U6 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[SiiPxaiiBBB 33, 18S3, 



nitro-glyoeriae with a strong cap, it occui-red to Brown, 

 au Eiiglisliluan, that gun-cotton, being a nitrated pro- 

 duct, like r.itro-glyceriuo, might also be detonated. He 

 tested it. It detonated. The gun-cotton accidents were 

 ejcplained to the full satisfaction of the sciencific world 

 —and, let iis hope, also to that of the manufacturers. 

 Gun-cotton is now employed for blasting purposes, and 

 as detonating charges in bomb-shells and torpedoes. 

 After the most elaborate series of experiments by the 

 Austrian government, its use as a projectile agent was 

 abandoned as unsafe. Gun-cottonjis, therefore, no longer 

 used as a projectile force in gunnery. 



THT3 DETONATION OF aUN-COTTON. 



1. The conditions of the detonation of gun cotton are 

 analagous to the conditions of the detonation of nitro- 

 glycerine. The three agencies of heat, pressure and mo- 

 tion must be present ; and in proportion as any one of 

 these is stronger the others may be weaker. 



3. If the gun-cotton in a gun, for example, be not only 

 confined, but also pressed down, so tliat it is compact, it 

 will now be understood from what has already been said, 

 a comparatively small amount of heat and jar, or shock, 

 need be present. 



S. If the gun-cotton be closely confined, but ^vithout 

 pressure, and ignited at one end, the volume of the gas 

 generated by the combustion of a part of the mass will 

 supply the pressure, and, with the accompanying heat 

 and motion, detonate the rest of the charge. 



One of these two things is just what happened when the 

 cannon and guns bur.s't, and the thumbs were blown oS, 



Now, recapitulating and tabulating, for it is essential 

 that this be clear in our minds, we have found that 

 gun-cotton, an explosive, oombiniug in itself the natures 

 of both low and high explosives, may at any time in its 

 explosion manifest Jthe nature of one or of the other, 

 according as the adjustment of the conditions under 

 which it explodes favor such manifestations : — 

 GUN-COTTON. 



Low 



NITnO-QI,TOEBIirE. 



First Order. 

 High. 

 Quick. 

 Detonation. 



Slow. 

 Iffnulou. 

 Grain to Grain. 

 Cumulative. Not Cumulative. 



Projectile. Shatteriug.; 



NOT EMPLOTED.IN; GUNNEET. 

 V. 



"DITTMAB SPORTING POWDER." 

 Now, where does " Dittmar Sporting Powder," so- 

 called, belong? 



As an explosive agent it can properly be classed only in 

 the order which we have described as possessing a two- 

 fold constitution. 



1. In so far as it is a nitro-cellulose product, it is strictly 

 analagous in composition to gun-cotton. It is cellulose 

 treated with nitric acid, or nitric and sulphuric acids. A 

 chemist's analysis fails to discover any essential differ- 

 ence in tlie explosive properties of cottim-ctllulose and 

 wood-cellulose. The wood-cellulose — for jjalpable rea- 

 sons — is cheaper than the cotton-cellulose. That is a dif- 

 ference which appeals only to the manufacturer's pocket. 



Mr. Dittmar nitrates cellulose. He does more than this. 

 He mixes his cellulose with starch and sugar and then 

 nitrates the mixture. Therefore, depending altogetiier 

 upon the care with which this mixture of the ingreili- 

 ents — cellulose, sugar and starch^ — is made, any given 

 sample of " Dittmar Sporting Powder " may contain 

 more or less of nitro-cellulose, nitro-starch and nitro- 

 sugar. 



Why does he add these higher explosives ? We shall 

 see that he does consider nitro-starch and nitro-sugar 

 higher explosives than nitro-cellulose. 



2. Like gun-cotton, "Dittmar Sporting"" Powder" is, 

 as an explosive agent, analogous to gunpowder, in that it 

 is a porous solid. Its mechanical manufacture — gniin- 

 ing — makes it still more analogous in form. When dry 

 and ignited in the open air, or without much confine- 

 ment, it burns like gunpowder, by ignition. 



3. Like gun-cotton, also, it is an explosive agent, an,-!!- 

 agous to nitro-glycerine m its manufacture. It ia made 

 in the same way, by a chemical reaction, the essential dif- 

 ference being that the nitro-cellulose, a solid, does not by 

 its molecular construction form so sensitive a combina- 

 tion as does the nitro-glycerine, a liquid. 



i. This is a difference of degree only, not of kind. 



5. This difference may be easily removedhy mechanical 

 means, i. e., by bringing the violecides of the mass into 

 closer contact and increasing their energy. 



