History of the Explosives Industry in America 9780231883733

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
Introduction
Part I. Black Powder
1. Early History of Gunpowder
2. Colonial Powder Mills
3. Powder Mills During the Revolution
4. From the Beginning of the 19th Century to the Civil War
5. The Civil War
6. From the Civil War to 1912
7. E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Company
8. Laflin & Rand Powder Company
9. Other Early Members of the Gunpowder Trade Association
10. West Coast Powder Mills
11. Other American Black Powder Mills
12. From 1913 to the Present
II. Nitroglycerine and Dynamite
1. Introduction and Development of High Explosives for Blasting
2. Manufacture and Use of Nitroglycerine in America
3. The Dynamite Industry in America
4. The Atlas-Giant Group
5. The Hercules Group
6. The duPont Group
7. Other High Explosives Companies in Existence July 1, 1925
8. Miscellaneous High Explosives Companies, Not in Existence on July 1, 1925
9. American High Explosives Companies Outside of the United States
Part III. Blasting Supplies
1. Blasting Supplies
Part IV. Smokeless Powder
1. Introductory Historical Development
2. Smokeless Powder in the United States
3. The American E. C. & Schultze Powder Company
4. Smokeless Powder in the United States Navy
5. Smokeless Powder in the United States Army
6. California Powder Works
7. Leonard Smokeless Powder Company, American Smokeless Powder Company, Laflin & Rand Powder Company
8. International Smokeless Powder and Dynamite Company, International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company
9. E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Company
10. Hercules Powder Company
11. Miscellaneous War Developments
12. Picrate and Chlorate Gunpowders
13. Brazilian And Mexican Factories, Smokeless Powder Trends
Part V. Military Explosives
1. Military Explosives
Part VI. Explosives in the Making of America
1. Introductory
2. The Mineral Industry
3. American Engineering Projects
Appendices
I. History of the Institute of Makers of Explosives
II. Report to Committee of Safety
III. Fairmont Powder Company
IV. Small Pennsylvania Mills
V. West Coast Mills – Small California Companies
VI. Dynamite Machinery Developments
VII. Donner Lake Nitroglycerine Factory
VIII. Pioneer San Francisco Dynamite Factories
IX. Supplement to California Powder Works
X. E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company
Index

Citation preview

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA

GEORGE MORDEY MOWBRAY (1814-1891). l'ioneer American maker of nitroglycerine. Author of the first treatise on high explosives published in America. Leader in demonstrating the character and value of high explosives and of strong primers. Teacher and demonstrator of the care necessari/ when handling and transporting explosives.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA BY ARTHUR PINE VAN GELDER AND

HUGO SCHLATTER

W I T H A X INTRODUCTION BY DR. C H A R L E S E. M U N R O E

NEW YORK COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1927

PREPARED PUBLISHED INSTITUTE

FROM DATA COLLECTED BY AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE OF MAKERS OF EXPLOSIVES.

Copyright, 192T Institute of Makers of Explosives

D E S I G N E D A N D SUPERVISED BY H A M Y ROBERTS, J R . P R I N T E D BY J A M E S N . J O H N S T O N , I N C . N E W YORK

DEDICATION T H E I N S T I T U T E OF MAKERS OF EXPLOSIVES R E S P E C T F U L L Y DEDICATES T H I S V O L U M E TO THE

MANY

THOSE

USERS OF EXPLOSIVES I N

INDUSTRIES

THAT

HAVE

ALL

GREATLY

B E N E F I T T E D M A N K I N D A N D H A V E ADDED T O T H E MATERIAL ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICA AND T H E W H O L E WORLD.

PREFACE

H

I S T O R I E S of the more important industries of the United States, such as the steel and cement industries, have been published from time to time, especially in recent years. In England a similar history of the explosives industry (The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives Industry) appeared on the occasion of the meeting of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry in London in 1909. But the American explosives industry, the largest in the world, without which the other activities of the country could hardly exist on their present scale, has hitherto been neglected. About 1921 W. R. Swint, one of the technical advisors of the E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, suggested to the members of the Institute of Makers of Explosives that the Institute was the proper agency to prepare such a history and that this work should be done before all the pioneer makers of high explosives in America had passed away. The suggestion met with the approval of the Institute members, and a committee was appointed consisting of Thomas W. Bacchus, chairman; Ralph Assheton, and Emil J. Riederer, to take steps to carry out the idea. After a short time it was seen that the scope of the undertaking was so extensive that someone outside of the regular force of the secretary of the Institute must be employed to collect and arrange the data in a suitable manner. One of the authors (Van Gelder) being free and having extensive acquaintance with many of the early makers of dynamite, was engaged for the work. After several months' work on the dynamite section he was joined by the other author (Schlatter) for the purpose of collaborating on the smokeless powder and vii.

PREFACE military explosives sections. Later both authors worked jointly on the entire history in order to obtain a certain unity of presentation. It soon became evident that the history, if it should be of any value or interest to the general reader, should be in the form of a running narrative, rather than a mere collection of data. In order to provide for this, the Institute appropriated a further sum of money and authorized the authors to complete the story in finished shape for publication. The authors have been engaged in the work over three years, giving as much time to it as they could spare from other duties. The history does not aim to be a textbook of the manufacture of explosives. Nevertheless, it has seemed best to treat the technical development of the industry somewhat in detail, especially as existing textbooks have little to say about American practice. While the commercial history covers mainly the powder companies in the United States, those of Canada, Mexico and South America have been included as many of them are closely related to those in the United States. However, data for the countries outside of the United States and Canada were not readily available and their histories are therefore of a somewhat sketchy nature. A great deal of the data in this volume has been obtained through interviews and correspondence with veteran makers of explosives, more particularly those relating to the events of the last fifty or sixty years. So far as possible these data have been confirmed by others or by reference to such records as could be found. Obviously it has been impossible in the time available to go through the entire mass of records stored in the Hall of Records of the duPont company or the archives of the other powder companies; but viii.

