196 



EXPLOSIVES. 



another, have invented new and more powerful 

 explosives, the most important of which are here- 

 with described. 



In 1873 Dr. Hermann Sprengel outlined a series 

 of explosives, among which was a class consisting of 

 two bodies one a liquid, the other a solid which 

 were harmless by themselves, but when mixed 

 formed a substance that was capable of violent 

 detonation. The safety with which such prepara- 

 tions could IH> transported to the place of action 

 was an important consideration. . This announce- 

 ment led to tin- patenting of similar compounds 

 in France by Turpin, under the name of pan- 

 clnxtitf. and' in Germany by Hellhoff, under the 

 name of hclllioftiti: These attracted considerable 

 attention, especially in consequence of the contro- 

 versy as to their discovery, priority for which was 

 naturally claimed by Sprengel. The hellhofflte 

 counts of 47 parts of meta-dinitrobenzene and 53 

 parts of nitric acid with a specific gravity of 1.50. 

 It requires a powerful detonator to explode it, 

 and its intensity is greater than nitroglycerin. 

 The difficulties of using an explosive in liquid 

 form for blasting have prevented its application 

 in that direction to any great extent, but its em- 

 ployment by Gruson f*or use in shells has given 

 it some importance. 



J orite is an important high explosive invented 

 by J. E. Blomer in 1892, and sold at prices 

 competing with dynamite. It consists of 8 to 6 

 per cent, of nitronaphthalenes, 16 to 30 per cent, 

 of nitrophenol, and 76 to 64 per cent, of sodium 

 nitrate. It can not be exploded by friction, shock, 

 exposure, fire, lightning, or electric sparks, and it 

 is only by using such denotators as are employed 

 with dynamite that it can be exploded. It is 

 not sensitive to atmospheric influences, and can 

 be used at all normal temperatures. When ex- 

 ploded it does not generate noxious gases, and 

 therefore it can be satisfactorily used in under- 

 ground work. It is not dangerous to make, and 

 its properties seem to indicate that it is most 

 valuable. 



The explosive character of picric acid has long 

 been known, and it has been used as an ingredient 

 of several explosives, as was shown in the Annual 

 Cyclopaedia for 1885, page 346; but in 1886 Eu- 

 gene Turpin announced the possibility of detonat- 

 ing picric acid by itself. At first Turpin mixed 

 tlii- with collodion cotton and dissolved the mix- 

 ture in ether, which he then formed into cartridges. 

 This explosive became the property of the French 

 Government, and received the name melinite. 

 Later Turpin showed that molten picric acid by 

 itself explodes much more violently than when in 

 i-onibination. The ordnance departments of many 

 Kiiropcan nations at once began experimenting 

 with picric acid, and it has resulted in the produc- 

 tion of HH'linitr in Fiance, li/dditc in England, 

 and n-riixiti in Austria, each of which is slightly 

 ilill'ercnt from the others but represents the work- 

 ing out of an identical problem by three different 

 individuals. The processes of manufacture are 

 Government secrets, and therefore they can only 

 he surmised. Of h/ililite it is said that the ex- 

 plosive is " simply picric acid brought into a dense 

 -tate by fusion," while in the case of melinite 

 it is said that the picric acid is "melted at a 

 carefully regulated temperature in an iron or 

 cart lien ware vessel standing in an oil bath." In 

 lx>tli cases the picric acid is used as a filler, and 

 '-t direct from the melting pot into the pro- 

 jectiles, although in lyddite the shells are said 

 to be coated in-idc with "a special kind of var- 

 nish.'' For melinite u primer of gun cotton is. used. 

 whereas for lyddite the primer is said to ! a 

 mixture of 2 parts ammonium pit-rate and 3 parts 



sodium nitrate. It was found that picric salts of 

 an unstable nature were formed in the projectile 

 in consequence of the contact of the picric acid 

 with the metal walls of the shell, and experiments 

 were made for the purpose of finding more stable 

 compounds of that acid. Picric acid is chemically 

 trinitrophenol, and is derived from phenol. It 

 was found that trinitrocresol, derived from cresol, 

 possessed the desired qualities, and that compound 

 has been used similarly to picric acid for filling 

 shells and torpedoes. In France, where it has been 

 largely employed for that purpose, it is called 

 c-resylite. 



In Austria the ammonium salt of trinitrocresol 

 is used under the name of ecrasite. It is unaffected 

 by moisture or differences of temperature, and 

 its effect is said to be about double that of dyna- 

 mite. These explosives, which are necessarily tie- 

 scribed together, are remarkable for their stability, 

 remaining permanent under the influence of both 

 cold and heat, and therefore they can be safely 

 transported. When they are exploded the effects 

 of their influence is six or seven times as great as 

 those of black powder on compact rock or masonry, 

 and one and a half to two times as great in earth. 

 A shell filled with one of these picric compounds 

 will rend the most solid and resisting plato of 

 steel. The use of lyddite in South Africa cau>cd 

 some criticism in consequence of the dense fumes 

 of yellowish-green gas resulting from the decom- 

 position of the picric compound, which suffocated 

 those who came in contact with them : but the 

 latest announcements from England show that 

 lyddite shells are to be supplied to the guns in 

 the forts along the sea front of England, in place 

 of shrapnel shells, which have been discontinued. 



The most important recent advance in explosives 

 is the successful manufacture and employment of 

 smokeless powders. The history of their develoj 

 ment was given in Charles E. Munroe's presidentia 

 address before the Washington section of tht 

 American Chemical Society in 1896. He showei 1 

 that the earliest experiments that were made \\itl 

 smokeless powders were in 1800, when Howai 

 discovered mercuric fulminate. Six years later 

 Grindel carried on a series of experiments for tin 

 purpose of ascertaining the possibility of substi- 

 tuting ammonium nitrate for potassium nitrate 

 the oxidizing agent in gunpowder mixtures. Not 

 withstanding the deliquescent character of the 

 ammonium salt, smokeless powders of that natui 

 have been put on the market, as, for example, tht 

 amide powder patented by F. Gaens in 1885, wind 

 consisted of ammonium nitrate 80 parts, potassiui 

 nitrate 101 parts, and charcoal 40 parts. Sul 

 quent to the discovery of gun cotton in 184.") ex- 

 periments were made in Germany. France. aiu : 

 England, and also in Washington, with the nev 

 explosive: btit the results were unsatisfactory, 

 pecially so as the powder was unstable and raj 

 idly decomposed when stored. Capt. von Lein-k. 

 of the Austrian army, persisted in cxperimcntin. 

 with it. and he has the credit of making the lir-t 

 attempt to use as a propelling agent an explosive 

 thai burns without developing smoke. This \\;i- 

 in 1862, but an unfortunate explosion in lite gnn- 

 cotton factory at Hirtenberg led to the abandon- 

 ment of its use in Austria. In Kngland. Abel 

 continued studying gun cotton, and was successful 

 in obtaining pulped, purified gun cotton, which he 

 compressed into such forms as were desirable, with 

 which he obtained some very promising results 

 with field guns in 1867 and 1868. The next ad- 

 vances were the inventions, in 1882, of the E. '' 

 /win/fT by Reid and Johnson, and of the /. /' 

 lioinln- by Judson and Borland, both of which con- 

 tain gun cotton in an unaltered state. But it was 