This may be done by pressure, and then 



7. Under sufBcient pressure " Dittmar Sporting Pow- 

 der " is, in its explosion, analagous to nitro-glycerine. 



8. Unooitfined, it explodes by ignition ; confined suffL- 

 eiently, by detonation. 



DITTMAR 8PORTINO POWDER. 

 OtJNPOWDEB. NlTKO-Qt.Y0BEINE. 



Sooond Order. First Order. 



Low. Hlffh. 



Blow. Quick. 



Ifrnltlon, Detonation. 



Oram to Oraln. Ed masse. 



Cumulative. Mot Cumulative. 



Piojeotlle. Shattering. 



HOT TO BB VBED W SOREl-A&US. I 



That explains everything. That it does explain every- 

 thing, and that without it many things are inexplicable, is 

 a proof of its correctness. 



We have now come to a point where we are ready to 

 consider the action of the powder in the gun. This is 

 just the point where Mr. Dittmar has always insisted 

 that we must begin. Remembering that this action is 

 precisely the action of gun-cotton, complete ignition, al- 

 most complete ignition and slight detonation, and so on 

 to complete detonation, we think the intelligent reader 

 wdl be able to account for almost any action of his "Ditt- 

 mar Sporting Powder," even the "crazy fits." 



Our task would now be completed were it not a moral 

 certainty that, did we stop here, Mr. Carl Dittmar, or 

 some of those interested with him, would flatly deny or 

 evade the correctness of tliis classification of his powder. 

 He has done this three times before. 



We do not intend that he shall do it now. 



We therefore prove it. 



The proof is five-fold. First, the patent specification ; 

 second, the account of the process of manufacture 

 caused to be printed by Mr. Dittmar; third, the re- 

 port of a competent chemist ; fom-th, by inference from 

 the " directions ;" fifth, Mr.' Dittmar's own sworn state- 

 ments. Hereafter we shall add to these five, a sixth, 

 namely, our own corroborative tests. 



THE FIVE PROOFS. 

 First Proof^The Patent Specifications. 



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 



CARL DITTMAH, OF BOSTON, MASSAOHUSBTTS. 



Imftrovement, in EJ:pl'mvc Compound. 

 Specltlcation forming' part of Lettei-s Patent No. W5,403, dated 



December 9, 1873; application fllod August 30, 1873. 

 To all wliom U may Concern :— 



Be it known that I, Carl Dittmar, of Boston, Massachusetts, 

 have invented a Preparation of Vegetable Fiber, in a new iind 

 distinguished manner, for the manufacture of E.\:pl08ive Com- 

 pounds, of which the following' is a speciUcatlon:— 



I use vegetable fiber of any kind, rflw or manufactured (as old 

 linen or cotton rags, etc ), which I render to a fine pulp in tho 

 same manner as it is done in the manufacture of paper, with sim- 

 ilar machinery, by open Are common steam or superheated steam 

 and chemicals. The greatest care must be taken to render the 

 fiber chemically pure by bleaching it and treating it with acids 

 and alkalies, and outwashins those chemicals; after that I pre- 

 pare this chemically pure pulp In dltferent ways. 



1. I press It In sheets of about one-aistoenth part of an Inch in 

 thickness. This thickness may be lessoned or iucreusod to suit 

 the grains to tho purposes to which the powder shall bo used, 

 These plates or sheets are lii-st dried thoroughly, atid then passed 

 under a ounchintf machine with punches the same diameter as 

 the thickness of the sheets The cylinders reoeived in this man- 

 ner I use for the best kind of powder. The remainder or whole 

 sheets of the pulp pass through rollers, with cutters around the 

 periphery— one pair of cutters cutting it in one direction, an- 

 other pair cutting it across in a line at a right angle to the for- 

 mer, so as to give grains of a square form ; or the pulp may be 

 formed into grains by any other method. The grains I treat now 

 with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid, in the same manner 

 as it is done in the manufacture of gun-cotton. 



[2. The same process except that the dried pulp is ground to the 

 finest dust and treated as above.] 



3. The pulp is soaked in a solution of sugar, or maniute, orlnu- 

 line, or similar substances, pressed in sheets and out as above, or 

 formed into grains by any other method, or ground lo dust after 

 it has been dried, and then treated with the mixture of nitric aud 

 sulphuric acid, as above. The greatest care has to be tiken then 

 to wash the superfluous acid out agaiB, which ia more difficult 

 than by the former two processes. After this has been done, it 

 is soaked in a solution of soda, pressed out and then soaked In a 

 n of nitrate of potash, or chlorate of potash, or eimilar 

 substances, and then carefully dried. It is then ready for use ; 

 n be soaked after that, for blasting ptu'poses only, with 

 nitro-glycerine, etc. Tho combination of the vegstable fiber with 

 sugar, etc., gives a very powerful explo.slve, and overcomes the 

 diUSculty in preparing the sugar, etc., alone with acids. 