PREFACE the authors believe that all the essential facts have been sufficiently checked, although there are undoubtedly some errors or misstatements on minor points. Realizing this they will consider it as a favor if readers will bring such errors or omissions to the attention of C. Stewart Comeaux, secretary of the Institute of Makers of Explosives, 103 Park Avenue, New York. For the earlier history, more particularly the origins of the black powder business in America, data have been found in colonial records and local histories of towns, counties and states. Some of them have been consulted by the authors personally. Excerpts from others have been obtained through correspondence with state and city librarians and secretaries of historical societies in many parts of the United States. Reference to the source of the material used has been given wherever possible. Illustrations have been obtained from the files of powder companies, from the duPont Magazine, the Hercules Mixer, the Atlas Globe, and the Explosives Engineer, and a great many individuals and corporations. Engineers of great construction projects, officials of mines and quarries, and Government officials have also contributed pictures illustrating the uses of explosives as well as valuable information on the subject. Lack of space forbids the printing of the names of the great multitude of friends who have so kindly assisted the authors in their work by furnishing information or illustrations, or by reviewing and correcting the different chapters as they were written. The authors wish to express their own and the Institute's appreciation to all who have helped and encouraged them in their work. The authors also owe a debt of gratitude to the members of the Institute of Makers ix.

P R E F A C E

of Explosives who have gone out of their way in placing at their disposal a vast amount of historical data relating to their respective companies. Our especial thanks are due to T. W. Bacchus, chairman of the committee on history, for the inspiration and enthusiasm for the work, first aroused through hearing his talk on "Dynamite, the New Aladdin's Lamp," and to all the members of the committee for their helpful suggestions throughout the progress of the work. ARTHUR

PIXE

VAN

GELDER,

H U G O SCHLATTER.

Wilmington, Delaware, and Stamford, May 10, 1926.

x.

Connecticut,

C O N T E N T S

xxxiii

INTRODUCTION BY DR. C H A R L E S E . M U N R O E

PART I. BLACK POWDER CHAPTER 1

3

Early History

of

Gunpowder

CHAPTER I I

29

Colonial Powder

Mills—

§ THE

SALTPETER

§ THE

FIRST GUNPOWDER

§ OTHER

SUPPLY

29 MILL8 IN AMERICA. . .

MILLS

30 36

CHAPTER I I I

38

Powder Mills During the

Revolution—

§ G E N E R A L C O N D I T I O N AT T H E B E G I N N I N G

OF

THE REVOLUTION

38

§ MILLS AND CONDITIONS IN T H E

COLONIES. . . .

§ GENERAL CONDITIONS DURING AND AFTER REVOLUTIONARY

CHAPTER

40

THE

WAR

66

IV

71

From the Beginning of the 19th Century to the Civil War— § THE

TRANSITION

FROM SMALLER TO

LARGER

MILL8 § A TYPICAL

71 MILL OF T H E

PERIOD

75

§ EARLY 1 9 T H C E N T U R Y MILLS IN U N I T E D STATES.

CHAPTER

77

V

The Civil

107

War—

§ CONFEDERATE § UNION § REPORT

MILLS

107

MILLS ON

115

POWDER MILLS

xi.

(WHEEL

MILLS). .

115

C O N T E N T S CHAPTER

VI

121

From the End of the Civil War to 1912— S TECHNICAL § COMMERCIAL

121

DEVELOPMENTS

126

DEVELOPMENTS

§ FIRST PERIOD, 1 8 6 5 - 1 8 7 2 § SECOND PERIOD, TRADE

126

1872-1902

THE

GUNPOWDER 128

ASSOCIATION

§ C O M P A N I E S ABSORBED BY M E M B E R S O F GUNPOWDER § LAKE

SUPERIOR

TRADE

AGREEMENTS

§ THIRD

PERIOD,

CHAPTER

134

ASSOCIATION

POWDER

§ TRADE

THE

135

COMPANY

137

1902-1912

158

VII

174

E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company CHAPTER

VIII

219

Laflin & Rand Powder

Company

CHAPTER I X

253

Other Early Members of the Trade Association

Gunpowder

CHAPTER X

West Coast Powder

282

Mills

CHAPTER X I

294

Other American Black Powder

Mills

CHAPTER X I I

304

From 1913 to the Present P A R T II. NITROGLYCERINE AND DYNAMITE CHAPTER I

315

Introduction and Development Explosives for Blasting xii.

of High

CONTENTS CHAPTER I I

375

Manufacture and Use of Nitroglycerine in America CHAPTER I I I

402

The Dynamite Industry in America CHAPTER

IV

431

The Atlas-Giant § GIANT

Group—

POWDER

§ AMERICAN

431

COMPANY

FORCITE

POWDER

MANUFACTURING 453

COMPANY § ATLAS

POWDER

465

COMPANY

CHAPTER V

479

The Hercules Group— § ATLANTIC GIANT POWDER COMPANY

479

§ JUDSON

486

POWDER

§ CALIFORNIA

INTRODUCED

POWDER

497

WORKS

§ HERCULES POWDER COMPANY

(OF

CLEVELAND, 518

OHIO) § HERCULES

POWDER

§ INDEPENDENT § AETNA

524

COMPANY

POWDER

COMPANY

OF MISSOURI

EXPLOSIVES COMPANY

529 541

CHAPTER V I

561

The duPont Group— § REPAUNO

CHEMICAL COMPANY

561

§ A8HBURN § EA8TERN

PLANT

586 588

LABORATORY

§ ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT

593

§ THE

DYNAMITE

594

EASTERN

COMPANY

§ E. I. DU P O N T DE N E M O U R S P O W D E R C O M P A N Y

595

§ SALES

609

DEPARTMENT

CHAPTER V I I

618

Other High Explosives Companies in Existence July 1, 1 9 2 5 — § D ITT MAR

POWDER

WORKS

xiii.

