USRE10267E - Signee - Google Patents

Description

UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GIANT POWDER. QOMPAEY, or SAN FRANCISCO, (iaI.IroRs1A,. ,s-

SIGNEE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF ALFRED NOBEL.

SPECIFICATIGN forming part of Reissued Letters PatentNo. 10,267, dated January '9, 1883. Original No. 78,317, dated May 26, 1868:; Reissue No. 5,619, dated v()ctoherQl, 1873; Reissue No. 5gl99, dated March l7, 1874.

Application for reissue 0' all whom it"maiy c0ncem: v e'it known that ALFRED NOBEL, of the ci E'QofHa'mburg, Germany, did invent, a, new and' nseful composition ofrnatter- -to wit, an

Explosive Powder-of which the following is a specification.

The nature of the invention consists in, form- ;ingfiout of two ingredients long known-4%., the explosivesubstance .nitro-glycerine and no} in inexplosive porous substance hereinafter specified-a composition which,without losing thegreat explosive power -ot fixtro-rglycering. is very muchaltered as to its explosive and; 'ot h'er properties; being far more safe'end con.- venienl 'for tramportation pstorage, and use {than nitro g'lycerineg].--:-

in general terms,tlie invention consists in mixing with yitro-glycerinea substance which possesses a very great absorbent capacity ,and' so which 'at-vthe sometime is free from any qual- *ity which will decompose, destroy, or injure the nitro-glyceriue orits explosiveuessr .It is nnd0ubtedly"true, as a general rule, "at nitroglycerine wlieu-mixedjwith another bstance possessesless concentration'of power dlr'an-when used alone; butiwhilej the safety of -the miner (to prevent leakage into seams in the rock) prohibits the use of nit-ro-g'lycerine. {without cartridgeswhich latter must of a; course be'som'ewhat less in diameter-than the bore-holes 1 which are to contain them-the powder herein-described can be made to form -a semi-pasty mass, which yieldsto the-slightest pressure, and thnscan be made to fill upt'he bore-h0le' entirely. Practically, therefore, the miner will have as much nitro-glycerinein thesameheight of bore-hole with this powder 'as with nitro-glycoriueiin'its'pure'state. This is the real chara cter and purpose of thelinven tion, 1': and in order to enable others skilled in the art to which it appcrtains or with'which'itis most nearly connected to make,,compouud, andnse the same, it is herein described, and also the manner and process of making,*componnding, and using it inxfnll, elear,.and exactterms. J

The substance which most fully meets the inmentsabove mentioned,'sofaras known Nom at the date of thisoriginal' applica:

filed December 12, 1882.

tion, or he had been then able to ascertain from numero'us' experiments, was a 'certain kind of silicious earth or silicic acid found in various parts of the globe and known under the several names ofsiliciou's marl," *tripoli, rotten stone,&c. The-particular variety of this mathus-leaving the nltro-glycerine so compact and c'oncentrateclas to have very nearly-its original explosive powienj. Whereas, if another substance having a less absorbent capacity is 'nsed aporrespon'din gl y lessproportion of hi troglycerine will be absorbedand thepowder lie correspondingly weak or wholly inexplosive. 'For example, most chalk will takebnt about fil'teen per cent. ofnitro-gly-cerineand retain its powder form." Twenty per'cennwill reduce it to a paste. Porouscharcoal has also a con- "siderablezabsorbent capacity; 'but'it is itself a combustible material and has lesselasticity of its particles, which'ren ders it easy tosqueeze out a part of its n-itro-glycerine. The two materials are combined "in the following manner: The earth, t-horouglilydriedami pulverized, is placed in a wooden vessel. 'l oitisin'troduced the nitro-glycerine ina'stead y stream,so-srnall thatthe-two in gredients'caube kept thoroughly mixed. -The mixing;maybe'eflected by the naked hand -or by an y proper wooden instrumen t used in theh and orby wooden 1n achinery. Sufficient of nitro-glycerine should be used to render the eompound explosive, but not so much as to change-its form of powder to a liquid orpasty. consistency. Practically about sixty parts, *by' weight, of nit'ro-glyceriue'to forty of-earth forms the usefulminimum, and seventyeight'parts,byweight, of nitroglycerine tot wenty-twoof earth the'usefulmaximum .of explosive power. The former has a perfectly dry appearsnee. The "latter isipasty. Between {these two'eitreines the; composition will be 5 explosive'powdels and it-will-be more easily exploded audits explosive power greater as the relativeproportion of the nitro-glyceriue is greater. The proportions, byweight, of seventy-five of nitro-glycerine to twenty-five ol" earth gives a powder as well adapted to ordinary practical purposes as that from any proportions nowable to be named, and can easily be compressedto a specific gravity nearly equal to that of pure nitro-glyce'rine. When the mass has been intimately mixed and thoroughly incorporated by stirring and kneading it is rubbed through a hair, silk, orbrasswire sieve, (iron corrodes,) and any lumps which may remain arerubbed with a stiff bristle-brush till they are reduced and made' to' pass the sieve. The powder isthen finished andreadyfor use. The fineness desired for the powder will determine the finenessot' the sieve to he used.