[■la. A combination with nitro-glycerine for blasting purposes 

 only.l 



lib. Pulp pressed into cylindrical form, soaked in nitric-gum, 

 for blasting purposes. 5. Pulp rolled up tight for drill hole oart- 

 ridgOB.] 



All the within-mentioned compounds, formed without the'use 

 of nitro-glycerine, can be used for the manufacture of fli'eworks, 



being better adapted for these purposes than common powder 

 in giving out neither smoke nor Smell, and also for gunning or 

 artillery purposes in leaving no residuum and requiring no clean- 

 ing while In use- 



The different explosive compounds manufactured in the dif- 

 ferent ways above described mav be mixed together in different 

 proportions, so as to give different strength, as may be required. 

 The ditlerent compounds may bo mixed with prepared or unpre- 

 pared charcoal. 



In preparing the vegetable fiber in tho mannerabovo described, 

 I make a very powerful explosive, combined with the grealebt 

 safety, as the fineness to which the vegeluble fiber is reduced by 

 the destruction of the vegetable texture before the treatment 

 with chemicals allows a more thorough action of the chemicals. 



Every one of the above desoribud compounds can be fired by 

 means of a percussion cap, or, like common powder, mth a fuse, 

 when weU confined. 



I claim as my invention :— 



1. Tho herein-described process of treatment of vegetable fiber* 

 tho same consisting in reducing tho fiber to a pulp, thoo comr 

 pressing the pulp Into a sheet or other oompact form, and then 

 reducing said sheet to a granulated or powdered oondltion, and 

 treating the same In this condition with an acid or acids for the 

 purpose of rendering it explosive, substantially as described. 



2. Vegetable fiber prepared with a solution of sugar, mannite,. 

 or amylum, orinuliue, or other substances, substantiaUy bsiierein 

 described, and rendered explosive by nitrio i)Oid. 



CABIi DiTTUAR. 



Albert Brown, 

 Bdwln A. Brown.! 



PATENT FOB " PARCH MENTING." 

 The epeoiflcation of patent No. 179,688, dated July 10th, 1870, iB 

 for the dipping of the pulp, mixed with sugar or not, after having 

 reduced it to grains, or the compact form as already described, in a 

 bath of sulphuric acid, and then subjecting it to a. waahlns pro- 

 cess, with water, to remove the add. "In this way the pulp be- 

 comes like parchment, or has characteristics thereof. Next dry 

 the material and subject It to a bath of nitrio and .wlphiu-ic acids, 

 aa cotton is usually treated for being converted into what Is 

 termed ' gun-cotton.' " 



By "parchmentlng, aa explained, the griilns or masses of pulp 

 before treating the same with the mi.icture of nitric and sulphuric 

 acids, an explosive compound is produced with grain.s or maasea 

 that are very smooth and not adhosivo to one anothcr-one 

 much better in use than one made without the parchmenting pro- 



Secoyid Proof^Description of the Manufacture. 



In the Forest and Stream of June 6th, 1878, Vol. X. , 

 page 18, is to be found a description of the process of 

 manufacture as witnessed at Bingham ton, N. Y., the 

 previous Friday, by a then representative of this paper. 

 The account was prepared with the direct verbal as- 

 sistance of Mr. Dittmar, and the correctness of the de- 

 cription was never questioned by him after publication. 

 It was as follows : — 



Now as to the details of the process. The basis of the ooropoai- 

 tion is cellulose. Cellulose is nothing more than pure wood fiber. 

 Formerly Mr- Dittmar used paper as tho base, but finds it more 

 advantageous to purchase from paper manufacturers poplar 

 pulp. This pulp ia taken and washed thoroughly, until it is nearly 

 ohomioally pure. Itia pressed, then dried, then ground into a 

 uniformly floconous form, all the lengths of fibre being destroyed. 