618

CONTENTS § RENDROCK

POWDER

COMPANY

624

§ GRASSELLI POWDER C O M P A N Y

626

§ UNION

632

EXPLOSIVES C O M P A N Y

§ A P A C H E POWDER C O M P A N Y

634

§ PEERLESS EXPLOSIVES C O M P A N Y

635

§ OTHER

COMPANIES

635

§ T R O J A N POWDER C O M P A N Y

636

VIII

CHAPTER

640

MISCELLANEOUS HIGH NOT IN EXISTENCE § VIOORITE § VULCAN § OTHER

EXPLOSIVES

ON JULY

POWDER

1,

COMPANIES,

1 9 2 5 —

COMPANY

640

POWDER C O M P A N Y

646

COMPANIES

654

CHAPTER I X AMERICAN

703 HIGH

EXPLOSIVES

OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED

COMPANIES

STATES—

§ CANADIAN COMPANIES

703

§ MEXICAN

714

COMPANIES

§ SOUTH A M E R I C A N COMPANIES

716

PART III. BLASTING SUPPLIES CHAPTER I

721

BLASTING § THE

SUPPLIES— ENSIGN-BICKFORD

§ BICKFORD'S § DETONATING § OTHER

COMPANY

FUSE

721

FU8E

728

FUSE F A C T O R I E S

§ DETONATING § PERCUSSION

721

MATERIALS CAPS

729 732 733

§ D E T O N A T I N G P R I N C I P A L A P P L I E D TO H I G H EXPLOSIVES § ELECTRIC

736

B L A S T I N G CAPS

736

§ B L A S T I N G CAPS

756

§ CANADIAN

COMPANIES

762

DEVELOPMENTS

763

§ RECENT

xiv.

C O N T E N T S P A R T IV. SMOKELESS POWDER CHAPTER 1

767

Introductory

Historical

§ MULTI-PERFORATED IN

Development—

GRAINING

INTRODUCED

IN

AMERICA

§ PROGRESSIVE S OTHER

780

BURNING

SMOKELESS

OR

SMOKELESS

POWDERS..

781

SEMI-SMOKELECS 781

GUNPOWDERS

CHAPTER I I

784

Smokeless Powder in the United States CHAPTER I I I

798

The American E. C. & Schultze Powder Company CHAPTER

IV

804

Smokeless Powder in the United States Navy CHAPTER V

822

Smokeless Powder in the United States Army CHAPTER

VI

842

California Powder Works CHAPTER

V I I

859

Leonard Smokeless Powder Company American Smokeless Powder Company Laflin & Rand Powder Company CHAPTER V I I I

887

International Smokeless Powder and Dynamite Company International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company xv.

CONTENTS CHAPTER I X

875

E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company CHAPTER X

893

Hercules Powder Company CHAPTER X I

904

Miscellaneous War Developments— § CANADIAN COMPANIES

915

§ WAR 8URPLLS

915

CHAPTER X I I

917

Picrate and Chlorate Gunpowders— § PICRATE

GUNPOWDER

917

§ CHLORATE GUNPOWDERS

CHAPTER

922

XIII

924

Brazilian and Mexican Factories Smokeless Powder Trends PART V. MILITARY E X P L O S I V E S CHAPTER 1

929

Military Explosives— § EXPLOSIVE

GELATINE

§ DYNAMITE

GUN8

§ AMMONIUM

932 934

NITRATE

EXPLOSIVES

938

§ P I C R I C ACID AND P I C R A T E S

940

§ AMMONIUM

942

PICRATE

§ TRINITROTOLUENE

944

§ TRINITROPHEN YLMETHYLNITRAMINE

952

§ TETRANITROANILINE

953

§ NITROSTARCH

953

§ MILITARY

NITRATE

OF AMMONIA

§ SUMMARY

954 956

xvi.

CONTENTS PART VI. EXPLOSIVES IN THE MAKING OF AMERICA CHAPTER

1

959

Introductory CHAPTER

II

962

The Mineral Industry CHAPTER

III

1005

American Engineering

Projects

APPENDICES APPENDIX

1

1083

History of the Institute of Makers of Explosives APPENDIX

II

1086

Report to Committee of Safety APPENDIX

III

1088

Fairmont Powder Company APPENDIX I V

1089

Small Pennsylvania Mills APPENDIX V

1092

West Coast Mills— Small California Companies APPENDIX

VI

1094

Dynamite Machinery Developments XVIL

CONTENTS APPENDIX

1095

V I I

Donner Lake Nitroglycerine APPENDIX

Factory

VIII

1098

Pioneer San Francisco Dynamite APPENDIX

1099

I X

Supplement APPENDIX

Factories

to California

Powder

Works

X

1099

E. I. duPont de Nemours

xviii.

Company

ILLUSTRATIONS P A R T I. BLACK

POWDER

CHAPTER Early

History

I.

of

Gunpowder

Fire Setting

12 CHAPTER

III.

Powder Mills During the " T h e Method of Making Gunpowder" Pitkins Forge 1690 Pitkins Forge 1747 Essays on Gunpowder Whippany Mill CHAPTER From,

the Beginning

Revolution 48 50 50 55 60

IV.

of the

19th

Century

the Civil War Nitre Hall Mills Nitre Hall Mills Transporting Gunpowder to Lake E r i e Orange Mills Office CHAPTER The Confederate Powder Mills

Civil

82 82 86 98

V. War 114

CHAPTER From the End Marquette Mills Belleville Mills Equitable Powder Mills F. W. Olin George L. Rood Ferndale Mills Group J o b Burton Edward Senior

to

VI.

of the Civil

War

to 1 9 1 2 136 143 146 147 150 156 161 164

xix.

