2
The sta te ments made .

b y t he ea rly Jesuit fa t hers as to the great antiquity of t he manufacture of

gunpo w der in Chi na ha v e b een sho w n to be in a cc urate and foun ded on
,

erroneous translations 3
Marco P olo who was in the Far E ast from about
.
,

1 274 to 1 29 1 says con c erning the city of Chan Glu in P a r t II

,
Chapter L —
.
,

of his book In t hi s city and the di strict surroun ding it they make great
quan t i t ies of sal t by the followin g process ; in the country i s foun d a sal
,

s u gin o u s eart h ; upon thi s w hen laid in heap s they p o u r water w hich in , ,

it s pas sa ge through the mass imbibes the particles of salt and is t hen coll ected ,

in chann e ls from w hen c e i t is c onveyed to ver y w ide pans not m ore than
four inches d ee p In these i t is w ell boiled and t hen left to crysta lli ze The
. .

”
sa l t t hus made is whi t e and g o od and i s e xported to variou s part s The
, .

ma t e ri al prepared in thi s way could not fail to conta in a considerable pro

po r t ion of sal t petre m oreover the soil in the provi nce of Che Ii in w hi ch
,
-
,

t he ci t y mentioned seem s to have b e en situate d i s kn o w n to be rich in ,

sal t pe t r e Bu t from Marco P olo s statement it is probable that the pro d uc t

.
’

was u sed a s common salt In fact the Chi nese appear to have used saltp et r e
.
,

as ordin ary salt e v en at much later periods .

In t he c hroni cles called Tu ng Klo n Ka ng ma there is an accoun t of the - - -

siege of P ien Kin g (n o w Kai fun g fu ) in 1 232 and thi s was translated into
- - -
,

French by Re ina u d and Fa v é in the J o u r na l As ia tiq u e for October 1 8 49 :

At t ha t t ime u se was m ad e of the h o pao or fi r e pao ca lled T obi n -
,

tien lo ni or t h under that shake s the sky

-
For thi s pur pose an ir on p o t .
’

w a s u sed w hi ch w a s fil l e d with yo As soon a s a li ght wa s appli ed the ’

.
,

p a o rose and fi r e s pread in every di r ection Its noi s e resembled that of thun der .

1 Hi m e, G u n p o wd e r a nd A mmu n it io n,
p . 17 .
2 G ib b o n , c ha p . lx iv .

H im e, c ha p . v ii .
 EA RLY HIST ORY
and could be heard m o re than 1 0 0 lis (thirt y three English miles ) it could -

spread fire over more than a thir d of an acre Thi s fire even penetrated .

”
the breast plates on which it fell .

The Mongols constructed with o x hides a passage which enabled them -

to reach righ t to the foot of th e rampart They commenced to sap the walls .
,

and made holes i n them in which they could remain sheltered from the men
above One of th e besieged proposed that they should hang fi r e paos from
.
-

iron chains and let them down the face of the wall When they reached .

the places that were mined the paos burst and shattered the enemies and
,
”
the o x hides so as not to leave a ve stige of them
-
,
.

In addi tion the besieged had at their di sposition some arrows of flying
,

fire (fei h o tiang ) : to an arrow was attached a substance susceptible of

- -

taki ng fire ; the arrow flew suddenly in a straight line and spread flames
over a width of te n paces No one dared approach The fi r e paos and . .
-

arrows of flying fire were much feare d by the Mongols .

This arrow may have been a squi b or a rocket or merely an arrow to ,

which a sa ltpetre mi x ture w as attached The effects described could hardl y .

have been produced without the use of saltpetre nor the great noise without ,

an explosive but we need not take literally the statement that it coul d be
,

heard thirty three miles away -

.

By A D 1 259 the C hi nese had made a further advan c e The same annals
. .

state : In the first y ear of the period Khai K ing was made an appli ance -

called tho h o tsiang that i s to say lan c e with violent fire

- -
,
’
A nest o f ,
‘
.
’

grains was introduced into a long bamboo tube w hi ch was set light to
’

, .

A violent flame came out and then the nest of grains was shot forth with
a noise like that of a p ao whi ch c ould be heard at a di stance of about 500
,
”
paces . This w a s e v ide n tlv the device now kn o w n as a Roman candl e .

Statements have been made with regard to the anti qui ty of gunpowder Th e I ndia n s.

in India upon similarly incorrect evidence It i s improbable that the refi ning .

of saltpetre can have been di scovered in India as the habits of mind of the ,

educated classes would prevent their interesting themselves in such matte rs ,

and the institution of caste would render it impossible for them to handle
m any of the materials involved But the same institution has enabled the .

saltpetre industry to be developed very widely when once the process had ,

been di scovered elsewhere and introduced as a special caste of saltpetre ,

workers was formed and In di a still supplies a large proportion of the saltpetr e
,

used The saltpetre at first must have been very impure as the methods
.
,

of refining it were crude .

About 1 249 Roger Bacon wrote an account of the composition and manu Friar B a c o n
1 29 4
facture of saltpetre and gunpo w der in his D c Secr etis a n d Op u s Ter tiu m
‘

Those in the former work are fairly full but were concealed by me a ns of ,
 Pic . 1 . Po rt r a it of Ro ge r Ba co n .

pe r mi s s io n o f Lo r d Sa c kx i lle ,
fr o m a p ho t o gr a p h b y H E
. .
 E A RLY HIST ORY
ciphers w hich however have been de c iphered by Col o nel Hime with great
, , ,

ingenuity l
Bacon s statements when not cryp ti c are generally vague
.
’

, ,
.

In his Op u s Tcr tiu m w ritten about 1 250 a clearer passage has recently
, ,

been found by P rof P D u h e m in a fragment discovere d in the Biblioth eque

. .

Na tio n a ls P aris The following free translation has been publi she d by
,
.

Colonel Hime inthe j ourna l of the Royal Arti llery fo r July 1 9 1 1

Fr o m the flashing and flaming of certain igneous mixtures and the
terror inspired b y their noise w onderful consequences ensue As a simple
'

example may be mentioned the noise and flame generated by the powder ,

known in divers places comp osed of saltpetre charcoal and sulphur W hen
, , .

a quantity of this p owder no bigger than a man s finger i s wrapped up in ’

a piece of p a r c h me n t a n d ignited it explodes w ith a blindi ng flash and a ,

stunning noise I f a larger quantity were used or if the case were made
.
,

of some solid mate ri al the explosion w ould of c ourse be much more violent
, ,

and the fl a s h a n d din altogether unbearable

b
.

If Greek fire or any fire of th e same spe c ies be employed nothing can
, , ,

resist the inten sity of its combustion .

Thes e compositions may be used at any di stan c e we please so that the ,

operators escape all hurt from them while those against whom they are ,

employed are suddenly filled with confusion

'

There can be little doubt that soon afte r the di scovery of saltpetre the .
Ar a b s

Ar abs introduced it int o their Greek fire and other incendiaries In ?

;
. .

E urope saltpetre must have been more scar c e than in Africa and Asia
, More .

over the chivalry o f Western E urop e looked upon such means of war with
,

horror and perhaps w ere h a lf aware that the u se of them mu st eventuall y

destroy the Order .

In the M oor I gm u m of Marcus Gr aecus w hi ch was probably translated ,

‘

into Latin from an Arabic source about there are several references
to such mixtures but the translator d oes not appear to have understood
,
'

the subj ect he was writing on and consequently it i s not n o w possible to

’

be sure whether he is endeavouring to describe fi r e b r a n ds rockets or other ,

”
fi re works flying fire (ignis v o la tilis ) i s composed of
“
-
On e .

Resin 1
Sulphur 1
Saltpetre 2

di ssolved in linseed oil and put into a (hollow ) reed or pie c e of wood . This
was apparently an incen di ary (wil d fi r e ) -
.

1
Gu n p o w de r a nd A mmu n i tio n , c h a
p . viii . S ee a ls o fi rt
s ed i ti n
o o h
f t is w o k r .

2
S ee H ime , p . 10 3 .

VOL . I .
 E X P L OSIV E S

Another is made of
Sulphur
Vine or will o w charc o al
Saltpetre
The s e w ere rubbed do w n t o gether on a marble s lab and put into a case
( tuni c a ) in d iff erent manner s a c c o rding to t h e eff ect to be produced To .

make a l o ud n o i s e the c ase w a s to be sh o rt and wi de and filled only half full , ,

and w a s to be bound with strong ir o n wire E vidently this w a s a c racker .

n o t unl ike one described b v Bacon On the other hand the

. flying tunica ,

w a s to be thi n and long a n d filled w ith the above p owder well rammed in
, .

This w a s apparently an imperfec t rocket or squib The same w ork c ontains .

a second description of th ese fi r e works (recipes 1 2 1 3 3 2

-
but this does , , ,

not help to c lear up the uncertainties .

That the Arabs were probably using saltpetre in their fi r e b r a nds in 1 250 ,

i s shown by the passage in J o inville quoted above (page , At the siege

of Niebla in Spain in 1 257 we are told that the Moors launched stones
, , ,
“

”
and d ar ts from machines and missiles of thunder and fire
, .

t
I nven io n of The Chinese do not appear to have developed explosives beyond this
fi r ea r ms
.
point or to have made the ne x t step namely of causing the p owder to throw
, , ,

a heavy proj ectile instead of a ball of fi re P erhap s they made the attempt .
,

but with di sastrous results to themselves .

This step could only be taken by a nation which was at once progressive
and well ac quainted with the working of metals For some time the develop .

ment of gunpowder must have been impeded by the scarcity a n d poor quali ty
o f saltpetre . B efore any great advance could be made i t was necessary ,

for a considerable organization to grow up for c ollecting the saltpetre and

refining it In the meantime all the available supply was no doubt absorbed
.

by the makers of warlike combusti bles .

I n the thirteenth centur y therefore saltpetre was known and used from
, ,

China to Spain and E ngland but before the invention of fi r e arm s its
,
-

utility can have been but small No reliable fuse havi ng yet been discovered
.
,

hand grenades or bomb s can have been o f little use and must have been more
dangerou s to those using them than to the enemy The fi r e works which .
-

have been alluded to must have been very uncertain in thei r action and not
w ithout risk to the fi re worker
-
It does not seem t o have occurred to anyone
.

to use explosives to blow up the walls of a besieged town by mining u nder

neath and firing o ff a large quantity ; the primitive p owder was no doubt
too un c ertain in its action and its properties were not well enough known .

There is evidence to s how that for getting mineral s gunp o wder was not
, ,

u sed until the seventeenth century

l
.

1
S ee ch ap . 1 1.
 E A RLY HIST ORY 19

The real development of g u npowder and its extensive use had to wait ,

therefore for the i nvention of the gun I t i s genera lly c onsidered that t hi s
,
.

was accomp lished by the German monk Berthol d Sch w artz as he i s name d ,

as the invento r in many old manuscripts There is however a c urious .

, ,

inconsistency about the dates mentioned The year 1 3 8 0 i s given by Flavi us .

Blo n du s E nea s Sylvi us Baptista Saccu s and man y others livin g i n th e

, ,

fifte enth centur y Other w r iters have state d that the in vention w a s made .

in 1 3 54 1 3 9 0 and B ut on the other hand there is no doub t that

, , ,

g u ns were used much earlier There i s a manuscrip t in the Asiatic museum .

at P etrograd probably c ompiled by S hem s ed Di n Mohammed about 1 320

which shows tubes for fir ing off both arrows and balls by means of p owder 2
.

In an ill uminate d manuscrip t entitled D e Ofi c iis B egu m written by IVa lte r ,

de Mille me te in 1 3 25 and preserved in Chr ist Chur c h Library Oxf ord t h ere , ,

i s a drawin g reproduced in Fig 2 of a rudimentary gun shaped like a bottle

, .
, ,

and dischargi ng a dart A man i s applyi ng a light to the touch hole On .

-
.

February 1 1 1 326 the Rep ubli c of Veni ce or dered the provision of iron bul lets
, ,

and metal cannon for th e defence of its castles and vi llages and i n 1 33 8 3
,

cann on and p owder were provi ded for the protection of the p orts of H a rfi e ur
and l H e u r e again st E dw ard III
’
4
.

In two frescoes in the church of the former monastery of St Leonardo in .

L e c c e tto near Siena p ain ted by P aolo del Maestro Neri in 1 3 40 are shown a
, ,

large cylin drical cannon di scharging a spherical cannon ball and many h and
"

g u ns 5
.

In 1 33 1 cann on w ere apparently used by the Moors at the siege of Alicante 6

,

and in 1 3 42 in the defence of Algec iras aga inst Al phonso X I of Castill e .

The Coun ts of Derby and Salisbur y w ere present wi th the Spani ards and ,

it i s supposed that they introduced gun s into E ngland In the follo w in g years .

there are several references in the accounts of the Wardr obe of E dward III of
payments on a ccoun t of saltpetre Thus Thomas de Ro lde s to n Clerk of the .
,

King s P rivate War drobe in the Tower of London gives an accoun t for forty
’

s hi llings for ma kin g p o w der and repa iring various arm s in the period 1 344 to
1 3 47 E idem Thom ae super factur am p ul v e r i s per in g e nii s e t e me n da tio n e
”
div e r s a r u m a r ma tur a m XL sol And an acco u nt w a s discovered by Gutt .
7

mann delivered by J ohn Cok Clerk of the King s Great l Va r dr o b e for the date ,
’

1
G utt mann Bl a n ufac tu e o / E p l i v es 1 8 9 5
, r x os , ,
v o l. i .
, pp . 10 1 1 —
.

2
O G utt m nn J I o n u me ni a P u l e i P y i i
. a , i
‘
r s r .

3
L ib r is H is to i e de s S c ie nces m the ma tiq u
, en r a es I ta lic , v o l. iv , p . 48 7 ; P . et S .
, v o l.

v ii .
, p 33 . .

4
P et S . .
, v o l. v ii .
p . 34 .

5
S ee G u t t mann , Al onu me nta P u lr er is P y r ii , 1906 .

6 U t e s ch e r S . S . 1 9 14, p . 10 1 .
, ,

7
Gutt ma nn , Al a n u fa ctu r e o f E x p lo s i v e s , v ol. i .
, p . 13 ; H un t r e , A r chw o lo g ia , 1 8 47

Vo l . x x x ii
FI G 2 ro m W alt r d Mi ll m t
F Ma n u s c r pt
1 i

2
e e e e e s
i
. .

:C
(B y kind p e rmi s i n o f t h
s o eD n of
ea C hr i s t ( I n ” a
) e d )

20
 EA RLY HIST ORY 21

Ma y 1 0 1 346 fo r
, , 9 12 lbs of saltpetre and 8 8 6 lbs of quick sulphur for the
.
, .

King s guns :
’
1
Et ei d em Th o mas de Ro ld e s to n per manus W illie lmi de
C XX

Stanes ad opu s ip s iu s Rei s pro gunnis suis I X XII lib sal p e tr ae e t DCCC I I I I VI .

lib sulphur vivi per breve Regis datum X die Ma n dicto anno X X
. When .

all possible allowance has been made for alterations in the meanings of words ,

there can b e no doubt that in 1 3 46 King E dward had g u ns a n d powder On

-
.

November 25 1 3 46 and again on September 21 1 347 an o ffi cial order was

, , , ,

given to buy all available saltpetre in the c ountry On the first occasion .

750 lbs of saltpetre and 3 1 0 lbs of sulphur were obtained ; on the second
. .
,

20 21 lbs of saltpetre and 466 lbs of sulphur

. The price of the saltpetre was . .

l 8 d per lh
. cf the sulphur 8 d
.
, .

At the battle of Crecy (August 26 1 346) guns were used by the English , .

The French are also believed to h ave p ossessed them but apparently left ,

them be h ind i n order not to be encumbered with them in their pursui t of the
E ngli sh .

We see then that saltpetre became known about 1 225 and that by 1 3 50 Summa ry .

fi r e arms were in use to a c onsiderable extent in Western E urope

-
.

Saltpetre was apparently discovered by one of the Oriental nations and ,

was used for making fi r e works and incendiary mi x tures both in the E ast
-

and West but especially the E ast The explosive properties of saltpetre
, .

mixtures must have been kn own to many people besides Roger Bacon but ,

they were of little use until the discovery of fi r e arms which apparently was '
-
,

made in Italy or Germany early in th e fo u r te e n th century .

Th e period of the first development of fi r e arm s was in many respects an -

important one The division of the p ower in Italy France and Germany
.
,

among a great number of p etty rulers had given the opp ortunity for the
growth of the free cities on the one hand and the P apacy on the other The .

latter had used its p ower to crush the Albigeois in S outhern France the most ,

civilized and cultured people of the time and by 1 250 had extinguished them ,

with fire and sword The free cities were frequently richer than important
.

countries and it was in them that the skill and knowle dge were developed
,

which made it p ossible to construct ordnance and make gunp owder Only .

in E ngland did the king retain much p ower In the E ast the prestige of .

”
Christianity and the Franks was then at its lowest ebb but a steady
“
,

advance was to come The Christian religi o n had been e x tirpated from
.

Africa and a great part of Spain and in Syria the Crusaders had finally faile d ,

to retrieve the H o ly Sepulchre The Arabs h a d long since been obliged to .

resign most of their c onquests to the Turks who h a d reduced the E astern ,

Roman E mpire to little more than the city o f Constantinople and that had ,

become the spoil alternately of Fren c h Norman s Venetian s and G en o ese , ,

.

1 P u li
b c R rd Offi c L nd n L T R E n r ll d
e co Ae nt N
,
4 o o , . . . o e c co u o . .
 22 E XP L O SIVE S
The final fall of th e ci t y w a s however postponed by the app earance of anothe r
, ,

race w h o came like the Turk from Cen tral Asia The s e were the Tarta rs or
,
s
,
.

Mogul s t he g r ea t es t conquerors k no w n in human hi sto ry U nder Ching is

, .

they c onquered Chi na in 1 210 to 1 21 4 C a ri zme Tr a n s o x i a na and P ersia in , , ,

1 21 8 to 1 224 The ci t ies of t he Middl e E ast were r e duced w i t h the aid of a

.

s t a ff of ski lful Chinese engin eers who perhap s brough t wi t h t hem the secret
,

of sa l t pe t re U nder t he succes s ors of Chi ngis fi re and destruction w ere carried

.

in t o Russia P oland and H u ngary At t he beginni ng of t he fourteenth century

,
.

the Mogul E mp ire declin ed under t he civil wars whi ch alm ost inevitably
resul t on t he dea t h of a monarch in the E ast The Tur ks regain e d th eir .

ascendancy for a t im e in Wes t e rn Asia In 1 3 61 to 1 40 5 Timour or Tamerlane .

usur p ed t he w hole of Chi n g is E mp ire except C hina and added to it Northern

’

India par t of Syria and Asia Min or

,
.

But already t he forces were being born w h ich were to revolu tioni ze th e
world In the ci t ies of I t aly Ge rman y E ngland and France a spiri t of
.
, ,

freedom in i nquiry adventure and c ul t ure was ari sing which now dominate s
,

the w hole ea rth .

G ib b on N O TE —
The accoun t of the Greek fi r e i s largely derived from Gibbon s ’

D ec li ne a nd Fa ll Al t hough t hi s remarkable w ork was w ri tten in the

.

eigh t eenth century yet such is it s accur acy that even upon such a di fficul t
,

and techni cal mat t er as thi s subsequent research has been able to fi n d no
,

e r rors in t he statements In a footnote relatin g t o the di scovery of gun powder

.
,

Gibbon s ays
The vani t y or envy of shakin g the esta bli shed property of fame has
, ,

temp t ed some mode m s to carry g u np owder above the fourteenth and Greek
fi re above t he seventh century Bu t their evi dence which precedes the .
,

vulgar aera of t he invention i s seldom clear or satisfactory and subsequent

, ,

writers may be suspected of fraud or credu li t y In the earliest sieges some .

combustibles of o il and sulphur h ave b een used and the Greek fire has s o me ,

a ffini ties w i t h gun powder bo t h in nat u re and effec ts .

I t is impossible to sum the m a tter up bet t er .

 C H AP TE R I I

D E V E OPMENT OF GUNPOW DER L

E arly manu fa c t u e Early p w d e r ma kin g ma chine ry I n c o rp o ra t in g mill
r o -

St amp mill s Add it io n s t o g un p o w d e r C o rn e d p o w d e r P re s e d p o w d e r s

B r e a ki n g d o w n C o mp o s it io n f g un p o w d er Te s t in g g u np o w d e r Fir e arm
o -
s

D o ub l e b arr elle d g un
-
Ri fl e s C anno n s P r o j e c t ile
z I n ce nd iary m i s iles s s :

Sh e ll Fu s e s H and g r e nad e I nfe rnal ma c h ine s Fire w o r ks Milita ry mine s

-
s -

B la s t in g

IN the four teenth century gunpowder was only used on a small scale and Ea ly r
ma nufa c’um
was made in or di nary houses with pestle and mortar We hear for in stance
'

.
, ,
’

that the Rathau s at L ii b eck w a s des tr o y ed by fire in 1 3 60 through the care

lessness of powder makers 1
Berthelot has stated that there were powder .

mills at Augsburg in 1 340 at Spandau in 1 344 and Liegnitz in ,but

Feldhaus could find no confirmation of these statements in the archives of
th ese towns There i s no mention of gunp owder or fi r e arm s in Augsb u rg
.
-

before 1 3 72 to 1 3 73 and the firs t p owder mill was erected at Spandau in

,

1 578 The scale of operations grad uall y increased and in 1 461 we fi nd th e

.
,

first mention of a p owder house i n the Tower of London ; p owder was -

made there for many years as also in orchester Castle

P 3
In the sixteenth ,
.

century mill s of considerable size were i n existence : the Liebfrauenkirche

in Liegnitz suffered at this time from the effects of explosions in a mill near
by In 1 554 to 1 555 a gunpowder mil l i s said to have been erected at Rother
.

hithe and about 1 561 George E velyn the grandfather of John E velyn the
, , ,

diari st had mills at Long Ditton and Godstone having learned the methods
, ,

of manufacture in Flanders A few years later he obtained from Queen .

E li zabeth a monopoly of the manufacture of gunpow d er which he a n d his ,

sons were able to maintain more or less until 1 63 6 when Samuel C o r de w e ll ,

o btained the monop oly whi c h was abolished by P arliamen t in 1 64 1 the

, ,

year before the o utbreak of the Civil War George E velyn made a fo rtune .

out of gunpowder and some of his sons did well but i t is doubtful whether
, ,

1
F . M . Fe ld ha us, S S . 1 90 9 p 275
., , . .

2
Revu e des d eu ce Al o u d es , Au g 1 5 1 8 9 1 .
, , p 8 17
. .

3
B r it E x p I n d
. . .
, pp . 183 et s e q . S ee a ls o H is to r y o f th e E ve ly n Fa m ily , by H e le n
E v e ly n , 1 9 1 5, p p .
19 a nd 26 .
 E X P L OSI VE S

any one else made much money out of it in E ngland After the Resto ratio n .

the m o nopoly of gunpow der as of many other mate ri al s w a s r e establi shed

, ,
-

for a time but d o es not a ppear to have been maintained long

, .

In the reign of Charles I the c ontra c tors suppli ed to t he Crown every

year 240 lasts of gunpowder at 7d or 8d per lb and the Crown sold it again . . .
,

at about a shill ing the retail price being about 1 6d A last consisted of 24
,
.

barrels containing 1 00 lbs each 1

. .

Ea rly p o w der
At first gunpowder wa s made by simply poundi ng u p the c onstituents
and mixing t hem together i n a mortar Of t en the pestle was suspended from .

mac hinery .

a flexible w ooden rod which acted a s a sp ri ng to assist the li f t ing The very
, .

earliest known example of such an appli ance i s shown in an illustrate d manu

script the Co dex Germani cu s preserved in Muni ch (No : 600 of the Hof und
,
”
,

Sta a ts b ib li o th e k )
- Guttmann assigns to thi s the very early date of
.

Similar pictures appear in late r manuscripts such a s the Rust und fe u e rw e r ck ,

b uy ch of the fifte enth cent u ry in th e Sta dtbibliothek at Frankfur t a / M , .

The latte r also sh ows th e next step in the adoption of mac hi nery the stamp ,

mill Guttmann in hi s M on u men ta P u li er is P yr ii gives reproductions of

.
, ,

many old dr awings of such plant In the fif teenth and sixteenth centur ies .

t here were generall y two stamp s workin g in each m ortar They were raised .

alternately by a cam proj ecting from an a xle which was t u r ned by hand At .

a later date water wheels and treadmills were used as the motive power and ,

only one stamp worked in each mortar H orses do not seem to have been used . .

I nc o r p o r a tin g There is a picture of an inco r p orating mill with a n edge runner in a book -

enti t led C o r on a e P a lma M i lita r e di Ar teg licr ia by A Capo Bianco and .

,

pub lished at Venice i n 1 59 8 It ha s only one edge runner and the machine .
-
,

i s apparen t ly turned by a horse working i n the same building .

t
S a mp mins .
S tamp mills w ere still u sed exte nsively on the Continent at the end of
the nineteen t h century but in E ngland they were forbidden Tilt hammers
, .

were also used sometimes especially in Switzerland and i n more m o dern , ,

times rotating drums containing hard wood balls have been employed .

A t fir s t the p owder was used in the fine state In this condi tion i t burned .

slowly as the interstices were very small : i t was li able to foul the fi r e arm
,
-

very badly af t er a few rounds and it was di fficult to regulate th e effect which , ,

depended very much upon the ramming B ourne i n his Ar t 0 / Sho o ting .
,

i n G r e at Or dna n ce 1 5 8 7 said The p owder rammed too hard and the wad “
, ,

al s o it will be long befo re the pie c e goes off

, The po w der too loose .

will make t he shotte to com e short of the mark P u t up the powder .

’

with the rammer head s o mewhat close bu t bea t i t not too hard O t her , .

di sadvantages o f the fine powd e r were t hat i t ab s orbed moisture very rapi dly ,

and t he c on s t i t uents were liable to s eparate one from t he o t her if t he powder

were subj ected to much vibration Fo r al t hough amorphou s carbon has .

1
B it
r . Ex p . I nd .
, p . 278 .
2 il l o n u me n la ,
p . 1 9 , Fig . 48 .
 D E V E L OPMENT OF G UN P OW DE R
much the s ame absolute density as s a ltpetre and sulphur p owdere d c harcoal ,

contains many cavities which make it lighter than the other c o nstituents .

Additions to
It was partly to prevent this separation of the con stituents that the early un o er -

g p wd .

p ow der makers added camphor sal ammoniac and gum dissolved in spirit
-
,

to their p owder Thu s in the Codex Germanicus of the fourteenth century

.

the follo w ing recipe i s given W iltu ein gut starck pulver ma c hen So n y m
IIII lb Sa lnite r und I lb s w e b e l und I lb kol / 1 u n c z s a lp e tr i und I nuez salar
ma n ia k I tem und a in e n XII tail campfer u n d s to z daz alls wol u n de in a n d/
und tu ge p r a n te n wein da r c z u und stoss damit ab und derre daz wol an .

der sunn / so b astu ein u b e r s ta r c k b e liw ig pulver / dez p h un t mer tut denn
”
sust III p h u n t getun mdc h te n / und ist auch b e h a ltig und wirt lenger p e s s e r .

Translation If you want to make a good strong p ow der take 4 lb , .

of saltpetre 1 lb of sulphur and 1 lb of charcoal 1 oz of sa lp r a tic a and 1 oz

, . .
, . .

of sal ammoniac and one twelfth part of camphor P ound it all well up
-
.

together and add spirit of wine and mix it in and dry in the sun Then
, , .

you have a very strong powder of which 1 lb w ill do more than 3 lb other
, . .

”
wise It also keeps well and becomes better w ith time
. .

In another part of the same manuscript i t is stated : Wenn w a nicht

g a m p fe r pey ist daz pulver e r w ir t und verdirbt gern Aber daz g a mfe r h alt .

allez pulver auf/ und ist auch kr e ftig und p r u n s tig in allem pulver wenn
”
man in darin tut Translation
. When there is no camphor it crumbles
“

and easily spoils B ut the camphor holds all powder together and is also
.
,

strong and quick in all powder if one puts it in , .

“
Sa lp r a tica was a mi x ture of saltpetre camphor and sal a mmoniac , ,

made by di ssolving them all in spirit placing the mi x ture in an unglazed ,

earthenware vessel and scraping o ff the e ffi o r e s c e n ce that was formed The

, .

composition must have been very variable These volatile materials were .

also supposed to improve the power of the exp losive by increasing the amount
”
of air .

The separation of the ingredients was restrained at a later date by c o m Oorned ‘

ing the powder that i s breaking the cakes into small grains only instead
, , ,

of to a fine powder In order to get a hard mill cake which would give good
.
-
,

grains the contents of the mortar were moistened before the end of the stamp
,

ing operation with water wine or urine After it had been broken down
, .

the grains of the required size were separated by sifting .

