Smokeless Powder.
Cordite is the specific name of a smokeless powder which has been adopted by the English government as a military explosive. It contains nitro-glycerine, 58 parts; gun cotton, 37 parts; and petrolatum, 5 parts. The nitro-glycerine and gun cotton are first mixed, 19.2 parts of acetone added, and the pasty mass kneaded for several hours. The petrolatum is then added and the mixture again kneaded. The paste is then forced through fine openings to form threads, which are dried at about 105° F. until the acetone evaporates. The threads, which resemble brown twine, are then cut into short lengths for use.
Another process for the manufacture of smokeless powder is as follows: Straw, preferably oat-straw, is treated in the usual way with a mixture of nitric acid and concentrated sulphuric acid, and then washed in water to free it from these, then boiled with water, and again with a solution of potassium carbonate. It is next subjected, for 2 to 6 hours, to the action of a solution composed of 1,000 parts of water, 12.5 parts of potassium nitrate, 3.5 parts of potassium chlorate, 12.5 parts of zinc sulphate, and 12.5 parts of potassium permanganate. The excess of solution is pressed out, and the mass is then pulverized, granulated, and finally dried.
The warning as to the danger of experimenting with the manufacture of ordinary gunpowder applies with renewed force when nitro-glycerine is the subject of the experiment.
Berge’s Blasting Powder.
Safety In Explosives
I.—Donarite, composed as follows: 80 per cent of nitrate of ammonia, 12 of trinitrotoluol, 4 of flour, 3.8 of nitro-glycerine, and 0.2 per cent of cotton collodion. Security: Donarite alone, 87 parts; 95 per cent of donarite and 5 per {331} cent of ammonium chloride, 125 parts; 90 per cent of donarite and 10 per cent of ammonium chloride, 250 parts; 86 per cent of donarite and 5.5 per cent of ammonium chloride, with 8.5 per cent of nitrate of soda, 425 parts. The force of the explosion is decreased about 8 per cent, while the security is quintupled.
II.—Roburite, with the following composition: 72.5 per cent nitrate of ammonia; 12 binitro-benzol; 10 nitrate of potash; 5 sulphate of ammonia; 0.5 per cent permanganate of potash. Security: Roburite only, 325 parts; ammonium chloride, taking the place of sulphate of ammonia, 400 parts. Here an intensification of the explosive force is simultaneously produced.
III.—Ammon carbonite I, composed thus: 4 per cent nitro-glycerine; 75.5 nitrate of ammonia; 9.5 nitrate of potash; 9.5 coal dust; 10.5 flour. Security: Ammon carbonite I only, 250 parts; 95 per cent A. C. I. and 5 per cent ammonium chloride, 400 parts; 92 per cent A. C. I. and 8 per cent ammonium chloride, 500 parts. The addition of 5 per cent ammonium chloride diminishes the explosive force only 3 per cent.
IV.—An explosive of nitro-glycerine base composed thus: 30 per cent nitro-glycerine; 1 per cent cotton collodion; 52.6 nitrate of ammonia; 13 nitrate of potash; 3 to 4 per cent starch. Security of this mixture, 150 parts.