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER VI.—continued A. G. Cummings United States Powder Company Plant

165 167

CHAPTER V I I .

E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Company E. I. DuPont de Nemours Game Hunting Advertisement DuPont-Jefferson Group Brandy wine Mills Alfred V. duPont General H e n r y duPont H e n r y A. Weldy Eugene duPont Alfred I. duPont H e n r y Belin, J r Denver Office

177 179 181 184 190 191 199 202 208 213 215

CHAPTER V I I I .

Laflin & Rand Powder

Company

Matthew Laflin 2nd Matthew Laflin 3rd Joseph M. Boies Henry M. Boies Solomon Turck Albert T. Rand Orange Mills Employees of Orange Mills James Muir Morgan Emmanuel Robert Klotz, Sr Wyatt R. Swift Thomas L. Doremus

222 224 226 226 228 232 233 233 238 238 238 250 251

CHAPTER I X .

Other Early Members of the Gunpowder Association E d w a r d Prickett Colonel A. G. H a z a r d

Trade 254 256

XX.

ILLUSTRATIONS Canister H a z a r d Powder John B. Coleman Linus Austin Joseph Kendrick Austin Mills Samuel Hobbs Lewis Bemis Canister of Dead Shot John T. Barron Addison O. Fay King Family Group King Mills Office Magazine on Little Miami River

257 264 265 267 268 269 269 270 271 274 277 278 279

CHAPTER X .

West Coast Powder

Mills

John H . Baird Santa Cruz Mills Bernard Peyton

283 284 285

CHAPTER X I .

Other American Black Powder Thomas C. Brainerd Wheel Mill Nanaimo Press Mill Nanaimo Corning Mill Nanaimo Glaze Mill Nanaimo Can Packing House Nanaimo Acadia Magazine Acadia Group Acadia Advertisement Chilean Powder Mill Chilean Powder Wheel

Mills 295 298 298 298 298 298 300 301 301 302 303

CHAPTER X I I .

From 1913 to the Present D u P o n t Office Old D u P o n t Office New George Patterson Patterson Mill

305 306 307 309

xxi.

ILLUSTRATIONS PART II. N I T R O G L Y C E R I N E AND DYNAMITE CHAPTER I .

Introduction

and Development of High for Blasting

Explosives

S t a t u e of A s c a n i o S o b r e r o 317 Alfred B e r n a r d Nobel 319 E a r l y M e t h o d s of I g n i t i n g or D e t o n a t i n g N i t r o g l y c e r i n e . . . 3 2 3 E a r l y N i t r i c Acid S t i l l 329 B u r e a u of M i n e s G r o u p 349 Pittsburgh Testing Station 350 B u r e a u of M i n e s G a l l e r y 351 Proposed Continuous Nitrating Process 361 Present Nitroglycerine Process 362 E a r l y S p e n t Acid R e c o v e r y 367 Colonel B e v e r l y W i l y D u n n 373

CHAPTER I I .

Manufacture

and Use of Nitroglycerine

in America

Mowbray's Nitroglycerine Factory Colonel T a l l i a f e r r o P . S h a f f n e r . .". The Nitroglycerine Company T r a d e m a r k . . Roderick Campbell Oil W e l l S h o o t e r s W a g o n

CHAPTER

The Dynamite

377, 379 384 386 393 399

III.

Industry

in

America

Julius Bandmann M a p of S a n F r a n c i s c o B a y Ong Ling Charles Frederick W. E. Dittmar

CHAPTER

The A tlas-Giant L. L. Robinson

403 407 409 416

IV.

Group 433

XXII.

ILLUSTRATIONS Giant Plant in San Francisco Frank Roller Giant Employees 1884 Veteran Employees of Giant Giant Plant at Fleming Point 1888 Giant Plant at Fleming Point 1884 Giant Explosion Ronald Henry Rennie Giant Plant on San Pablo Bay Carl Johan Sundstrom Axel Wilhelm Nibelius John B. Smith Charles Henry Tice Lewis Brown John A. Johnson Samuel Wilkinson Gustave Reinberg William Joseph Webster Walter A. Layfield John F. Van Lear Leland Lyon Leonard Richards, J r John Senter Atlas Plant, 1926 George R. McAbee Colonel George Francis Hamlin

434 437 439 441 442 443 444 449 452 454 454 454 460 460 461 461 464 467 467 467 467 467 468 471 476 477

CHAPTER V .

The Hercules

Group

Thomas Varney John Christian Schrader Russell Sylvanus Penniman Kenvil Employees 1883 Ammonium Nitrate Process Panorama of Kenvil Plant Dynamite Line Kenvil Hall Dynamite Packing House Hercules Slaying the Giants Willson, Read, Lohse, Powning and Willard Group Captain William Russell Quinan Hercules Plant Panorama Hercules Dynamite Plant John Bermingham Hercules Plant Officials

xxiii.

480 481 482 487 492 493 494 495 498 501 507 509 509 512 514

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTEB V.—continued Hercules Club Hercules Reading Room Hercules Hospital Captain H e n r y Harrison P r a t t R. H . Dunham George H . Markell G G. Rheuby T. W. Bacchus J . T. Skelly E. D. Prickett F. W. Stark N. P. Rood Bacchus Plant H e r b e r t Talley Hercules Experimental Station Addison G r a n t Fay Edward Montgomery Harrington Keystone Plant Adolphus C. Blum Alum Chime Explosion Bessemer Plant Pluto Plant

51S 515 517 521 525 525 525 525 525 525 525 525 528 531 533 546 547 552 554 555 558 559

CHAPTER V I .

The DuPont Group Lammot duPont William duPont Repauno Pioneers H e r b e r t Gay Chase Repauno Plant 1895 Repauno Plant 1926 Walter N. Hill Oscar R. Jackson Repauno Employees Machine Shop Repauno Hamilton M. Barksdale J . Amory Haskell No. 3 Shell Machine Shell House Acid Works 1895 Laboratory 1895 Explosion Crater 1897

562 564 565 566 567 569 570 572 573 575 576 577 578 578 579 580 581

xxiv.

