PROJECTILES CONTAINING EXPLOSIVES — A. R. 143 



soda and fused, when sodium phenolate is formed which is decom- 

 posed with sulphuric acicl to set the phenol (carbolic acid) free, 

 which is separated by ether and purified by distillation. 



This purified phenol is treated with 66° B. sulphuric acid and 

 then with 37° B. nitric acid. The picric acid formed is purified 

 by repeatedly washing it with water and draining. 

 • 2. Trinitrotoluene {tolite, trotyl). — This body appears in the form 

 of small yellow crystals which fuse about 81°. Though insoluble 

 in water, it is very soluble in benzene and toluene. 



While melinite reacts markedly, acid trinitrotoluene is completely 

 neutral. It does not therefore act upon the metals in which it is 

 put. It is more agreeable than melinite to handle since its dust is 

 not irritating. It is less sensitive to shock but is also a little less 

 powerful than picric acid (7^=8,680). When fused it adheres 

 strongly to the walls of the vessel in which it is contained. But 

 tolite presents the disadvantage of " piping " markedly at the 

 moment of solidification. Its rate of detonation is about 10 per 

 cent less than that of picric acid. 



Tolite is usually prepared by trinitrating toluene directly with 

 a concentrated sulphuric-nitric acid mixture. The reaction begins 

 at 40° and ends at 105° ; it being heated from five to six hours. 



Tolite is primed in the same manner as melinite, but it detonates 

 violently in the open air under the influence of a mercury fulminate 

 detonator only. It is employed in the manufacture of cordeaux 

 detonants by inclosing in lead tubes. It is the explosive most com- 

 monly employed by the Germans in charging their projectiles. 



3. Nitrocresols (cresylites or eresylol commercial). — Cresol is a 

 product of tar distillation which is obtained between 185° and 

 210°. It is a mixture of three isomers, the proportions of which 

 are very variable. Cresol is nitrated just as phenol is but the 

 trinitrocresol only is used, and this is really the trinitrometacresol 

 which possesses properties analogous to those of picric acid. It 

 is a yellow substance which in all regards is more disagreeable to 

 handle than picric acid, for its dust is more irritating and its vapors 

 more suffocating. Its process of manufacture is similar to that of 

 picric acid. 



As an explosive it is a little less powerful than melinite. This 

 is easily understood when we recall that it contains a large excess 

 of carbon and hydrogen and that its combustion is consequently 

 less complete. Mixed with pure melinite in the proportions of 60 

 per cent trinitrocresol to 40 per cent picric acid, there is obtained 

 the explosive known in France as cresylite 60/40. This mixture, 

 which is obtained by fusion under water, melts at about 85°, but at 

 65° it is sufficiently plastic to permit of its being compressed into 

 charges which, on cooling, are compact, amorphous, and very homo- 



