SPRENGCHLORAT. See [Hassia-Chlorat].
SPRENGEL EXPLOSIVES were patented in 1871 by Dr. Hermann Sprengel, F.R.S., the inventor of the mercury vacuum pump. They are made by mixing an oxidising substance with a combustible one, the essential features being that one or both of the substances must be liquid, and the mixing takes place shortly before the explosive is required. The mixture is exploded by means of a fulminate detonator. As oxidising agents, Sprengel mentioned amongst others nitric acid and potassium chlorate; nitrogen peroxide has also been used; as combustibles, a large number of substances including nitro-benzene, nitro-naphthalene, carbon bisulphide, petroleum and picric acid. For most purposes nitric acid is an inconvenient material to use. Porous cartridges of potassium chlorate constitute the oxidiser generally employed, the combustibles being hydrocarbon oils and nitro-benzene. This possesses considerable advantages, as there is no danger of a premature explosion until the constituents have been mixed. Under the British Explosives Act, however, this mixing constitutes “manufacture,” and can only be carried out in a properly licensed factory. Consequently Sprengel explosives have not been used in Great Britain, but they have been employed on a considerable scale in the United States, France, Italy and other countries.
For examples of Sprengel explosives see [Panclastite], [Prométhée], [Rack-a-Rock].
SPRENGGELATINE is the German for [Blasting Gelatine].
SPRENGSALPETER is a cheap German blasting powder made from sodium nitrate, sulphur and brown coal. It is used in the potash mines.
STABILITE is a name that has been given to trinitro-anisole. It has been tried as a constituent of a smokeless powder, but it belies its title as it is readily hydrolysed with the formation of picric acid. It has also been used by the Germans as a filling for bombs.
STANFORD POWDER.—A coal-mine explosive of the [Favier] class which was on the Permitted List for a short time in 1913.
STEELITE was practically the same as [Silesia]. Colliery Steelite was a coal-mine explosive on the old Permitted List, and made by Steelite Explosives, Ltd. It contained—
| Potassium chlorate | 74 |
| Oxidised resin | 25 |
| Castor oil | 1 |
Steelite is no longer authorised for manufacture or import into the United Kingdom.