ILLUSTRATIONS Dynamite Mixing House 1895 Ashburn Plant Dr. Charles L. Reese Dr. Arthur M. Comey Eastern Laboratory Group Atlantic City Convention 1909 Unloading Ship at Repauno Coleman duPont Barksdale Plant Ira Pierce Louviers Plant DuPont, Washington P. S. duPont Charles A. Patterson Lammot duPont, 2nd H. G. Haskell William Coyne F. W. Pickard William C. Spruance J . Thompson Brown H a r r y M. Pierce Irenee duPont Ramsay Plant Charles Loeser Patterson Group Joseph L a n g Franz David Orr Fred C. Peters

585 587 588 590 591 592 594 596 597 598 599 601 603 604 605 605 605 605 605 605 605 606 607 611 614 615 616

CHAPTER V I I .

Other High Explosives Companies in Existence July 1, 1925 Maria W. Dittmar Eugene Ramiro Grasselli Joseph S. Burton Walford Plant J . Lowe White Grafton Plant J . E d g a r Long

621 627 628 629 630 631 633

CHAPTER V I I I .

Miscellaneous High Explosives Companies in Existence on July 1 , 1 9 2 5 California Vigorite Plant

Not 645

XXV.

ILLUSTRATIONS CHAPTER V I I I . — c o n t i n u e d J o h n Wallace Robert William Warren Wilson P. Foss Clinton N. G. House, Elevation Clinton N. G. House, Plan James Lawrence Egbert Judson Judson Explosion 1905 Climax Plant

656 663 666 669 669 676 682 683 687

CHAPTER I X .

American

High Explosives of the United

Companies States

Beloeil Plant Dynamite Mixing House, Nanaimo Gelatine Mixing House, Nanaimo Hall Dynamite Packing Machine, Nanaimo Nanaimo Plant Wharf Dynamite Cartridge Packing Machine, Dragon Dinamita Plant

Outside 705 708 708 709 709 710 714

PART I I I . BLASTING SUPPLIES CHAPTER I .

Blasting

Supplies

Joseph Toy Ralph H a r t Ensign Joseph Ralph Ensign Simsbury Plant Dr. Robert H a r e H a r e ' s Blasting Cap Charles A. Browne Browne Brothers Factory Browne Brothers Factory Interior Cap Works at Pompton Lakes H. Julius Smith Aetna Cap Factory 1888 Aetna Electric Blasting Cap Plant at Xenia, Ohio William Letts Oliver Frank Kendall Brewster

xxvi.

725 726 727 728 739 740 745 747 747 750 751 753 754 759 760

ILLUSTRATIONS P A R T IV. SMOKELESS POWDER

CHAPTEB I I .

Smokeless Powder in the United

States

Canister of Dittmar's Powder Milton F. Lindsley Robert C. Schiipphaus Hudson Maxim Charles Fremont Burnside

788 790 792 793 795

CHAPTER I I I .

The American E. C. & Schultze Powder

Company

Captain Albert William Money

799

CHAPTER I V .

Smokeless Powder in the United States

Navy

D r . Charles E. Munroe George W. Patterson H a r r y Fletcher Brown Lieutenant J o h n B. Bernadou

807 808 811 812

CHAPTER V .

Smokeless Powder in the United States Colonel Odus C. Horney

Army 838

CHAPTER V I .

California Powder William C. Peyton

Works 845

CHAPTER V I I .

Leonard Smokeless Powder Company, American Smokeless Powder Company, Laflin & Rand Powder Company Colonel Garland N. Whistler Captain H e n r y Churchill Aspinwall Pompton Lakes Plant Ballistic House Interior Cannon Powder Testing Station

xxvii.

860 861 862 863 864

ILLUSTRATIONS CHAPTER

VIII.

International Smokeless Powder and Dynamite Company, International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company Dr. Carl Walter Volney

868

CHAPTER

IX.

E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Company Francis Gurney duPont Carney's Point Plant Hopewell Nitrocotton Plant Hopewell "Hiring Office" Old Hickory Plant

877 883 887 888 889

CHAPTER X .

Hercules Powder Company Nitro Plant

903 PART V. MILITARY EXPLOSIVES CHAPTER I .

Military Explosives

T N T Plant at Hercules T N T Plant at Dragon T N T Plant Interior Perryville Plant

947 951 951 955

PART VI. E X P L O S I V E S IN T H E MAKING O F AMERICA CHAPTER

II.

The Mineral Industry Anthracite Coal Breaker Truesdale Colliery Modern Coal Mine Entry

963 963 963

xxviii.

ILLUSTRATIONS Lump Coal Production Section of a Stripping Operation Pittsburg Stripping Operation Stripping Operation in Pennsylvania Mount H o p e Iron Mine Mahoning-Hull-Rusk Iron Mine Albany Iron Mine Cleveland-Cliffs S h a f t Mine Cleveland-Cliffs Underground Mine Cuban Iron Mine Calumet and Hecla Copper Mine Anaconda Copper Mine Utah Copper Mine Nevada Consolidated Copper Mine Kennecott Copper Mine

963 964 964 964 966 967 967 968 968 968 971 971 971 972 972

Chile E x p l o r a t i o n C o m p a n y C o p p e r M i n e

972

Braden Copper Mine 972 Homestake Gold Mine 975 Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine 976 Leadville, Colorado 979 Pachuca Silver Mine 979 Chief Consolidated Mining Company 979 Flat River Lead Mine 981 Coeur d'Alene District 981 Joplin, Missouri 983 Tri-State Zinc Mine 984 Picher Zinc Mine 985 Canadian Nickel Mine 986 Retsof Salt Mine 987 Retsof Salt Mine, Underground 987 Louisiana Salt Mine 988 Bluffton-Lewisburg Company's Quarry, Preparation 990 Bluffton-Lewisburg Company's Quarry, Blast 990 Bluffton-Lewisburg Company's Quarry, Loading 990 Tompkins Cove Stone Quarry 991 Asphalt Rock Q u a r r y 991 Blue Diamond Q u a r r y 991 Limestone Mine 993 Blast at Quarry of Riverside Portland Cement Company. . 994 Cement-Limestone Q u a r r y 995 Steam Shovel 995 Dixie Cement-Limestone Quarry 995 United States Gypsum Company Quarry 996 Drilling Boulders of Caliche 997 A Desert Blast 997

xxix.