 It is now mixed with sugar and starch, then again dried. Now It 

 goes through what ia called "the parchment process." When 

 paper, under certain circumstances, is treated with sulphuric 

 acid, it takes a peculiar dense form resembling parchment. The 

 material ia now again washed and dried, and seivod. It is now 

 subjected to a mixture of sulphuric and nitric-ncida.again washed 

 anddned, to be treated further with un aikaliue base, salrpeter 

 being employed. Now, after agjlo being cleansed and dried, the 

 last process is to treat the grains of Dittmar powder with a coat- 

 ing of soluble glass. This last aubstance not only protects the 

 powder from absorbing moisture, making it harder and denser, 

 butdiminishes very much any rapid explosiveneas. A final very 

 gradual drying completes this process. Of course there are a 

 good many bits of practical work In the manufacture of the 

 powder, in order to make it perfect, which depend on the chemi- 

 cal skill of the superintendent, Mr. Dittmar. 



Mr. Dittmar at this time also explained to the 

 visitors that not being chemists they could not fully un- 

 derstand the nature of the different processes. 

 Third Proof — A Chemist s Report. 



A can of "Dittmar Sporting Powder," C brand, was 

 received by us, sealed, Aug. Slst, and with other samples 

 handed to Prof. Henry Morton, President of Stevens Insti- 

 tute. We gave it to Prof. Morton because we knew of no 

 chemist who was more competent, or who stood higher 

 than he in this special field, nor of anyone whose report 

 would be more readi'y received as conclusive and suffi- 

 cient. We simply asked from him, without explanation 

 as to our purposes, a report upon the character and com- 

 position of the powder. Following is his reply :— 



Stevens Institcte of Technology, i 

 HOBOKEN, N.J., Sept. aid, 1880. ) 



IMitor Forest and Stream ;— 



At your request, having made some examination of various 

 samples of Dittmar powder sent me by you in sealed packages, 1 

 now proceed, aa you desire, to make a general ex(iianation of the 

 destructive character of this powder aa compared with ordinary ' 

 gunpowder, the nature of explosion as concerned In such sub- 

 stances, and other related matters iuquired into by you. 



In the first place, explosion In its general sense may here be de- 

 'flnod as a rapid chemical combination resulting in the develop- ■ 

 mcnt of large volumes of gits and an Intense degree of heat. The 

 rapldityof thia act of combination may vary mthin wide limlla, 

 and when it ia extreme, as In the case of nitro-glycerine for ex- 

 ample, it ia generally called detonation. 



Between bodies which evplode like gunpowder, and those 

 which detonate like ultro glyoerine, there Is, as a rule, thia ohar- 

 acteristio distinction. 



Gunpowder and like exploslves.ire simply mcchatiical mixtures 

 of the substances whose sudden combination conslitfites the ex- 

 plosion. In the most thoroughly made gunpowder, anyone 

 with a microscope, could easily pick out the distinct portiolea ol 

 niter, sulphur and charcoal which constitute it, and whose Curii- 

 bination is to produce Its explosion. 



A certain amount of time will therefore be needed for their 

 union with each other in the act of explosion on account of their 

 previous separation in space from each other. 



Innitro-glyoerine, gun-cotton and other detonating bodies, on 

 the other hand, tho ultimate molecules of the sub.staaoe are uul- 

 form, and In each smallest particle visible to tho ] 

 microscope are present all the elements whose uni 

 tute tho e.'qjloalon of the substance. 



It ia therefore evidently possible for these to unite with each 

 other with far greater rapidity on account of their preBxIsteut 

 ne.ameas, and thus to produce a vastly more rapid, or sudden ex- 

 plosion, or detonation. 



it Is true that In both olasaea of bodies other oonditlons may 

 very largely modify those tendeaoiea. 



Thus nitro-glycerine may be made to burn like kerosene if ig- 

 nited Id an open vessel, and gunpowder, if tightly inclosed and 

 fired by a violently fulminating fuse, may be made to detonate In 

 some sense ; but nevertheless these dlatlnotioaa exist and have a 

 marked infl'ueuoo on the character of the two classes ot explo- 

 sives. , , , 



From thia it follows, for example, that gunpowder, when made 

 in the best manner, has Its highest cKploaive power, which can 

 only be increased by auch extraordinary conditions of solid in- 

 closure, or violent lulmmatlng Ignition, aa could never be pres- 

 ent In its use with a riQe or shot gun. 



Moreover, any fault lu its manufacture could only diminWt Its 

 efBciency by Inadequate proportion of parts, or inoompietenoES 

 of mixiog, and could by no possibility raise It Into the rank of a 

 detonating explosive. 



With a detonating explosive, on the other hand, there will be u 

 Ta«t range of poaaible vlolenoe in the exploglon of the very same 

 matarlkl, dapendla* upon Ita degree or ooiupaomeM and th»a- 



B to oonatl- 