The earliest known reference to corned powder i s in the Fire b o o k

of Conrad von Schongau dated It left less fouling i n the fi r e arm -

and burned faster and m ore regularly than the very fine p owder but it deve ,

loped greater pressure and c onsequ ently i t could not be used in the ordnan c e
of the time but only i n hand guns The fine powder c ame to be calle d ser
,
-
.

”
pentine apparently from the name of the small c annon
, .

1
M J ah ns G es ch ich te des K i egs w es en s L e ip ig 1 8 8 0
. , r , z , .
 EXP L OSIV E S

W h ite h o rn e
in hi s C er ta i n W a ies fo r the Or der in g o / So u ld ier s in Ba ttelra y
'

1 5 60 s ays :
,
If serp entine p o w der s hould be occupied (used ) i n han d guns ,

i t w oul d scant be able to d rive their pellets a q uoit s cast from their m ou t h s ’

and if handgun (i e corned ) p owder shoul d be used in pieces of ordn ance

. .
,
”
thout grea t di s c retion it woul d qui ckl y break or mar them , .

Accordi ng to Guttmann the French p owder mills began in 1 525 to grain ,

-

and classify th eir powder by pass ing i t th rough sieves 1

Apparently corn ed .

powder came gradually in t o use for small arm s and hand grenades during t he - -

fif t eenth centu ry and for big gun s i n the si x teenth th e c ons t ruc t ion of t hese
, ,

being suffi c ientl y improved by that time In an engraving by P hil lip Gall e .
,

after a dra w ing by John Str a da n u s to whi ch the date 1 570 has been a ss i g ned 2 , ,

the operations of cast ing and fini shing gun s are sho w n and the manufac t ur e ,

had evi dently reached a fairly hi gh state of development by th a t t ime .

A really hard compact grain c ould not be made by thi s method c o n se ,

owder .
quently af ter a t ime presses were introduced to compress the mi ll cake before -

c o mi ng According to Guttmann presses were first used for thi s purp ose in
.
3

1 78 4 .At Faversham i n 1 78 9 the powder w a s c ompressed by means of a

screw press sh own in drawi ngs in a c on t emp orary note b ook
,
4
In the -
.

nineteenth c entury hydr aulic presses were introduced .

The cake was broken down by hand wi th wooden mallets and then pressed ,

through sieves to granulate and sort it At one time wooden rollers were .

used to press it through the sieves but later di scs of lignum vi t ae were placed ,

in the sieves whi ch were suspended by means of cords and s w ung backwards
,

and forwards Colonel Congreve in 1 8 1 9 introduced hi s granula t ing machi ne

.
,

whi ch i s desc ri bed in Chapte r VI .

Colonel H ime has given tables to show t he development t hat took place
n the composition of gunpowder in t he c ourse of time some al t era t ions
i l Vi t h .

these are reprodu c ed here :

E N G LI S H G UN P O W D ER

Au th o r i y t t
Sa l pe t r e C ha rco a l Su lp h u r

Ro g e r B a c o n
Ar d e r n e (L a b o r a t o ry re ce i
p ) t
\ Vh it e h o r n e
G o v rnm n t
e e co n t ra t c

Si J Tur n
r . er

R b in
o s

B i ho p
s

1
JV
I a n u / a c tu r e , v o l. i .
, p . 17 .
2
J l on u me n ta , F ig . 8 .

3
Al a n u/ a ctu r e , v o l. ii .
, p . 20 4 .
4
B r it
. Ex p . I nd .
,
F ig . 13 a nd
p . 36 .
 DEV EL OPMEN T OF G UN POWD E R
F ORE I G N GU NP OWD E R

Co u n t r
y t t
Sa l p e re Ch a r c o a l Su lp h u r

1 4t h C e nt ur y G ermany
1 560 Sw e d e n
1 59 5 G ermany
1 59 8 Fran ce
1 60 8 D e n mar k
1 69 7 Sw e d e n
1882 Ge rmany

The proportions 6 : 1 1 known as as as s ix , were first adopted in , , ,

France at the end o f the sixteenth century and have been adhered to there
more or les s ever since 1
.

The fo u rteenth century German p owder has been substituted for a French
-

p owder of about the same date mentioned by Hime as it is a more satisfactory ,

example The last item in the li st i s German cocoa powder ballistically the
.
,

best black p owder ever made .

But in reali ty the composition was extremely variable E very p owde r

‘

maker had his own formula in early days and in the absence of testing appa ,

r atus there was no means of j udging which was best W ith the invention .

of corned p owder another variable was introduced the size of the grains , ,

and the confusion became still worse .

In the Middle Ages the only tests applied to powder were to feel it to T ting es

ascertain whether it was m oist and to b u r n a little to see W hether much

,
”w e
~ “

residue was left The first instrument for testing powder of which we have
.
, ,

any knowledge i s that described by B ourne in his I n ven tio n s a n d D evices

, ,

published in 1 578 It was a small metal cylinder wi th a heavy lid o n e 1 573

. .

hinge . The lid was prevented from fa lling by a ratchet and the an gle ,

to which it rose when powder was fired i nside the b ox measured its
strength .

A much better instrument was that devised by C u r te n b a c h and described 1 627 .

by him in his H a lin itr o P y r o b o lia in 1 627 This consisted of a heavy conical
, .

shot which rested on the mouth o f a small mortar and could travel vertically
upwards along a stretched wire It was prevented from falli ng again by .

a series of catches There i s a copy of this in the Imperial Museum in Vienna

.
,

and Guttmann gi v es a reproduction of a photograph o f i t as Fig 67 of .

Mon u men ta P u lvi s P y r ii

. .

Maste r Gunner Nye i n his Ar t o f G u nn er y 1 647 described the same 1 647

-
, , ,
.

in strument and also proposed that the strength of powder be measured by

,

1
C halo n E , x p lo s ifs lV
I o de r ne s , p . 228 .
 28 E X P L OSIV E S
,

fi ri ng bull e t s from a p istol into clay or b y fi ring a heavy b a ll from a morta r ,

and fin ding out h o w far it t ravelle d Thi s last t he mo r ta r é p r o u te tte w a s .

, ,

adop t ed by t he French and o t her Gover nmen t s and le d to c onsiderable ,

improvement s in t he po w ders By t h e beginning of the eighteenth centur y .

the propor t i o ns of t he c o ns t i t uent s w ere fa irly well fi x e d and t he po w ders ,

for di fferen t gun s di ff ere d only i n the size o f grain In 1 742 Rob ins place d .

the ma t te r o n a m o re s c ien t ifi c ba si s by the i nven t i o n o f t he ba lli s t ic pen d ulum ,

by means of w hich t he actual velo c i t y o f a proj e c tile coul d be mea sured By . .

the e n d of the centur y practi c ally every country h a d come t o use t he ,

propor t i on s 75 of saltpe t re 1 5 of c har c oal a nd 1 0 of s ulphur

, , , .

r e-a r ms . To trace in detail t he development of fi r e arm s i s beyon d t he scope o f -

thi s w ork Mo reover it ha s depen de d far m ore upon t he engineer t han the
. .

po w der maker w h o has nearly al w ays been able t o supply p o w der more
-
,

po w erful than t he gun maker has been able to use th rough insu ffi cien t engineer
—
,

i ng skill A t first t he chi v a lry of “ estern E ur ope w a s entirely opposed to

. .
T

the use of fi r e arms but it soon had to ac quiesce in the employmen t of gun
-
,
~

p o w der in w arfare but made a longer struggle a s regar d s the hunting of

,

animals H a w king a n d the c hase w ere the only respec t able form s of sp ort
.
,

but poachers w ere no t governed by the same scrup les and laws were c o n se ,

q uen t ly passed t o pre v ent the use of fi r e arm s by them For inst a nce in -
.
,

1 5 55 the E le c tor Augustus of Saxony prohibited the p ossession of fi r e arm s, ,

-

by peasants a n d shepher d s and in 1 562 small shot w a s ab solute ly prohibite d

,

throughout t he Duchy of Mecklenburg

.
1
Never t heless i t w a s not po s sible .
,

to prevent the u se of mili ta ry muskets for sporting purposes I ta lv in thi s .

,

respec t as i n so many o t her s w a s ahea d of Northern E urope Benvenuto

, , .

Cellini (b 1 50 0 (I 1 571 ) w hen a young man w a s very fon d of s hooting for

. .

sport a n d ma d e his o w n gunpo w der He shot w i th a single bull et and boasted

,
. .

of his s kill a s a marksman H e m ake s no mention of there bein g any prej udice
.

or la w again s t the u se of fi r e arm s -

.

It was n o t until t he double barrelled gun was introduced that t here w a s -

any real di ff erence between the milita ry and s porting w eap o n s Double .

guns w ere first ma de su ffi c ien t ly ligh t to be pra c t icable in t he middle o f the

seventeenth c entury ; in t he eigh t eenth c entur y t he rib s w ere a dde d and ,

the fl in t lock and hammer w ere introdu c ed .

Rifles w ere a lrea dy kno w n in t he fir s t half o f t he sixteenth cen t ur y and ,

are s aid to have been invente d b y Augus t us K o t t er o f Nuremberg 1 11 1 520 , , ,

b ut fo r a l o ng t ime t he rifle w a s u s e d prin c ipall y fo r sp o rting pu rp o s e s be c au se .

the ne c e s s i t y o f ram ming t he b ullet d o w n t he b arrel w i t h i t s spi ral gr o o ving

ma de t he l o adi ng very slo w Mo re o ver t he p o w der lef t mu c h fouling in the.
,

grooves a nd con s equen t ly it w a s necessary to c lean t he arm af ter a few roun d s

, .

1
G n e r J l d n S h t Gu n 2n d ed p l
r ee o cr o s, .
, . .

2
l it d i B n n t C ll in i p ar t i
'

a e re u o e . .
 D E V E L OP MENT OF G U NP OWD E R

With the old musket on the other hand the b ullet w a s smaller than the bore
, , ,

and this trouble did not ari s e to anything like the same extent In the seven .

te e n th century the rifle w a s trie d i n several continental armies but in every ,

case it was given up again 1

For sporting purposes ac c ura c y was of more
.

importance than rapidity of fire a n d the rifle was able to h o ld its own espe , ,

c ia lly in mountainous c o untries such as the Tyrol and S w itzerland In the .

Ameri c an War of Indepen den c e the sporting rifle was necessarily used for
military p mp o s e s and the E nglish G overnment found it advisable to enlist
'

o n the Continent a corp s of J tigers to put against the c olonial marksmen .

Afterwards the Rifle Brigade was raised and this proved a success from the ,

first Robins the inventor of the ballisti c pendulum had already prophesied
.
, ,

that w onderful eff ects would be produced by the State which could first make
the military rifle a practical success .

Since then every part of the rifle has been further improved the action ,

the r ifl ing the sights ; a n d magazines have been ad de d to increase the rate
,

of fire In 1 8 8 6 smokeless powder for rifles was introduced and this has
.
,

added greatly to the e fficien c y of the weapon The final development i s .

th e introduction of automatic rifles and machine guns su c h as that of Maxim , ,

but thi s part of the evolution of small arm s is still in progress The develop -
.

ment of the pistol has pro c eeded on similar lines .

The first guns were tubes or pots which could withstand only very slight Ca u , a cu .

pressures Then they were made of strips of wrought iron welded together
. .

By the sixteenth c entury they were being cast in bronze and by the eighteenth ,

in iron U ntil the second half of the nin e teenth century a gun consisted
.

simply of a block of c ast metal with a smooth bore machined out and a vent
drilled near the breech It is true that breech loa ding guns were made at
.
-

a much earlier date for e x amples o f t h e m may be seen in the museums but
, ,

the cr u dity o f the w o rkmanshi p i s sufficient to e x plain why they were given
up again In the Crimean war (1 8 54) many of the guns used had seen service
.

in the Napoleonic campaigns In 1 8 58 a committee recommended the intro .

duction of rifled ordnan c e into the British naval service and from that time ,

there has been rapid and continuous improvement in all sorts of guns The .

introduction of the buffer has made the guns much steadier breech loading -

guns were r e introdu c ed and the mechanism of the breech has since then
—

been impr o ved enormously .

To meet the requ i rements of the longer a n d more accurate guns the grains
of the p owder wer e gradually increased in size so as to make them burn more
slowly In 1 8 71 P ebble or P p o w der w a s ma d e by cutting cubes from pressed
.

slabs and in 1 8 8 1 P ri s m p o w der w a s made by m o ul ding hexag o nal pri s ms

,

and pressing them i n a special pres s Th e German s i n 1 8 8 2 ma de a bro w n .

rism powder a n d in spite of att empts to keep t he meth o d of manufa c tu re

p ,

1 Tex tb o o k o f S ma ll A r ms
-
, 1 90 9 , p
p . (5, 7,
 E X PL OSIV E S

se cre t it w a s bein g made a t \Va lth a m Abbey also tw o years later Thi s
, .

ver y large and dense p o w d er was requi red o n accoun t of the great increase in
t he size of naval guns In 1 8 8 2 at the bombardment of Alexan dria w e had
.

8 0 t on gun s of 1 6 inch bore a nd in 1 8 8 6 1 1 0 ton guns of 1 6i inch ca libre

- -
,
- -
.

This po w der di d not reta in i t s importance long however for in the nineties , ,

smokeless p o w der ent irely di splaced black powder as a propulsive explosive

in cann on W ith smokeless po w der it is now possible to throw a shell weighi n g
.

a ton a distance o f t w enty mi les .

r oi ec til es . The firs t proj ec t iles u se d w ere made m ore or less like arrows with metal
”
fea t hers and arro w hea d s j ust as the first railway carriages were bui lt
1 -
,

li ke stage coa c hes These w ere so o n foun d to be unsuita ble and w ere replaced
-
.

by round shot made of iron bronze lead or stone All these materials r e , , .

ma ine d in use for several centuries but stone w a s the most comm on for large ,

guns par t l y because i t s cost w a s o nly a fracti on of that of a metal shot of

,

t he same size a nd part ly because the guns w ould not stand the strain of
,

di scharg ing t he heavier materials Lead and iron bull ets w ere usually used .

for sma ll a rm s bu t in an emergency a n y small handy article was made

-
,

use of .

A t tempts w ere made very early t o throw from gun s incendi ary missiles
i is s il es .
su c h as had been di scharged pre v iously from machin es but some diffi cul ty ,

must have been exp erienced from the flames be ing extin gui shed by the rapid
mo t ion th rough the a ir A t th e siege of W eissenbur g in 1 469 stone balls.
’

w ere use d considerably smaller than th e bore of the g i m and these were ,

smeared over w i t h incendi ary matter and wr apped in a cloth soaked in the
same mi x tur e 2
.

Actual shell could not be used at that time because it wa s not known ,

h o w to cast them in metal But a sort of w eak shell was made of earthen
.

w are o r by j oini ng t w o hemispheres of metal

, These w ere filled with a slow .

burning po w der w ell rammed in or other incen diar y matter and were provided , ,

wi t h an i g niter w hi ch w a s set li ght to by th e flame from the gunpowder of

,

the pr o pellin g charge but there must have been considerable 1mce r ta in ty
,

about the i gni t i o n and of course it w a s m uch too dangerou s to introduc e

,

a li ghted shell in to the bore of a g un whi ch had been c harged with serpent ine
p o w der by means of a shovel The difficulty w a s sometimes overcome by .

enclosin g the p o w der in a paper c art r idge but thi s method did not find general ,

a c cep t ance Re d hot sh o t coul d not be used for the same reason until Stephen
.
-
.
,

Bathory King of P oland in 1 5 79 used a thi c k w e t wad to prevent the fire

, ,

spreadin g t o t he c harge H ot shot w ere used with great e ffect in th e defence

.

of Gibral t ar by t he E nglish in 1 78 2 .

S o li d s ho t are no t u s e d now except fo r pra c t i c e and exp eri mental purposes .

1 S l l n me nta P la t
ee i o u 69 70 7 1 H im p 19 9 ; Ris e a nd P r g s Fig 3
, es , , e, . o res , . .

3 Hi m e p 220 . .
,
 D E VE L OPME NT OF G UN P OWD ER 3]

The shell for the early muzzle loa di ng rifled guns w ere pro v ided with
-

studs to fit into the r ifl ing and with c opper plates (gas checks ) over the base -

to prevent th e escape of the gases past the she ll For som e of the early r ifled .

breech loading guns th e shell w ere coated w ith lead but now they are provided
-
,

with copper bands near the base to take the r ifli ng and prevent the escape
of the gases Originally of course shell were filled with black p o w der but
.
,

n o w high e x p losives are used a lmost exclusively for common she ll Shrapnel .

shell were devised ab ou t 1 78 4 by Lieutenant Shrapnel for use against tr 0 0 p s

in the open They were adopted offi ciall y in 1 8 03 and c onsisted of a round
.

she ll containi ng only a sma ll charge of po w der j ust sufficient to break the ,

envelope into fragments which conti nued to travel more or less in the same
,

di rection and with the same velocity as the shell did before After the intro .

duction of rifled cannon the Shrapnel shell developed into a cylindrical missile
fill ed with bullets embedded in rosin with a small charge o f black powder ,

which when ignited by a time fuse expels the bu llets Against troop s in
, , .

the open its kill ing p ower i s great but it i s in eff ective against them w hen
,

entrenched and it has not the nerve shattering effec t of c ommon shell c harged
,

with high exp losive .

Formerly case shot was used against troop s at short range It consisted .

of a case c ontaini ng a large number of bull ets w hi ch spread out from the ,

muzzle of th e gun the case being broken up in the bore The principal sorts
, .

of case shot were grape cani ster and spherical case They are not used
, .

much now as their place has been taken by shrapnel shell and machine guns
, .

Chain shot was fired against the rigging of ship s i t consisted of tw o balls
o r half balls uni ted by a chain and are said to have been invented by De
,

Witt P ensi oner of Holl and ab out 1 666

, ,
.

For exp losive shell the difficul ty was to make a satisfactory i gniter o r Fus es .

fuse The earliest record of really successful explosive shell is in the accoun t s
.

on the sieges of W a c h te ndo n ck and Bergen o p Zoom in 1 58 8 the master — -

,

gunner bei ng an Italian refugee from P arma in th e employment of the Dutch .

The fuses used were apparently tubes or pipes filled with slow bur ni ng powder -
,

which were driven into the fuse hole of the shell and th is typ e was adhered
-
,

to unt il the middl e of the nin eteenth century and later when concussion and ,

percussion fuses were invented .

The fuses were made to burn 1 4 to 20 seconds corresp ondi ng to ranges of ,

1 00 0 to 20 00 yards in the mortars w hich were always used instead of ordinary

,

g un s fo r thro w ing she ll The shell were used for the destruction of stone
.

fortifications and ship s ; again st men they w ere not eff ective as there w a s ,

usua lly plenty of time to get away from them before they e x p lode d U ntil .

after the introdu c tion of w atch es which were invented by Huygens in 1 674
, ,

no conven ient means e x isted o f testing the time of burning of a fuse In .

the middle of the eighteenth century fuses were made o f bee c h w ood with
 E X PL OSIV E S

a hole d o w n t he mid d le filled w ith fuse powder Th e fuse c ould be cut to .

a ny re qu ir e d leng t h Grea t a c curacy w a s n o t d e man d e d of t hem until

.
.
,

Cap t ain Mer cier during t he siege o f Gibral tar in 1 779 p ro p o s e d to fire s hell
fro m gun s ins t ead o f ho w itzers or m ortars Short c alculated fuses were .
“

t hen u s ed s o as t o m ake t he shell burst over the Spanish working parties .

The eff e c t pro du c e d w a s consi derable .

Accura t e fuses w ere al s o re quired for the Shrapnel shell w hich wa s devised ,
-

by Lieutenant Shrapnel R A about 1 78 4 and offi c ially adopt e d iii 1 8 0 3

, . .
, , ,

bu t t hey w ere made up o n the sam e pri n c iple u ntil the s e cond half of the
n ineteen t h cen t ury .

H and grenades seem to ha v e been used t o a con s iderable extent in the

-

firs t half of t h e sixteenth century at w hich time they were pr o bably m ade ,

of ear t hen w are They are said to ha v e been use d at the siege of Arles
.

”
in W h ite h o r ne w riting in 1 560 says that earthen bottles or p osses
“

, ,

had been formerly use d but he rec o mmen d s hollo w ball e s of meta l as big
, ,

as s mal b o ules and ! in thick cast in mo u lde s and m ade of 3 partes of brasse
,

”
and 1 of tinne They w ere charged w i th 3 partes serpenti ne 3 partes
.
“

,
”
fine corne po w der and 1 part rosen A little fine c orned p owder was used .

”
as p riming and he directs that the grenades be qui c kly thrown as t h ey
,
“

”
will a lmost immedi ately b r e a ke and fl y e into a thousand pieces .

I n the seventeenth century the p roblem of the fuse for hand grenades -

w a s fairly well solved and regiments were formed of

, Grenadiers powerful ,

men spe c ially trained to throw grenades Maj or Ady e writing in 1 8 0 2 .

, ,

sai d grenades c ould be thrown t w enty si x yards -

.

Inf ernal The doubtful honour of having invented infern al machin e s is ascribed
to a Nuremberg citizen i n 1 5 1 7 but there i s a drawing of one by Le o nardo da ,

Vinci who lived from 1 452 t o 1 5 1 9

,
In 1 645 attempt s were made to blow .

up S w e di sh shi p s in Wismar harbour b v means of clock w ork bombs The -

.

clock work a c tuat e d a flint lock wi th a revolving steel wheel

-
Clock work .
-

infernal ma c hin e s c o ntaini ng a nitro glycerine e x plosive were used also by -

t he I ri s h Ameri c an Fenians i n 1 8 8 3 and 1 8 8 4 but now clock work i s not

-
,
-

generally applied in these criminal attempts .

f ir e- w o rk s .
Fi re works seem to have been made soon after the di scovery of gunpo w der
-

referen c es to them are foun d i n the writings of Ha s san e r Rammah Ro ger - -

,

Ba c on Mar c u s Gr aec u s and Albertu s Magnus in the thirteenth and fourteenth

, ,

c enturies They w ere pr o bably made fir s t i n China and introduced into

.

E urope i n the thirteenth century They were u sed to celebrate pea c e at .

Vi c enza i n The e ssential features were developed ea r ly and later ,

centu ries ha v e a dded nothing really novel Impr o vements have been made .

in the ar ti s t i c eff e c ts preci s ion o f exe c uti o n a n d s afety bu t t he general p rin

, ,

1 l I l él
i z W h n b lt S p t 1 1 1 9 1 5
'

a r oc e
’
.a ,
2
H im c h p
e .
, . e, a . x .

3
A G n a d e w it z
. , 19 1 5, p . 273
 D E V EL OPMENT OF G U N P OWD E R
c ip le sare the same Th e introduction of chlorates at the end of the eighteenth
.

century ha s been of some assistance but their use has been restricted on ,

account of the dangerou s character of many chlorate mi x tures In the .

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries large sum s were spent i n Europe on

fi r e w o rk displays to celebrate special events b u t they were not much used
-
,

in war Carcasses c ontaining incen di ary comp osition smoke balls and light
. ,
—

balls were used h owever i n the P eninsula

,
1
The I n di ans fire d rockets in
,
.

the defence of Seringapatam in 1 792 but th e y do not appear to have done ,

much damage At the siege of the same town in 1 79 9 explosive rockets

.

seem to have been used wi t h some effect 2

Soon afte r this the Ordnance .

Office applied to the Royal Lab oratory Woolwich for the services of som e , ,

one who understood the manufacture of rockets The Laboratory referred .

the Or dnance Office to the E ast Indi a Company who repli ed that they kn ew ,

of no one who possessed such knowledge .

Colonel Congreve of the H anoverian Army (afterwards Sir W Congreve ) .

was thus le d to make e x periments and he devised the Congreve rocket the , ,

most p owerful thing of the kin d that had been used in warfare It proved .

very effective at Copenhagen and Walcheren in 1 8 0 7 and at the passage of ,

the Adour in 1 8 1 3 but it was at the battle of L eip sic that it achiev e d the
,

greatest renown for a French infantry brigade in the village of P aunsdorf

, ,

unable to withstand their well directed fire surrendered there to the Rocket —

Brigade At Waterloo also good service was rendered

. .

Since the Nap oleonic wars the improvements in ordnance have been so
great that the war rocket i s no longer used For military purp oses rockets are .

o nl y fired now as signals and to illuminate the enemy s p osition at ni ght and ’

for th e latter purp ose they have been displaced to a great extent by star shell .

The use of gunp owder for blowing up the enemy s walls and fortifications ’

commenced in the fifteenth century Mines charged with gunp owder were .

used in 1 4 1 5 by the E ngli sh at the siege of H o n fl e u r .

For blasting minerals gunp owder does not appear to have been used until Bla sting .

th e seventeenth c entur y Th e first recor de d blasts were made by Gaspar

.

W e indl at Schemnitz in Hungary and from there the method was introduced
, ,

into Germany in 1 627 P rince Rupert son of the Queen o f Bohemia and.
,

nep h ew of Charles I is said to have brought the practice of blasting to England

,

i n 1 629 but t h is i s doubtful 1 670 is a more probable date

,
3
In 1 68 9 Thomas .

Ep s ly Senior started th e use of gunp owder in the Cornish mines 4

The late .

Mr Oscar Guttmann in his book on B la s ting published in 1 9 0 6 gave the

.
, , ,

foll owing concise account of the further progress

When bore h o les first came into
-
use they were made with iron mouthed -

1
R is e a nd P r o g r es s ,
p . 1 74. 2 H im p e, . 1 29 .

3
B r it E x p
. , I nd .,
p 255.
.
4 Fe ld haus , S .S .
, 1 90 8 , p . 21 8 .

V OL . I .
3
34 E X P L OSIV E S

b o rer s fa irly large nearly 3 in che s i n diameter and then closed w ith a w o o d en
,
—
,

plug t e rmed the s hooting plug

,
‘
.
’

“
Hen ning H u t man in 1 68 3 employed a kin d of dri lling machin e In
-
.

1 68 5 clay t a mpings and in 1 68 6 fi r in g tubes began to be u s ed

,
-
,
I n 1 68 9
.

paper c artridge cases were used to replace the ol d er form of lea t her and in ,

1 71 7 bore h o les of sma ller di ameter came into vogue

-
The use of th e chisel
.

borer date s from 1 749 bla sting the un touched breast from 1 767 (fi rst at
,

I t is onl y by blast ing operations tha t m any o f the engineering fea t s of

m odern time s have been ma d e possible In c onstru c ting means of com
.

mu ni c a tio n such a s road s canals and railways immense quantities of

, , ,

expl o sives have been use d .

 C H AP TE R I I I

PROGRESS OF EXPL OSI V ES I N TH E EI GH TEENTH AND

NI NETEENTH CENTURIES

Be r t ho lle t C hl o ra t e I gnit er s Fo r s y t h s d e t o n a t o r lo c k Ful mi n at es C ap s

,
’ '

Fus e s G un c o tt o n f N i t r o g ly ce rine
- -
Ammo ni um ni tra t e e p lo s ive s Sp r e n ge l
x

ex
p lo s ive C o a l min e d an g e r s
s C h e dd i t e I n s p e c t io n o f e x p lo s iv s Smo k e e
-

le s s p o w d e r s Pi cric a c id Tr o t y l

IN the nineteenth century commenced the active appli cation of s c ience to

exp losives with the result that this industry li ke so many others developed
,

enormously In this chapter no attemp t will be made to give in detail the

.

history of each invention ; only the principal discoveries will be mentioned ,

and an attemp t will be made to show how one has led up to a nd assisted
another .

When chemistry was put on a fir m basis at the end of the eighteenth

century there was a great increase in the number of chemical comp ounds
,

which could be made in the laboratory No man had more influence upon .

chemical science than Count Claude L Berthollet (1 748 . Amongst

the substances which he di scovered was potassium chlorate or at least he in ,

1 78 6 first showed clearly h ow it c o ul d be prepared in the pure s tate and he ,

investigated and described its prop ertie s for it seem s to have been kn own to
Glauber (1 60 3 Berthollet found that potassium chlorate if substituted ,

for saltpetre produced a more p owerful (or vi olent ) explosive and proposed
, ,

in 1 78 8 to manufacture gunp owder with it B ut the results were most .

disastrous A party had been made up to see the first of the new p owder
.

made in the mills M and Mme Lavoisier M Bertho llet the Commissary
. .
, .
, ,

M de Ch ev r a u d and hi s daughter the engin eer M Lefort and others W hilst

.
, ,
.
,
.

th e mixture was being inco r porated in a stamp mi ll the party went to break -

fast Lefort and Mll e de C h e v r a u d were the first to return and as they di d
. . ,

so the charge exploded with great vi olence throwing them to a great di stance
,

and caus ing them such in j uries that they both died in a few minutes .