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER II.—continued Canadian Asbestos Mine Vermont Granite Quarry Oil Well Shooting Oil Shale Claim in Colorado

998 1002 1003 1004

CHAPTER I I I .

American Engineering

Projects

The Kensico Dam in the Berkshire Hills Catskill Aqueduct Mammoth Creek of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Chicago Drainage Canal Golf Links at Bradford, Pennsylvania Drilling Outfit Indiana Drainage Ditch Drainage and Irrigation Canal in a Louisiana Rice Field. . Everglades Drainage Canal Panama Canal Completed Panama Canal New York Barge Canal Chesapeake & Delaware Canal A Blast on the Welland Canal in 1915 Welland Ship Canal 1922 Flood Rock Before the Blast Flood Rock Tower Flood Rock Destroyed How Dynamite Opened Hell Gate 0.2 seconds after How Dynamite Opened Hell Gate 0.6 seconds after How Dynamite Opened Hell Gate 2.0 seconds after General Abbott's Testing Apparatus Drill Boats at Work on Detroit River Blasting " I n the D r y " Portsmouth, N. H., Harbor Improvement Soo Blast Florida Seaports in the Making Miami Harbor 1924 Cotee River Blast Deepening the Cotee River Channel Mississippi River Dynamite Drill Boat The Marquette, Michigan, Breakwater .. Galveston Sea Wall Columbia River J e t t y Blasting Building Foundations in New York City Blasting Building Foundations XXX.

1007 1008 1010 1014 1015 1015 1015 .1016 1017 1020 1021 1022 1022 1023 1023 1026 1026 1026 1027 1027 1027 1028 1031 1031 1032 1034 1034 1034 1035 1035 1036 .1037 1037 1037 1039 1039

ILLUSTRATIONS Jefferson Bridge 1040 Smelter Stack 1040 Razing a Fire-ruined Wall 1040 Cathedral of Learning 1041 Alaska Railroad 1045 Hopatcong-Slateford Blast 1046 Slayton Cut 1046 Concrete Bridge on the Lackawanna Railroad 1047 Salt Lake Cut-off 1048 Moffat Tunnel 1048 Highway in Maine 1052 Ungraded Highway 1052 Graded Highway 1052 Paved Highway 1052 Tennessee Highway 1053 Bear Mountain Bridge 1053 Coleman duPont Highway 1053 Dredging the Tamiami Trail 1054 Ute Pass Road 1056 Present Ute Pass Road 1057 New York-New Jersey Vehicular Tunnel 1058 Conowingo Dam 1060 The Mississippi River Power House, Dam and Government Lock at Keokuk, Iowa 1061 Dix River Dam 1062 Wilson Dam 1063 Dynamite Magazine 1064 Preparing to Blast a Roadway 1064 S h a f t Sinking 1064 Big Creek Development 1065 Power Mucker In Florence Tunnel 1066 Florence Tunnel 1067 Arrowrock Dam 1067 Fort Laramie Canal 1068 Roosevelt Dam 1069 A Settler's Home 1072 Sheep Pasture 1072 Primitive Farming Among the Stumps 1072 Blasting by the Mud Cap Method 1073 Boring Stump 1073 Stump Blasting 1073 Land-clearing Demonstration 1073 " T o p p i n g " a spar Tree with Dynamite 1075 Blasting Banana Land in the Tropics 1075 Derelict 1076

xxxi.

ILLUSTRATIONS CHAPTER

III.—continued

Blasting Derelicts Shearing Smokestack Vessel Salvage Shearing Concrete Piles St. Lawrence Ice Blast Preparing a "Torpedo" Blasting Icebergs Lumber Mill at Bogalusa, Louisiana Sculpturing with Dynamite City Planning with Explosives Quail H u n t i n g T r a p Shooting

APPENDIX

1076 1076 1076 1076 1077 1077 1078 1078 1079 1079 1080 1080

VII.

Donner Lake Nitroglycerine

Factory

Joseph M. Graham J o h n Robert Gilliss H e n r y Root

1097 1097 1097

APPENDIX

VIII.

Pioneer San Francisco Dynamite

Factories

Rock House Cañón

1098

APPENDIX

IX.

Supplement to California Powder Ebenezer Scott

Works 1099

xxxii.

INTRODUCTION B Y DE. CHARLES E . MUNKOE

A

F U N D A M E N T A L factor in the development of mankind is his command and control of L energy. His capacity to discover sources and supplies of energy and to devise methods by which to apply and direct it to his service has resulted in man's continued advancement beyond other conscious creations in nature. Man had utilized the kinetic energy of wind, of running water (especially of a head of water), and the energy of chemical separation in the making of fires. He had learned how to store up energy in the sling, the bent bow and in compressed springs, and how to multiply the energy effect by means of the lever, the pulley, the screw and other mechanical devices. The invention of gunpowder, and, later, the discovery of explosive compounds, and, particularly, the devising of means by which the energy resident in them might be liberated, applied and directed at will, increased enormously man's importance and particularly his independence of his natural physical limitations and of his environment. While it is true that explosives, as propellents, were seized upon by, and have served, tyrants, despots, desperadoes and ruffians, yet from the first, and always, they have proved essentially democratizing agents, for they have given assurance to the timid; they have armed the weak with strength; they have tended, for defensive and offensive purposes, to bring men of the most widely different physical prowess to a condition of equality. Through them the voice of the people is eventually heard. xxxiii.

