PYROXILINE was a name formerly given to nitro-cellulose.
RACK-A-ROCK is a Sprengel explosive which has been used extensively in America, and also in Siberia and China. It consists of cartridges of potassium chlorate mixed sometimes with oxide of iron, which are dipped shortly before use into a liquid. The latter is nitro-benzene or “dead oil,” a heavy hydrocarbon oil obtained from coal-tar, or a mixture of the two. The chlorate cartridges are enclosed in small cotton bags, and are placed in a wire basket suspended from a spring balance. They are dipped into a vessel containing the liquid until a quarter or a third of the weight of the chlorate has been taken up.
RASCHIT is a blasting explosive consisting entirely of salts readily soluble in water, invented by F. Raschig. The incorporation is carried out by dissolving the constituents in water, and evaporating the solution rapidly on a rotating steam-heated drum. The oxidising substance is ammonium or sodium nitrate, and the combustible is the sodium salt of an organic sulphonate or the residue obtained from the manufacture of wood cellulose.
| II. | III. | IV. | V. | VI. | |
| Ammonium nitrate | — | 84 | 87 | 60 | 85 |
| Sodium nitrate | 70 | — | — | — | — |
| Ammonium nitro-cresol sulphonate | — | 16 | — | — | — |
| Sodium cresol sulphonate | 30 | — | 13 | 10 | — |
| Cellulose residue | — | — | — | — | 15 |
| Sodium sulphate | — | — | — | 30 | — |
No. II. is the only one made at present.
R.D.B. (Research Department B). See [CORDITE].
RED CROSS explosives are American dynamites containing some nitro-toluene or other substance to make the nitroglycerine low-freezing.
RED H, Nos. 1 to 7 are American coal-mine explosives on the Permissible List. They are ammonium nitrate mixtures.
*RED STAR is a 33-grain bulk smokeless powder for shot-guns, introduced in 1906 by the New Explosives Co. According to an analysis given in “Arms and Explosives,” 1917, p. 76, its composition is—
| Nitrocellulose, insoluble | 52·2 |
| ” soluble | 25·5 |
| Metallic nitrates | 10·5 |
| Nitro-compounds | 7·0 |
| Vaseline | 3·0 |
| Moisture | 1·8 |