The chief charactistic of this powder is its nearly perfect exemption from liability to accidental or involuntary explosion. it is tar lesssensitivethan nitro-glycerine to concns;

-sion.or percussion, and contained in its usual packing-4t wooden -.cask or box-the latter may be smashed completely to pieces without any danger of'au explosion. Unlike gnnpowa der, in the open air or-in ordinary packing, a

wooden cask or box, it burns up when set me to without exploding. It can, therefore, be I fhandledfstoremand transported I with less danger-than ordinarygunpesder. Whencoufined in a tight and strong inclosure it ex; ,plodes by heat applied in any form when above the temperature of 360 Fahrenheit. Under allot-her circumstances it. may be exploded by some other explosion in itor into it. The

most simple and certain method known to me.

ofexploding itis as follows: The end of a common blasting-fuse is inserted into appercussioibcapand the rim of tllefcap crimped tightly and firmly about the fuse by nippers or other means, so as to leave the fulminating powder of the cap andpthe end of the. fuse tightly and. firmly inclosed together. The end or the fuse,lwiththe capatt'ached, is then embedded in the powder-the more firmly the niore certain the explosion.

lnbla-sting, the powder is pressed tightlyabout the cap and fuse and tamping of sand orother,propenmaterial added and pressed,

,lnituotpdunded in. A tamping firmly pressed is as good asit' rammed in the most solid many the powder is strongly charged with nitro-glyc cases. tact with the powder before the cap is exploded (which is liable to occur if the fuse is .leaky and the cap extends too far into the ner. The fuse explodes the cap and this explosion explodes the powder. It is added here .5 that by carefully packing the end of a good fuse amid the powder of a charge inclosed like a blasting-chargein a tight place, the fuse alone will explode the powder, especially if 1 6o. erine; but this method of explosion requires too much care and is too uncertain to be .depended upon or generally used. 7 i

As before stated, the more strongly the powder is charged with uitro-glycerine the more easily it explodes. If, therefore, the pow- I der contains a low proportion of nitro-glycerine it is necessary to employ in its explosion acorrespondingly long, strong, and heavily charged percussion-cap, made especially for the purpose. For the sake of. certainty of explosion it is better to use such a cap'in all lfthe fire from thefuse comes in conpowder) a portion of the powder will be burned before the explosion takes place. To guard against this, the cap should only be fairly inserted into the powder, and poor fuses wound next to the cap firmly with strongglnedpaper or hemp, r otherwise secured. The bore-holes, as a practical hut'notabso lute rule,shbuld be about one-half tliersigti and the charge should ls from one-fifth tonne;

vtenth'the quantity ordinarily used in gun-1..

powder-blasting. I

A very convenient form in which to use the powderis to pack it firmly in cartridges of stron g paper. 0 Having thus described the invention, what we claim as the invention of ALFRED NOBEL, and desir'e 'to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The composition otpintter made snbstantially'of theingredien'ts add in the manner I and for the pnrposes set-ibrth.

THE GIANT PQWDER CDIPANYQ By ALBERT DIBBLEE,

. Its President. THE ATLANTIC; GIANT POWDER C(jMPANY, By ALBERT DIBBLEE, V

Its President.

\Vitnesses: .Josnrn K. ll-lARVlN, ,lavme W. SPENCER.