156 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 317 



The apparatus is so designed and constructed that it will take the 

 necessary supply of nitrous oxide from the ordinary gasometer at 

 low pressure, or from a gas cylinder at high pressure, and econom- 

 ically combine it with ordinary illuminating-gas in any desired pro- 

 portion for producing and maintaining a flame of the requisite in- 

 tensity. 



In construction, the apparatus is simple and easily understood. It 

 consists of an expansion-chamber or reservoir, D, provided with a 

 lever stop-cock A, which is to be connected wtth the nitrous-oxide 

 supply at the gasometer or cylinder by strong rubber tubing. 



■OXIDE BLOW-P 



Above this reservoir is the mixing-chamber, E, with a lever stop- 

 cock, B, to be connected by rubber tubing with the illuminating- 

 gas supply. The expansion-chamber or reservoir is separated from 

 the mixing-chamber by a diaphragm, which is provided with a 

 regulating-valve, the stem of which projects upward through the 

 mixing-chamber. By means of the small hand-wheel, C, on this 

 stem, the admixture of the two gases may be perfectly controlled. 

 The combined gases are conducted through the outlet F, and flex- 

 ible tubing _/, to the blow-pipe tube G. This tube is provided with 

 interchangeable nozzles, by means of which either a large or a small 

 flame may be secured. When not in use, the nozzle is supported 

 by the curved wire standard H. The flange / is drilled for screws, 

 by which the apparatus may be secured in any convenient position 

 to the wall or to a shelf or bench. 



BELLITE. 



On Tuesday, Feb. 5, a series of experiments were made at Chad- 

 well Heath, England, with the new explosive, bellite, invented by 

 Mr. Carl Lamb. A description of these experiments is given in 

 Engineering of Feb. 8, 1889. Reference is also made to this ex- 

 plosive in the same journal for July I, 1887, and in that for Nov. 9, 

 1888. The new series of experiments were fully as successful as 

 those described in these articles, and the absolute safety of the new 

 explosive has now been placed beyond cavil. The experiments 

 were arranged in groups, each of which was intended to illustrate 

 either a distinguishing characteristic of bellite or its adaptability to 

 some specified end. The first experiment was intended to ex- 

 emplify its use in submarine mining: l| pounds of the material was 

 enclosed in a tin canister, and, on being fired by a detonator, the 

 explosion sent the spray fully 1 50 feet high. The next group of 

 experiments were made with the object of showing the perfect 

 safety of the material, and that it could only be fired by a deto- 

 nator. A bellite cartridge was broken in two, and one half thrown 

 on a fire, where it slowly burnt away with a reddish flame : the 

 other half, weighing about 2 ounces, was then exploded on a 

 wrought-iron plate 12 inches by 12 inches by f of an inch thick, the 

 charge being tamped with clay. The shock bulged the plate to a 



depth of about 2 inches, but did not pierce it. An even more con- 

 vincing proof of its safety was afforded by the chairman of the 

 company, who, holding part of a naked bellite cartridge in one hand, 

 calmly applied a lighted fusee to the fragment with the other. The 

 bellite charred and smouldered, but went out immediately on re- 

 moving the match. The next experiment was a repetition, on a 

 somewhat smaller scale, of one of the Middlesbrough experiments, 

 described in the second of the articles quoted above. An iron 

 weight, weighing 120 pounds, was dropped from a height of 18 feet 

 on to a number of naked bellite cartridges supported on an iron 

 plate. The test was repeated twice, as on the first occasion the 

 weight fell somewhat to one side; but on the second trial, with 

 more careful centring, the mass of bellite was crushed to a powder. 

 This test was much less severe than the Middlesbrough one, when 

 the weight was half a ton, and fell from a height of 20 feet ; but a 

 heavy weight of this character is not easily moved from place to 

 place, ?nd hence the reason for the lighter one. A small canister 

 capable of holding 5 ounces was then filled with the fragments re- 

 sulting from the last experiment, and laid on the web of an old 

 Great Eastern Railway Company's steel-faced rail, the charge being 

 slightly tamped with clay. On firing, the rail was snapped in two, 

 a piece about i foot long beingflung6yards, and smaller fragments 

 much farther, while a pit 15 inches deep was sunk in the ground 

 immediately underneath the position of the charge. 



The" next experiment was a repetition of one first made at one of 

 the collieries of South Wales. In it i pound of ordinary blasting- 

 powder and I pound of naked bellite cartridges were placed to- 

 gether in an open pit i foot 10 inches deep, and the powder ignited. 

 Some pieces of the bellite were thrown out of the hole, and all were 

 slightly charred, but none of it exploded. 



To further illustrate the safety of the material, a fragment of 

 bellite was fired from a large-caliber gun (No. 8) with two drams 

 of powder, against an iron plate, without any explosion of the bellite 

 occurring either in the bore of the gun or on striking the target. 

 This experiment would, moreover, seem to prove that bellite is well 

 adapted for use in shells, and the English Government is accord- 

 ingly to be congratulated on not having spent large sums in acquir- 

 ing the secret of melinite. It had been the intention of the experi- 

 menters to fire a bullet from the same gun at a target formed of 

 bellite cartridges backed by an iron plate ; but, owing to the jam- 

 ming of a cartridge in the gun, this experiment had to be aban- 

 doned. 



To compare the effects of bellite with those of dynamite, 2 ounces 

 of each explosive were fired on wrought-iron plates measuring 12 

 inches by 12 inches by | of an inch thick; each plate, with the 

 object of rendering the conditions as uniform as possible, being sup- 

 ported above the ground by a narrow cast-iron ring about ^ of an 

 inch thick, 3 inches high, and 1 1 inches internal diameter, the charge 

 in each case being tamped with clay. Both plates were pierced 

 through, but the rents in the one on which the dynamite had been 

 fired were considerably larger, while, on the other hand, the bulge 

 in this plate was only 2j inches deep, as compared with 3 inches in 

 the case of the other, thus showing the action of the dynamite to 

 be more local. 



The next series of experiments were made with a view to show- 

 ing the adaptability of bellite to military purposes. To this end the 

 ballistic properties of bellite and Curtis and Harvey's rifle-powder 

 were first compared ; a 6-inch ball, weighing 32 pounds, being 

 fired from a mortar, first with \ ounce of powder, and, second, with 

 i ounce of bellite, the weighings being carefully made in the pres- 

 ence of two representatives of the press. With the powder, the ball 

 was thrown a distance of 40 yards i foot ; and with the bellite, to a 

 distance of upwards of 100 yards, the penetration into the ground 

 being also much greater in this case. 



Two mines had been prepared, one with 6 pounds of powder laid 

 at a depth of 5 feet, and the other with 6 pounds of bellite laid at 

 the same depth. In trying to explode these, however, it was found 

 that in the passage of some of the spectators over the mine both 

 fuzes had been pulled out from the bellite charge, and the attempt 

 to fire it accordingly failed. A good idea of what the efTects would 

 have been was, however, gained in the next experiment, in which a 

 mine containing 8 pounds of bellite was fired underneath a length 

 of railway laid down for the purpose. The explosion smashed both 