INTRODUCTION As blasting agents, explosives have lengthened the life of man by diminishing the time required of him to accomplish a required task. They have multiplied his resources by their enormously increased yields over manual labor in the winning of ores and coal, and in quarrying. But for them the building of highways, railways, canals, tunnels and aqueducts; the deepening of waterways; the removal of obstructions to navigation; the smelting of ores; the erection of concrete structures; the clearing of great areas of cutover, or boulder-strewn, lands; the reclaiming of swamps; the disposal of sewage;—all essential to our present state of civilization—would have been greatly restricted. Explosives have added enormously to the wealth of man. Through them wide-spread areas have been made accessible to cultivation and for habitation. The supplies of food, clothing, and other necessities of life have been rendered so available that famines and long continued exposure following catastrophies have been very greatly reduced and living conditions greatly improved. The records of the discovery, the manufacture, the transportation, and the use of explosives are replete with romance. The wonder of it all inspired T. W. Bacchus to the writing of his vivid address on "Dynamite—The New Aladdin's Lamp" and the thrill of this stirred the Institute of Makers of Explosives to plan for the preparation of this History of the Explosives Industry in America, through which much interesting and valuable material is placed on permanent record and made widely accessible to the general historian, the economist, the publicist, the legislator and to general readers. Until recent times historians have filled their pages xxxiv.

INTRODUCTION with dull records of dynasties, kings and potentates; with accounts of what the rulers, civil or ecclesiastical, wore and ate, or how they amused themselves in sport, spectacles or amours ; or with narratives of their jealousies, caprices, quarrels and treacheries; or with descriptions of their palaces and tombs. Or else these histories dealt with war, pestilence and fire, with accounts of campaigns and battles in which the leaders only were given individuality. Except for an occasional item in the writings of some of the literati who had the instinct of the story-teller, the history of those who furnished the backbone and sinews of armies and navies, who were the foundations of the state, who cultivated the soil, furnished the food and clothing, won the ores; the manufacturers of the essentials, as well as the luxuries, of human existence, and the distributors of these many products of labor, remained practically unnoticed until in the very near past. In the formulating of the Constitution of the United States provision was made for the periodical taking of a census, as an essential feature of a representative form of government, and this led D e Jonnés to declare that the United States presents a phenomenon without parallel in history, viz., "That of a people who instituted the statistics of their country on the very day when they founded their Government, and who regulated by the same instrument the census of inhabitants, their civil and political rights and the destinies of the Nation." Through the activity of Alexander Hamilton the United States was the first nation to take a census of manufactures, and owing to the efforts of Albert Gallatin the Census Act of 1810 was enacted, in which was embodied the first official recognition of labor and xxxv.

INTRODUCTION the fundamental position it occupies in the development and stability of a nation. It is most fitting that in this country, especially, industries should receive equal recognition with other national activities. For here the form of government adopted, combined with an extensive territory, rich in natural resources, settled by a vigorous and enterprising people, using the same language throughout the entire area and subject to one government in common, tended rapidly to foster commerce and promote manufacture. The new circumstances and environment, morever, served to free the operators from restricting traditions and to encourage individual initiative with the result that works were so organized and devices installed such as to reduce labor to a minimum, while affording the maximum of protection to the workmen; mechanisms were standardized and supplied with interchangeable parts through which to reduce the time of interruption of work resulting from break-downs and accidents; and operations were conducted on the large scale basis to spread the overhead. Safety and efficiency have long been dominant features of American manufacturing operations. It is quite in accord with the genius of our people, with the essence of our government and in harmony with the spirit of the times that the growth, progress and achievements of our various manufactures should be made the subject of historical record, especially in that, as history is said to repeat itself, the experiences and performances of the past may be made available to those who may be called upon to direct the industries of the future. Measured by the quantity or the current monetary value of its output, the explosives industry is surpassed by many other manufacturing industries and xxxvi.

INTRODUCTION by industries in other fields, though in the quantity and value of its products it occupies a most respectable position. The special importance of the Explosives Industry lies in the fact that it is a Key Industry. By the use of its products the essential raw materials of many other industries are secured. As a key industry the explosives industry stands in the first rank among industries. I t is, therefore, specially important that the record of so fundamental an industry should be preserved and made accessible. I t is a matter for congratulation that, on the initiative of W. R. Swint, the Institute of Makers of Explosives provided and arranged for the preparation and publication of a History of Explosives in America and designated for the undertaking of the authorship two men so well acquainted with the subject, through long experience in the industry, as Mr. Van Gelder and Mr. Schlatter are. They have first-hand knowledge of the more recent and most active period and they have fortified themselves as to the earlier periods by extended and minute search at the sources in official records, local histories, manufacturers' files and biographies. Most noteworthy is their use of the records in patent issues, such as on interferences and infringements. These are very rich sources of information but, since they are printed in quite limited editions and usually jealously guarded from general circulation, they are rarely accessible. To the best of my knowledge, the authors of this history are the first to make use of this source in historical compilations. Fortunately, there are still living pioneers in the high explosives industry in this country and the authors have had the benefit of the recollections of these pioneers in guiding them to sources, in checking their xxx vii.

