NITROLEUM. 



547 



napL r.M.le.l for some time to about 



.mo have stated, even to 



46), the oil crystallizes in form of needles, 



-. The taste of nitroleum 



i, pungent, and aromatic. It is very 



urns, a minute quantity of it swallowed or 



placed on the tongue producing violent and 



Its vapor having a simi- 



ihe propriety of using the oil in the 



deeper ami imperfectly ventilated parts of mines 



has been doubted. 



AY hen llamo is applied to its surface, the oil 

 burns like naphtha; aud it does not explode by 



:-k fulling into it. Spread on the earth, it 



ii ditSculty inflamed, and burns partially. 

 Uy a regulated heat it can bo volatilized with- 

 out decomposition ; but if in such mode ebulli- 

 tion becomes brisk, or if a little of the oil be 

 dropped on a plate just hot enough to cause 

 immediate boiling, or if it bo heated to 860 

 (perhaps, 820) in a closed vessel, in any such 

 case ic explodes with great violence. "When a 

 drop of it is let fall on a plate only moderately 

 hot, it volatilizes quietly ; and, when the plate 

 is extremely hot, it burns away quickly, with- 

 out noise. It is said that a flask containing the 

 oil can be smashed on a stone without causing 

 detonation ; yet, when paper moistened with it 

 is sharply struck, a loud detonation results ; and 

 the most effectual means of exploding the oil is 

 that of imparting a violent shock to it when in 

 a confined state. Nitroleum, however, especial- 

 ly when impure and acid and its purifica- 

 tion is a matter of some difficulty tends to de- 

 compose spontaneously, with disengagement of 

 gases and production of oxalic and glyceric 

 acids. Being usually enclosed in well-stoppered 

 bottles, so that the gases cannot escape, but 

 must press on the liquid with increasing force, 

 it is probable that under such circumstances it 



>-xplode from the shock caused by a very 

 slight jar or motion; and it is undoubtedly hi 



vay that some of the disastrous explosions 

 of this oil, occurring without obvious cause, are 

 to be explained ; while in certain instances, 



-> of various sorts which have led to the 

 heating of the oil may, by inducing or accelerat- 

 ing decomposition in it, have prepared the way 

 for such result. Again, when the oil is in the 

 frozen condition, it still explodes by a blow, and 

 sometimes by mere friction ; and repeated in- 

 stances have already occurred in which, through 

 ignorance or disregard of this fact, workmen 



ting with the solidified oil have lost either 

 limb or life. 



Nitroleum is coming into use in parts of this 

 country as a blasting agent, and in portions of 

 ( ; ermany and Sweden it has already superseded 

 all others ; while in England, up to a recent date, 

 it had not been practically employed. Since 



-ion cannot be produced with it, as with 

 pmpowdor, by the simple burning of a fuse, the 

 earliest attempts were in the way of saturating 

 powder with the oil, a considerable increase of 



ictive power being the result; but Mr. 

 Nobel early hi/: upon the plan of exploding the 



nitro-plycerino by the concussion of a small 

 quantity of gunpowder placed directly over it, 

 and fired by a fuse. Its destructive action, 

 when BO used, has been declared to bo about 

 ten times that of gunpowder. 



In the early part of the summer of 1866, 

 Colonel T. P. Shaffner conducted at Wash ing- 

 ton a series of experiments designed to test the 

 explosive power of nitroleum, and which fully 

 confirmed the conclusion previously formed, as 

 to its great superiority in this respect over 

 gunpowder. Holes one inch in diameter and 

 fifteen inches deep were bored in two similar 

 cast-iron blocks, each weighing 300 Ibs. ; these 

 were charged, the one with powder, the other 

 with nitroleum, and fired: the powder blew off 

 through the fuse-vent, producing no further 

 effect; the nitrolenm tore the iron to pieces, 

 the action even extending downward from the 

 bottom of the charge, so as to leave a cone of 

 unbroken metal, the apex of which was the 

 termination of the drill-hole. Four mu>ket 

 barrels were placed within wronght-iron cylin- 

 ders, two filled with gunpowder, and two 

 s filled with nitroleum, and severally exploded : 

 the former two were torn to pieces; but the 

 explosion of the nitroleum was BO sudden and 

 powerful that the barrels which had contained 

 it were irregularly rent through lengthwise and 

 flattened out, the iron appearing like rolled 

 plate, even and polished. The experiments, in- 

 cluding others not here named, appeared in- 

 cidentally to prove that, while possessing some 

 decided advantages over gunpowder, nitroleum 

 may be employed without greater danger than 

 attends the use of the latter. 



In practice, nitroleum serves with both smaller 

 and fewer blast-holes than powder, thus saving 

 much of the labor of drilling; while the man- 

 ner of its action is such that usually it does not 

 project the rock, but lifts or parts it in masses 

 a little way, allowing it to settle quietly back ; 

 so that there is less loss than with other ex- 

 plosives, and even the surface of the rock is but 

 little bruised. It appears that a " nitro-glycer- 

 ino company," having patented the manufac- 

 ture of the oil in this country, have sold it at 

 $1.75 the pound; and although, in the quan- 

 tities required, still more expensive than blast- 

 ing powder, yet in view of circumstances just 

 named, it is practically the more economical 

 agent of the two. So far as bulk is concerned, 

 it is readily transported, and the mode of its 

 use is simple and could it be entirely safe 

 without inconvenience; while it has been de- 

 clared that, where its presence and nature are 

 known, its daggers are only such as are due 

 to ignorance or heedlessness as to the proper 

 modes of handling it. It is to be regretted, 

 however, that parties having to forward nitro- 

 glycerine to a distance by land or water, have 

 frequently done so without information of its 

 character, or even under misleading or false 

 names and forms of package a practice from 

 which in several instances accidents of the tnost 

 lamentable nature have resulted. 



