EXPLOSIVES—O’HERN, 253 
for the black variety previously used. The resulting product was 
called brown. or cocoa powder from its appearance. The next great 
step in the improvement of powder was the development of smoke- 
less powder which began to be introduced into service about 1886. 
The great advance that has been made in the power and range of 
guns since about 1880, when modern guns and powders began to be 
used, is evident from a comparison of the 15-inch smooth-bore gun 
then in use with the 14-inch rifles now being mounted. The old 15- 
inch gun fired a projectile weighing 450 pounds, with a muzzle velocity 
of 1,534 feet per second, and attained a maximum range of approxi- 
mately 5,579 yards when fired at 20° elevation, the usual limit per- 
mitted by the mount. The present 14-inch gun fires a projectile 
weighing 1,660 pounds, with a muzzle velocity of 2,360 feet per 
second and attains a maximum range of approximately 19,300 
yards with 15° elevation. The muzzle energy of the former pro- 
jectile is approximately 7,350 foot-tons, while that of the latter is 
approximately 64,170 foot-tons. The former carried a small burst- 
ing charge of black powder, and would have been practically useless 
against modern armor, while the latter carries a large charge of pow- 
erful high explosive and is capable of ae through the heaviest 
armor if it strikes fairly. 
SMOKELESS POWDERS. 
As already pointed out, a great advance in power of firearms was 
made when smokeless powders came into general use. Many differ- 
ent kinds of such powders have been manufactured, and more or 
less extensively used, but all of them have practically disappeared 
from military use except two, the kinds commonly designated as 
nitrocellulose powders and nitroglycerin powders, respectively. The 
use of the two types is quite evenly divided. Thus, the nitrocellu- 
lose type is used by the United States Army and Navy, by the 
French Army and Navy, and by the German Army, whereas nitro- 
glycerin is used by the British Army and Navy, and by the German 
Navy. 
Nitrocellulose powders, the manufacture of which will be described 
more in detail later, are essentially composed of nitrocellulose or gun- 
cotton dissolved in a mixture of ether and alcohol, then compressed 
into a horny mass, formed into grains of suitable size, then dried 
until nearly all of the solvent has been extracted. The principal 
ingredient of nitroglycerin powder is also guncotton, the other im- 
portant ingredient being nitroglycerin, this varying from 20 to 50 
per cent. Guncotton, technically known as nitrocellulose, is there- 
fore the principal ingredient of all military powders, and its manu- 
facture is, for that reason, of special interest. 