In spite of repeated attempts it has not been found possible to make a

satisfactory propulsive exp losive with c h lorate the explosion is always liable
to b e too Vi ol ent and uncontroll able .

35
 E X P L OSIV E S

U n t il
the inventi o n of Che ddite all the chl o rate mixtures proposed w ere
t o o sensitive t o be used with safety even as blasting explosives C u n di ll .

and Thom s on s D ictio na r y o f E x p lo s ives issued in 1 8 9 5 in c ludes the de s criptions

’

of 1 50 mi x t ures c ontain ing potassium chlorate but w ith the exception o f a ,

fe w cap and fuse compositions none of these have pr o ved to be of practical use .

I gniters The first fi r e arm s were set off by means of a lighted match which was
- .
,

appli e d to a p ri ming of fine po w der Rain or wi nd seriously interfered w ith .

t he o peration I n the eighteenth century the flint lock was devised and a
.

lighted match was no longer necessary In its best form the priming powder .

was conta ined in a small chamber which wa s uncovered only at the instant
w hen the des c ending flint struck a spark from the steel Although thi s was .

a great improvement i t left much to be desired as regards ease of loading ,

rapidity of ignition and fouling of the touch hole H ence the persevering
,
-
.

attempts to devise an easier and simpler method .

Fo y th
rs
’
s In 1 8 0 5 the Re v A J Forsyth a Scotch minister made a sporting gun
. . .
, ,

deto na to lock with a detonator lock and in the ne x t year submitted his invention to the
r .
,

Master General of Ordnance who asked him to adapt it to the requirements

-
,

of the Ser v ice Forsyth s devi ce consisted of a receptacle or m agazine shaped

.
’

like a scent bottle which was attached to the lo ok of the gun It contained
—
, .

a detonating mixture of potassium chlorate charcoal and sulphur By , .

rotating the magazine a small quantity of thi s was cau sed to fall into a small
hole in a plug communicating w ith the touch hole of the gun and on again -
,

rotating the magazine it was brought i nto such a position that the portion
of detonating priming could be set o ff by the fall of the hammer .

Forsyth spent some £ 600 in trying to produce a satisfactory device for

military purposes and he claimed to have succeeded but the Government
, ,

authorities were not convinced and did not adop t it At the time they only .

paid Forsyth s expenses but they granted £ 1 000 to hi s relatives shortly after
’

hi s death .

For sporting purposes Forsyth s invention had some success but the ’

p rofits must have been largely swallowed up by th e numerou s lawsuits that

he instituted to protect it from 1 8 1 1 to 1 8 1 9 Before very many years had .

elapsed Forsyth s device was displaced by the copper tube or cap containing
’
,

fulminate of mercury .

Ful mina tes . Fulminates of gold and silver have long been known and their discovery ,

was as c ribed to Basil Valentine a fictitiou s person of the fifteenth century , .

They were perhap s invented by Cornelius Drebbel a Dutchman about , ,

P epys in his diary for November 1 1 1 663 recount s a conversation wi th a

, , ,

Dr Allen who told him abou t Au r u m fu lmina n s

.
, of whi ch a grain put ,

i n a silver spoon and fi red will give a blow like a mu s q u e tt and s trike a hole
,

”
throu gh the silver spoon do w nward without the least force u pward , .

1 F M F l hau 1 9 0 9 p 258
d S S , . e s
, , , , , . ,
 PROG RE SS OF E X P L OSIV E S
Mercury
The fulm inate s of gold and s ilver are however too sensitive and dangerou s , ,
f ul mina te .

for any p ractical use but th ey have played the ir part as t oys and scientifi c
,

curiosities Liebig w h o wa s b o rn in 1 8 03 when a boy s a w a quack in th e

.
, ,

market place of Darmstadt make fu lminating silver

-
The alcohol he recog .

n iz e d from th e smell of a garment whi c h the qua c k had cleaned with li quid

from the same bottle He w ent home and succeeded in making the substance
. .

In 1 8 23 when he was in P aris with Gay Lussac he investigated the fulm inates
, ,

at the suggestion of the latter and i solated fulminic aci d By that time the , .

comparati v ely stable fulminate of mercury was well known having been ,

described by E d w ard H oward in a paper before th e Royal Society ,

in 1 8 0 0 It i s stated that it was manuf actured in France in 1 8 1 9

. .

The re i s some uncert a inty as to who first invented the ful minate of mercury
cap but it seems that several people were working at the idea at t he same
,

time and contribut e d to w ards the final su c cess Accor din g to H Wil kinson 1
. .
,

J Shaw of P hiladelphi a in vented a steel cap in 1 8 1 4 in 1 8 1 5 a pewter c a p

.
, , ,

and i n 1 8 1 6 a c opp er cap The London gun m aker Joseph Egg seem s to .
-
, ,

have a dopted the idea from Shaw The P a ri s gun makers P rélat and .
-
,

D e b o u b e r t in 1 8 20 patented cap s fill ed with f ul min ates of sil ver and mercury
,

respectively E Goode Wright of Hereford in 1 8 23 published a paper

. .
2
, ,

on the ful m inate of mercur y cap and subse quent workers seem to have derived ,

mu c h information from it Frederick Joyce was the first t o make a real .

success of the p ercussion cap about 1 8 24 The firm of Joyce and Co claim . .

an ear lier date but although experi ments may have been made in previou s
,

years there appears to be no evidence of manufacture on a onsiderable scale

c
3
.

The next important step was to combin e shot p o w der and cap in one Th e ca pp ed
.
,

c artridge w hi ch could be inserted in the breech of the arm

,
Many attempts c a tfi dg e
.
r ‘

had been made from very early times to make breech loa ding fi r e arms but - -
,

wor kmanship and kn owledge of engineeri ng were not suffi c iently advanced
to make a success of it In 1 8 3 6 L e fa u c h e u x introduced his pin fi r e breech
.
-

loa ding shot gun the barrels of which w ere made to drop as in the modern
—

shot gun to allow the cartridges to be introduced This gun al t hough it had
-
.
,

ma ny imperfections combined all the principal features of t hose made at the

,

present day About 1 8 53 the E nglish and French gun makers introduced
.
-

the central fire hammer g un which fired cartridges having a cap in the middle ,

of the base of the cartridges but the first really successful central fire gun ,

w a s that made by Daw in 1 8 61 4

In 1 8 4 1 the P russians adopted a breech loa ding rifle the Ziin dna g el ggfi g ifi e '
-
, r e

1
E ng in es o f Wa r p , . 1 8 7. g , v o l l x i i , p 20 3 .
P h il . ll l a . . . .

3
Th e a c co r mt of t h e d is c o ve r y o f t h e p e c s s ioru ca p is l g e lyn ke f o m t h e p a p ear ta n r r
by E . H ul me , B A
. ., in t h e R is e a nd P r o g r es s o f th e B r i ti s h x p lo s iv e s I nd us try , E
L ondo n 1 90 9
, . S ee a ls o U t e s c h e r , S S . 1 9 14 ,
p . 10 1 .

4
G r en e r
e , fi l o de r n S h o t G u n s , 2n d cd ., 1 8 9 1, p . 4.
 E X P L OSI VE S

ge w ehr in v ented in 1 8 3 8 by D r e y se In this i gni t ion was effec t ed b y a

,
.

nee dle being d ri v en right t h rough th e base of the cartridge into a di sc of

fulmina t ing mate ri al Af t er a fe w roun ds th e rifle c o u l d not be fired from
.

t he shoul d er in c o nsequence of the escape of flame The needles also rus te d .

and broke But in spite of its defec ts the gain in rapidity of fire caused i t
. .

t o be mainta in e d as the general arm in the wars o f 1 8 4 8 1 8 66 and , ,

The French adopte d the Chassep ot in 1 8 66 Thi s wa s a c onsiderable .

i mprovement upon the P russian rifle ; escape of gas at the breech was pre
vented by means o f a rubber w asher About the same time a commi ttee sat .

in E ngland to decide up on a rifle and fin all y selec ted that of Mr Jacob Sni der , .
,

an Ameri can But a t the suggestion of Colonel B oxer the cart r idge case
.

was made of brass ins t ead of t hi n paper a s in previ ou s rifles This not onl y .

grea t ly i mproved the accuracy o f shooting but effectuall y prevente d the ,

escape of gas at the b reech 2

.

t
Sa fe y fuse . The old method of firing a blasting charge was to lay a train of powder
up to i t or u se a quil l or rush fill ed w ith p owder The t ime ta ken by these
, .

t o burn w a s very uncertain ho w ever and t hi s cau sed numerous accidents

, ,

in th e min es Thi s led Mr Willi am Bic kford of Tuckin gmill Cornwall in

. .
, , ,
”
1 8 3 1 to d evise his min er s safety fuse wherein a continuou s thin core of
’
-
,

powder was c ontain ed in cable of j ute and strin g 3

This gradua ll y cam e .

more and more into u se and the fuse was improved in quality as experience
,

was ga ined in its manuf acture For u se in wet places a special quality wa s .

made covered wi th ta p e and var nished Soon after 1 8 40 the Bickford fuse .

w a s a d opted by the E ngli sh mili tary authorities In 1 8 3 6 a factory was .

started i n America ; in 1 8 3 9 in France and in 1 8 44 in Germany B efore , .

1 8 40 guttapercha covered fu se had been adop ted for blasting un der water
-
.

Various modifi c ations ha v e since been in ven ted in cludin g fuse cased i n meta l , ,
”
Colliery Fu se w hi c h emi t s no sparks and variou s sort s of instanta neou s
,
4
,

fuse ,which burn very rapidly and enable many shot s to be fi red
simul taneou sly .

Sh ell fuses . As stated in the last chap ter th e fuses of shell were originall y ar r anged
to be ignited by the flash of the po w der charge in the g un The invention .

of the percussion cap however made it possible to sta rt the action of the
, ,

fu se in another and more certa in manner In 1 8 46 Quartermaster F r e e b u rn .

,

R A invented the fi rst E ngli sh time fu se sta rted by the concussion of t he

. .
,

di scharge ; a nd in 1 8 50 Commander Mo o r s o n R N brought forward th e , . .

,

first per c ussion fuse w hi c h was actuated by the shock of impact of t he she ll 5
.

The s e tw o t y pes of fuse are s t ill i n u se and are m a d e to s c rew into either th e
1
Te x tb o o k o f S ma ll A r ms , 1 9 0 9 ,
-
c hap . ii .

2
Te x tb o o k of S n w ll A r ms ,
-
1 90 9 .
3 Eng . Pa t . No . 61 5 9 of 1 8 31.
4 Pa te nt ed b y Sir G . S mi t h in 1 8 8 6 .
5
H im e,
p . 24 5 .
 PROG RES S OF EXP OS I VES L
n ose or base of the shell Very often both methods are c o mbine d in a time
.

”
and percussion fuse Shell were used with great effect by the Russian
.

fleet against the Turkish at Sinop e in

Gun cotton wa s discovered in 1 8 45 1 8 46 by C F S chonbein P rofessor G n cotton
- -
. .
, u -
.

1 8 46
of Chemistry at Basle in the course of some exp eriments w hi ch he was making
,
.

up on highly o x idized bo di es followin g up a train of thought suggested by ,

his di scovery of ozone in 1 8 44 P e lo u z e had made an e x plosive in 1 8 3 8 by

’

the action of nitric acid on cotton but he did not take the imp ortant step of ,

mix ing sulphuric with the nitric a c id and he did not make any practicable ,

app lication of his explosive Sc h fi nb ein at once recogn ized its imp ortance a s .

an exp losive and kept the method of preparation secret w hil st he endeavour ed ,

to sell the process to variou s Governments H e showed th at when fired in .

a musket gun cotton produced the same velocity as a much greater weight of
-

gunp owder P rofessor B ottger of Frankfort o n Main discovered gun cotton

.
,
- -
,
-

i n 1 8 46 independently of Sch onbein but he entered into an arrangement with

, ,

h im t o share the profits of the invention Several others attracted by the .

,

great stir that was caused by the in vention endeavoured to make gun cotton -

and some of them succeeded but Sch onbein was able to main tain the start
, ,

he had obta ined In the autumn of 1 8 46 he came over to E ngland and gave
.

some very successful demonstrations at W oolwich and P ortsmouth and before

the B ritish Asso ciation In the name of John Taylor he took out a British
.

P atent ,
2
and he entered into an agreement for t h ree years with J ohn Hall
and S ons that they should have the sole right to manufactur e g un cotton at -

their p owder works at Faversham and in ret u rn should p ay one thir d of the ,
—

net profit with a min imum of £ 1 00 0 down and the same each year B ut .

before a year had elap sed on J uly 1 4 1 8 4 7 there was an exp losion of the , , ,

g u n
-
cotton wh i ch destroyed the factory and kil led twenty one men After -
.

thi s Hall and S ons refused to proceed with the manufacture About the .

same time th ere were disastrou s gun c otton exp losions at Vincennes and -

B ouchet and these produced such an e ff ect that no more gun cotton was
,
-

manufactur ed in E ngland or France for some sixteen years .

Meant ime Sc h ii nb e in had offered his process to the German U nion

(Deutscher Bund ) for thalers and a committee had been forme d ,

to consider the matter on which Liebig represented the state of Hesse and
, ,

Baron von Lenk who was secretary represented Austria T hi s c ommittee

, , .

sat un til 1 8 52 but finall y refused to buy the process partly on political grounds
, , .

The i ndivi dual members of the U nion were then able to make separate
negotiations and at the suggestion of von Lenk who had done most of the
, ,

actual work of the c ommittee Austria ac quir ed the process for gulden ,
.

In 1 8 52 the E mperor of Austri a appointed a committee to inquire int o v on L nk e .

the use of gun cotton for military purposes and with some interrup t ions this
-
,

1
Ru s c h S S 1 90 8 p 1 8 9
, .
2
. N ,
1 1 40 7 O c t b r 8 1 8 4 6
, . . o .
, o e , .
 EXPL OSI VE S

con t inu e d to si t un t il 1 8 65 In 1 8 53 a fa c t o ry w a s erecte d a t Hir t enberg to

.

ca r ry ou t v on Le nk s me t hod of makin g gun co t t on In t hi s th e pur ifi c ation

'

-
.

w a s some w ha t more t ho r ough t han in Sc h ii n b e in s original p rocess for in s te ad

’

of me r el y w ashi ng wi t h w a t er u n t il neu t r al von Le n k w ashed for th ree weeks , ,

t hen b oil ed wi t h dil u t e po ta s h solution fo r fif t een minute s washe d again ,

for seve r al da ys imp r eg na t ed t he y arn w i t h water glas s and finall y d ri ed

,
-
, .

Von Lenk al s o cons t ru c t e d some ba t t e r ie s of 1 2 p oun der guns to b e fire d -

wi t h gun co t t o n c art ridg e s

-
Th e se guns w ere s o much da maged by fi ri ng
. .

ho w ever t ha t no o t her na t ions adop t e d t hem

, About 1 8 60 v on Lenk .

in t r oduc ed bronz e gun s which w e r e less liable t o burs t than iron ones and
, ,

t he s e no t onl y had a p ropul sive c h arge of g un cotton but also had shells -
,

con t a ining a burs t ing c harge of t he same explosive I t wa s found however . .

,

t ha t t he se of t en burst in t he bo r e and t his was evi den t ly due t o t he very ,

sudden s h o ck of t he di scharge exp lodin g t he shell charge for when gunpowder ,

w a s u sed to fire t he g un co t ton shells no bursts t ook place

-
On July 20 ,
.
,

1 8 63 t he magazin e a t H ir t e nberg explod e d and thi s seem s to have finall y ,

d e cided t he Au s t rian au t hori t ies t o gi ve up g rm cot t o n as a propulsive -

exp losive and von Lenk w a s t hen all o w ed t o commu nica t e t he me t hod of
,

manuf ac t u re t o o t her P owers In 1 8 65 ano t her magazine e xp loded on

.

S t e inf elder Hea t h nea r Vienna and on Oc to ber 1 1 1 8 65 th e m anufacture , ,

w a s o fficially sto pped in Austria .

The f u rt her developmen t then to ok p lace i n other c ountries Von Lenk .

m ad e commun ica t ions to t he E mp eror Napoleon I I I and exp e ri men t s were ,

sta rte d in France In 1 8 64 he t o ok ou t an Ame ri can pa t ent

. .

In 1 8 62 and 1 8 63 von Lenk t o ok ou t pa t ents in E ngland in th e name

of Rév y t o pro t ec t his methods of p u rifi ca tio n a n tl in t he la t t er year he
1
.

came over w i t h t he perm is s i o n of the E mperor to de scribe hi s proce ss to a

commi t t ee of t he B ri t i s h Association The same year Messrs P r entice and . .

Co s t ar t ed t o make gun co t t on a t S t o w m arket b v von L e n k s process but

.
-
’

an exp lo s ion occurred t here soon af te r .

U n d er t he di re c t ion of Fre deri c k Abel t he Chemis t of the E ngli sh War ,

Depar t men t manufac t ure w a s also starte d abou t t he same t im e on a small

,

s ca le in t he Ro yal G unp owder Factory a t V Va lt h a m Abbey This made i t .

po s sible for Abel to carr y ou t t h ose e xp erimen t s a n d researches w hich led

t o a r e v olu t ion in t he e xplosive s indu stry and have rendered gun co t to n ,
-

one of t he safes t e x plosive s in m anufa ct u re a n d u s e In 1 8 65 he to ok out .

a pa t e n t for pul ping gu n co t t on and pre s sing it in t o blo c ks and in 1 8 66 and

-
2
,

1 8 67 he publi s hed his Re ea r che o n G u n co tto n s 3

He s ho w ed that b y pulping
s -
.
.

E ng P a t s 10 90 o f 1 8 62 a n d 2720 o f 1 8 63
. . .

3 En
g P a t No 1 1 0 2 o f 1 8 65
. . .Th e p lp i g o f gu n c o t to
. ha d oweu n -
n , h v r e , b ee n ca rried
o u t a t L e Bo u c e h t
in Fr a n c e (se e s ca le s
, S eb z E
es s b a u m u o lle 1 90 5 p
'

, , .

3
P h il Tra ns o f Ro ya l S oc ie ty 1 8 66 p 269 ; a n d 1 8 67 p 18 1
. . . , . , . .
 PROG RESS OF EXP L OSIVES

g u n cotton in the same way as i s done w ith rags etc in the manufac t ure
-
, .
,

of paper he not only g o t it in a m ore convenient sta t e for pressing into blo c ks
, ,

but the violent mechanical treatment rem oved m uch of the imp u rity and ,

the gu n cotton was r e duced to a condition i n whi ch it was much easier to

-

wash it thoroughly The obj ect of compressin g the pulped g un cotton w a s to.
-

restrain the violence with w hich i t explo ded in the gun but alth o ugh i t was
1
,

better t han von L e nk s yarn it w a s still uncontroll able ; it d amag e d t he ’

guns and the accuracy of t h e shoo t ing was un satisfactory I t w a s not un t il

,
.

some seventeen years later that a su c cessful smokeless military p o w der w a s

made Gun cotton w a s therefore only used for blasting purp oses P renti c e
.
-
.

and C o of Sto w market adopted Abel s process of pur ification a n d have

.
, ,
’

continued to use it ever since In 1 8 68 its utili ty was much increased by the .

discovery by Abel s assistant E A Brown that dr y c ompressed gun cott o n

2 ’

, . .
,
-

could be caused to exp lode very violently by a detonator contain ing fulminate ’

of m ercury this app liance ha v ing been already use d by Nobel fo r de t ona t ing
,
3

nitro glycerine B ro wn afterwards made the further discovery t hat a slab o f

-
.

wet g u n cotton could be e x p loded by means of a sma ll primer of dry gun cotton
- -
.

Thi s rendered it p ossible to store t he greater part of the gun cotton in the -

wet state a great advantage for mi litary p urp oses and in t hi s fi eld gu n c otton
, ,
-

as ori g inall y prepared under the superin tendence of Abel st ill holds its ground
to some extent .

In 1 8 47 Maynard di scovered that ni tro cell ul ose was soluble in a mixture Oth s e -
er u s

nit o
of ether and alcohol although it di d no t di ssolve in either li qui d alone and c ell l o
, ,
r
u s e.

thi s led t o the in vention o f the c ollodi on photography by S cott Archer in

1 8 51 and to other u ses of c ollo di on
,
Cellul oi d made by di ssol vi n g nitro .
,

cell u lose in camphor with the aid of hea t and pressur e wa s patented by ,

J W and I S Hyatt in
. . The art ificial silk industry may be said to
. .

have started in 1 8 8 4 w hen Count H ila ire de Chardonnet took out hi s firs t
patent 5
.

In 1 8 46 nitro glycer ine was di scovered by So b r e r o P rofessor of Chemistr y Nit o

-
,
r

g ly c rin e e.
at Turin who had been assistant to F elouze in 1 8 3 8 w hen he made his first
,

exp eriments on nitratin g various bodies B ut no practi cal app lication w a s .

made of it e x cep t that very small quantities were used in medi cine as a cure
for angina pectoris P eople were no doubt deterre d by t he d angerous na t ure
.

of the material and the inconvenience of dealin g with a li qui d explosi v e as ,

also by the di fficulty in causing it to e x plode In 1 8 59 t o 1 8 61 however .

,

Alf red Nobel and his father made e x p eriments with it and foun d t ha t i t ,

could be exploded by means of a detonator containi ng fulminate and in 1 8 6"

,

1
S ee C h e m N e w s 1 8 66 (4 ) p 250 .
, , . , a nd 1 8 71 , (24 ) p . 14 1 .

2
E n g P a t NO 3 1 1 5 o f 1 8 68
. . . .
3 Eng . Pa t . No . 1 3 45 o f 1 8 67 .

4
Ame r
Pa t J ly 1 2 1 8 70
. . u , . S ee J . Soc . C he m I . nd 1 9 1 4, p . 225 .

5 F e c rn h
Pa t .
 EXP L OSI VES

commenced t o manufactur e it a t H e le n e b o r g near Stockh o lm Many serious , .

a c ciden t s occurred in the transpor t and use of the explosive and in 1 8 64 an ,

exp losion took place at the H e le n e b o r g works which destroye d them kille d , ,

t he head chemist and Nobel s brother and caused hi s father a paraly t ic ’

s t roke from whi ch he never recovered Nobel however wa s no t dete rred .

, ,

by thi s and proceeded to r e erect hi s factory at Vin te rv i kke n and build a

,
-

new one at K r iimme l in Germ any H e was c onvinced t hat ni tr o glyce r ine .
-

w a s t he most p owerful explosive known or lik ely to be di scovere d and he ,

a llowed not h in g to prevent him tur ni ng its properties to p r o fi table a c c ount - .

The c ontinual catastrophes however caused the variou s states to pass , ,

laws restrictin g or prohibiting the transp or t and use of nitro glyceri ne In -

.

consequence Nobel searched for means to make the material safer a n d m ore
c onvenient to han dl e and di scovered that kieselguhr had the power to absorb
,

three t imes its w eight of nitro glycerine 1

Thi s comb ined with the f u lmina t e
-
.
,

detonator mentioned in the same specification pro d uced a very convenient ,

and fair ly safe exp losive Nobel t hen proceeded to exploit his inventions
.
,

and h e did thi s with such success that by 1 8 73 fifteen factories had been
buil t or founded in the variou s c ountries of E urope and America In 1 8 75 .

he made anoth er i mp ortant in vention that of blasting gelatine

2
The , .

nitro glycerine in thi s explosive was soli di fi ed by havin g about 8 p er cent

-
.

of co llodi on cotton dissolved in it As c ompared with kieselguhr dy namite .

t his has two advantages : the ni tro glycerine is not liable t o be displaced -

from it by w ater a defect whi c h in the case of dynam ite has led to
,

m any accidents ; and secondl y the substance added i s itself an exp losive
, , ,

and consequently blastin g gelat ine is 25 per cent more p owerful than dynamite . .

Gelatini zed ni tro glycerine c ontaini n g a small proportion of collodion has

-

been made a c onstituent of many blasting exp losives the nature of the o t her ,

constituents and the method of preparation being m o dified to produce

explosives sui table for blasting d ifferent sorts of rock and other materials 3 .

In 1 8 67 the Swe di sh chemists C J Ohlsson and J H No r r b in took out , . . . .

,

a patent for exp losives consisting of a mm oni um nitra te ei t her by itself or ,

in admi x ture with other substances such as charcoal sawdust nap h thalene , , ,

picric acid ni tro glycerin e or nitro benzene They were led to their invention
,
- -
.

by theoreti c al calcul ations which showed that a very large am ount of heat
,

and gas was g iven o ff in the exp losion of these mixtures They selecte d .

t he p ro portions so that a ll the carbon should be converted t o carbon

d ioxi d e and the hy drogen to water Considerable difficul t y was however .
, ,

exp erienced in igni tin g the charges and consequently they usually added ,

s o me nitro glycerine to assist the explosion After w ards they used th e

-
.

1
Eng . Pa t . No . 1 3 45 of 1 8 67 .
2 E ng . Pa t . No . 4 1 79 o f 1 8 75 .

3
A ve ry n t e r t in g a cco un t
i es of Al fr e d No b el a nd h is i nve n t i n s o wa s co n t rib u t ed
b y de Mo s e n t ha l to t h e fo r 1 8 9 9 , p . 44 3 .
 PROG RE SS OF E X P L OSIV E S
f ul min ate detonator The explosive was used to some extent in Sweden
. .

E arly in the seventies Alfred Nobel bought up the invention and took out
further patents in connexion with it but great di fficulties were experienced ,

in c onse quence of the very hygroscopic nature of ammoni um n i trate Soon .

after this Nobel invented blastin g gelatin e and he di d not take much active ,

interest in ammonium nitrate explosives for some time .

In 1 8 71 Dr H ermann Sprengel . the celebrated inventor o f the ,

Sp r eng el
ex p l os m s'
mercury vacuum pump took out patents for a whole series of mi ning ,

explosives to be made by mixing an oxi di zing substance with a combustible

one 1
in such proportions that their mutual oxidation and de o x idation
“
-

should be theoretica lly complete The essential feature was that the two .

constituents were to be mixed together on the sp ot j ust before the explosive

was required and the mixture was to be exploded by means of a fulminate
‘

detonator As oxidizing agents he mentions amongst others nitric acid and

.

chlorate of potash ; as combustibles a very large number of substances ,

including nitro benzene nitro naphthalene carbon bisulphide petroleum

-
,
-
, , ,

picric acid Liquid nitric acid is a most obj ectionable material to handle
.
,

nevertheless several inventors have t aken out patents for Sprengel explosives
c ontai ni ng nitric acid either enclosed in glass tubes or ab sorbed in fossil flour
or other similar material 2
Nee dl ess to say they have never found favour .
, .

In addi tion to its other disa dvantage there is the serious danger that th e
nitric acid may c ome in contact with th e detonator and cause a premature
explosion This actually happened in 1 8 8 4 to the inventor P u n sh o n
. .

Sprengel explos i ves c onsistin g of c hl orate of potash and a li quid c o mb u s

tible material have h owever been used to a c onsiderable extent The Ameri
, ,
.

can S R Divine took out a patent in 1 8 8 0 for mi xtures of this sort and
, . .
,

several E ngli sh patents in the follo w ing years On e of these mi xtures under 3

m
.
,

the na e of Ra c ka r o c k was used on October 1 0 1 8 8 5 for the great blasting

, , ,

Operation of Hell Gate i n New York Harbour On thi s occasion lb . .

of Ra cka r o ck were used together with lb of dynamite . .

There are c onsiderable advantages in transportin g separately two such

inert substances as nitro benzene and chlorate of potash but against this -
,

must be put the di ffic ul ty and inconveni ence of mi x ing the c o n s titu te n ts in
the right proportions on the spot If made up beforehan d the cartridges .

are dangerously sensitive and become more so on keeping U nder the E nglish .

E xplosives Act this mixi ng i s considered to c onstitute the manufacture of

an explosive and consequently may only be carried out in a duly li censed
,

1
rt
B i . P ats . No s 9 21 . a nd 2642 of 1 8 71 . Jou r . C h em S o c . ., 1 8 73 , p . 79 6 ; S S . .
, 1 90 7,
p . 184 .

H e llh o ff, B it P t s 1 3 1 5 o f 1 8 79 , 1 28 5 8 7
2
r . a .
—
a nd 2775 of 1 880 . Punsho n B i ,
rt . Pa ts .

2242 o f 1 8 8 0 , 2428 o f 1 8 8 3 B ic e l , F e n c P a t . h r h . of 18 85 .

