EXPLOSIVES. 



197 



not until the invention of Poudre J{. in France, 

 by Yielle in 1886, and that of ballistite by Nobel 

 two years later, that the present smokeless-powder 

 industry began. According to Gutman, the smoke- 

 less powders at present known can be divided 

 broadly into three classes: 



1. Powders in which gun cotton, either the so- 

 called insoluble or the soluble variety, alone is 

 used, which by the aid of a solvent has been con- 

 verted into a horny substance and then is formed 

 into flakes or cords. 



2. Powders in which a mixture of nitroglycerin 

 and either dinitro- or trinitrocellulose is trans- 

 formed into a similar hornlike substance, either 

 with or without the aid of a solvent. 



3. Powders that contain nitro derivatives of the 

 aromatic hydrocarbons, either by themselves or 

 in connection with nitrocellulose. 



E. C. powder, patented in 1882 by Reid and 

 Johnson, is a gunpowder made by revolving pulped 

 nitrocellulose and nitrates (barium, sodium, and 

 potassium) in barrels, drying the grains, moisten- 

 ing with ether to harden them, and then adding 

 durine to produce a reddish-brown color. It has 

 the following composition : Nitro-cotton, 53.57 ; 

 gun cotton, 1.86; barium nitrate, 34.26; potassium 

 nitrate, 1.48; sodium nitrate, 3.07; volatile mat- 

 ters, 1.17; cellulose, 3.12; and aurine, 0.55. This 

 powder is used in Great Britain and in the British 

 colonies by sportsmen. 



J. B. powder, invented by Judson and Borland 

 in 1885, was prepared by mixing nitro-cotton with 

 barium nitrate, with or without charcoal, and 

 granulated in a revolving drum while water was 

 admitted in a fine spray. The grains were dried 

 and then moistened with a solution of one part 

 of camphor in five parts of petroleum spirit, which 

 hardened them and made them more slowly in- 

 flammable. It had a silver-gray color, and was 

 used as a sporting powder. 



In the class of gun-cotton powders, including 

 both the flake variety and the granulated powder, 

 is the original smokeless powder invented by Vielle 

 in 1886, which consisted of picric acid and gun 

 cotton, but later the picric acid was omitted and 

 Pond re B was made of gun cotton alone. The 

 flake powders consist of gun cotton mixed with 

 barium nitrate and potassium nitrate as oxidants, 

 and sodium carbonate as a neutralizes These in- 

 gredients are condensed and hardened to a cellu- 

 loidlike mass by means of a solvent like ether- 

 alcohol, ethyl acetate, or acetone. The flaking is 

 done by cutting machines. The exact composition 

 of the more important flake powders is as follows: 

 Poudre B, nitro-cotton 32.86, gun cotton 66, and 

 volatile substances 1.14; Poudre B. N., nitro- 

 cotton 31.38, gun cotton 49.89, barium nitrate 

 17.92, potassium nitrate 3.43, sodium cai'bonate 

 2.S2. and volatile matter 0.82; Wetteren powder 

 nitro-cotton 48.15, gun cotton 30.73, volatile mat- 

 ter 8.22, charcoal 12.12, and humus 0.77. The 

 Troiadorf and Van Forster powders are of analo- 

 gous composition. 



The foregoing are military powders, while for 

 sporting a granulated powder is made in Wals- 

 rode, Hanover, by mixing the nitrocellulose with 

 acetic ether and treating these ingredients in a 

 kneading machine to effect complete solution. 

 Water is then added and the kneading con- 

 tinued while steam is introduced, which results 

 in the gelatin breaking up into fine grains, which 

 are then freed from water by pressing, centrifugal- 

 ing, and drying. Similar to the foregoing is the 

 nitrocellulose powder invented by Lieut. John B. 

 Bernadou and used by the United States navy. 

 It is made by steeping cellulose in nitric acid, 

 and the resulting nitrocellulose is brought into 





the colloid condition by treating with ether-alcohol 

 and acetone. The solvent varies according to the 

 special powder desired, as those made with the 

 ether-alcohol colloid show a tendency to produce 

 some smoke and deposit soot, while on the other 

 hand the acetone colloid develops irregular pres- 

 sures. In some cases certain oxidizing agents, as 

 nitrates of metallic bases, are added to increase 

 the velocity of the explosive; and when the action 

 of the explosive is too violent, a substance rich in 

 carbon, called a deterrent, may be added. 



The powders made from nitroglycerin and nitro- 

 cellulose include ballistite, cordite, and amberite. 

 Ballistite was invented by Alfred Nobel in 1888, 

 and as made in England consists of 40 per cent, of 

 gun cotton dissolved in 60 per cent, of nitroglyc- 

 erin, with 1 or 2 per cent, of aniline added to 

 the mixture as a neutralizing agent to insure sta- 

 bility. This mixture, when stirred up by com- 

 pressed air in warm water, gelatinizes, and tne 

 solution may be completed by pressing out the 

 water and working in a grinder. The resulting 

 flexible, transparent, rubberlike sheets constitute 

 balistite, which may then be cut into flakes by 

 machines. In Italy the sheets are forced through 

 spaghetti machines, and the cord-shaped explosive 

 is then called filite. According to analysis, ballis- 

 tite consists of nitro-cotton 44.58, sodium carbon- 

 ate 2.44, and nitroglycerin 52.99. 



Cordite, which was patented in 1889 by Sir 

 Frederick Abel and Prof. James Dewar, has the 

 following composition: Nitroglycerin 58 parts, 

 gun cotton 37 parts, with vaselin 5 parts (used 

 as a restrainer), dissolved in 19.2 parts of acetone. 

 The nitroglycerin is mixed by hand with the gun 

 cotton and then put into a kneading machine and 

 the acetone added. The latter gradually pene- 

 trates the mixtures of nitroglycerin and gun 

 cotton and dissolves them both. When the mix- 

 ture becomes uniform it is washed in cold water, 

 and the paste is then dried to an elastic brown 

 rubberlike mass, which is cut into suitable length 

 for cartridges. 



Amberite was patented by Curtis and Andre, 

 and is said to consist of 44 parts of trinitrocellu- 

 lose, 12 parts dinitrocellulose, and 40 parts nitro- 

 glycerin. This mixture is formed into grains, 

 which are then treated with a solvent consisting 

 of sulphuric ether with a little alcohol, which dis- 

 solves the dinitrocellulose and forms a kind of 

 cement, which binds the gun-cotton fibers together 

 and hardens the surface. 



The principal explosive powders that consist of 

 nitrocellulose and nitro derivatives of aromatic 

 hydrocarbons are the following: 



Indurite. In 1889 Dr. Charles E. Munroe, chem- 

 ist at the United States torpedo station in New- 

 port, R. I., " determined to attempt to produce 

 a powder that should consist of a single substance 

 in a state of chemical purity." He began by puri- 

 fying the dried pulped military gun cotton, which 

 he accomplished by extracting it with hot methyl 

 alcohol in a continuous extractor, after which the 

 insoluble cellulose nitrate was again exposed in 

 the drying room. The highly nitrated cellulose 

 thus obtained was then mixed with a quantity 

 of mononitrobenzene, which scarcely affected its 

 appearance and did not alter its powdered form. 

 The powder was then incorporated upon a grinder, 

 by which it was colloidized and converted into a 

 dark translucent mass resembling India rubber. 

 The sheet was then stripped off and cut into flat 

 grains or strips, or it w r as pressed through a spa- 

 ghetti machine and formed into cords, either solid 

 or perforated, of the desired dimensions, which 

 were cut into grains. "Then the granulated ex- 

 plosive was immersed in water boiling under the 



