Following the qualitative examination, a method is selected for the separation and weighing of each of the constituents previously found to be present. These methods, of course, vary widely, according to the particular materials to be separated, it being usually necessary to devise a special method of analysis for each explosive, unless it is found, by the qualitative analysis, to be similar to some ordinary explosive, in which case the ordinary method of analysis of that explosive can be carried out. Most safety powders require special treatment, while most grades of dynamite and all ordinary forms of black blasting powder are readily analyzed by the usual methods.
The examination of black blasting powder has been greatly facilitated and, at the same time, made considerably more accurate, by means of a densimeter devised at this laboratory. In this apparatus a Torricellian vacuum is used as a means of displacing the air surrounding the grains of powder, and through very simple manipulation the true density of black powder is determined with a high degree of accuracy. In Building No. 17 there is an apparatus for separating or grading the sizes of black powder (Fig. 1, [Plate X]).
By means of two factors, the moisture coefficient and the hygroscopic
coefficient, which have been worked out at this laboratory, a number of important observations can be made on black powder, in determining the relative efficiency of the graphite coating to resist moisture, and also as a means of judging the thoroughness with which the components of the powder are mixed. The moisture coefficient relates to the amount of moisture which is taken up by the grains of the powder in a definite time under standard conditions of saturation; and the hygroscopic coefficient relates to the affinity of the constituents of the powder for moisture under the same standard conditions.
Besides the examination of explosives used at the testing station, those for the Reclamation Service, the Isthmian Canal Commission, and other divisions of the Government, are also inspected and analyzed at the explosives laboratory. At the present time, the Isthmian Canal Commission is probably the largest user of explosives in the world, and samples used in its work are inspected, tested, and analyzed at this laboratory, and at the branch laboratories at Gibbstown and Pompton Lakes, N. J., and at Xenia, Ohio.
Aside from the usual analysis of explosives for the Isthmian Canal Commission, special tests are made to determine the liability of the explosive to exude nitro-glycerine, and to deteriorate in unfavorable weather conditions. These tests are necessary, because of the warm and moist climate of the Isthmus of Panama.
Gas and Dust Gallery No. 1.—Gallery No. 1 is cylindrical in form, 100 ft. long, and has a minimum internal diameter of 6⅓ ft. It consists of fifteen similar sections, each 6⅔ ft. long and built up in in-and-out courses. The first three sections, those nearest the concrete head, are of ½-in. boiler-plate steel, the remaining twelve sections are of ⅜-in. boiler-plate steel, and have a tensile strength of, at least, 55,000 lb. per sq. in. Each section has one release pressure door, centrally placed on top, equipped with a rubber bumper to prevent its destruction when opened quickly. In use, this door may be either closed and unfastened, closed and fastened by stud-bolts, or left open. Each section is also equipped with one ¾-in. plate-glass window, 6 by 6 in., centrally placed in the side of the gallery ([Fig. 1], and Figs. 1 and 2, [Plate VI]). The sections are held together by a lap-joint. At each lap-joint there is, on the interior of the gallery, a 2½-in. circular, angle iron, on the face of which a paper diaphragm may be placed and held in
position by semicircular washers, studs, and wedges. These paper diaphragms are used to assist in confining a gas-and-air mixture.