3
E n g P a t No s
. . . 55 8 4 a nd 559 6 o f 1 8 8 1 , 1 4 61 of 1 8 8 2, 5624 25 —
o f 188 3 .
 44 E X P L OSIV E S

factory Therefore Sprengel expl o sives ha v e n ever been u s ed in the Bri t i s h

.

Isle s but they w ere i ntro duced by t h e American s into China a n d Siberia
,

w hen t he fir s t rail w ays were built there a n d one o f them is n o w licen s ed in ,

Italy .
1

Ox y liq uit . A s o me w hat s imilar expl o s ive O x y liq u it invente d by Lin de c o n s i s te d , ,

o f liqui d o x ygen ab s orbe d in w adding c harc o al o r other organic material

, , .

I t was f o un d t hat the s e mi x t ures w o uld not d e t o nate rea dily s o kie s elguh r ,

w a s sub s t itu t e d a s abs o rbent w ith an ad dition o f liquid pe t roleum Thi s .

det o nate d all righ t but w a s m o re s en s itive t o a bl o w or s park than dynami t e

, .

I t w a s very in c o nvenient to use as the cartri dge h a d to be fire d w ithi n five

,

o r fifteen mi nutes o f its preparati on ac c o r ding to the diameter The e x plo

, .

s ive was tried i n 1 8 9 9 by a c ommission i n Austria a n d o n a fairly large scale ,

i n t he buildi ng of the Simplon tunnel but i n spite o f t h e lo w c o s t o f liq u i d

,

o xygen it was foun d that the prac ti c al diffi culties were very grea t .

During the War h o wever the use of e x plosive s o f thi s class is being
, ,

enc ouraged in Germany in o rder that th e available suppl y o f ni t rates may be

use d as far as possible fo r mili tary purpose s The in dus t rial u se o f chlorate .

explosives is being extended fo r the same reas o n .

Picr ic a c id. Sprengel also drew attention to the fact that picric acid by itself c o ul d
be detonated by a powerful detonator a n d was a very violent explosive bu t ,

no u se was made of it i n this way until many years later .

The revi val of amm o niu m nitrate explosives w a s due to the demand for
such as w ould not ignite the fi r e d amp i n coal mines Numerous disaster s
- -
.

d u e to the explosion of fi r e damp led to the appointment of commi s s ions in

— .

many of the countries of E urope t o inquire into the matter and pr o po s e

reme die s The nature of the d anger w a s investigated in 1 8 1 5 by Sir Humphry
.

Davy and one source of disaster was remove d by the sub s tituti o n of the
,

Davy lamp for the nake d li ght As time went on gunpowder was u s e d m o re
.

and more fo r breaking the coal a n d after 1 8 70 dynamite w a s al s o used Ab o u t

,
.

1 8 73 Macnab proposed to insert a cyli nder fill e d with w ater in front o f the
charge Others h ave suggeste d w e t m oss j ell y c o ntaining 9 0 per cent water
.
, .

a n d sawdust saturated w ith a s o lution of alum and sal ammonia c But .

the s e devices w ere found to be cumbersome a n d e x pensive and not very

e ffective .

In 1 8 70 d uring the Siege of P aris Pr o fe s s or M Ber t helot w h o h a d hithert o

, , .
,

d ev o ted himself to pure s c ience was calle d up o n t o give h is city a n d c o untry

,

the benefit of his s c ientific kno w ledge a n d he w a s t hu s le d t o s tudy the s u b

,

j e c t of e x plo s ive s and e s pecially to c o nsider the amount of heat o r energy

liberate d in the reactions w hi c h take place fo r he h a d been w o rking at therm o ,
.

chemistry for s ome years a n d w a s practically t h e f o un der of thi s bran c h o f

s c ien c e Af ter the war w a s over Ber t hel o t s s ervi c e s w ere s till re t ained by
'

G u t t ma n n Tw nty Y
1 ?
, P g e
p 10 ea rs ro r es s , . .
 P ROG RE SS OF E X P L OSIV E S 45 ;

the State in c onne x ion with all matters conn ected with explosives On the .

recommendation of the French Academy of Sciences he was in 1 8 76 appointed

a member of the Com mittee on P oudres e t Sa lp étr e s ”
In order to deal .

adequately w ith the many new inventions he recommended the formation of

a special commission This was done in 1 8 78 and Berthelot was appointed
.
,

”
president of the new Commission des Substances explosives a position ,

which he occupied for many years .

In 1 8 77 a commission was appointed in France to inquire into the question

of ignitions of coal damp In the report which it made in 1 8 8 0 it was obliged
-
.

to admit that there was then no explosive known that would not ignite coal
damp An E ngli sh Commission which reported in 1 8 8 6 was forced to come
.

to an equall y unsatisfactory c onclusion .

In 1 8 8 5 the P russian Government built at Neun kirchen the fir st testing Pr u ssia .

station for investigating mining explosives and adopted a method of testing ,

which wi th sli ght modifications has been copied by the Governments of E ngland
and several other nations A long ir on cylinder w a s fi lled with mi x tures
.

of coal damp c oal dust a n d air and the e x plosives were fired At first the
-
, , .

explosive was simply suspende d in the gas mi x ture and it was found that the ,

gas was ignited every time Af terwards it w a s fired from a small m ortar
.

without tamping and it was f o und that under these condi tions kieselguhr
,

dynamite was safe up to 1 0 0 grammes and gelati ne dynamite up to ab out 8 0 , .

It was now that amm o nium nitrate e x plosives came to the fore again ,

as experience sh o w ed that considerably larger c harges could be used without

igniting the gaseous mixture Two of the fi rst of the s e were roburite and
.

s e c ur ite mixtures of amm o n ium nitrate with dinitro benzene But it was
,
-
.

also found possible by suitable admixtures so to alter the character of nitro

glycerine explosives that they can be used in coal mines with comparative —

safety In 1 8 8 5 Schmidt and Bichel introduced carboni te a mixture

.
,

of nitro glycerine saltpetre and flour

-
, Thi s has been able to h old its .

o w n to the present day and is still considered one of the best safety ex
plosives .

In 1 8 8 7 another commission was appointed in France to inquire into the Fr a nce.

matter Influenced by Berthelot s work and theories it directed its attention

.
’

mainly to the question of the heat developed by an e x plosive and the resulting
temperature of the products E xplosives h aving a high temperature of e x p lo
.

sion such as nitro glycerine

,
-
gun cotton or c ollodi on cotton —

should be mixed with a substance having a low temperature of e x p lo

sion such as ammonium ni trate Three sorts of safety explosives
were therefore intro duce d into France Grisoutine a mi x tu r e of ammoni um ,

nitrate and nitro glycerine ; Blasting P o w der P amm o nium nitrate and
-
,

co llo di on cotton ; a n d Grisounite ammoniu m nitrate and nitro aromatic

,
-

c ompounds such a s n itro na phthalene -

.
 E XP L OSI VE S
The great dra w b ac k to the u s e of amm oni u m ni trate i s it s hygrosc opic
n a t ur e but t he te ndency to ab sorb water from the a tmosphere has bee n
,

o ve r co me to a grea t ext en t by coa tin g the grains with p a r a ffi n wax or -

o ther w a te r pro ofin g mate ria l and b y enclosin g the ca rtridges in suita ble
,

envelo p es .

I n Ge rm a ny a n d E ngla nd it ha s long been recogni zed th at the te mpera

tur e o f explosi o n is only one of the f a cto rs in making an exp losive safe or
da ngerou to u se in fiery min es a n d c onsequently reliance h as been placed
s ,

m o r e u pon tr ial s in testing galleries w hich are inte nde d to imitate as nearly
,

as po s s ible the co n di t ions in a min e The Nort h of E ngland In stitute of

.

Minin g a n d Mech a ni c al E ngineers appoin t ed a Co mmittee in 1 8 8 8 to inquire

in t o t hi s m a t ter Their tr i a l galle r y at Hebburn Co lli er y w a s c omplete d in
.

1 8 9 2 a n d aft er experiment ing wi th various e xplosives un til 1 8 9 5 they r ec o m

mended t he u se o f several t h e maj ority of whi ch wer e a mm oni um ni t r ate
,

explosives .

It w a s u pon the resul t s ob ta ined by thi s Co mmi ttee that the Co al Mines
Regula t ion Act of 1 90 6 w a s foun ded This Act which is sti ll in force author
.
, ,
'
i zes t he Home Secreta ry t o prohi bit the u e of any e xplosive in coa1 mi nes s -
,

a n d to a ppo int Inspecto rs of E xplosives to admi niste r the Act A testin g .

ga ll e r y w a s erected in Woo l w ich Arsenal and there a ll exp losives h ad to be

,

t es t ed b efore t hey w ere permi tted to be u sed in coal mi nes in the Uni ted Kin g -

dom Mo r e r ece n tlv a larger testing gallery h as bee n erected at Ro therham

.
,

w he r e t es t s ca n be carr i e d out on lin es more n e arly approachin g th ose that

h a v e been a d opte d in Ge r many and Bel gium .

M di te. I n 1 8 9 7 F A G Str eet to ok out patent s fo r explosives consistin g of p o ta s

. . .

sium chl ora t e mi x e d wi t h c a sto r oil in w hi ch aromatic ni tro c ompounds are

- -

dissolved . The grea t sensitiveness of chlorate mixture s is thu s overcome .

Th e exp losive thu s produce d is called Cheddi te and is u sed largely in E ngland , ,

F ra n ce a nd Germany
,
.

I n 1 8 75 w a s p a ssed the E ngli sh E xp losives Ac t whi ch h as h a d such ,

a grea t influen ce upon the development of the e xplosives in du try Its form s .

w a s largely due to t he late Co lonel Sir V D Ma j e ndi e wh o was appo inte d . .

,

t he fir st permanent Inspecto r of E xplosives to a dmin i ster its provisions The .

nece ssi t y for legislati on w a s re vea led by an e xplosion at Messrs Lu dl ow s .

’

a t B ir min gham which ca used the death of fif ty three persons Co lonel

,
-
.

Ma j e ndie w a s instr ucted to r ep ort upon it P re vious to thi s there h ad bee n.

m a ny o t her ac cidents la rge a n d small in clu di ng that of tw o powder magazin es

,

on t he banks of the Thames at Er i t h w hi ch kill e d thir t ee n people and did

,

grea t da m a ge to property .

The Ins pe c to rs o f E xp losives w ere given power t o ins pec t a ll magaz ines
a nd f a cto ries a n d see that operati ons a re ca rr i e d out in a reasonably sa fe

m a nn er As a re sul t the n u m be r of deaths in explosives fac to r ies h as bee n

.
 P ROG RE SS OF E X P L OSI VE S

very greatly reduced in spite of the fact tha t the number of people employed
i s several times as great
Av g n mb e k ill d pe nn m e ra e u r e r a u
in p l iv f t i ex os es a c o r es

43
32

69
9 -0

By the wi se and tactful manner in which they carried out their duties Colonel
Ma j e n die and h is colleagues conferred this great benefit upon the employees
i n the explosive factories w ithout in any way seriously interferi ng with the
development of the in dustry In fact the precautions which th e inspectors .
, ,

insisted on have been advantageous to the shareholders as well as to the

,

workpeople and the general publi c In 1 8 9 8 Sir Vivi an Ma je n die di ed in .

harness but the work has been carried on in the same spir it by hi s successors
, ,

Colonel Ford Captain J H Thom son and Maj or A Cooper Key a n d the
, . .
, .
-
,

other Inspectors of E x plosives working under them The pro v isions o f the .

E ngli sh E xp losives Act of 1 8 75 have been largely adopted in the legislation

of foreign countries British Coloni es and Indi a , , .

It has already been pointed out that the early attempts of von Lenk Smok eless
and others to m ake a satisfactory smokeless po w der from gun cotton were p ow d -
er s .

unsuccessful because it was much too vi olent in i ts e ffects The gun cotton .
-

being in a state of fi ne fibre interspersed with air spaces the explosion trav
e ll e d thr ough it almost instantaneously Black powder on the other hand .
, ,

being a m echa ni cal mi xture the explosion can onl y start at the points where
,

the particles o f saltpetre are in actual contact with the particles of sulphur
and charc oal consequently the time of explosion i s comparatively long
, .

The first successful smokeless powder was that of Maj or Schultze of the Sch lt ,
u ze

p owd er .
Prussian Ar till ery Fir st he appears simply to have impregnated little
.
,

grains of wood with saltpetre but afterwards he purified the wood t o some
1
,

extent by washing b oilin g and bleaching it and then ni trated it and purified
, , ,

the nitrated lignose by much the same process as that used by von Lenk for
g un c otton The grain s thu s obtained were then impregnated with salt
-
.

petre alone or mixed with barium ni trate 2 This was intro d uced about 1 8 65 1 865
, . . .

Accor di ng to an analysis publi shed by Cu n di ll in the D ictiona r y of E x p los ir es

the nitro ligni n c ontained more than 20 per cent of u nni tr a te d li gnin Thi s
-
. .

and the diff erent physical structure of wood as compared w ith cotton made
the ma terial burn more slowly in the gun and the rate was still f urther ,

reduced by the ad di tion of the nitrates of potas s ium and barium The e x p lo .

1 S anfo rd , N i tr e - E x
p lo s i ves , 1 8 9 6, p . 1 73 .
2 Eng . P a t . 90 0 o f 1 8 64 .
 E X P L OSIVE S

s i v e w a s s t ill t oo v iolen t for ri fles h o w ever but was foun d t o be quite suit a ble
, ,

for sho t guns The Aus t ri an righ t s t o Schul tze s inven t ion w ere ac quired
-
.
’

b y a fi r m ca lled Vo lkmann s K K pri v C o llo di nf a b r iks Ge sellschaf t H P e r

'

. . . .
,

n rc e a n d Co Volkmann t o o k ou t Au s t ri an pa t en t s in 1 8 70 and 1 8 71 w hi c h
.
,

w ere kep t s e c re t a t t he t ime bu t Gu t t mann obtaine d copies of them and pub

lis h e d t ran s la t ions in hi s 7 ev e nly l t a r s P ro g res s i n E x p lo s ir es

'
’
-
.

From t he s e i t i s seen t ha t Vo lkmann h a d made the fur t her s t ep of

par t ly gela t ini zing t he gra ins b y t rea t in g t hem w i t h a mixtur e of ether and
alc ohol w hereby t he e x plo s ion w oul d be restrained s t ill more Thi s powder
, .

w a s ma d e un d er t he name of C o ll o di n from 1 8 72 t o 1 8 75 but then the Au strian ,

Governmen t s t opped t he manufac t ure on t he ground t hat it wa s an inf ri nge

ment of t he ir g rmp o w de r monopoly The ni t ro li gni n made as descri b ed by .
-

Vol kmann mus t have be en decidedl y impure a n d t herefore un s t able and , .

di ffic u l t ies w ere no doubt exp eri enced in ob t aini ng uni form results .

A c ompany w a s formed in E nglan d in 1 8 68 t o w ork Schul tze s invention

'

and a fac t ory w a s e s t ab li s hed a t Ey e w or t h in t he Ne w Forest in 1 8 69 and .

, ,

t his af t er a t ime achi e v ed grea t su c c ess af t er t he metho d s h a d be en altered by

Griffi t h s B y 1 8 8 1 Sch u l t ze p o w der had be c o me so popul ar wi t h sport smen
.

o n a c c o u n t of t he li ght rec o il and absence of smoke as c o mpared w ith black

po w der t ha t t he London gun makers found irk s ome the rest ri c t ions upon the
,
-

quan t iti es t he y w ere all o w ed t o s t ore The manufac t urers of t h is powder .

ha v e modi fied t heir me t hods fr o m t ime t o t ime t o meet the demands of sport s
men and t o keep abrea s t of t he general ad v ance in the technology of e x p lo
s iv e s s o t ha t t he S c h u l t ze po w ders are s t il l amongs t t he
. bes t In 1 8 8 3 .

Schul t ze s t art ed a fac t ory in part nership w i t h Vol t z and Lich t enberger a t
He t zba c h in He sse Darms t adt and po w der i s s t ill made there under Sch u ltze s
'

-
,

paten t s .
l

E 0
. . po w der
The nex t successfu l s mokeless po w der w a s i nven t ed at t he w ork s of
1 88 2.
th e E xplosives C o mpany a t S t owmarket w hich formerly belonged to Th os , .

P ren t ice a n d Co I t w a s pro t ec t e d by pa t en t No 61 9 t aken out in 1 8 8 2 by

. .
,

F Reid and D Johnson Thi s w a s c a lle d E C Po w der (Ex p lo s iv e s

. . . . .

Company ) and c ons is t e d o f ni t r o co t t on mi xed wi t h t he ni t ra t es of potassium

,
-

and bari um w i t h t he addi t i o n o f colouring ma t t er and small quan t ities of other -

organi c compo u n d s I t w a s ma d e in t o grains w hi ch w ere hardened by bein g

.

par t iall y gela t ini ze d b y me a ns o f a s o l v en t e t her alcoh o l A separa t e c om ,

-
.

pan y w a s formed to w ork t he inven t ion a n d a fac t o ry w a s s t art ed at Gre en

S t ree t Green near Dart ford in Ken t T his i s st ill in exi stence and E C
, , .
, . .

P o w der con t inues to be much u sed .

For u s e in ri fled fire arm s t hese po w ders are too quic k For this purpose
-
.

p o w ders .
i t ha s b een f o und nece s sary t o de s t r o y en t irely t he struc t ure of th e origi nal
cell ul ose b y t h o roughl y gela t ini z ing it The fir st to produce a good smokeles s .

1
A Vo ig t H t ll u ng dU S p reng l o fi c i
. , e rs e
p 1 16
’
s , .
, . .
 P ROG RE SS OF E X P L OSIV E S 49

rifle po w der w a s the Fren c h engineer Vi eille w o rking on behalf of the French ,

Government in 1 8 8 4 He incorporated the nitro cotton w ith ether alcohol

.
- -

in a machi ne such as is used for kneading bread The resulting paste w a s .

rolled out into thin sheets and cut into small squares and dried The powder .

was called P oudre B after General Boulanger In 1 8 8 9 a gelatini zed ni tro

, .

cellul ose flake powder wa s i ntrodu c e d in Germany 1 In 1 8 8 8 Nobel invented .

a powder called Balli stite consisting of a nitro cotton of low nitration gela ,
-

tiniz e d with ni tro glycerine and in the same year an E ngli sh committee
-
,

adopted Cordi te a mi x ture of highly nitrate d gun cotton nitro glycerine and
,
-
,
-

vaseli ne (mineral j elly ) gelatinized by means of acetone A nitro glycerine

, .
-

powder of the cor di te type was adopted in Austria Hungary in -

E very nation now uses propellants consisting principally of gelatinized

nitro cotton either by itself or mi x ed with nitro glycerine These gelatini zed
- —
.

powders when suitably ignited in the gun burn from the surface inwards ,

consequently the time of explosion can be increased by maki ng the individual

pieces of explosive bigger Without altering the composition powders can be .

produced suitable for every sort of ri fled fi r e arm from a pistol to a 1 4 inch - -

gun .

P icric acid has been used for a long time as a dye and was in fact the fir st ,
Picric

artificial dye to be di scovered for its formation was ob served in 1 771 by ,

Woulf e by the action of nitric acid on silk Laurent was the first to make .

it in 1 8 43 by the ni tration of phenol and di nitrophenol and to rec ogni ze th at

it i s tri ni trophenol The fact that picric acid combines with metals and bases
.

to f orm explosive picrates has also been known fo r a long time and when its ,

manufacture fr om phen ol had reduced its price m any mixtures contain in g

them were proposed P icric acid also was added to explosives as a c ombust
.

ible constituent None o f these mixtures were u sed to any great extent
.
,

however In 1 8 71 Sprengel demonstrated that picric acid by itsel f could be

.

detonated by means of fulminate 3 but thi s also led to no practical result ,

until E Tur pin i n 1 8 8 5 pointed out the great advantages of us ing picri c acid
.

for fil ling shell } in c onsequence of its stability in sensitiveness and vi olence ,

.

Thi s was adopted by the French Government under the name of Meli ni te .

Other high explosives are mostly too sensitive to u se in shell they are li able to
explode i n the bore of the gun from the shock of di scharge For this reason .

gunpo w der only was previously used and it sti ll form s the bursting charge ,

of shrapnel shell and other sorts which only require a moderate disruptive

1
Vo n N e y man J , a h r b u ch der A r me e u nd fl/I a r in e , D e c
'
. 1 9 14, S S . 1 9 1 5, p . 1 45 .

G r o to u s ki , 111 m
. Ar t .
-
u nd G e n i e w e s en th r oug hSS
1 9 1 4, p . .
, . 38 6 .

3
Eng . Pa t . 2642 o f 1 8 71 ; J . C h e m S o c , 1 8 73, p 79 6
. . . .

4
F re n ch Pa t . of Fe b . 7, 1 8 8 5, w i h t a
d d i io s O c t t n . 1 7, 1 8 8 5, a nd Se p t . 1,
1 8 92 . En g . P a t . o f 1885 . G erm . Pa t . o f Jan . 1 2, 1 8 8 6 .

V OL . I .
 E X P L OSI V E S

power P i c ri c a c id however is nearly as in s ensi t ive as blac k powder and

.
, ,

c a n t herefore be u sed wi th s afe t y for she ll In fact i t requ ires a very power
.

ful de t o na t ing primer to ensure complete de t ona t ion Wi t h vari ou s mo difi c a .

ti on s pi c r ic aci d w a s a d op t e d in a h ost every c ountry for t his purpose I t .

h a s t he di s ad v antage h o w ever tha t it re ad il y form s picrates if it comes in

, ,

c on t ac t w i t h me t als or ea r t hy ma t erials a n d t hese picrate s are much more

,

sensi t ive t han picri c acid I ts mel t ing point also i s inconveni ently high
. .

In hi s pa t en t s Turpin p o inted o u t t hat t he sensi t iveness c oul d be reduce d

s t i ll f u r t her b y c o mpres sion o r by mi x ing the pic ric aci d w ith hea v y oi ls or
,

wi t h c oll odi o n
. At first coll o di o n w a s used in t hi s way but later the acid h a s ,

genera lly been use d by itse lf either in compressed block s or melte d a nd cast
,

d irec t ly in t o t he shell . In 1 9 1 1 t he Civil Court in P aris granted T u rp in

fran c s in c ompensa t i o n because he had not been permi tted to u t ili ze hi s inv e n
t i o n t o h is o n p r o fi t
w 1
In 1 8 8 8 pic ri c acid w a s adopted by the Ge rman
.

Army bo t h for fi lling shell and fo r mili tary blastin g and about t he same date ,

shell w ere fil led in England w ith molten pic ri c acid under t he nam e of Lyd di t e ,

derived fr o m Ly dd the place where the exper iments w ere carried out
, .

t
Tro y l. I n 1 90 4 t he Germans commenced to use trinitrotoluene other w ise trotyl , ,
'
u

ins t ead as i t is free from the di sadvantages of picric acid r e fer r e d t o a b o v e

. .

T hi s is n o w used v ery largely fo r high explosive shell and is also ofte n mix ed .

w i t h o t her substances to form complex e x p l osives .

1
S ee S S
. .
, 1 9 1 2, p . 57
.
 P A RT I I

BL A C K P OW D E R
 C H AP TE R I V

MANUFACTURE OF SAL TPETRE

N it re d e p o it Fren c h alt p e t r i ndu t ry A ti fi cial n it re b e d E ng li h alt

s s s e s r s s s

p t re i n d u s t ry Fo r mat io n o f ni t ra t e s B e r t he lo t r e se ar c he B a c t e ria l a t i n
’
e s s c o

I nd ian s l t p t r e in d u t ry I nd ian re fi n e ry C hi li ni t ra t e d e p si t s
“
a e s Con o

ve r io n s al t p e t re Re fi n in g s al t p e t re Sal t p t re fro m t h e a t m ph r e
s e os e

SO far as is possible in the almost entire ab sence of all records an ac c ount h a s ,

been given in Chapter I of the fir st di scovery of saltpetre .

_
U ntil the middl e of the nineteenth century a ll saltpetre w a s obtained by Nitre dep o
dissolvi ng it from earth a n d deposits in cellars and caves a n d similar places ,

where it had formed naturall y In E urope there are very few localities where .

ni trate can accumulate in the soil to such an extent that a profit could be

m ade b v e x tracting it There is no prolonged dr y season during which

.

deposits can form withou t being washed away again Consequently salt .

petre could only accum u late in sheltered places such as cellars and stables , ,

especially those in which there was much nitrogenous matter undergoing

decomposition As it was of the utmost importance in every country to have
.

a suffi cient supply of saltpetre especially in time of war its production forme d
, ,

the subj ect of royal decrees and orders at an early date In France o fficers F ench 8 .
,
r

p et e ind
(s a lp étr ier s c o mmissio n és ) were appointed in 1 540 to search fo r and extract
r

saltpetre and no doubt the industry was in e xistence some time before
,
1
This .

e dict was c onfir med and renewed in 1 572 and again whenever France was ,

waging a serious war The saltpetre workers operated on the earth of stables
.
,

sheep pens cattle sheds cellars and pigeon houses and on the plaster and
-
,
-
,
-
,

rubbish removed when h ouses were pulled down They had the right to .

gather material every w here w ith scrapers and brushes in the houses with
, ,

picks and shovels in places not inhabite d No buil di ng or w a ll could be p u lled .

do w n unt il notice had been given to the saltpetre workers who stated which ,

parts they wanted reserve d .

I n the eighteenth century the saltpetre workers in France received m any

ad di tional privi leges For in stance they could set up their vats a n d o ther
.
,

plant in pub lic halls private courtyards or wherever they th ought fit The
,
.

1
rh
Be t e lo t , Su r l a F o r ce de s Al a tze re s ex p lo s iv es , 1 8 8 3, v o l. i .
, p . 3 45 cl s eq .

53
 E XP L OSIV E S

l o cal au t hori t ies h a d to supply t he w o o d requi red for heating and provi de ,

c arts for t ranspor t in g t he plan t and t he sal t petre to t he refin ery As a rule .

e a c h lo c a lit v was visited once ever y three years .

t
ni r e b e ds .
Sal t pe t re w a s als o ob t ained from artificial nitre be d s c onsist ing of earth -
,

mi xed wi t h ani mal and vegetable matters ashes refuse of b uildings li me and , , ,

marl This w a s all pla c e d in a large barn and c ollecte d in heaps mi xed with
.
,

t wigs a n d in t erse c ted w i t h h oles t o a ll ow access of t he air I t was tur ned .

over also from t ime to t ime and w atered wi t h uri ne Nitrate graduall y formed .

in t he mass and w a s ex t rac t e d wi t h water There w ere many m o di fica tions .

of this process ad o p t e d in d iff erent places .

In t he reign o f Loui s XIII (1 61 0 t o 1 643 ) t he ann ual crop of sal t pe t re

amoun t ed to lb b u t i t gradua lly di min i shed in the eighteenth
.
,
.

c en t ury largely on ac c ount of t he s t rong obj ection the people nat u rall y had

to t he presence of sal t petre workers in their h ouses and doma ins In 1 775 .

t he quan t i ty had fallen to lb and half the a n nual requi rement was
.
,

importe d from India If it had not been for the many privileges the nitrate
.

w orkers enj oye d t he home produc t c ould no t have competed at all wi t h t ha t

,

impor t ed from In di a I n 1 78 9 t he year of th e fall of the Bas t ille a g rea t e ff ort

.
, ,

w a s ma d e ho w ever t o revi v e the in d us t ry and

. 1b were obtained ,
. .

In 1 79 1 h o w ever t he Na t ional Assembl y propose d t o aboli sh t he pri vileges

, ,

of t he sal tp e t re w orkers but w a r broke out the harbours of France w ere

.
,

blocka ded a n d i t became necessary t o produce i n t he coun t ry all the saltpetre

,

fo r t he po w der required The recen t increase of chemical knowledge and t he

.

hear ty c o opera t ion of t he grea t er part of t he population made it possible to

-

pro d uce 1 6 lb in a single year a nd . in t he nex t ,

The w hole .

organi za t ion w a s place d under t he c on t rol of the departmen t of P ou dr es

e t s a l é tr e s
p w hi c h still c on t inues t o reg u la t e mat t ers c oncerning e x pl o sives
, .

