310 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which had always been found in securing uniformity in mixtures, 

 and that this difficulty had become the more apparent as the gun be- 

 came more highly developed, I sought to produce a powder which 

 should consist of a single chemical substance in a state of chemical 

 purity, and w^hich could be formed into grains of such form and 

 size as were most suitable for the piece in which the powder was 

 to be used. 



I succeeded in so treating cellulose nitrate of the highest de- 

 gree of nitration as to convert it into a mass like ivory and yet 

 leave it pure. In this indurated condition the gun cotton will 

 burn freely, but it has not been possible to detonate it even when 

 closely confined and exposed to the initial detonation of large 

 masses of mercurv fulminate. 



i'ol.'I'EIici I'KAc TIiK 



>N Tin; « rsiiiN( 



I am happy to say that this principle has now been adopted 

 by the Russian Government, and by our navy in its specifications 

 for smokeless powder; but they have, I think unwisely, selected 

 a cellulose nitrate containing 12.5 per cent or less of nitrogen in- 

 stead of that of the highest nitration. 



This work was completed, a factory established, and the pro- 

 cesses well marked out when I left the torpedo station in 1892. 

 Besides this, there were then already commercial works established 

 elsewhere in this country for the manufacture of the nitroglycerin- 

 nitrocellulose powders of the ballistite class, while large quanti- 

 ties of many varieties could be easily procured abroad. Consid- 

 ering these facts, and that France and Germany had already 

 adopted smokeless powders in 1887, that Italy adopted one in 

 1888, and England about the same time, it is unpardonable that 

 our services should not yet have adopted any of the smokeless pow- 

 ders available when we were drawn into the conflict with Spain. 



