The Chemistry of Fire and Fire Prevention; A Handbook for Insurance Surveyors, Works' Managers, and All Interested in Fire Risks and Their Diminution (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ...The mixture is made at a temperature of about 30-350 C. (86-950 F.) and forms a viscous, translucent, semi-solid substance which freezes about 2 C. (35.6 F.). The frozen material, unlike frozen dynamite, is more easily exploded than the unfrozen. Blasting gelatine requires a larger detonator to ensure its explosion than does dynamite, but the intensity of its explosion is i times as great as that of Kieselguhr dynamite No. 1. It can be rendered still safer by mixing it with 3% or 4% of camphor. Gelatine Dynamite, made by Nobel's Explosives Company, consists of a mixture of blasting gelatine (containing 97.5% of nitroglycerine and 2.5% of nitrated cotton), 65%; wood meal, 8.4%; potassium nitrate, 26%, and a little soda. It is a buff, elastic solid. Gelignite is a similar preparation. FORCITE, GIANT POWDER, VULCAN POWDER, ATLAS POWDER, HERCULES-POWDER, LITHOFRACTEUR and REND Rock are similar mixtures used in the United States. Cordite, now largely used in the British army, consists of a mixture of 58% nitroglycerine with 37% of guncotton (reduced to a pulp by means of acetone, which afterwards evaporates) and 5% of vaseline. The pulp is squeezed through small holes into threads, which are placed in cartridges. The acetone vapour is very inflammable, and extra precautions on this account are necessary in the manufacturing process. (See p. 198.) Many other explosives are in use, but can only have very brief mention here. Nearly all are, or contain nitrocompounds, i.e., they are in many respects like guncotton or nitroglycerine. Many of them consist of a mixture of two or more substances, which alone are not explosive, and the mixture can be conveniently made immediately before use. Some, e.g., Roburite, Securite and Bellite, have the great...