When p ea c e w a s fi nally r e es t abli she d the rene w ed c o mpe t i t i o n o f In di an

-
,

salt pe t re deal t a severe blo w t o t he indus t ry in France and in 1 8 40 t he boun t ie s ,

w ere ab o lished bu t i t s t ruggled on u n t il the exploita t ion of t he so di um ni t rate

,

d eposi t s in Chi le and t he po t ash d eposi t s in Ge rmany in t he sec ond half of

t he ni nete en t h cen t ury led to th e produc t ion of ar t ificial sal t pe t re The .

conse quen t reduc t ion of price almos t en t irely kil led the French sal t pe tre
ind ustry a n d in 1 8 70 when a scien t ifi c c ommi t t ee w a s engaged in providing
, ,

P aris w i t h all stores nece s sary fo r i t s d efence Ber t helo t c oul d find onl y on e .

or t wo sma ll producers in Champagne .

t
E ng lis h s al U n t il t he si xt een t h cen t ury sal t pe t re s eems mos t ly t o have been imported
t t
p e r e indus ry into E ngland ru u c h of it c o ming fr o m Spain bu t in 1 5 1 5 Hans \Vo lf a for
, , ,

eigner was appoin t ed to be one of t he King s gunpo w der makers in the T o wer
'

o f Lon d o n and else w here He was t o go from sh ire t o s hire t o find a place
.

where t here i s s tu ff t o make saltpe tre o f and w here he and his laborers
'

”
sha ll labor di g o r b reak in any gr o un d
, He i s t o make c o mpensa t i on t o
.
 MANU FACT URE OF SAL T P E T RE 55

its o w ners A nd in 1 53 1 Thomas a Le e o ne of the King s gunners w a s

’

.
, ,

appointe d pr incipal searcher a n d maker of g u npo w der .

1

As already stated gunpo w der w a s onl y manufacture d in E nglan d on a

small scale until the sec on d half of th e sixteenth century when George E velyn ,

started mills on a c omparatively large scale Consequentl y there w a s li ttle .

di fficulty before that time in obtaini ng suffi cient saltpetre but then it became ,

necessary to grant the saltpetre men special pri vi leges for digging up the floors
of stables dovec ot s and e v en private d w e llings a n d t he ki n gd o m was di vided
, ,

into a number of areas i n which the c ollection a n d working of the saltpetre

—

was assigned to various people In 1 561 Queen Eli zabeth grante d Gerar d .

H o m ic k a Dutchman £ 50 0 (or £ 30 0 ) for teaching t w o of her subj ects h ow

'

, ,

t o make saltpetre 2
In 1 58 8 she granted a monopoly for gathe ri ng and w o rk
.

ing saltpetre to George E velyn Richard H ills and John E velyn The monopoly , .

exte nded over the w hole of t he South of E ngland and the Midl an d s except ,

the City of Lon d on and tw o miles outside it In 1 5 9 6Rober t E vel yn ac qui r e d .

the rights in London and “ e s tmi ns te r from the licensees there As a rul e
I

.
,

however the E velyns did not work sal t petre themselves but b ought it from
, ,

the saltpetre men .

In the reign of Charles I there w a s c onsi derable friction between the salt
petre men and the publi c but i t was probably due more t o the weakness of
,

th e Cr own than to any real diffic ul t y in obtaini ng in E ngland t he quantity of

saltpetre require d v iz 240 lasts per annum ,
There w a s also compe t i t ion
. .

between the saltpetre men and t he soap boil ers for w oo d ashes whi ch w ere -
,

th en practically the only source of potash and w ere requir ed for the conver
sion of sodi um ni trate int o the p o tassium c o mpou nd In 1 8 34 the Lords of .

the Admi ralty gave orders t o t he Governor and Compan y of soap boilers t ha t -

t he saltpetre men w ere t o have the pre emp t ion of wood ashes on the g roun d -
,

that saltpetre w a s a c ommodi t y of such necessary use for t he King and publi c
that it ought to be preferred before t he ma king o f soap 3
The monopoly of .

saltpetre was aboli she d in 1 64 1 at t he same time as the monopoly of gunp o w der .

It w a s revived for a t ime af t er t he Res t ora t i o n but ma n uf a c tm e t hen w as ,

'

on a c onsi derably larger scale .

The E ast In di a Company then in i t s infanc y imp o r t ed In di an sal t pe t re

, ,

into E ngland as ear ly as 1 625 a n d set up a po w der m ill i n I l in ds o r F o res t

'

w hi ch ho w ever was stoppe d on the ground t ha t i t in t erfere d wi th the Ki ng s

’

, ,

deer Ne x t year the C o mpany received a li c ense to erect mill s in Surre y

. ,

Kent a n d Sussex At thi s t ime its imp o r t a t i o ns w ere on a sma ll scale bu t

. ,

w hen its charter was rene w ed in 1 69 3 i t w a s stipul a t e d t hat 50 0 t o ns o f sal t pe t re

shoul d b e suppli e d every year t o t he Or dnance E ver s ince t hen In di an sal t . .

petre has been u sed very largely in E nglan d fo r the manufacture o f gunp o w der .

1 Ex p I nd 21 0
B r it . Ex p . I nd . ,
p . 18 5 . B r it . . .
pp . .

3
B r it . Ex p . 1 nd .
, 269 .
 EXP L OS I VE S

Whence c ome t hese large quan t i t ies of ni t ra t es ? The ni t r ogen o f the

a t m o sphere does no t form che mical c om p o un d at all rea d ily U n d er t he s .

influence of ligh t ning and hi gh t ensio n elec t rici t y gene r ally small quantities
, ,

of ni t ric ac id are formed and these are ca r r ied down by ra in into the soil and
r endered available for plan t life Bu t La wes a nd Gil be rt in t he ir researches
.

a t Ro t h a ms te d fo u nd t ha t t he amount of ni t rogen removed wi t h t he crops

wa s more t han the t otal sum of t ha t added as manur e and brough t do w n by
t he rain toge t her wi t h t he loss of ni trogen from t he soil No plan t s can grow .

w i t hou t absorbing ni t rogen c ompoun d from t he soil a n d when ani mal s

a n d vege t a ble ma t t ers dec ompose a po r tio n of t he c omb ined ni t rogen is lib er
,

a t ed a s ni t rogen gas bu t in spi t e of t h i s t ead y loss t here is no in di ca t ion t hat

,
s

the s urfac e of t he ear t h a s a w h ole is bec omi ng poorer in combined nitrogen .

Ber t helo t inve s t iga t ed t hi s ma t t er abou t 1 8 76 and di scovered t ha t ni t rogen

and oxygen a lso c omb ine d un d er t he influence of elec tricity of qui t e lo w
t ension su c h as t ha t v ie lde d b y tw o or t hree elec t r ic cells alth ough only very ,

slo w l y and moreover t ha t in t he presence of carbohydrates such a s dex t r ine

,

t he c ombina t ion w a s c o n s ide r a b lv more rapid 1

Al t hough t he quan t i t ies .

t hus ob t ained in small labora t ory experiments only amoun ted to a fe w milli
grammes in several mon t hs y e t as t here are al w ays di fferences of poten t ial of
,

t hi s o r d er over t he w h ole surface of t he globe bet w een t he earth and t he air

abo v e i t he c onsidered t hat t hi s phenomenon w a s sufficient t o acc oun t for
a ll t he ni t ra t es and o t her c ompoun d s of nitrogen tha t are formed .

B ac teria l Since t hen ho w ever i t ha s bee n foun d t ha t t hi s is by no means the only

,
.

cause of t he fo r ma t ion of ni t rogen compound from t he nitrogen of t he a t m o s

s phe r e
. There a re bac t e ri a in t he soil w hi ch c an t a ke up ni t rogen from t he
air and cause i t t o c ombine w i t h o t her elemen t s to form ni t ra t e s a n d more
c omplex bodi es s u c h a s albu minoids Some of t hese such a s Az o b a c te r iu m
.
,

C hr o o c oc c u m Be ij e r i nc k can li ve and ac t free ly in t he soil

,
o t hers seem only
t o e xi s t in t he n odules t ha t are found on t he roo t s of cert ain sor t s of plan t s .

The Bac t e r ium Ra dicic ola i s perhaps t he m o s t import an t of t hese i t is found

on t he roo t s of t he legu mi nos ae (b eans p eas ) and renders i t possible for t hese
, ,

crops t o gro w on o t her wi s e s t erile soil w hi ch aft erwards i s able to suppor t,

o t her crops Some o t her plan t s such as t he alder t ree have similar n od ul es
.

on t heir roo t s There are some soil bac t eria also w hich c onvert ni t rate s
. .

in t o ni t ri t es o t hers carry ou t t he reverse change o t hers again li bera t e ni t ro

, ,

gen from ni t ra t es or ni t ri t e s and se v eral of t hese ac t ions may b e going on

,

simul t aneou ly in t he soil

s .

B a cterial a c t ion proc ee d s m os t rapi dl y in a w a rm mois t cli mate like t hat

of Bengal The accumula t ion o f ni t ra t e t o s uch a n ex t en t t ha t i t can readi l y
.

b e c o llec t ed in large quan t i t ies als o requir es t ha t t he r e sh a ll b e regul ar se a sons

,

of t he vear when li t t le or no rain falls In t hi s re s pect Bengal and m o s t o t her

.
,

S u la F ce d s J I a t é re Ex p l i l i c ha p vi
'

r or e 18 83
r s os ve s , ,
vo . .
, . .
 MAN U FACTU RE OF SALT PE T RE
parts of Indi a satisfy the conditi ons It w a s found by Leather that at P usa .

i n Behar the nitrification takes place m ostly in t he t op 6 or 1 2 inches of soil

and principally at the c ommencement of the rainy season There is more .
.

ni trate in fallow soil than i n that that i s c overed with crops The mean .

quantity that w a s w ashed out of the soil into the drain gauges w a s 70 lb of .

nitric ni trogen per acre from fallo w soil a n d 1 3 lb from croppe d soil 1
Hea d . .

de n has foun d that in Colorado s o il s are often rendered s t erile by t he presence

of too much saltpetre w hich at times amounts t o 6 per cent of the soil It ,
. .

is forme d by azobacte r 2
.

Bihar is the prin cipal seat of the saltpetre in dus t ry in In di a but c onsider ,
t
I ndi a n s a l
pe trej ndustr :
able quanti t ies also c ome from the U nite d P rovinces and t he P unj ab and ,

sma ller am oun t s from o t her parts of In di a a n d from Burma E x cep t what .

is c onsumed in the c ountry the greater part i s exporte d from Calcutta Fif t y , .

or sixty years ago the average quantity e x p o rted was o v er , tons per
annum now it i s ,
to In th e places w here th e nitrou s ear t h
i s c ollected t he natur al vegetation i s scan t as the soil in many cases is too salt ,

for crops t o grow even dur ing the rains It i s obtained in a n d aroun d exi sting .

village sites and on the mu d w alls of h ouses and c o w she d s In the rain y -
.

season last ing from June to October the pr o cess of ni tri fication goes on in t he
, ,

w arm moi st soil assisted by the a ddi t ion of ni t rogenou s refuse

,
The foll ow .

ing account by R W Bingham 3 gi v es a clear picture of the in dustry i n the

. .

last cen t ury

It i s a ll made by a peculiar caste ca lled nun i a b and so far a s my e x p e r i ,
’
,

ence sho w s i s principal l y in the hands of ma h a j u n s w h o make yearly

’

, ,

advances charging 1 2 per cent for the same The nuni a h s are a tolerably
,
. .

safe class compare d w i t h the ordi nary riot (peasant ) t o deal with and pay
, , ,

the zemi ndars (lan d owners ) a comparatively large price (if measured by
‘ ’

the bigah for the old w a lls and old sites in whi ch they revel The supply .

of saltpetre from these old sites appears to be practically in exh au stible for
.

w e fi n d the nuni a b very busy makin g up his piles j ust after the setting in
‘

of t he rains Thi s earth he e x poses to the sun and rain and takes care by
.
, ,

erecting w a lls et c that the preci ou s stuff i s not wasted away A casual
, .
,
.

vi sitor woul d not be able t o understand what he is af t er but w hen the hot ,
.

suns of Ap ril Ma y and June c ome on then himself a n d hi s fa mily boil mer r ilv
, ,

away and eli minate saltpetre and salt from this apparen t ly useless soil Then
,
.

the mahaj an i s on the look out and secures the saltpetre a s it i s ma de a n d -

,

carries it to his o w n re fi nery for fin al manipulation w hile t he sal t w hich i s

1 J . “ Z Le t ahr e , J l em . D ep . A g r i n I nd ia
. ,
v o l. ii .
,
no . 2. J a n . 1 9 12 .

2 P . H ea dd e n , C o lo ra d o Ag r C o l E x p l
. . . S ta ti n o , B u lle ti n s 1 55, 1 60 . t hr u gh o

N a tu r e 1 9 1 1 p 3 64
, J I nd E n g C h e m 1 9 14 p 5 8 6
, . . . . . .
, , . .

3 J
ou r A g ri cu ltu r a l a nd H o r ti c u ltu r a l S o c x ii p
. .
, .
,
. 1 0 7, o ld se ri es ; D ie t . E co n o mic
P r o d u c ts o f I ndia , S . 68 6, v o l. V 1. pa rt ii .
p . 4 37 .
58 EX P L OSIVE S

al w ay s bi t t er and I shoul d sa y un wh olesome un der t he name of khari nimuk

, ,

is sold to t he lowes t cla sses of the communi ty at a cheap ra t e The bu iness .

s

mus t be a profi t able one as t he la rge bank ers of G h a zip o r e P atna and Benares ,

a re al w a y s re a d v to go in t o the t r a de and to ad va nce money to respon ible s

mi ddlemen . So me t imes t hese men e xperience c on s iderable trouble in

r ec o v e r i ng t he ir a d vances bu t in that case t hey quietly walk o ff wi th t he
,

FIG . 3 . Pe rco l to
a rs fo r E x t ra c t in g I nd ia n C ru d e Sa l pe t t re .

b ulloc ks of t he nuniab w h o never dreams of maki n g a c ompla int bu t

be gs or b o r ro w s from hi s c omrad es and f riends t ill he has go t money enough t o
release t hem b y pa yi ng bac k principal a n d in t e r es t w ell kn o wi ng t hat he
wi ll ge t no m ore a d vances a n d wi ll besides b e pu t out of cas t e by hi s cas te
.
, ,

ma t es if he does no t a t all even t s p a y t he o ri ginal ad vance If on the c on

.
,
. .

t r a r y h e makes more sa lt pe t r e than wi ll c over his a dvan c e a n d he ha s no

, ,

p ar t ic ul a r c e remony going on he wi ll c l andes

,
t inely sell hi s partially refin ed
sa l t pe t re t o o t her p e t t y purchase rs a n d ge t dru nk while the m one y las ts and
, ,
 MANUFACT U RE OF SALT P ET RE 59

a sk contemptuously What am I a poor man that I sho ul d work ?

, , The
trade is too hazardous a one and the petty advances spread over too wide
,

an extent of country to make it worth the wh ile of E ur opeans w ith capital

,

to attend to in consequence it is almost wholly in the hands of the large

houses ab ove named (who a r e connected w ith Calcutta native firms and who
in turn have their small br anches in every petty town in the di strict ) .

The industry i s conducted on the same lines now as then except that it ,

( FI G . 4 . E vap o ra t in g L iq uo r fr o m Pe r c o la t o r .

is not as remunerative as it used to be Hooper made analyses of a large .

'
l
1

number of samples of the earth c ollected b y th e n u n ia h s the amount of

nitrates in them varied from 1 to 27 per cen t but as a general rule they con .
,

tain 3 to 5 per cent also several per cent of sodi um chlori de and sul phate A
.
,
.
.

des cription of the process of extraction has been given by Leather and Mukerj i 2
.

1
A gr ic u ltu r a l L ed ger 1 9 0 5 N o 3
, , . .

2
B u lle ti n N o 24 o f t h e Agric ul t ur a l Re s e ar c h I n s t it u t e P u s a
. , , 19 1 1 S S
. . 1 9 12, 1 1 6

a nd 1 36.
60 E XPL OSI VE S

The n u n ia h buil d s an ear t hen changi er call e d the kuri a or kothi

w i t h w e t mu d which is all o w e d to dry
, Thi s chamber (s ee Fi g 3) has either . .

c ircular w alls s o me 5 or 6 fee t i n diam eter or oblong wall s and a floor w hich , ,

s l o pe s s lightly from ba c k to fron t In the front wall i s a h ole at the level of

.

the b e d w hich allows the ni t rate liqu o r to drain away into a pot Above the
, .

b o t t o m o f t hi s ear t hen chamber a fal s e bott o m i s laid consisting of bamboos ,

a n d mat t ing pla c ed o n a fe w l o o se b ri c ks The nitrate earth is filled in on .

t hi s wi t h great care St o nes e t c a r e removed fr o m it as far as possible and

.
,
.
, ,

i t is pu t in s ligh t ly moi s t a n d tro dden d own so as to leave no channels thr o ugh ,

w hi c h t he w ater w o ul d run t o o rapi d ly Wood ashes are generally mixed .

w i t h t he ear t h s o that t he p o t a s h in them may convert int o saltpetre the

.

ni t ra te s o f lime a n d magne s i a A small pie c e of m atting is place d over th e

.

to p o f t he ear t h a n d w a t er i s p o ure d on c autiou s ly The li quor that percolate s .

t hr o ugh fir s t i s fairly s t r o ng it i s transferred to shall o w earthenware or iron

ba s in s a nd evapora t e d d o w n (Fig 4) by means of a fire o f wood leaves or .
,

t w igs or in the P unj ab to sh a llow masonry trays in w hich the concentrati o n

,

t ake s pla c e t hrough the ac t ion o f the very dry air a n d the heat of th e sun .

The w eak liqu o r th at perc o lates t hr o ugh afterwards is thrown on to a heap ,

o f alrea d y extra c te d ear t h where it evaporates : thi s earth is afterwar d s

,

e x tra c t e d again The s trong liqu o r is boile d do wn u ntil crystals begin to

.

appear a n d then is all o w ed to c o o l ; t he c rystals are then fished out fresh

, ,

liqu o r is a dde d to the m other li qu o r and the c oncentrati o n is c arried out as

bef o re The c o mp o sition of t he c ru de saltpetre thu s pr o duce d varies c on
.

s i d erably Ho o per gives t he analysi s of fi fty fi v e samples and of these the

.
-
,

f o ll o w ing ha v e been s ele c te d by Leather as being typi c al

Fa r u kh a b ad O ka r a
Mo z a f Bu rb an

fe r p o r c pu ra
I

Po ta iu m
ss ni t rat e

lc i u m
‘
( a n it r a t e

Ma g n e s iu mn it ra t e

S d iu m h l r id
o c o e

S di u m s u lp ha t
o e

I n lu b l ma t t
so e er

No at t empt is ma de to s eparate th e sod ium chl o ri de at thi s s tage b e cau se

 MAN U FACT U RE OF SAL T P E T RE
there is an ex cise du t y o n it a nd the salt depart ment only allows the recovery
,

to take place in the refinerie s w here a proper c ontrol can be kept Some of
, .

the cru de saltpetre is used as manure but the greater part g o es to the refin ery
, .

In the refinery the processes are very similar to those carried out by the
n u ni a h. There i s al w ay s a large heap of saltpetre ear t h whi c h is worked ,

over and over again the w eak li quors being always thro w n on to it This i s
, .

e x tracted in ko thia s but t he strong liquors are not evaporated down by

,

themselves ; c rude saltpetre i s dissolved in them at the b o iling point The -

.

quantity added i s such that the potassium nitrate i s all dissolved to form a
boiling saturated solution whereas the greater part of the s o dium chloride
,

remains un dissolved (s ee Table of Solubil ities on p 63 ) together with the .

insoluble matter The hot li quid i s a llowed to settle for a little while and
.
,

then r u n into wooden vats where it i s allowed to cool slowly and deposit
crystals of potassium nitrate The residue in the di ssolving tank is w ashed
.

with w ater to recover the saltpetre in it and the common salt may be purified
,

by di ssolving it in weak nitre li quor de c anting o ff and evaporating down

, .

The insoluble matter and all weak liquors are added to the heap of earth ,

whi ch stea dil y gro w s from year to year The mother liquor from the cr y s ta lli za
.

tion of the saltpetre i s als o added to it after it has been used three or four
tim es as it i s then too impure
,
.

The refined saltpetre i s in large crystals of a browni sh colour To purify .

it further and improve the c olour it is sometimes subj ected to a was hi ng

process it is put in sacks over w ooden tubs and cold water i s poured through
it Thi s of co urse di ssolves some of the p otassium nitrate as well as the
.

impurities and is consequently retur ned to the refinery process Leather

,
.

and Mukerj i give the following analyses of refined saltpetre before and after
washi ng

van B a kr a ma n

W a she d W a shed
w a she d w a s he d

°
93 '
15 °
15

Leather has designed a simple plant on m o re up to date lines to ca r ry - -

out the refining pr o c ess and i s endeavouring to get the In di an refiners to take
,

it up This consists o f a diss o lving vessel provided w ith a stirrer a filter in

.
,
 E X P L OSIVE S

which t he li quor i s ra pidl y fil te r e d at a high te mperat ure and a series of ,

coolers in w hi ch t he s a ltpet r e is ca used to crysta llize rapi dl y The c rysta ls .

are then fr ee d a s far as possible from the mother li quor in a centrifugal

ma c hin e Th e s altpetre produced h as a p urity of 90 to 9 3 per cent
. .

The pla in of Ta ma r u g a l in C hili is even more favourably situate d than

Bihar or Bengal It li es bet w ee n the An des and the c omparatively low Coast
.

H ills at a height of abou t 30 00 feet above the sea wi thin the tropics As a .

rul e the r e is very li t t le ra in there but about once in s ix or seven years the
,

pla in w hi ch i s about 45 mil es wide i s flooded

,
The plain slopes gently
,
.

t o w ards t he Coas t Hi ll s and as there i s no outlet for the wate r it coll ects there ,

and evapo r ate s and a ll the ni trate it has di ssolved from the entir e p lain
,

is deposi te d in a comparatively narrow area The entire produc t of the .

bacterial action upon many hun dreds of s quare miles for many centuries is
foun d in the Chi li ni trate beds As the soil conta ins so di um compo u nds
.

and c omparatively little potassium it is prin cipall y so di um ni trate that has

,

been de s p o s ited 1
.

The follo wi n g gives the resul ts of analysis of commercial Chili ni trate °

So d iu m t rat e
ni

P o t a s ium ni t rat e
s

So di um c hl o rid e
So di u m io dat e
P o ta s s ium c hl o ra t e
Ma gn e s iu m s ul p ha te
Ma gn e su m c hl o rid e
C alc ium s ul p ha te
I n s o lub le
\ Va t e r

During the Crimean War (1 8 54 the demand for saltpetre was so

great t ha t the e x isting sources of supply in E urope and In di a di d not suffice ,

and c onsiderable quantities were made from Chi li nitrate whi c h had been ,

supplied to E u rope in consta ntly inc r easing quantities since 1 8 30 The .

sa l t beds at S ta ssf ur t ho w ever did not commence to yi eld potassi um chloride

, ,

(Carnall ite ) until about 1 8 63 therefore other sour ces of p ota sh had to be
,

used to c onvert the so di um ni tra te from C hili in to the correspon di ng p o ta s

si u m salt The o n ly sources of p ota sh then ava ilable were kelp and the
.
,

ash of w ood e tc When the war was over saltpetre prepared in thi s way
, .
,

coul d no longer c ompete with the natur al product from India But shortly .

”
af terwards fresh so u rces of p ota sh w ere fo u nd i n suin t the dr ied sweat ,

of sheep whi ch is washed from the wool and in the cinder o f v inass e
, ,

1
See N t n J
ew o , . S oc . C h em. I nd .
, 190 0 ,
p . 40 8 .
 MANU FACTU RE OF SALT PE T RE
(Schl emp e ko hle ) hi ch i s obtain ed a s a b y product in th e re fi nin g of beet
,
w -

sugar l Vith the develop ment of the Stassfurt p ota sh industry these lost
.

their importa nce ho w ever .

Large quantities of potassium nitrate are no w made b y the interaction Conv ers io n”
of Chili nitrate and c ommercial chloride of p otash w hi ch is made by lixi viat ing ,
s al tp tr e
e .

”
“
carnalli te a double c hloride of p otassium and magnesium o cc urring in
, ,

im mense dep osit s near Stassf u rt in Germany In the heated and conc e ntrated .

mother li quor from a previ ous operation co mmercial so di um nitrate (about

95 per cent p u rity ) and p otassium chloride (not less than 8 0 per cent p u rity )
.
.

are dissolved the nitrate being in sli ght e x cess Of the four salts that mi ght
, .

be present in the solution thu s formed so di u m c hl oride has the least solu ,

b ili ty at a high temperatur e and p otassium ni trate the greatest (s ee Table

below ) At a low temperatur e p otassium ni trate has the lowest solubil ity
.
.

The figur es are of co u rse for p u re salts dissolved in di still ed wate r and the ,

presence of other substances in solution wo ul d alte r the solubili ties some

’

what but the figures given in the last two columns the solubili ties of so di um
, ,

chl oride and pota ssium nitrate in water whi ch is s imul ta neously saturate d
wi th both salts show that in thi s case the salts have li ttle effect upon one
,

another s solubility Consequently in the h o t c oncentrated solution of sodium

’
.

ni trate and potassium chloride most of the so di um c hl o r ide is precipita ted out
Na NO3 K CI Z K O3 N
N3 0 ] .

TAB LE or SO LU B I LI TI E S

G r a mm e m o ls .
p e r 10 00 g w a . t er

Te m pe r a t ur e On e sa l t o nl y p re s e n t

Na C l Na N 0 3

a
C l cu l a te d fr o m fi gur e in Seid ell s S o lu b il it ie s o f I n o g n ic a nd O g n ic S b t nce s
s
’
r a r a u s a ,

1 90 7. A gr a mm e m o l is t h e m
-
o l e
. cu”
l ar w e i g h t o f a s u b t an c e in gra m me To fin d s s.

t h e a c t ua l w e igh t o f t h e sa lt s dis s o l ve d b y 1 0 00 p a rt o f w a t er mul t ip ly t h e a b v fi gur s

s ,
o e e

b y t h e c o rre p ond in g m le cul a r w igh t f Na C l 58 5 K C l 74 6 N N O 3 8 5 1 K N O 3 - -

s o e s or , ,
a ,

1 0 1 -
1.
 E X P L OSIV E S

Th e u t so f th di ff r n t
l b ili ie s lt in t h p r
o n
e se f n an t h r h a v r
e e n t ly sa s e ese ce o o e o e e e ce

b n in v t iga t ed b y J
ee es Le a t h r n d J N Mu k r j i w h
. re ult d n t d iff r v ry
e a . . e , o se s s o o e e

r r o ve er tu h w v r t h un d th t
°

g t
ea ly f m t h ob A t te m p a b l w 30 C
. e y f a r es e o o e e . e o a a

s m ll p re po r t io n o f K C l i f m ed in a
a lut i n t urat ed w it h K NO n d N C l nd
s or so o sa 3 a a . a a

co rr po nd in g a mo ru t f lid N N O i d e p it e d At t mp r t u e a b o v 30 C n
es i o so a s
s os . e e a r s e
°
. o

th t h r h nd K C l i d e po it ed a n d N N 0 fo rmed in s lut i n nd t h t m pe rat ur

e o e a s s a 3
o o , a as e e e

ri t h q u nt it i o f t he e t
s es e a s s l i
esn c r rap y
id l l
a s ea se .

The li qui d is boiled for half an h o ur to complete t he rea c tion a s far as

p o s s ible t hen i t is run t hrough a fil t er in t o shallo w coo ling ta nks some more
,

w a t er may n o w be adde d w i t h ad v antage t o preven t s odium c hlo ride s eparating

ou t w i t h t he p otassium ni tra t e .

The s o lu t ion is kept st irred w hilst it c ools s o t hat the potassium nitrate ,

FI G . 5. Pl ant fo r Re fi n in g Sa l pe t t re a t Ab b e y .

may s epara t e i n s mall c r y s t al s w hi ch do no t contain so much m other li quor ,

as large one s The cr y s t als are drained and then w a s hed with the li quors
.

from the ne x t cry s t a lli zation Thi s is b es t done in a centrifugal machi ne a s .

,

t he quan t i t y o f w a s hing li quor is t hereby reduce d to a m inim um .

The c rude sal t pe t re t hu s ob t ained s till c o nta ins several per c en t of sodium .

chl o r i d e and abou t a half per c ent o f magne ium c hlo r ide I t is purified by . s .

di s s o lving i n t he w ashings of the purifie d salt allowing it to cry s t a lli ze and ,

w a s hi ng wi th w ater w hereby t he percentage of chloride i s reduced to 0 0 5

,

per c ent o r le s s and t he ma t erial is rendered practica lly free from a ll other
.
,

imp u rities F inall y it i s dr ied

. .

The s odi um chlori d e formed in the conver s ion is w a s hed on the filter wi th
li quors conta in ing graduall y di min ishing a mo i mts of nitrate until the solid ,

conta ins onl y 0 8 per cent or le s s This s altpetre salt t hen con ta in s about
-
. . .

