198 MUNROE-HOWELI^PRODUCTS OF DETONATION OF TNT. 



but neither of these authors state the source from which the in- 

 formation was drawn. 



It is probable that the explosion from which the products re- 

 ported were obtained was carried out in the form of explosion 

 bomb known as Bichel's Pressure Gage which was described and 

 illustrated by Bichel in his paper on " Untersuchung Methoden fur 

 Sprengstofife "^ and also in the book translated by Larsen as already 

 stated. 



Data on the explosion products of trinitrotoluene is also given by 

 Poppenberg and Stephan^ who made use of a calorimeter bomb. 

 They give the following description of their method of procedure : 



The experiment was conducted as follows : The bore hole of a lead bomb 

 was loaded with compressed explosive, and over this was placed a lead plate 

 which fitted exactly, the cap projecting through a hole in the plate. For 

 further tamping the bore hole of the lead bomb was filled with dried sand 

 and the upper part then covered with a lead plate. In several experiments we 

 used a leaden seal, which contained the primer, for tamping. After placing 

 the leaden seal in the bore hole the edge of the bomb was still about 0.5 cm. 

 higher; this was turned over under the steam hammer by means of an appa- 

 ratus for this purpose, and thus a complete tamping was obtained. 



When the porcelain bomb was used for the experiment, we first arranged 

 the tamping with sand and then poured Wood's metal into the conical boring 

 in order to obtain a perfect seal. After this the fuse wire was joined to a 

 very thin, pliable and insulated copper wire, and the bomb, thus prepared, was 

 set inside the large steel bomb with the aid of a wire noose. In order to 

 prevent the lead from being forced into the gas outlet, this had to be covered 

 with an iron plate. The thin copper wires of the fuse were fastened to the 

 bomb-head and this was screwed into the bomb. After an evacuation of 

 about 20 cm. mercury the charge was ignited. During the progress of the 

 work, the temperature of the gases was lowered to such an extent that the 

 silk insulation of the wire was never burned. Therefore it was possible to 

 complete a determination of the carbon given oflf. The carbon was rinsed out 

 of the bomb so far as possible and then burned to carbon dioxide. It occurred 

 to us to conduct the blasting in the material in which the explosives in question 

 are used, but it did not seem advisable to perform the experiment in this 

 manner, because all other materials, lead and porcelain except, react with the 

 explosion gases. Porcelain alone can be used for explosive compositions 

 which are rich in oxygen, since lead oxidizes. Therefore, it is necessary to 

 dry the bombs before igniting the contents in order to prevent the water 

 from having any efifect upon the actual combination. 



6 Zeitschrift f. Berg-, Hutten- und Salinen-Wesen, 50, 669-89, 1902. 

 "^ " Ueber die Zersetzung von Pulvern und Sprengstofifen," Zeitschrift fur 

 das gesamte Schiess und Sprengstoffwesen, 5, 291-6, 1910. 



