Nobel Invents Smokeless Powder.
The smokeless powder which Nobel originated was based on his discovery that by means of heated rollers he could incorporate with nitro-glycerine a very high percentage of that soluble nitro-cellulose, or gun cotton, which his factories were using in the manufacture of blasting gelatine. Blasting gelatine altered by means of moderating substances, had been tried in guns and had burst them. Nobel now found that if the nitrated cotton was increased from eight to about fifty per cent. he obtained a powder suitable for firearms. The progress in the construction of weapons, and especially the introduction of quick-firing guns, made it necessary to have smokeless powder, while higher velocities demanding straighter paths for projectiles could be attained with new arms resisting high pressure. Whilst in quest of such a powder, Nobel perfected several methods for regulating the pressure in guns, and modifying the recoil. It was in the beginning of 1888 that he invented his well-known smokeless powder, or ballistite. His discovery that the two most powerful shattering explosives, nitro-glycerine and gun-cotton, when mixed in about equal proportions, would form a slow burning powder, a propulsive agent with pressures which would exceed the resistance of modern weapons, caused astonishment in technical circles. Nobel submitted his powder to the British Explosive Committee, which found that instead of employing the variety of gun-cotton which is soluble in nitro-glycerine with the aid of heat, the insoluble kind could be used provided an assistant solvent could be added; and that the manufacture could be carried on at lower temperatures than those necessary in producing other explosives. The powder thus obtained was cordite, and this they recommended for adoption.