1
dI e m f D p t f Ag ic u lt u e in I nd ia C h mi l S r i
. o e . o ol iii
r No 7 1 9 1 4 r .
, e ca e es ,
v . .
, .
, .
 MAN U FACT U RE OF SALT P E T RE
98 per cent of sodium chloride in the dry state It i s unsuitable for the
. .

manufacture of hydrochl o ric a c id beca u se thi s would be c ontaminated with ,

ni trous compounds and moreover the plant would be strongly attacked

, .

It i s therefore either sold to farmers to put on the land or use d in c opper

extractio n or o t her metallurgical processes .

Artificial or conversion saltpetre made as above is usually supplied ,

by the chemical works to the e xpl os ives fa c tory in su c h a state of purity that
no further purification i s necessary Natural saltpetre from In di a on the .

o ther hand always conta ins a considerable amount of impurity and requires

to be refi ned before use .

Although the quantity of black po w der made is still very considerable ,

it is not nearly so large as it w a s twenty years ago The black p o w der factories .

now being worked were a ll in exi stence at that ti me and they mostly have ,

large saltpetre refineries attached w h ich more than su ffice to refine all the ,

material that they requi re It has not been foun d w orth while to recon .

struct the refineries as they are still capable of turning out saltpetre of good
,

quali ty I t wo ul d nowadays be p ossible ho w ever to erect up to date plant

.
, ,
- -

that would save much space and some fuel and labo u r .

At Waltham Abbey as at some other English p owder factories In di an R fi ning e

m
, ,

a m a“
saltpetre is used exclusively The total quantity imported into E ngland .

every year i s howe v er only ,tons and the total consumption for maki ng
,

p o w der etc several times that amount The balance is made u p with
, .
, .

conversion saltpetre .

The method of refinin g st ill followed at W altham Abbey is as foll ows : W a lth a m
b ey m
The c rude or gro ugh saltpetre is di ssolved up in a large iron copper A ,

( Fig. which has a capacity of 50 0 gallons and is fitted with a perforated ,

false bottom whi c h prevents the saltpetre adhering to the vessel For each .

charge ab out 25 cwts of grough saltpetre are taken and 5 c w ts of crystals

, .
, .

recovered from li quors and 5 c w ts of crystals left in the crystalli zing cisterns
, . .

This is all di ssolved in about 28 0 gallons of the w ashi ngs of the purified salt
petre whi ch a lso c ontains a considerable amount of the salt The fire is li t
, .

under the copper a n d in about two hours the saltpetre is dissolved and the
,

liquid boili ng J ust before it boils a thi ck scum rises to the surface consisting
i
.

mostly o f impurities This i s skimmed o fi and the fa lse b ottom i s removed

c
.
,

and col d water i s added from time to time to induce fresh scum to form if it ,

will The fire is then wi thdrawn and the li qui d is allowed to settle for two
.

hours Then a hand pump is lowered into the copper and the li quid is pumped
.

into filters B where it p a sses through li nen cloth From here it runs to
,
.

shallow copper crystalli zing trough s 0 As it cools down the liquid is kep t .
,

stirred by a workm an in order to make the saltpetre separate in small crystals ,

and the saltpetre fl o ur as it form s is drawn up on to an inclined draini n g

platform D and from there is passed to a w ashing vat E After the tempera
,
.

V OL . I .
5
 E X P L OSIV E S

t ure has fall en to abou t 3 2 C (90 F ) t he s olution i s no longer s t irred and any
°
.
°
.

c r v s ta ls t ha t f o rm af t er t ha t are t reated as grough nitre .

W a s hing . The w a s hi ng va t E i s abou t 6 fee t long by 4 fee t wide by 3 feet 6 inches , ,

d eep a nd is fi t te d wi t h a false bo tto m made of wood w i t h small holes bored

,

in i t Belo w the false bottom is a plug which can be removed to all ow the
.

w ashing s t o flow a w ay .First the charge is w ashed with 70 gallons of wate r

s prin kle d o v er it by means o f a rose t he plug be ing left o u t so that the w ashi ngs
,

can d rain a w ay t o a li quor ta nk F Af t er drai ning half an hour the plug

.

is in s er t e d a n d t he s al t pe t re c overed w i th fresh water which afte r s tan di ng ,

ha lf an hour i s also allowe d t o dra in into F Finall y t he salt i s washed by .

s p r inkling w i t h 1 00 gall ons of w ate r the plug r e ma l mng out The saltpetre
, .

is no w a llo w ed t o drain a ll ni ght and is then rem oved to the s t ore house w here -

i t i s a llo w ed to dry sponta neou s ly In about t hree days the m oist u re has
.

fa llen t o 3 or 5 per cent .

Moth er li q uor .
The m o t her li quors and o ther impur e solutions are boiled down to about
a qua r te r o f t he ir origin al volume Any sc u m or deposit that forms during
.

the boilin g should be removed and w ate r then be added The solution i s .

n o w fil t e red and all owed to crysta lli ze The crysta ls are treated as grough
.

sa ltpe t re a n d the mother liquor return ed t o the evaporat ing pots .

The me t hods of re fi n ing adop ted in France Germany and o th er c ountries ,

a re sub s tantially t he same as that at Wal t ham Abbey A small proportion .

o f size is , ho w ever ofte n added in the refining c opper to assist the formation
,

of s c um .

P o t a s s ium ni t rate could also be made from the calcium nitrate produced
fro m a t mo s pheri c oxygen and nitrogen by processes such as t hat of Birkeland
a nd Ey d e as c ar r ied ou t a t Notodden but the calcium c hl oride ob t a ined as a
,

b y pr o du c t w ould be o f no value
-
Or the di lute ni t r i c acid obta ined in the
.
.

B irkeland Eyde pro c ess c o ul d be treate d wi t h li me s t o ne or c halk and p ota ss ium

-

c hlori d e
2R ( I 2H NO, 2KNO3 ( Cl 2 CC +H 0
‘ ‘
a 2 2 .

In this c a s e t he c arb o ni c a c id c ould be c oll e c te d and c ompres s ed into c ylinders

and s o ld U p t o t he pre s ent t hese m etho d s d o not appear to have been
.
,

ad o p t e d bu t ni t ri c acid and ammoni um ni t rate are being made on a very

,

large s cale e s pecially in Germany

,
1
.

1
S e c h p v iii
e a . .
 C H AP TE R V

MANUFACTURE OF CH ARCOAL AND SULPH UR

Char co al W o o d us e d D is t illa t io n C o mp o s it io n B ro w n char co al Sulp hur :

Sicilian s u lp hu B y p ro d u c t s ulp hu r L o ui iana s ul p hur

r : -
R e fi n in g s ul p hur
s

P ro p e r t ie s Fun c t io n o f s u lp hur s

AT one time the charcoal for black p owder was made almost exclusively from W ood
alder wood b ut later other soft woods w ere used and straw charcoal was also
-
, ,

introduced for the brown p owders for heavy ordnance Charcoal from soft .

woods is generally used especially for the better qualities of gunpowder

, ,

because it i s more easy to ignite In E ngland dog wood i s much used espec
.
-
,

ia lly for rapid burning p owders of small grain for larger p owders alder and ,

will ow In Germany alder and wi llow are the principal woods used ; in
.

Austria alder and hazel in Switzerland hazel in France black alder is used
, ,

for hi gh class powders for mining powders common white woods such a s
,

w hi te alder p oplar aspen birch and hazel ; in Spain the O leander yew
, , , , , ,

willow hemp stems and vine in Italy alm ost exclusively hemp stems
, , , .

Charcoal burnt in heap s or ki lns has not been used very largely for gun
powder since even the very earliest days for it was soon found that to produce ,

good powder it was necessary to select the wood careful ly and burn it very
uniformly It has therefore been heated in ovens or iron vessels and the
.
,

procedure of the present day does not di ffer materially from that of the
fourteenth century .

The wood should be cut in the spring as the sap in it at that time of the ,

year contains much less inorganic matter so that although the proportion ,

of sap i s larger yet the percentage of ash in the wood is much smaller More
,
.

over wood cut in the spring i s much more easily freed from its bark which
, ,

also contains a large proportion of ash The wood i s kept at least eighteen .

months and generally not less than three years to all ow the sap to dry out
, ,

of it and other changes to take place The practice varies considerably as .

regards protectin g the wood from rain at Dresden it is kep t in sheds at

Spandau in the open at Waltham Abbey also the wood is kept in the open ,

but the dog wood i s c overed with thatch whereas the alder and willow are
-
,
 E X P L OSIV E S

The w oo d is spli t if necessa r y in t o piec e s ab o u t 1 in c h t hi ck and t hese ,

a re plac ed in an i ron c y lin der abou t 2 fee t in di ame t er and 3 fee t 6 in c he s

long This c y li nder is t hen r aised by mea ns of suita ble t ackl e a nd place d
.

i n a furnace w hi ch is hea ted as uni formly a s possible

, The higher t he t em .

e ra t u re and t he longer t he hea t ing t he lower i s the percentage o f hydrogen

p ,

and o x ygen in t he c ha r coal a n d t he grea t er is its hardness and t he di ffi c ul t y

wi t h w hi c h i t i s igni t ed A t IVa l
.t h a m Abbey dog wo o d for R P G or N G l -
. . . . .

po w ders is he a t ed 4 ho u rs for ,
8 hours Alder and willo w for R L G 2 . . . .

a re hea t ed hours for R L G P and ris m Blac k 4 hours for P 6

.
4
P
.
1
. . .
3
,

hen t he t em p e ra t ure of th e wood atta ins abou t 28 0 C volatile pro duc t s °

'

U .

of d e c omposi t ion of t he wood come o ff plentif u lly These coul d be conden s ed .

b y mea ns of a suitable condenser and w orked up i nto aceta t e of li me a n d

,

wood spir i t The charcoal plan t of a powder mill is ho w ever on su c h a

.
, ,

sma ll scale a s c ompare d wi t h the fac to ries in whi ch charcoal i s produced for
me t a ll urgica l processes w i t h reco v ery of the b y product s tha t it i s not u s ually -
,

considered w or t h whil e to do thi s The vola t ile products are therefore simply
.

led in t o t he fur nac e by w hi ch t he wood is being heated and so some e x p e n di ,

tur e of fu el is sa v ed To enable t he gases and volatile products to escape

.

t he c y lin der h a s some holes bored in it a t one e n d and the furn ace i s provided ,

wi t h a pipe t o lead a w a y t hes e product s I Vh e n the carboni za tion has .

‘

p roce ed e d far enough the flame of the burnin g gas becomes blue The furnace
, .

is t hen o p en e d t he cylin der ta ken ou t by mea ns of the tackle and a fre sh

, ,

cylinder of w oo d pu t in before the furnace h as had time to cool The cylin d er .

t ha t has been taken ou t is placed insi d e a larger cylin der which has a cl o sely ,

fit t ing lid and is t here allo w ed t o cool I t is necessary tha t the cooling should
,
.

t a ke pla ce out of con t act of the a ir as o t herwi se the charcoal will c atc h fi re
.
, .

E v en w hen cold i t a t first absorbs large quantities of oxygen from the air ,

and in so doing may be c ome sufficien t ly ho t to catc h fi r e Therefore oxygen .

m ust onl y b e allo w ed g r adual access to the charcoal it shoul d not be ground
u n t il a w eek af t er i t h a s been b u rn t Before use it i s carefull y picked over
.

by hand to rem ove a n y that has not been properly bur nt as also any forei gn ,

ma t t e rs t hat have got in t o i t Charc o al intended for powders for ord nance
.

s h oul d be jet bl a ck in c olour ; its f r ac tur e sh oul d show a clear velve t like -

sur fa ce ; i t shoul d be light and sonorous w hen dropped on a hard surface ,

a n d so sof t that i t will not sc r atc h poli she d c opper The yi eld of such char
.
1
.

coal i s 28 to 30 per cent of t he dri ed w ood For small arm s a more sla c kl y
. .
-

bur n t charc oal ca n b e u sed and the yi eld may be as much a s 40 per cent
,
.

Such charcoal h a s a red di s h bro w n c olo u r w hich is percep t ible in the powder
-
,

un t il i t h a s been gla ze d wi t h graphi t e .

1
Trea tis e on S e r v ice E x
p lo s i ve s , 1 90 7, p . 10 .
 MAN UFACT URE OF C H A RC OAL AND SULP H UR

The composition of s o me typical charcoals i s sh o wn in the Table below 1

. C o mp os itil

Spani sh hemp charcoal i s u s u all y burnt in pits h o l di ng l tO 1 ton When z

‘

the carboni zation has procee ded far enough the pit i s covere d with a woollen
cloth on w hich earth i s placed This probably account s for the high p er .

centage of ash in the analysis below .

D e s c r ip io n t Ca r b o n H y d r o ge n O x y ge n

F r o m P P w d er \ Va lth a m Ab b e y
. o ,

Fr o m “ a lt h m Ab b e y
Y
a

Fr o m Ab b y e

Fr o m F G W lt ha m Ab b y
. .
, a e

Cu rti s n d H ar ve y Sp o r t in g
‘

s a ,

C u rt i a n d H ar v e y Min in g
’
s s ,

Sp a ni h H m p C h r c a l
s , e a o .

G erman Sp o r t ing P w d e r (B S ) o . . .

Au s t r ian C ann o n P o w d r (K ) e . .

A t r ian Sm ll Ar m P w d r
us a o e .

Rus i n P o w d e r
s a (F ) .

The char c oal fo r brown or co c oa p ow d er was made from rye straw -

B r o wn
\

\
m"
,

“ ato
whi c h was only carbonize d very sli ghtly 2
It w a s heate d only about half .

a n hour then taken out of the furnace The carb oni zati o n proceeded sp on
, .

ta n e o u s ly a little further and t hen the charcoal coole d The resul t was a sof t .

g
c harcoal c onta inin g a lar e per c entage of oxygen a n d hydrogen In the .

operation of pressing the p ow der this became a c oherent c olloi d w hi ch bound

the other constituents together to a dense imp ervious mass w hich burnt ,

comparatively slowly The c ocoa p owder gave the best balli stics in heavy .

or dnan c e of any bla c k p o w d er ever produced but it has now been entirely ,

displace d by smokeless p owders .

For cheap blast ing powder and p owder for s c a r ing bir d s a n d s upplying
natives of Afri c a etc charcoal of an inferior qua lity can be u s e d
, .
,
.

SULPH UR

S ulphur oc c urs native in many volcanic districts c sp e cia llv i n Sicily , ,

a n d un t il recent t imes practically the whole of t he w orl d s supply came from

’

there The sulphur in Sicily i s mi x ed w ith limest o ne t he ores containi ng

.
,

1
N ob le a nd Ab e l T r a n s Ro y S o c
, . . .
, 1 8 75 a nd 1 8 79 N o b le , A r ti lle r y a nd E x p lo s i ve s
,

1 90 6, p p . 1 27 129 . B . 8: S .
”
me a n s an a ly s is b y B l ms e n a nd Sc h is c h ko ff ,
K by
K ra o ly i , F
‘

b y Fe d e o w .

2
G ut t m nn a , i
’
ll a n u a cl u r e , v o l .
/ i .
, p . 90 ; C u n d ill a nd T h o m p s o n p 21 , . T r ea tis e on

S e r vi c e E pl i x os ve s , 1900 ,
p . 1 10
 '

Ex p L o s rv Es

usua lly from 20 to 40 per ce n t of sulp hur Formerly the sulphur wa s rec c y
. .

ered b v t he was te ful cal c aroni pr o cess The ore was pil ed in a la rge hea p .

and c o v er ed over wi t h mois tened ash ex c ept for a sma ll opening C ombus t ion .

w a s s tar te d wi t h bur ni ng wood but th e comb ustion of part of the sul ph ur

,

provi ded most of t he necessary heat The sul phur melte d out and flo w ed .

do w n on to a p repared fi o o r Onl y about 60 p er cent of the sulphur in t he

. .

ore was recovered by thi s process and t he large quantiti es of s ul phur dioxi d e
,

set fre e w ere very inj ur ious to the sur roun di ng vegetation This method .

has been largely superseded by the introduction of r e cupera t ive furnaces

i nvente d by Gill a n d m odi fied by Sa nfi llip o About six large chambe rs are .

arrange d in a se ri es so t hat the hot gases from one ca n be m a de to hea t t he

next By t hi s process the recovery is about 8 0 per cent At t emp t s have
. .

been ma d e to introduce m ore efficient methods whereby practi ca lly t he whole

of t he sul phur co ul d be recovered by melting it out with hot brine or s te a m ,

or di s t ill ing it wi th superheate d stea m These methods have no t atta ined .

any great success however t he ob stacles being the ab sence of any local supply
, ,

of fu el and t he backwa r d state of the country The s ul phur is refin e d by .

di still ation the principal di stilleries being situate d in Marseilles S ome powder
, .

mills have small sulph ur refine r ies of their own as at Wal t ham Abbey for ,

instance .

Two sort s of sulp hur can be obtain e d by di still at ion : flowers and
stick sul phur The form er consists of mi nu te crystals w hi ch have bee n
.
,

d eposi t e d on the i nterior surface of a large chamber or dome i nto which

th e vapour s have been passed The flowers conta in a small per centa ge
.

of sulph u ric acid formed by the action of the air on the sulphur a nd ,

conse quently are not sui table for the man uf acture of exp losives S t ick .

sulphur on the oth er hand i s very p ure and o nly requi res to be ground
, ,
.

For the manufacture of s ul p hur ic acid elemen ta ry sulphur is but li t t le

used now a s i t pays be t te r to roast various ores in w hi ch i t is combined wi t h
,

metals such as copper p yrit e s and zinc blende b u t i t does not pay to ex t r ac t
,
- -
,

sul phur as such from these ores A certa in proport ion of i t comes on t he
.

market however as i t i s obta in e d a s a b y pro duct in the Leblanc sod a pro

, ,
-

cess The sul ph u ric aci d u se d in t hat process is ul t im a t e ly c onver t ed in t o

.

calcium sul phi de C a S and for many yea rs thi s accum ul ate d in grea t hea p s
, , ,

whi ch were a public nui sance no method bein g kno wn by which i t c oul d
,

be worked up excep t at a prohi bi tive c os t E ventually t h e Clau s Chance .

-

process was d evi sed and perfec ted whi c h enabled t hi s to b e done Kil n g a s
,
.

”
i s passed over the so d a waste converting it in to calcium ca rbona t e a n d
-
,

s ul ph urette d hydr ogen C a S H O CO Ca C O H S gAs t he s ul , , g .

h u r e t te d hydr ogen i s ra t her dil ute and variable in c oncen t ra t ion t he gas is
p ,

led t hr ough a fresh quantity of the waste by whi ch i t i s absor b ed fo rmin g , ,

t he bisulphi de : C a S + H S C a H S W hen kiln gas i s led t hrough t hi s

'

2 Z Z.
 MANUFACTURE OF C HA RC OAL AND S UL P H UR
the sulphuretted hy d rogen is again given o ff but is of double the previou s ,

concentration Ca H S H 0 CO C a C 0 + 2H S This gas is col

g 2 2 Z 3 g .

le cte d in a gas holder and can be fed from there into the chambers where it
-
,

i s converted into sul phuric acid or it can be mixed with gas from the pyrites ,

burners whereby sulphur i s caused to deposit in accordance with the equation

,

2H S + 8 0
z 2H 0 + 3S
2
: The sulphur th us obtained is of c onsiderable
2 .

purity .

S ul phur is also obtain ed in the purification of c oal gas from sulphuretted -

hydrogen and other sulphur compounds .

U ntil recently the market was entirely controlled by an E nglish asso c ia

tion the Anglo Sici lian Sulphur Company formed in 1 8 9 5 Sulphur had
,
-
, .

been found in Louisiana in 1 8 65 during some boring op erations for petroleum , ,

but it was s itu a te d un der n e a th 500 feet of qu icksand and all attempts to
'

work it commercially failed until the matter was taken up by Hermann Frasch
in 1 8 9 1 and eve n then years of work were re quired and a large amount of
,

capital before success was achieved The sulp hur i s mixed with a much .

small er proportion of limestone than in Sicily the ore contain in g about 70 ,

per cent sulphur The method that has been adop ted i s to put down a pipe
. .

of 1 0 inches diameter until the sulp hur dep osit i s reached then the hole i s ,

continued with a 9 inch drill through the sulphur dep osit w hi ch i s about
—
,

20 0 f eet thick A 6 in ch pip e i s passed to the bottom and a 3 inch pip e

.
-
,
-

through t hi s both being p erforate d near their lower ends Superheated

,
.

water is passed down the 6 inch pipe but the sulp hur p asses up the 3 inch -
,
-
.

At first it was raised by means of pump s but now air is forced down this ,

mixes w ith the sulphur and reduces its density and it is raised to the surface ,

of the ground by the pressure of the water used for melting .

The U nion Sulphur Company has been so successful that it has ac quired
the whole of the trade of the U nited States and also exp orts considerable
quantities The production amounts to several hundred thousand tons p er
.

annum .

The sulp hur as it comes up from the well is said to have a purity of 9 9 9 3 -

to 9 9 9 8 per cent It is simply run into great bin s whi ch hold as much as
-
.
,

tons each W hen it has cooled the sides of the bins are removed the
.
,

sul phur is broken up and i s then ready for shi pment ,

.

The Anglo Sicil ian S ul phur Company findi ng itself unable to contend
-

with Frasch s Company fina lly retired from the bus iness but it h a d made
’

enormous profits for many years The Italian Government has forme d a .

c ompulsory trust to control the marketing of Sicili an sulphur and ensure a

li ving wage to the Sicilian workmen Thi s has proved very successful and .

the workers in Sicily are now better o ff than they have been for many years
past.

On the oc c asion of the presentation to him of the P erki n Medal Frasch ,

 EXPL OSI VE S
gave a very in te res t ing accoun t of the vari ou s diffi c ul t ies he h ad to con t en d
wi t h in w orkin g ou t his in v en t ion and t hi s i s publi s hed in t he J Soc C he m
, . . .

I nd . 1 9 1 2 pp 1 68
, ,
.

Sicili an sul ph u r requi res to b e refined before i t can b e u sed and t h i s i s ,

d o ne by di s t il lin g it The crude or grough sulph ur i s p lac e d in an ir on po t

. .

w hi c h i s hea t e d from be low by a furn a c e un t il the sulphur boils The vapour .

pa s s e s over in t o a chamber w here t he sul phur is d ep o s i t ed on the wa lls in

t he form of small c rystals w hich c ons t i t ute flowers of sulphur
, If t he wa ll s .
“

of t he chamber are allowed to get ho t enough to mel t t he c ry s t a ls t he s u lphur

r u ns d own and is ta pped off and cas t into sticks or rolls The s t ill i s of t en - .

so arrange d that t he w aste h e at from the furnace melt s ano t her charge of crude
sulphur ready to run into t he s t ill as soon as t he firs t charge has b een di s t i lled
off
. The refin ery at Waltham Abbey i s p ro vid ed not o nly wi t h a large
c hamber or d ome but also wi t h a c ondenser lea di ng to a receiver Onl y .

t he fir s t por t ion of vapour is a d mi t te d to t he dome t hen t he vap o urs are tu r ned ,

in to t he c ondenser Flo w ers of sulphur are no t fit for makin g explosive s

.

because t hey con ta in a small propor t ion of sulphuric and sulphurou s ac ids .

The flo w ers from the dome are therefore redi still ed .

t
Pr o p er ies .
Roll sul phur consists of pale yello w brit t le crys ta ls belonging to the rhombic
sys te m havi ng a d ensity of 2 0 7 at
. It melts a t abou t to an am be r
c o lo u re d li qui d but when t he heat ing is c ontin ued a bove 1 20 i t gra dually
,
°

b ecomes d arker and more viscous Bet w een 1 60 and 220 i t is so v i scous ° °
.

t ha t t he vessel c onta in ing i t can be inverte d wi t hou t l o s ing a n y If t hi s .

vi s c ou s amorphou s mass be c ooled rapidl y par t of i t reta in s t he amorphou s

c on di t ion a n d is insoluble i n carbon bi s ul phide w hich di ssolve s ordi nar y ,

rhombi c sulphur wi t h ea se : Fl o w ers of sulphur al w ays c o n t a in a propor t ion

of t hi s in s o luble m odi fi ca t ion Sulphur boils at .

t
Func i o ns of One reason w h y sulphur i s a d ded to black p o w der is t ha t i t s t empera t u r e
s ul p h ur .

of igni t ion 2GI C is low a n d c onsequen t ly i t makes t he p o w d er bur n more

,
°
, ,

rea di ly Bu t ano t her rea son is t ha t un der t he influence of pres s ure no t only
. .

in t he pre s s bu t al s o in t he i ncorporating mi ll i t flo w s a n d be c o mes colloidal ,

cemen t i ng t oge t he r t he par t icles of charcoal and the minu t e c rys t a ls of sa l t

pe t re From t he examination of microph o to graphs Cronqui s t found t ha t
.
2

brown c harc oal has a similar power of becomin g c oll oidal un d er p re s sure .

Thi s i s w h y brown gunpowders burn more slowl y a nd r egularl y t han blac k ,

and why t he perc en ta ge of sulphur i n them c a n b e reduced or aboli s hed

alto ge t her 3 .

Sulphur oxi di zes s l o w ly in t he air forming sulphur dioxide and a li t tle ,

sulphuri c a c id If a chlorate be present c hlo ri c a c id i s li bera t e d and t hi s

.
,

accelerate s t he o xi da t ion and there i s grave danger of s pontaneou s igni t ion

.

occ urri ng .

1 2 3
S ee a ls o 19 1 1 ,
p . 23 6
. S S
. ., 1 90 6, p . 53 . S ee p . 86
.
 C H AP TE R V I

MANUFACTURE OF G UNP OW D ER

Ad va nt a g e s a nd va nt a g
d is a d C m p it i o n es G rin d in g t h in gred i nt :
o os e e s

n d mi in g
a I n c rp ra t in g o mi llin g Au t o m t ic d r e n h e r
x o o r Re m a c s ov

i ng t h e mill ca k e -
B re a kin g d w n P r e s in g G r nul a t in g c m in g D u t in g
o s a or o s

a n d g la zin g St o vin g o d r y in g Fin is hin g a n d b l e n di n g C u t p w d r

r M uld ed o e s o

p o w d e r Bs la s t in g p o w d e r Sp r n g s a lp e t e r C a h u e c it P t o kl t it B o b b in it
s e e r as e

lub l e p o w d e r
-
so P r d u ct f e pl i n o s o x os o

TH E invention of so many oth er blasting e x plosives a n d smokeless powders

has g r e a tlv restricte d t he c onsumption of bla c k p owder but it has been able ,

to hold its o w n in certain fields i n consequence of its a dvantages : its lo w

price the ease with whi c h it c a n be igni te d its in sensiti v eness to sh o c k its
, , ,

stab ili ty at m oderately hi gh temperatur es its regular rate of burnin g and , ,

the non corrosive nature of the resi d ue that it leaves i n the g u 1 But aga inst
—
.

these must be place d its great di sadvantages : its w ant of p o w er and t he

great quantity of sm oke that it evolves For shot gun s it s rate of e x p losi o n .
-

i s sui table only the recoil and smoke are di sagreeable but for ri fl e s t he rate
, ,

of bur nin g cannot b e c ontroll ed s u fficiently ; for d riving the bulle t s o u t of

shrapnel shell there is no bette r e x p losive and it is still use d for armour piercing ,
-

shell because the hi gh e x plosives use d for other sorts of shell wi ll not wi t hstan d
,

the great shock of impa c t w it out explodin g prematur ely for fi lli ng t he rings
h

of t ime fuses for shell no satisfactory sub stitute has yet been foun d .

Guttmann in hi s book on the Ma n u fa ctu r e o f E r p los ir es p ubli shed in

, , Comp o sition .

1 8 9 5 gave the foll owing as the c ompositions of the prin cipal p owders ma de
,

at that time :

1
Ven m n et C h es nea u p 322 g ive t h e p o p o t io s 75 l 2 5 1 2-5 r r n
'
°

. . , .

