Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise

Nitro-Explosives: A Practical
Treatise

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Title: Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise
Author: P. Gerald Sanford
Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15308]
Language: English
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NITRO-EXPLOSIVES
[Illustration: DANGER BUILDING SHOWING PROTECTING
MOUNDS. (_See page 6._)]
NITRO-EXPLOSIVES
A PRACTICAL TREATISE
CONCERNING THE

_PROPERTIES, MANUFACTURE, AND ANALYSIS OF
NITRATED SUBSTANCES, INCLUDING THE FULMINATES,
SMOKELESS POWDERS, AND CELLULOID_
BY
P. GERALD SANFORD, F.I.C., F.C.S.
_Public Analyst to the Borough of Penzance; late Consulting Chemist
to the Cotton Powder Company Limited; and formerly Resident
Chemist at the Stowmarket Works of the New Explosives Company
Limited, and the Hayle Works of the National Explosive Company
Limited_
~Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged~
PREFACE.
In compiling the following treatise, my aim has been to give a brief but
thoroughly practical account of the properties, manufacture, and
methods of analysis of the various nitro-explosives now so largely used
for mining and blasting purposes and as propulsive agents; and it is
believed that the account given of the manufacture of nitro-glycerine
and of the gelatine dynamites will be found more complete than in any
similar work yet published in this country.
For many of the facts and figures contained in the chapter on
Smokeless Powders I am indebted to (amongst others) the late Mr J.D.
Dougall and Messrs A.C. Ponsonby and H.M. Chapman, F.C.S.; and
for details with regard to Roburite to Messrs H.A. Krohn and W.J.
Orsman, F.I.C. To these gentlemen my cordial thanks are due. Among
the authorities which have been consulted in the general preparation of
the work may be mentioned the Journals of the Chemical Society, the
Society of Chemical Industry, the United States Naval Institute, and the
Royal Artillery Institution. I have also referred to several volumes of
the periodical publication _Arms and Explosives;_ to various papers by
Sir Frederick Abel, Bart., F.R.S., and General Wardell, R.A., on
Gun-Cotton; to "Modern Artillery," by Capt. Lloyd, R.N., and A.G.
Hadcock, R.A.; to the late Colonel Cundill's "Dictionary of Explosives";
as well as to the works of Messrs Eissler, Berthelot, and others.
The illustrations have been prepared chiefly from my own drawings. A
few, however, have been taken (by permission) from the pages of Arms
and Explosives, or from other sources which are acknowledged in the
text.

P.G.S.
THE LABORATORY,
20 CULLUM STREET, E.C.
_May 1896._

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
In the preparation of the Second Edition of this work, I have chiefly
made use of the current technical journals, especially of the Journal of
the Society of Chemical Industry. The source of my information has in
every case been acknowledged.
I am also indebted to several manufacturers of explosives for
information respecting their special products--among others the New
Explosives Company Ltd.; Messrs Curtis's and Harvey Ltd.; The
Schultze Gunpowder Company Ltd.; and Mr W.D. Borland, F.I.C., of
the E.C. Powder Company Ltd.
To my friend Mr A. Stanley Fox, F.C.S., of Faversham, my best thanks
are also due for his help in many departments, and his kindness in
pointing out several references.
The chapter on Smokeless Powders has been considerably enlarged and
(as far as possible) brought up to date; but it has not always been
possible to give the process of manufacture or even the composition, as
these details have not, in several cases, been made public.
P. GERALD SANFORD.
LONDON, _June 1906._

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
--INTRODUCTION.
The Nitro-Explosives--Substances that have been Nitrated--The Danger
Area-- Systems of Professors Lodge, Zenger, and Melsens for the
Protection of Buildings from Lightning, &c.

CHAPTER II.

--NITRO-GLYCERINE.
Properties of
Nitro-Glycerine--Manufacture--Nitration--Separation--Washing and
Filtering--Drying, Storing, &c.--The Waste Acids--Their Treatment--
Nitric Acid Plants

CHAPTER III.
--NITRO-CELLULOSE, &C.
Cellulose Properties--Discovery of Gun-Cotton--Properties of
Gun-Cotton-- Varieties of Soluble and Insoluble
Gun-Cottons--Manufacture of Gun-Cotton-- Dipping and
Steeping—Whirling Out the Acid--Washing, Boiling, Pulping,
Compressing--The Waltham Abbey Process--Le Bouchet
Process--Granulation of
Gun-Cotton--Collodion-Cotton--Manufacture--Acid Mixture
Used--Cotton Used, &c.--Nitrated Gun-Cotton--Tonite--Dangers in
Manufacture of Gun-Cotton-- Trench's Fire-Extinguishing
Compound--Uses of Collodion-Cotton--Celluloid-- Manufacture,
&c.--Nitro-Starch, Nitro-Jute, and Nitro-Mannite

CHAPTER IV.
--DYNAMITE.
Kieselguhr Dynamite--Classification of Dynamites--Properties and
Efficiency of Ordinary Dynamite--Other forms of Dynamite--Gelatine
and Gelatine Dynamites, Suitable Gun-Cotton for, and Treatment
of--Other Materials Used--Composition of Gelignite--Blasting
Gelatine--Gelatine Dynamite--Absorbing Materials--Wood
Pulp--Potassium Nitrate, &c.-- Manufacture, &c.--Apparatus
Used--The Properties of the Gelatine Compounds

CHAPTER V.
--NITRO-BENZOL, ROBURITE, BELLITE, PICRIC ACID, &c.
Explosives derived from Benzene--Toluene and Nitro-Benzene--Di-
and Tri-nitro-Benzene--Roburite: Properties and Manufacture--Bellite:

Properties, &c.--Securite--Tonite