2
Th e p o p o t io s a ft e w a d s s e d in G e r ma n v fo r ifl e p o w d e w e
r r n r r u r r r e 75 9 15 .

73
74 EX P L OSIVES

(b ) C a n no n P o wde r s

Fr an ce 1

(c ) S p o r t ing P o w de r s

(d ) B la s ting P o w de r s

Bla s t ing po w ders h o w ever ; vary in composi t ion far m o re t han t hi s Table
,

indica t e s powders wi t h di fferen t ra t es of burn in g being u sed for rocks o f

,

di ff eren t degr e es of hardne s s Thus t he Fren c h Govern men t fac to ri e s make

.

t hree sort s of mi ning po w d er :

Or d in ary Po w de r
Slo w P o w d e r

1
Ve rm i n e! C he s n
ea u ,
p . 322 gi v e t h e p r o p o r t io ns 75
,
 MAN UFACT URE OF GU N P OWD ER
The p owders manufactured in Belgium ha ve the following compositions

Ri fl e P o w d e r
Can n o n P o w d e r
Sp o r t in g P o w d e r

B la s t in g P w d e ro

Slo w P o w d r o r P ul vé rin
e

Slo w P o w d e r in c ar t rid g e s
E x p o rt P o w der

In France pul vérin is also prep ared for the manuf acture of fireworks ,

etc Accor di ng to Chalon it has the comp osition 75

. but
Ve nn in gives the proportions as 62 20 P4 03 ,

B efore they are mixed together the three ingredi ents are p ow d ered As G inding th e . r

ing edients r
they are not e x plosive when separate they can b e ground up in any s ui table ,
.

m ill In this respect however some reserve must be made as regards the
.
, ,

sulphur : thi s has a great tendency to become electrified and as it is also ,

very inflammable an electric spark may easily set it a light or cause the e x p lo
sion of a mixture o f sulp hur dust and air Rapid m oving mach inery is
-
.
-

”
therefore to be avoided the p arts should all be made of metal and earthed .

Accordi ng to Voigt the drum for p ul veri zing s ul phur should not make more
than ten revolutions per minute 3
In some works the s ul phur is mi x ed with a
.

small proportion of the saltpetre before grin di ng to prevent this electrifi cation ,

which has the further di sadvantage that it causes the sulphur to cake together
and so escape proper grinding At W altham Abbe y the sulp hur is ground
.

under steel edge runners s imilar to those used for incor p oratin g the p owder
-
.

The charcoal is generally groun d in a machine resembling a large coffee

mill (s ee Fig but in some factories ball mill s are used the charcoal being
.
-
,

placed i n a drum with bronze balls The drum i s then rotated unt il the .

c onstant falli ng of the balls on to the charcoal has reduced it to a sufficiently

fine state of di vision .

S ulphur and saltpetre may also be ground in the E xcelsior mill but if ,

the saltpetre is already in fine crystals it need not be ground but only sifted ,
.

In France the saltpetre is mixe d with 6 per cent of charcoal and p u lverized .

in an iron drum with bronze balls The charcoal makes the saltpetre easier .

to grind and this small proportion does not make it e x plosive The r emainder
,
.

of the charcoal is mi x e d with the sulphur and pulverized in a similar drum .

After grinding these binary mixtures are passed through a sieve with holes
1
E x p lo s if
s rl f o dé r n es ,
pp . 228 , 263 .
2
Ven m n
'

el C h es n ea u , p . 322 .

3
H er s tellu n g der S p r en gs tofi e , vol i , p
. . . 52 .
 76 Ex p L Os I v Es

0 65 mm in di amete r to separa t e fo reign ma t te rs The t w o bin ar y mix t ur es

. .

a re t hen mixe d t oge t her b y han d before being mill ed 1 .

W eig hing a nd
The t hree ingre di en t s are c arefull y w eighe d ou t preferably ea ch in separa t e ,

scales An ex t ra amo u n t of sal t pe t re i s o f t en t a ken to a llo w for t he mois t ure i n

.

i t t he actual pr o por t ions w eighe d ou t being some t imes

, 15 0 10 0 -

instea d of 75 0 1 5 0 1 0 0 -
Bu t t he c harc o al u s u a llv c onta in s qui t e a s hi gh a
-
.

percen t age o f mois t ure a s the

s al t pe t re I t i s no t surpris ing
.

t herefore t ha t analysis some t ime s

s ho w s a percen t age of c harc oal
w hi c h is belo w t he t heore t i c al .

The in gre di en t s a re t hen gi v en

a preliminary mi xing In Ger .

ma n v t his is d one in a ro t a t ing

d rum w i t h li gnum vi t ae balls .

The dr um i s ma d e of wo o d a n d
may be lined wi t h lea t her ; iron
mus t be a v oi d e d in t s c ons t rue
t ion : t he axle mus t be c o v ere d
w i t h lea t her A t “ a ltham Abbe y
.
-

t he mixing is d o ne ii a c y lin d ri c al .

drum o f c o pper or gun me t a l -

ab o u t 1 8 in c he s long a n d 2 fee t
9 in c he s in diame t e r Thr o ugh .

t he c en t re pa s se s an axle c arrying
eigh t ro w s of f o rk shape d a rm s -
,

c alle d fly er s The d rum ‘

r o ta te s in o n e direc t i on maki n g
4 0 revolu t ions per minu t e The .

a X le m o v es in t he O t he r d ire c t ion FI G 6 E c l i r Mi ll m d b M hi n n b a u . . x e s o . a e v a sc e

and makes 1 20 revolu t ion s per A ( l l ze n G i n n n a . o r -

r .

m inu te The ingre dien t s are

.

mixe d for fi v e minu te s a nd t hen sif t e d t hrough a fi n e mesh sie v e of copper or

.
-

brass wire The sif t ing a t thi s s ta ge is v ery impor t a nt a s a n y hard par t icle s
.
,

left in the c harge are likel y t o c ause an e x 1) lo s io n in t h e in c orp o ra t ing mill .

Fo r thi s reason t h e s if t in g i s some t ime s d one b y han d The green charge

'

i s no w placed in a w a te rp roof bag rea dy to b e t a ken to t he in c o rpora t ing mi ll .

t
I nco r p o r a i ng On the Con t inent stamp mills are s t ill u s e d t o a small ex t e n t fo r in c o r p o ra t
-

o r milli ng .
ing a s w ell as mi x ing gunp o w d er In German y t he s t a mp head s ma y be mad e .
-

of c o pper zinc bronze o r o t her s ui ta ble all o y

, ,
The c harge is pla ce d in a .
2

spheri c al hole in a b lo c k o f w o o d w ith a pie c e o f s pe c iall y hard w o o d in s er te d

.

' 0
l e n n in cl C IM S N C G N. p . 3 27 . 1 9 12 .
p . 1 82.
 MAN UFACT U RE OF G U NP OWD ER 77

at the bottom for the stamp to play upon The stamping is carried on for .
“

about fourteen hours I f contin ued l o nger the density of t he p ow der diminishes
.

and t he ba lli stic s deteriorate .

In France the u se of stamp mills w a s defi nitely abandoned in 1 8 8 4 the

-
l
,

powders there being in c o rporated in drums and mills The cheaper sorts of .

po w der are in c o r p orate d

ent irely in drum s c ontain
ing wooden balls In .

E ngland also stamp mill s -

are not u se d a n d the,

stan dard metho d is to

grind the in gredi ent s to
gether in incorp o rating
mi lls
. Formerly t hese
consisted of tw o heavy
stone edge runners work
—

ing on a stone be dplate .

Now it i s m ore usual to

have iron runners work
ing on an iron b e d plate -

of course iro n must not

work upon stone or vice ,

versa on ac c o u nt of the
,

d a n g e r o f generating
sparks In the most usual
.

typ e of mill the run ners

are 6 or 7 feet in di ameter
.

and about 1 5 inches wide ,

and weigh ab ou t 4 tons

each They rotate on the
.

oppo site ends of a hori

z o n ta l shaft whi ch i s
,

carrie d by a cross hea d -

FI G 7
, G ru n G m p w d r Mill . . so r o e .

w hi ch again i s attached
to a vertical shaft making abou t eigh t revolu t ions a minu t e U sually t he tw o .

edge runners are mounted at di fferent distan c es fr o m the c entral shaft 8 0

-

that one works the oute r part of the charge a n d the o t her t h e inner but their ,

paths overlap There are two ploughs of w o o d co v ered with lea t her w hi c h
.
,

are fi xed to the shaft a nd travel round wi t h it These con t inually pu sh .

the charge away from the centre and the curb respec t ively and b ri n g it ,

under the ed ge ru nner s again The mill s make 7a or 8 rev o lutions per minute
-
. .

1 P. a 51 , v o l iii 18
. .
, p . .
78 E XP L OSIVE S

In t he Gruson mill (Fig 7) t he iron runners do not rest on the bed but are
.

s uspend ed a short dista n c e abo ve i t so that there is no danger of a very thi n

,

lay er of po w der being subj ec t ed to great fri ction The bearin gs a r e s o sus .

pended t ha t ei t her runn er ca n t r a vel upwards independently of the other

when an ext r a t hi ck porti on of charge comes un derneath it The f a rmers .

w eigh about 5 } t o ns ea ch a n d ro t a te equi di sta ntly roun d the m a in vertical

shaft The plough s are made of phosphor b r onze and each r unn er i s als o
.
,

p r ovid ed wi th a sc r aper to prevent the charge bein g thr own o fl the bed The ’
.

drive is by mea n s of a large bevell ed gea r wheel which may b e arranged either
-
,

a bo v e t he mac hi ne or below it .

In Germany iron runn ers are not allowed to work on an iron bed plate -

unl es s t hey a re suspend e d as in the Gruson mill If they a c tually rest upon
, .

the b e d it must be m a de of wood faste ned down with b r ass screws

, .

By the acti on o f the runn ers the in gredi ent s are c rushed and ground to
gether very inti mately wi thout subj ecting the mi xture to any violent action .

U suall y about s ix incorporating mil ls a r e arranged in a row and driven from

a common shaf t actuated b y a s ingle wate r wheel or steam engin e Each mi ll - -
.

is sepa r ated from the next by a strong masonry wall E x plosions in these mill s .

a re fairly frequent in spite of every precaution but as a rule no very se r ious ,

damage is done In 1 90 7 there were nine such explosions in E ngla nd but

.
,

onl y one man w a s in j ure d in 1 90 8 there were fi v e explosions and two men
were in j ur ed in 1 90 9 there were seven e xplosions and no men were inj ur ed .

The re ason w h y there are so few men kill ed or inj ured in these accident s is
tha t as a rule there is no one in the m ill house afte r the charge has bee n
s t a rted the man in atte ndance goes on to see to other mill s and onl y c omes
occa sionally to see that all is right and to add a li ttle wate r to the charge if
n e ce ssary In Fran c e there i s less than one explosion in
. milli ng
ope rations .In Ge rmany no workm an is all owed to rem ain in the bui l di ng
‘

w hil st t he mi ll i w orking a t ful l sp e e d

s .

A charge consi sts of 60 to 8 0 lb s the time of incorporation varies with the

.
,

descrip t ion of the p owder the longer the incorporation the faste r th e powder
bu r n s Cann on po w ders we r e usually m ill e d for thr ee or four hours rifle
.
,

po w ders eight and sportin g powders as much or more The charge when
, .

plac ed in the mi ll conta ins 2 to 3 per cent of moisture It mu st be kept moist

. .

t he whole time for thi s purpose the mill man adds wate r from t ime to time -
,

p r efe r ably condensed wate r from a ste am t r ap Formerly urin e was f r e quen tly .

u s ed inste a d of water For fi n e grain p owders i t to 3 per cent of m oisture

. .

shoul d b e pre sent in th e fini shed mill cake for larger siz es 3 to 6 per cent
-
, .

In F r ance mil ls s imil ar to the G r uson mi ll a r e u sed bu t the charge is onl y ,

20 kg or 25 kg in the c a se of mini ng p owder

. . I t conta in s 8 per cent moistur e
. .

when int r o du ced and 2 to 4 per cent at the fi nish The mi ll makes 1 0 r evo
. .

1
Ven n i n cl C he s nea u ,
p . 33 3 .
 MAN U FACT U RE OF G U N P OWD E R
lutions per minute and requires 7 horse p ower The following table -
.

the times of m ill ing and the densities of the mill cake : “

Tim D n s i ty e e

Mil it ary r ifl e p w d er F
o ,
2 2% h o ur
3
— s

Sp o r t in g p o w d e r o rd inary
,
ll
s t ro n g 5
D us t r w o r k e d
e

Mini n g p o w d e r

The density i s of importance because in France the powder is not pressed .

The density can b e i ncreased by milli ng slowly half a turn per m inute with , ,

the outer plough removed 1

.

In Germany the charge i s generally ab out 75 kg and the mi ll makes about .

nine revolutions per m inute The time of milling is .

Mi lit ary p ow de r 232 3

1—
h ur s
o .

Sp o in grt
Mini g n

FI G . 8 . D renchin g Ar rang e me n t s fo r P o w d er Mill s .

Before the charge i s removed the mill i s r un slowly for a time to increase the
densi ty b ut the p owder un de r g o e s a pressin g op eration also except in the case
, ,

of minin g p owder 2
.

In order to prevent the e xplosion in one mill being comm u ni cated to the
other mill s of the group each one i s provided in E ngland with an automatic
,

drenching arrangement (s ee Fig Thi s consists of a li fting board I provided

.
,

wi th a counterpoise weight There i s also a tank 15 fu ll of water supporte d

.
,

on a hi nge and a leg at one end that rests on a proj ection from the li fting
board When the latter i s lif ted the leg is released the tank tip s forward
.
, ,

and the water is poured over the charge in the mill The a xle a is common . .

1
Ven n i n cl C h es n efr u , p 3 32 . .

2
Vo igt , H e rs te llu ng der S p r eng s tofi e , i .
, pp . 55 , 56.
 E X P L OSIV E S

t o a ll the lif t in g b o a r d s o f t he gro up o f mills s o t ha t i f t here be an explosion ,

in one of t he m ills the c o rre s p o n d ing b o ard I is ra i s e d t aking wi t h i t all t he ,

o t her s imilar b o ar d s a nd a ll t he c harges i n t he gr o up are dren c he d a nd s o

.

rendered unexplo s i v e In order to make the me c hanism s u fli c ie n t ly s en s i t ive

.

it is imp o r t an t t ha t t he b o ard s be n o t to o s mall a n d n o t to o near the roof and ,

t hat t hey be d ir e c tlv o ver the mill s The s e c o nd p o in t is es s en t ial be c ause if

. . .

t he b o ard be v e r v near t he roof a reflected

w ave o f pre s s ure rea c hes i t almost imm e
d ia te ly af t er the d ire c t w ave and bef o re the
me c hanism has h a d time to act .

The mill cake o f t en b ec o mes c aked o n

-

t o t he b e d v e r v fi rmly N au v ac c i d en t s
.

h a v ing been cau s ed by remo v i ng this wi t h

me t al t o o ls H M Inspec t o r of E x pl o sives
. .

i s s ued a letter on De c ember 27 1 8 8 3 p r o , ,

p o s ing t he adop t ion of the f o llo wi ng spe c ial

rule in all black po w der w orks :
t e ne v e r it ma y bec ome nece s sar y in
mill s or o t her buil ding s to rem o ve a u v
p o w der incrustations (w he t her fr o m the
ma c hiner y o r el s e w here ) w hi c h canno t be .

e a s ily b r u s h e d o
v

fl su c h rem o v al is to be
,

e ffe c t e d w i t h o u t the u s e of any metal t ool

w ha t e v er t he har d p o w d er is t o be rem o ved
b y mean s of w ater supplemen t e d if n e e d
, ,

be w hen t he w h o le i n c rus t a t i o n ha s been

,

thor o ughly s a t ura t e d b y a s ui t a b le w o o den

.

”
instrumen t gentl y applie d .

The mill cake i s next re d u c e d to a r ough

-

po w der by hand o r b y passing it t hro ugh

gun me t al roll s in a m ach i ne s ome w ha t
-

resembling the granula t ing ma c hine bu t 9 G mp o w d e r P r

, , l ess .

s impler .

Pres s ing . Then the mix t ure i s s ubj e c te d t o high pre s ure in a p re s s Thi s c onvert s s .

i t in t o a har d mas s the c o ns t i t uents of w hich have n o t en dency t o s e parate

,

again from one another a n d also in c rea s es the densi t y of t he po w der

,
.

Formerly the po w d er w a s c ompre s sed in a very strong box bu t t hi s is no ,

longer done on account o f the dangerou s fri c tion against the si de s .

For moul de d p o w ders and blasting c artri dge s s pecial p resse s are used ,

w hi c h wi ll be described later Granulate d po w ders are p re s s e d i n pre s ses of

.

t he t ype sho w n in Fig 9 The mill cake is built up o n a s mall t r o lley first
. .
-

a plate of copper br o nze or ebonite i s put d o w n and a temporary frame put

, , ,
 MAN U FACT U RE OF G U NP OW D E R 81

round it then a layer of the mill c ake about g inch thick is carefully spread
,
- -
,

then another plate and another layer of p o w der unti l about 1 0 cwt of m ill cake , .
-

has been built up with abou t t w enty pla t es The temp o rary frames are th en .

removed and the troll ey is w heeled on to the press and the pressure i s gradually ,

applie d The am ount of c ompression requi r e d varie s w ith the amount of

.

m oisture in the mill cake a nd the density t o be attain ed in the finished po w d er

-
.

For a mixture containing about 3 per cent of m oisture it is necessary to apply .

a pressure of about 400 lb per square inch of plate surface for 1 % to 2 hours
.

t o obtain a density of 1 7 The amount of c ompression is measured by the

-
.

motion of th e press rather than by the hydr auli c pressure this motion may be
24 or 3 0 inches according to the di mensions of th e press etc The pressure , .

is usually released and reappli ed several times to obtain a satisfactory result .

E bonite plates are sometimes preferred to metal because they keep their
shape better and yet give su ffi cien tly to transmit the pressure evenly If the .

cake be very dr y the ebonit e may become electrifie d however and so produce , ,

very dangerous sparks In Germany th e use of eboni te plates i s forbidden

.
,

and cloths are laid between the plates and the p o w der The four columns of .

the press should be made of mild steel wi th an ample margin of strength even
if the whole pressure is b orne by only tw o of them They may with advantage .

be c overed with leather It w a s recommended by H M Inspector o f E x p lo

. . .

s iv e s
1
th at the press should not be worked d irectly o fl the hydr a ul i c pump ,

but from an ac c umulator and that the dr ive of the pump should not be positive
, ,

but by friction .

The explosion of a press house is more destructive than that of any other
-

bui ldi ng in a black p owder works as might b e exp ecte d considering that
, ,

there i s about half a ton of p ow d er in one mass strongly c ompressed The .

house sho u ld therefore b e speciall y well isolated from other bui ldi ngs by moun ds ,

etc In some works th e workmen are not all owed to be in the press house
.
-

whilst the pressure i s on the powder the pressure can be appli ed and controll ed
from another compartment where there i s also an indicator sho wi n g the position
,

of the platform of the press .

When suffi ciently pressed the pressure is released a n d the trolley is w h eeled
a w ay and the press cake rem ove d from it by hand or wi th w o oden tools The
,
-
.

outer portion of each slab i s rej ected as it i s n o t sufficiently c ompresse d it is

adde d to a later press ing .

Blasting powder i s sometimes c ompressed between rollers .

The broken u p press cake i s put i n barrels and taken to the granulating
- -

or co m ing house Here there i s a machine having three or four pairs of gun
.

metal rolls through which the p ress cake is passed a n d a number of automatic
,
-
,

sieves which sort out the grains of th e required size (s ee Fig

, The top .

pair of roller s u s ually h a s pyrami dal tee t h : fr o m t hi s the material pa s ses

1
Sp i l R p r t N 1 38 ec a e o o . .

V OL . I .
 E X P L OS IV E S

o v er a s ie v e t o t he ne x t pai r of rolls w h ich has smaller t ee t h The lo w es t

,
.

pa ir a r e p lain The piec e s tha t a re no t fine enough a r e pa sse d t hrough t he

.

machin e again po w d er shor t and

FI G . 10 . Co rnin g Ma c hi ne ma d e
. b y M
a s c hin e n u
ba A G
.
-
. G
o lze r n G rimma
-

pres s ed again The bearing s o f o ne o r b o t h rolls o f ea c h pair are pro v id e d

.

wi t h s p ri ng s o r w eigh t s t o keep t hem in p o si t ion a nd a re n o t ri gi d l y fi xed

.
.

Con equen t ly if an ex t ra hard piece o f c ake pas s e s t hr ough t he rolls it i s no t

s

s ubj ec t ed to grea t v iolence t h e r o ll s gi v e w a y and t he piec e passes t hrough .

Thi s t yp e of g ranula t in g mac hine w a s in v en t ed in 1 8 1 9 by Colonel Con greve ,

 MAN U FACT U RE OF G U N P OWD E R
and is the one in most general use Variou s other types have been tried but
.
,

none produces such a good angular grain .

In France the granulation is carried out in a horizontal drum covered with

metal sheet perforated with fi ne holes of a size suited to th e sort of powder that
i s to be produced The broken down mill cake is pl a ced inside this drum to
.
-

gether with pieces of hard wood which are caused by longitudin al strip s to fall
,

continually on to the powder and break it up A charge of 20 kg is granulated . .

in ten to twelve minutes and yields 3 5 to 55 per cent of grains of the size required . .

P owders made with dog wood charcoal produce a lo t of d us t in the corn i ng

-
t
D us in

FI G . 1 14 Co rnin g Ma ch in e wi th D us t -
R e mo v e r

process and it i s best to rem ove this by passing the powder through a dusting
,

reel This i s simply a cylindrical reel set at an angle of about 4 to the hori
.
°

z o nta l and covered with fine woven wire of copper or brass It i s op en at .

both ends and rotates on its axi s making about forty revolutions per minute
,
.

The p owder is simply passed thro u gh thi s a n d caught again in a barrel .

The glazing operation i s carried out in wooden drums which rotate on Gl zi ng ? ) ,

a

their axis about thirty times a minute Cannon p owders receive an ad di tion
.

of a small pr o portion of graphite and are glazed for two or three hours Rifle .

and sporting powde r s and others that are require d to burn qui c kly do n o t
, ,

r eceive any graphite but are glaze d longer

,
.

The s tove ma y be heated either b y forcin g hot air th r o u gh it or by arranging 1 “ 0 1 3

2
7 0‘
,
 E X P L OSIV E S

h o t w a t er or s t e am pipes in i t The ea sie s t a nd m o s t ec o nomi c al me t ho d is

.

t o dr y wi th ste am a n d a s bla ck po w d er is n o t very s en s i t ive a n d i s no t li able

,

to sponta neou s d ecompo s i t ion t hi s me t ho d i s u s uall y ad o p t e d

,
Only low .

pres s u re s te a m s h o uld be used t he exhau s t be ing open to t he a ir The p o w d er

. .

i s place d on c an v a s t rays suppor te d on w oo d en ra cks Inl e t s and ou tle t s are

.

pr o vi de d for t he a ir a n d t he te mperatur e i s kep t a t ab o ut 40 C ( 10 4

,
°
.
°

The t ime requi red to dry t he po w der varie s from one to four h o ur s a c c or ding
t o the s ize of gra in .

Fini s hing a nd To remo v e t he la s t t r ace s o f d u s t a n d gi v e t he p o w der a goo d c o l o u r

b lendi ng
i t is n o w trea t e d for some t w o hour s in t he fi nishin g reel w hich is c o v ered wi t h
.

fine can v a s a n d fin all y t horoughl y blended in to large uni form bat c he s The
,
.

las t operation i s p e r forme d a t l Va lth a m Abbey b y pouring i t in t o a h o pper ,

w hi c h is provided wi t h four delivery shute s s o tha t t he con t en t s of the hopper

,

are di vi ded int o fo u r equal portions By repea t in g this opera t ion in a

.

systematic ma i ni e r t h e des ired o bj e c t is at t a ined v er y eff ec tua ll y .

C ut p ow ders . P o w der for c a n o n of large size 6 t o 1 2 inch bore w a s ma d e b y cu t t in g

,
-
,

t h e pres s c ake i nto cubes

-
The slab s from t he press w e re p a ssed 1mde r a roll
.

arm ed wi t h l o ngi t udi nal kni ves w hereb y th e c ake w a s cut in t o strips a n d t he s e
, ,

w ere t hen passe d mi der ano t her simi lar roll in t he o t her direction and so c u t

i n t o c ube s . The glazin g s t o vi n g finishin g and blen di ng w ere v ery much a s

, ,

for granula t e d po w d er ex c ep t t ha t t he s t ovi ng had t o be con t in ued for about

,

thir ty hours at 55 C These cu t p o w ders are bu t li t t le ma d e n o w a s t hey

°
’

.
,

have b e en displaced by smokeless po w d ers .

The foll o wi n g Table gives particul a rs of some of t he po w ders made formerly

a t Wa l t ham Abbey 1

Moul ded Moul ded p o w d ers also are but li t tle u s ed for t he me rea s on bu t much the
sa ,

s ame pro c e s s i s u s e d for maki ng moul ded cart ri dge s o f min ing po w d er and also ,

1
Tr ea tis e o n S e r v ic e E x p lo s ives 1 90 7 c d
, .
, pp . 1 23 , 1 24 .
 MAN UFACTURE OF G UN P OWD ER 85

pellets for time and percussi on fuses and fo rother ammunition The general .

form of all these articles is practically the same a hexagonal or round cylinder

FI G 1 2
. . H y draulic Au t o ma t ic P ress fo r Mo u ld e d P o w d e r s a n d a t ing Car tridg e s
Bl s

(Ma s ch ine n b au A .
-
G . G o l ern G rimma )
z -

with a central perfo ration The po w der is pressed granulate d d usted and
. .
, ,

blended as already describe d a n d then taken to the mouldin g house Two

,
.

di ff erent ty pes of press are u s e d worked by hydraulic and mechanical pressure

,
86 E X P L OSIV E S

respe c t i v ely (s ee Figs 1 2 and

. The general principle is ho w ever t he same , , .

The gran u lar pow d er is pu t in t o a hopper a n d flows from t here in t o a measure

t ha t au t o ma t icall y measures off t he righ t quan t i t y whi c h t hen pa s s es into t he ,

di e . The di es are arranged in ro w s in a pla t e so t hat w hi lst one r o w i s bein g

,

fi lle d ano t her is being presse d The pressure is usually app lied s imul t aneously
.

from above a n d belo w by t wo

di ff erent plun gers The cen .

tral hole is formed by m ean s

of a pin whi ch passes through
the lower plun ger and into
th e other Hydr a u li c presse s .

are safer but mechani cal ,

ones m ore rapid in the ir

action For blastin g car .

t ridg e s ma chi nes are also ,

made wi th rotat ing ta bles

conta ini ng a number of di es
each operation filli ng press , ,

ing rem oving is performed , ,

at a difl e r e n t position of the

ta ble Such machi nes are .

qui te au tomatic and requi re

very little atte ntion .

B oth black and brown

p owders have been moul ded
into prism s w hi ch are usua lly
2 5 mm high a n d 40 mm
Me ch ani ca l Pr M r
'

F re j l 3
. .

f ld d P ‘
. . ess u or o w d
o
I
e e s .

wi de meas u red across the

etc (F K r p p A G G r u o n w k )
. . u .
-
. s er ,

c orners of th e hexagons .

The foll o wi ng Table gives the detail s of t he E ng li sh and German powders

1
Ve r mi n et C he s ne a u ,
pp . 3 22, 3 4 1 .
 MAN U FACT URE OF G U N P OWD E R 87

P P C
. . has seven holes all the others E n gli sh a n d German only one The
. 68 ,
—
, ,
.

val u e of the brown straw charc oal i s that un der th e high pressures it flows
and holds the mi x ture together making it into an impervious mass which,
.
,

can only burn at the surface whereas black powders have slight pores th rough
,

FI G . 14 . A me rican B la c k B la s t in g P o w d e r s (Mi mr o e a nd H a ll )

which—the flame can penetrate This m ay be seen by examining th e p o w ders

.

under th e microsc ope

“
1
.

The usual c omposition of black blasting powders has a lr e a d v been s tated

(p . The vi o lence of the powder can be varied by altering the c o mp o sition ,

the density or the size of th e grains the p o w der is ma de sl o wer by diminish

ing the percentage o f saltpe t re c o mpressing to a higher density or making
,

1
S C ro n q u i t 1 90 6 p 53
ee s , , . .
88 EX P L OSIVE S
t he gr a in s c oa rser In France t he mi nin g po wders manuf a ctured in the State
.

mill s are inc orpora t ed no t un der e dge runn ers but in c opper dr um s wi th
,
-
,

wood en and bronz e ba lls a n d t he granu la t ion is a l so e ffected in dr u ms w ith

,

t he aid of a spray of w a t er .

In Ameri ca enorm ous quan t i t ies of blasting po w der a re used c on t a ining

sodi um ni t ra t e (Chili sa l t pe t re ) in t ea d of t he p ot a s si u m sa lt This b urns
s .

more slowly t han ordi nary g un p o w der bu t is more po w erful as i t evolves , ,

a grea t er vol u me of gas and more hea t bu t i t s principal ad vantage i s i t s low ,

p r i ce for i t is us ed for many purpose s w here in E u rope hand la bo ur woul d

,

b e employed A c c ordi ng to Chalon t he c omposi t i o n va ri e s bet w een t he

.
,
1

follo wi ng li mi t s

The usua l pro p or t ion s in t hi s blac k bla s t i ng po w der are given by Munr oe
a nd Hall
1
‘

a s 73 : 1 1 16 The incorporation i s no t so thorough as in the

.

ca s e of ordi nar y blac k po w der and t h e charc oal i s generally ob t a ined from
,

c oa rser grained w ood s As t he s o di um ni t ra t e is hygrosc opic ca re must be

-
.
,

t aken no t t o e xpose t he po w der t o damp air more t han ca n be helped The

.
.

follo wi ng are t he size s of American bla ck bla sting powders

D ia me t
e rs o f ro u nd h o le s i n sc r ee ns in (
1
7
th inc h e s

Th ro u g h w h ic h g ra ins O n w hi c h g ra ins
pa ss co ll e c t

40 32
36 2
4
18
12
7
3
2

The follo wi ng bla s t ing explosives resemb ling black po w der in composition
a re mad e in Germany and are a llo w ed to be sen t a s good s in u nli mited qua nti
,

t ie s a s t he v a re c ons ide r e d sa fer t o handl e t han ordi na r y b lac k powder

Spren sa l p e t er (blas t ing sa l t p et r e ) is a mi xt ure of s odi u m ni trate
g
,

sul phur a nd brown c oa l in a b o u t t he pro po rt i on s 75 1 0 1 5 a nd is very ,

la rgely use d in t he St a s s fur t sa lt mi nes w he r e t he sof t and brittle nature of the

-

s al t s s uch as ca m a llite requi re an e xplosive t ha t i s mi lder than or di nary

,

bl a t ing po wder I t po s se sse s t he advan t a ge of being cheap and not giving

s .

r ise t o p oi s onous fume s Harder m a t erials such as s v lv in ite and rock s alt
.
,
-
,

1
Le s E r p lo s ij s J l od e r nes 3r d cd
, 1 9 1 1, p ., . 264 .

3
P r i me r o n E
x p lo s i ves fo r C 0 0 1 J l i ne rs , 19 1 1 ,
p . 1 6.
 MANUFACT URE OF G UN P OWD E R
are blaste d with a c ombine d c harge of nitro glycerine e x plosive a n d Spreng -

salpeter .

C a h u e c it was invented by R Gahn o s ome f orty years ag o and was .

C a h uecit.
manufactured at one time at Dartford under the name of Safety Blasting
P owder or Carb oazotine It h a d the composition : .

Sal t p e t r e
Sul p h u r
Lamp b la c k
B ar k o w o o d p ulp
r -

to which was added 1 to 5 per cent of sulphate of ir o n Af ter mixing the . .

ingredients roughly in a dru m they were introduced together with a

c onsiderable bulk of water into a steam j acketed pan w here the mixture was -

heated with c onsta nt stirring until almost dry The mixture was im .

perfect in c onsequence of the tendency of the soluble salts to crystallize out 1

.

It is still manufactured in Germany and has been found good for blasting ,

basalt 2 The official German definition is a compressed mi x ture of not more

.

than 70 per cent saltpetre 8 per cent lampblack about 1 2 per cent flower s
.
,
.
, .

of sulphur at least 1 0 per cent cellulose and a small quantity of ir o n

,
.
,

sulph ate .

P e tr o kla s tit (H a lo kla s tit ) has appro x imately the follo wi ng c o mposition Petr okla s tit

u ni t rat e
So d i m
P o t a iu m n i t ra t e
ss

Sul p hur
C o al t ar p i t c h
P o t as s iu m b i c h ro ma t e

Its strength and sensitiveness as compared wi th black blasting powder are 3

Tr a u z l t e s t Fa ll in g w e i g h t
P e tr o k la s tit 1 57 1 00
B lac k p o w d e r 10 8 65

Its o fficial definiti o n is : a compressed mi xture of sodium nitrate sulphur , ,

c oal tar pitch saltpetre and not more than 1 per cent potassium bichromate
-
, ,
.
,

als o with an a ddi tion of not more than 1 0 per cent charc o al It has been ‘
. .

used in stone quarries and p o ta s h mine s .

In E nglish coal mines the most largely use d expl o sive h a s been Bobbinite
“

-
,
B o b b inite .
which is a bla ck pow der mixture With an additi o n of the sulph ates o f c opper
and ammonium or of starch a n d p a r a ffi nw a x
,
It is th e o nly e x plosive of -
.

this class that was able to pass the Wool w ich test fo r P ermitted E xp lo
s iv e s it d oes not pass th e C o ntinental and Rotherham test s In 1 9 0 6 a .

1
G u tt mann , Al a n u / a c tu r e '

, vo l i
. .
, p . 273 s ec a ls o C un d ill a nd T h o ms o n p 1 42
, . ,

2 3
S S . .
, 1 90 8 , p . 97 . Zs c h o kk e , pp . 42, 5 7 .
 90 E X P L OSIV E S

Departmental Committe e was hel d at the H o me Offi ce to inq u ire whe t her
thi s explosive sh o u ld be removed from the li st This has not been done but .
,

by the Explosives in Coal Mines Order of Se p te mb er l 1 9 1 3 i ts use has been

l

-
, ,

restricte d to mi nes that are not gassy or dusty In these its use i s permitte d .

for a peri od of five years from J anuary 1 1 9 1 4 The foll o w ing is its c omposi ,
.

tion acc ording to the offi cial defini tions and an analysi s made by Hall and .

Ho w ell 1

O ffi c ia l d e fi n i io n s t

Fi r s t Se c o n d

N it rat e o f po t a s iu m
s

C har co a l
Sulp h ur
Sul p hat e o f a mm o ni u m
Sulp hat e o f co
p pe r
Ri c e o r Ma ize s t ar h c

P araffi n wa x

Mo is t ur e 0 -0 2-5

In 1 9 1 4 more t han a mil lion lbs of B obbi nite w ere used in British mines .

a n d quarri es .

Wa te r -s o lu
b le Rasc hig pr o poses to make a cheap blasti ng powder c onsisting of 65 per
po w der . cent sodium ni t ra te a n d 3 5 pe r cen t sodi um cresol s u lph onate These are
. .
-
.

di ssolved i n water a n d the solu t ion i s evaporate d very rapi dl y on a rotating

drum heate d b y high pressure ste am It is claime d t hat the expen s ive a n d
-
.

dangerous operation o f in c orporation is thus d o ne away wi th It is necessary .

t o select a c ombustible constituent like the cresol sul phonate that has a high -

solubility of the same or der as the nitra te other w i se there w o ul d be a te ndenc y ,

for the substances to separate during the evaporation Safety e xplosives .

c ontaini ng ammoni um nitrate instead of the sodi um salt have been registe re d
under the name of
The products formed on the explosion o f gunpo w der w ere investigate d
by B unsen and Schi s c h ko fi Li nck and Karol y i but the m ost c omplete
3 4 5
, , ,

series of experiments was carr ied out by Noble and Abel 6

Debu s sh o wed
7
.

ur u Mi n e s
'

1 B u ll
US . B ea o f , . 15 , 1 9 12 ,
p . 1 79 .

2 S ee A ny 1 9 1 2 p 1 1 9 4 ; G e r P a t Ap p R
. , . o f S S 1 9 12 p 29 2
. . . . . .
, , . .

3
P o gg A nna le
. n 10 2,
1 8 5 7 p 321 4
, A n na le n d e r C he mle 1 0 9 1 8 58 p 5 3
, . . , , , . .

5
. , r
P o gg A n na le n Ap il , 1 8 63 ; P h il l 1 a g . Se r 4 No 26, 1 8 63 p 266 . . . . , .
, . .

6
P h i l Tr a ns
. 1 8 75 4 9 , , .

7 P r oc . Roy . S oc . 30 , 1 8 8 0 , p . 1 9 8 ; P h il . Tr a ns . 1 8 8 2, p . 523 .
, ,
 MAN UFACTU RE OF G U NP OWD E R 91

that they had made an error in giving potassium hyposulphite as a primary

product of the explosion Noble and Abel accordingly corrected their results
1
. .

The mean percentages from E L G P owder were : . . .

G as e s
So lid s
W a t er
G a se s , p e r ce n t . by v o lu me So l id s , p e r ce n t . b y w e ig h t
C arb o n d io x id e Po ta s s ium c arb o na t e
C arb o n mo no x id e P o t as s iu m s u lp ha t e

H y dr o ge n P o t a s iu m
s s u lp h id e .

Me t hane P t a iu m
o ss s u lp h oc y a nid e
N it r o ge n P o t a s s iu m nit ra t e
Su lp hur e tt e d H y d r o g e n Sulp hur

From 1 g of the powder 271 3

. of gas were produced measured at 760 mm -
,
.

and 0 C and the quantity of heat li berated was 70 0 7 calories

°
.
, .

The products obtained from mining powder have been given by J Harger 2
.
,

and the analysis of the gases from American blasting powder h a s been pub lished
by C M Yo u ng .
. .
3
Hall and Howell 4 have investigated the products from
B obbinite .

1
P hil . Tr a n s
1 8 8 0 , p 20 3
, . .

2
J S o c C h em I nd
. . 1 9 1 2, p 4 1 5
. . .

3
B u ll A m M i n E n g , 1 9 1 0 , p p 63 7 662 ; A ng
. . . . .
—
.
, 1 9 1 1, p . 1886 .

4
U S B u r ea u o f M in es B u ll 1 5,
.
p 1 79 . . .
P A RT I I I

A CI D S
 C H AP TE R VI I

L
SU PHURI C ACID

Manu fa c tur e P ur ifi ca t io n C o n ce n t ra t io n Me lt in g p o in
-
ts Sp e c ifi c g ra vi t ie s
C al cul a t io ns Supp lies in w a r - t
ime

TH E manufactur e of sulp hur ic acid is treated fully in special works such as Ma nufa ctu e r .

L i mg e s Su lp hu r ic Acid a n d Alka l i Here o nl y the general prin ciples can

’
.

be dealt with and those special features whi ch are of importance to the
manufactur er of exp losives .

U ntil the end of the last century or the beginni ng of this practicall y a ll
, ,

the sulphuri c acid was made by the chamber process Now very large .

”
quantities are produced by the contact process In both processes the .

first stage is to bur n sul p hur or a sulphur ore such as zin c blende or pyrites
,
-
,

in an excess of air thu s producin g a gaseou s mi xtur e consistin g mostly of

,

oxygen nitrogen and sul p h u r di oxide I t is necessary now to make the s ul

, ,
-
.

ph ur di oxide combin e with a further quantity of oxygen In the chamber

-
.

process this is done by mixin g a small proportion of o x ides of ni trogen with

'

the gases and water in the form of spray or steam Various intermediate .

”
products are formed but the final product i s chamber acid containi n g about
, ,
”
70 per cent sul phuric acid and 30 per cent water or
. Glover tower acid .
, ,

containin g about 8 0 p er cent acid . .

In the contact process the s ul phur di oxi de is made to comb ine with o x ygen
-

to form the trioxide S0 by p assin g the gases over a heated contact sub stance
3
, , ,

such as platin um or iron oxi de The b u rner gases are p urified by washi ng
.

wi th water and sulp huric acid but afterwards no steam or spray of water i s
,

introduced and consequently it i s not necessary afterwards to concentrate

,

the acid to bring it up to a hi gh strength as i s the case with the chamber ,

process On the contrary the s ul phur tri oxide has to be absorbed in weak
.
-

sul phur ic acid so as to obtain an acid of conveni ent strength Very great .

di fficul ties were exp e ri enced at first because after a short time it was found
that the spongy platinum used as the contact material ceased to be active It .

was di scovere d however that this was due to the presence in the gases of tra c es
, ,

of impurity such as arse nic which p oisoned the platinum W hen these
, ,
.

are entirely remove d the contac t material reta ins its ac tivi ty for a long time .

The p rinci pal motive of the in v entors in wor king out the cont act p rocess w a s -

95
 E X P L OSIV E S

to pr o d uc e at a rea s o nable c o s t a fuming aci d for use i n t he manufa c ture of

artifi c ial in dig o but large quanti t ie s o f stro ng aci d are al s o require d i n the
,

e x plo s ive s in dustry a n d some explo s ive s works have in fact erecte d contac t
,

plants of their o w n .

In the burner s pyrites is generally burnt but s o metime s b lc n de The , .

burnt pyrites or blen d e is af t er w ard s sent to smelting works w here the metal ,

i s extracted S ulphur (brim s t o ne ) is u sed only in localities w here there are

.

n o s melting w orks a v ailable .

t
Pu r ifi ca io n. Fo r the manufacture o f explosi v es a hi gh d egree of purity i s genera lly
required of the sulphuri c aci d especially free d om from ar s enic Aci d made , .

by t he c ontac t p rocess al w ays has sufficient purity as arsenic a nd o ther foreign ,

s ub s tances are ne c e s sarily remo v e d i n the c our s e of manufa c ture Sulphuric .

acid made from pyrites by the chamber p rocess generally c o ntain s a c o nsi der
able am o unt o f arseni c a n d o ther impurities The s e c a n be remove d by .

trea ting the acid wi th sulphuretted hydrogen and all o wing it to s ettle bef o re
con c entrat ing it .

C o ncent a ti on
r . Acid o f 70 per cent strength c a n oft e n be c o ncentrated up to 8 0 p e r cent
.
-
.

by passing it d o w n a Glo v er to w er W here thi s is not available the coneen .

t ration is generally c arried out i n lea d pans heated either by a fire u n de r neath
or by s team c oils lai d in the bottom of the pan Ab o ve this s trength lead .

pans c annot be u sed as they are atta c ked too much by the h o t aci d For .

t he production of pure w ater white concentrated sulphuric aci d the further -

c on c entrati o n may be c arried out in glass or platinum st ill s heate d from below .

The greater part o f the water i s thu s distilled o ff together wi th a little acid .

The glass still s ho w ever are liable to break a n d the consumption of fuel i s
, ,

c onsi d erable P latinu m i s very expensive and has risen in price consi d erably
.

o f late years The platinum is sometimes coated with gol d to di minish the
.

loss In neither glass nor platinum can sulph u i c acid of the highest strength
.
r

h e pro d u c ed to obtain thi s a further c oncentration in cast iron pans is necessary -

.

Th e s e works that have a contact sulphuri c aci d plant c a n use the ir recovered
aci d to ab s orb the s ulphur tri o x i d e and so bring it up to any required strength
-
, .

In fac tories w here the a c id i s purchased the s ame obj e c t c a n be accomplished

by mixing the w eak recovere d acid with fuming aci d 1
c ontaining 20

o r 60 per cent anhy d ri de Bu t in s ome pro c e s se s of manufac ture as for

. .
,

i n s tance the di s pla c ement proces s fo r gun cotton su c h large quantities of

,
-
,

w eak a c id are pr o du c ed that rec o ncentration i s nece s s ary Su c h r e c o n c e n tr a .

t ion is nearly al w a y s carrie d out in the explosives works themselves as it ,

d o e s n o t pay to t ransp o rt s uch a material back w ards a n d forward s by road

o r rail .

1
Th e co mme r c ia l t rm f
e o r u lp hu i
s id f 92 t
r c 90 pa c o o er ce n t . t n gt h ( g
s re s . .

is (c o n c e nt t d
ra e o i l f v it r i l ) t h t f t h fu m in g
o o . a o e a c id c o n t a in in g n hv d
a r id e

is (No rd ha u s e n o il o f v itr i l ) Ol um o o r e .
 S U L PH U RIC ACID
Ca sca de D18
The c oncentration is carried out either in a cascade plant or by di rect
contact with hot gases In the cascade plant the acid i s made to flow in turn
.
.

through a large number of beakers or basin s each one of which is at a sli ghtly ,
‘

lower level than the last These are all heated from below by means of a .

suitable furnace Formerly the vessels were made of glass or porcelain but
.
,

much trouble was caused by the continual breakages Now basins of fused .

si lica ware or special iron are used and breakages are comparatively rare .

A type of plant u sed very extensively in the explosives industry is that Kessler s ’

of Kessler the principle of which i s to bring a current of hot gas from a gas pla nt
,
.

producer in contact with the acid in a plant constructed of volvic stone which ,

i s only very s lightly attacked by the hot c oncentrated acid Fig 1 5 shows . .

an early form of the plant whi ch has since been m odi fied in some details The
, .

hot gas from the producer enters by the tube 0 into the s a tu r e x S where ,

i t passes down the channels q and is caused by ba ffl es to rush over the surfac e
,

of the acid in to the channels q l

From here it passes up through the pla .

'
te a u x A B C D where the inverted cup s cause it to bubble through the
, , , ,

acid which passes down from one plateau to the other by means of the over
flow pipes n The acid thus receives a preliminary concentration and the
.
,

gas is partially cooled down before it goes through the dome Z and the pipe P
to the condenser The weak acid is introduced on the top plateau and the
.
,

concentrated acid flows out of the s a tu r e x through the pip e m into a lead tank ,

where it is cooled by means of a coil through which water flows The arrange .

ment of th e ba ffles in the s a tur e x has now been altered they run transversely
to the di rection of flow of the gas and acid and the hot gas passes under each ,

o f them in turn .

The gas passing away thro u gh P carries with it a considerable amount of

sulphuric acid mostly in the form of very fine mist w hi ch is very di ffic ul t
, ,

to remove and is very inj uri ous to the surroun di ngs The gas is therefore .

passed through a condenser consisting of a large lead t ank packed wi th care

fully graded c oke Formerly the gas was drawn o ff by means of a steam inje c
.
‘

tor in the pipe P but thi s was very extravagant in steam a n d caused the
,

condensed acid to be very di lute Now a fan i s u sed instead Water is . .

sprayed i nto P to assist the condensation of the acid The general arrange .

ment of the plant is shown in Fig 1 6 Careful regulation of temperatures . .

and dr aughts is necessary to ensure the best results .

In decidi ng what strength of oleum it is best to use one of the properties Melting
p o ints
that must be carefully considered i s that of the melting p oints of the acids In -
.
.

Fig 1 7 (pp 1 0 4 5) are given the values as determined by Kn ie ts c h and publi shed
. .
-

by him in the important paper on the contact process which he read before the ,

German Chemical S ociety in October It will be seen that there are

1
Ber .
, 190 1 , 40 9 3 ; C h em I nd
. .
, 1 902, p . 6
.

V OL . I .
 Se c io t na l E le va t io n

t n
Se c io a l P la n
FI G . 15 . K e s s le r Co n nt r t r
ce a o
 S U L P H U RIC ACID 99

EL é V Ar lo n

P LA N

FI G . 16
. Ar ran g e me n t o f Ke rs
s s le
’
an t
Pl fo r t h e
Co n ce nt rat io n of Sul p hur ic Ac id
 E XP L OSIVE S

ma x ima a t t he p oints corresp onding to H O) (H H

( SO . z , 2 .

and (S 0 ) and m in ima a t in t erm edia t e p o ints A s tre ng th that is much used
3 ,
.

i s one con ta ini ng 1 8 t o 20 per cen t a nhydri de it has the ad v anta ge that it is
.

li quid a t a ll o r dina r y tempe r a t ures Wi t h an increa se of strength t he mel t ing

.

poin t rises r apidl y un t il wi t h 4 5 per cent anhydr i d e i t reaches a tempera .

t ur e a t w hich i t i s ver y inconveni ent t o dea l wi th an acid that gives o ff den s e

fumes e v en a t t he o r di na ry t emperat u r e and boil s below From here
t he mel t ing po in t falls aga in u n t il wi t h a st r ength of 60 to 65 per cent a n hy
-
.

di i de an a ci d is obt a ined w hich i s li qui d in summer a n d can be easily melte d

a t a n y t im e of t he y ea r The choi ce of acid to be used therefore res t s be t ween
.

C O Y a nd
. . . containi ng 1 8 to 20 per ce nt a n d 60 t o 65 per cent a n hy . .

dr ide The decision mu st depend on the pri ce at whi ch the acids can be
.

ob ta in ed a nd t he facili t ies for rec oncentra t ing or usin g the weak a c i d s produ c ed
in manuf a c t ur e “ h ere such facili ties are d eficient it i s bette r to u s e the
.

s t r onger oleum Ve r y little w aste acid wi ll then be produced O t herwi se

. .

mos t w orks p r efer to use t he 20 per cen t ole u m C O V is n e w li t tle used . . . . .

in explosi v e s w orks for revi vifyi n g w aste acids .

One of t he di sadvan t ages of t he 20 per cent oleum is that i t atta cks iron .

muc h mo r e s t rongl y t han either C O V or the 60 per cent oleum 1

On the
. . . . .

o t her han d t he v apo u r t ension of t he wea ker oleum i s considerably smaller

t han t ha t of t he s t ronger l Vh e rea s C O V conta inin g 9 8 5 per cent H SO .
.
-
. . .
-
.
g

boil s a t 3 1 and 1 0 0 per cent a c id at about 20 per cen t oleum boils

.
.
.

a t a b o u t 140 a n d 60 per ce n t at 60 C °
. .

Table s of t he sp e cifi c gravi t ies of mi x t ure s of sul phuri c acid and water
have been publish e d by v arious investigato rs There are sli ght di fferences .

be t w een t he best of t hem du e p ri n cipally to the difficul ty of d eterminin g the

s t r eng t h of t he a cid wi t h a v ery hi gh degree of acc uracy and perhap s part ly ,

to t he p resen c e of t rac es of i mp u rity in the mate ri al The Tables of Lun ge .

and hi s cc w orkers N a ef a n d Isler are much used but up on the whole the
-
,

figures of Pickerin g seem to be the best Many of the Tables are not di rectly .

compa r able bec ause t he s p ec ific gravi t ies have been t aken at di ff eren t te mpera
t ur es or are refe r red to w a t er a t d ifferent te mperatures ; in som e cases the
g r avi t ies a re corr ected for a ir di pla c ement and in others not For general
s .

w ork i t is bes t to w eigh both t he aci d and wate r at the ordi nary temperature

and not to corr e ct for a ir di splacemen t for t he introduc tion of small cor r ee ,

tions is no t onl y t rouble s ome but is liable to lead to error Pickering s figures .
’

w e re t herefo r e ca lcul ated by me to thi s basi s 2

a n d a re given in the follo w ing ,

Ta ble
1
See Kni e t s c h . lo c . c it .
2
J . S oc . C he m I nd . 1 90 3 .
 S UL P H URIC ACID 10 1

G R AVI TI E S SU L P H U R I C AC I D m AI R
“

°
SP E C I F I C or AT 15 C . .
10 2 EX P L OS I V E S
SUL P H U R I C Ae rD
°
SP E C I FI C G n a v r r rrzs or AT 15 C . IN AI R— co nti n u ed
 S UL PHURI C ACI D 10 3

For co ncentrated acid the determin ation of the specific gravity is not of
much value as an in di cation of its strength because the density reaches a ,

maxi mum at about 9 7 5 p er cent-

.

The following Table gives the corrections to be appli ed to the specifi c

gravi ties if the temperature va ri es from 1 5 1 °

For the e ff ect of impurities on the spec ific gravity of sulphuric acid s ee
Marshall J So c C hem I n d 1 9 0 2 p 1 50 8 Fig 1 8 (p 1 0 6) gives the specific
, . . . .
, , . . . .

gravities of a number of trade samples of some of which had becom e

c ontaminated wi th traces of ni tric acid also some acids that had been used
,

and reconcentrated several times in a Kessler plant The curves corresp ond .

ing to the Tables of P ickering and Lun ge are also given for compa ri son .

Kni e tsc h has determin ed the spec ific gravi ties of fuming acids (lo c ci t ) . .

His figur es are to b e foun d in the foll o w in g Table :

To ta l SO3 C o r r e s p o n d in g
H 2SO4

(ma x )
.

(ma x )

The strength of the fumin g acid is generally exp ressed a s per cent free . t
Calcul a i o ns

S0 b ut sometimes as total S0
3, W hen determ ini ng the strength by analysis
3.

it i s most conveni ent to express it first as per cent H SO a n d there are other .
z 4,

advantages i n expressing it thu s A figure i s of course obtained which is

.
, ,

greater than 1 00 but it gives at once the quantity of sulphuric acid that will
,

be forme d if 10 0 parts of it be ad ded to a mixture and if 1 00 be de ducted from ,

it the rema inder i s the amount of water that will di sappear from the mixture
,

to form this sulphuric acid Thi s remain der m ultipli ed by 8 0 ./ H p

.

1
L un g e a n d H u t r A lka l i Ill a ke
'

r e , P o cket b o o k
-
r s -
.
 SUL PHURI C ACI D

FUSI ON C RVE U
MEL TI NG POI NT CURVE
‘

C RYSTALL I SATI ON C RVE U

MEI / PI NG U
PO I NT C RVE
ETC . OP OL E UM NOT
YET POLYME RI SED

FI G . 1 7. Me lt ing -
nt s
Po i o u huric
f S lp
 60 ° C

UM
OLE

s o}
, fr e e

4 8 °C

Ac id a nd Ole um (Kn ie ts ch )
 EXP L OSIV E S

Per Ce nt H
.
zS O‘
FI G . 18 . Sp e c i fi c G ra vit i es o u h u r ic
f S lp Acid

/
80 1 8 Z gives
4 44 )
-
the percentage of free S0 The percentage of 11 8 0 3. 2 ,

multipli e d by 0 8 1 63 ) gives the total SO Si milar rul es m ay be 3.

ma de for converting any of these three exp ressions into any other
F be the percentage of free SO 3

T total SO ,

H H SO 2 4

F 4 4 44 (H 1 00 )
5 4 44 T 444
0 8 1 63 H
0 1 8 3? F 81 -
63
F + 1 00
1 2 25 T

The conversion can also be effected by means of the scales at the base of Fig 1 7 . .

All cou ntrie s d u ring the war are suff ering more or les s fr o m a shorta ge of
sulphuric aci d due to the enormous demands and the di s turbances in the
supply o f the raw materials In Ge rm any the cessation of the imp o rt s of
.

pyrites from over seas appears to have caused considerable t r o uble i n spite of
—

the fact that they have the Belgian acid works at their di sp o s al a s well as
their own and that ores can be obtaine d from Norway H ungary a n d Styria
,
1
, .

They are sai d to be making sulphuric aci d from calcium sulpha te (gyp s um )
and magnesium sulphate (Kie s eri t e ) 2
.

1
S ee F .Do nG , N a tu re , M c
. n an 23 ar h , 1 9 16 p , . 82
.

2
C h em Tr a de J o a n , No v 27, 1 9 1 5
. . .
 C H AP TE R V III
NI TRI C ACI D

Manu fa c t ur e R e co very nitro us fume s St o ra ge Th e dis tilla tro n Nit re

of

c a ke : N i t r ic a c id fr o m t h e a t mo s h er e : D ir e c t o x id a t io n : C y anamid e r o ce s s
p p
:

Se p e k s p r o c s s
r
’
e Hab e r s p r o ce s s Os t w ald s p r o ce s s P ro p er t ies Sp e c ifi c
’ ’

g ra vit ie s Fr e e zi ng p o in t s B o ilin g p o int Vap o ur p r e s s u r e

s s
- -

N I TRI C acid i s usually made by di stilling C hi li saltpetre with sulphu ri c acid Manuf actur e .

in large iron retorts Formerly these were made of such a si ze as to take a

.

charge of about half a ton of sulphuric acid and the same quantity of nitrate
now they are genera lly made to take twice as much or more Fig 1 9 shows . .

a retort somewhat simil ar to those used for the Va len tiner system To take .

a ton of ni trate the retort should be about 6 feet in di ameter and 6 feet hi gh
it must not be too small on account of the danger of frothi ng over or priming .

Horizontal cylindrical still s are also used .

At one time nitric acid wa s o nly made of about 60 per cent strength but .
,

when a large demand for stronger acid arose for the manufacture of exp losives
i t was found that there was no re al di ffic ul ty in obtaining nearly the whole
of the acid of 9 2 to 9 4 per cent strength By the recovery of nitrous fumes
. .

acid of 60 per cent strength is still produced formerly it was sometimes con
.

c e n tr a te d by di still ation with sulphuric acid but now it can be utilized directly
,

mixed with G O V or oleu m. . . .

The nitric acid vapours were formerly c ondensed by a ir cooli ng by lea di ng

-
, C ondenser s.
them through a large number of stone ware j ars connected by stone ware - -

pipes but this system was inefficient and requ ired much plant and space
, .

The reason for its adoption was that metal condensers coul d not be use d because
they were attacked by the acid and stone ware condensers cooled w ith water
,
-

would have cracked with the changes of temperature B ut with the improve .

ments that were made in the manufact u re of earthen and stone ware thi s has —

been altered The Guttmann condensing battery has been much use d (Fig
. .

It consists of a number of vertical stone ware pipes immersed in a tank through

-

w hi ch water circulates ; at the b ottom these pipes are connecte d by cross

pieces in such a way that whilst the fumes have to pass up and d own the pipes
one after the other the con d ensed acid flows along from one cross piece to
,
—

another through in verted siphons and finall y to the storage tank .

1 07