INTRODUCTION material, in locating events, and in supplying biographical details. In a final effort at completeness and accuracy the galley proof was prepared in multiple and copies supplied to all members of the Institute for revision and checking. N o effort through which to secure accuracy seems left untried. The result is most gratifying. The authors have written with such frankness and enthusiasm, and with such evident knowledge of their subject, that the narrative arouses the interest of the reader and continues throughout to hold his attention. The result is a book of permanent value and abiding interest. The Institute, the industry, and the authors are all to be congratulated on the result.

xxxviii.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART I. BLACK POWDER

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART I. BLACK POWDER

C H A P T E R I. E A R L Y HISTORY OF GUNPOWDER

T

IHE discovery of gunpowder and firearms marks one of the most important events in the history of civilization. It is a peculiar fact that every improvement in the means of destruction at the command of man has meant a corresponding advance in the civilization and general welfare of mankind. When man learned to propel a stone from a sling or an arrow from a bow, he gained an ascendancy over the wild beasts of forest and field that made it possible for him to extend his range of activities and engage in agriculture without having to depend on superior strength alone for his protection. But he was still at the mercy of less civilized tribes who coveted his possessions, and could only consider himself comparatively safe from them as long as each individual was trained in the arts of warfare. As soon as a nation lost its warlike characteristics, it was invaded by the barbarians with a consequent setback to the culture and civilization attained. One has only to study the invasions of Egypt, the overthrow of Babylon, the destruction of the Roman Empire by the Goths and Vandals, the invasion of Europe by the Huns, and other similar events of history to realize the truth of

4

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

this statement. The armaments and methods of warfare of the barbarians and the so-called civilized nations were so nearly alike that the latter could not establish their superiority. With the advent of gunpowder and firearms this equality completely disappeared. Civilized man now had an advantage over the barbarian that was difficult to overcome, and slowly but surely he has extended his dominion over practically the entire globe. But the introduction of these means of destruction had a no less marked effect on the inner political condition of the European nations. I t signalled the beginning of the end of the feudal system, which had held a large portion of the people in subjection. It had a levelling effect in the sense that it ended the career of the strong-armed man and lessened the importance of individual prowess. The castles of the robber-barons and the feudal lords were no longer impregnable retreats. On the one hand, the citizenry became less dependent on the protection of petty lords and princes, on the other, it strengthened the powers of honest and efficient central governments and brought about a more perfect national development. In the arts of peace, gunpowder was of less importance and cannot be compared in this respect with high explosives. Indeed, it was only in the first half of the 17th century that black powder began to be used for mining, and towards the end of that century for engineering work, such as the building of roads. As with most inventions that are centuries old, the name of the inventor and even the country of its discovery remain in doubt. The principal claimants for the honor are the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Greeks, the Arabs, the English and the Germans. It is now practically certain that gunpowder was unknown in

" C H I N E S E SNOW"

5

ancient times, since its main constituent, saltpeter, is not mentioned in ancient classical literature, although it is found as an efflorescence on walls, in cellars and in stables. No doubt it was confused with carbonate of soda which is also found in these conditions. The word nitre (nitrum), which we now use in the same sense as saltpeter, then meant soda or sodium carbonate1, and the salts contained in the efflorescences mentioned were unknown in the pure state. The first undisputed mention of the substance we now call saltpeter or nitre2 is found in the writings of the Arabian author Abd Allah (born about 1200 A.D.), who calls it "Chinese snow." How long before this the Chinese knew this substance is uncertain, but there seems to be no doubt that they were not familiar with the use of gunpowder as a propellant or as a blasting agent, although they used saltpeter mixtures in rockets or "Roman candles" as early as the 10th century A.D. and possibly earlier. That they did not know cannon seems certain from the fact that Marco Polo does not mention them, and they were frightened by the firing of three pieces of ordnance which the Portuguese of Macao presented to them. A description of "Roman candles" is found in the annals of the Chinese dynasty Sung, which reads: "In the first year of the period Kai-Khing (1259 A.D.) the spear of the vehement fire (To-lo-tsi-ang) was made. A handful of grains was placed in a long bamboo tube and set on fire. A strong flame came out of it and the grains were ejected with a noise similar to that of a "paos" (mean1 Compare "natron", the German word for soda, which has the same root as nitre, but comes through the Arabic. 2 The word nitre is found twice in the English Bible, but the context clearly indicates that it should read soda: "As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart" (Prov. 25:20); and "Though thou wash thee with nitre and take much soap . . ." (Jer. 2:22).

6

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

ing a stone-throwing engine) and scattered to a distance of 150 paces." This was probably similar to the "spear from which issues an arrow that enters the enemy's breast" of the Arabians which was in use fifty years later, and of which a picture appears in the manuscript of the Arabian Shems Eddin Mohammed (beginning of 14th century) which was preserved in the Asiatic Museum of Petrograd. The Hindoo claim is based on a passage in the Code of Gentoo Laws which is said to date from the time of Moses, but it seems certain that no such interpretation can be placed on it. If cannon had been known at such an early time, no doubt its knowledge would have penetrated to Europe long before the 13th century, as the trade with India was carried on regularly long before this time. Saltpeter occurs naturally in abundance in India, and it was probably known that it would deflagrate with organic substances, but there is quite a step from a deflagrating mixture to a propellant. It is said by Philostratus, who wrote in the 3rd century A.D., that Alexander the Great was deterred from attacking the Oxydracae, a people living between the Hyphasis and the Ganges, because they were aided by the gods and were able "to shoot thunder and lightning from the walls." If this was not a mere legend, it undoubtedly referred to an incendiary composition that was projected by engines in the manner of "Greek Fire." The original "Greek Fire" was certainly not a saltpeter mixture, but an incendiary composition consisting of tow, resin, pitch, sulphur, etc. Thucydides mentions several instances of its use, and later receipts by Vegetius (c. 350 A.D.) mention the addition of petroleum or naphtha. Greek fire, properly so called, was, however, of a somewhat different compo-

"GREEK FIRE"

7

sition. I t is said that in 668 A.D., during the reign of Constantine Pogonatus at Byzantium (648-685), an architect named Callinicus prepared a "wet fire which was thrown out from syphons" (TO 8ia TCOV ffixpawov ex The present superintendent is John William Bankes, whose father, James A. Bankes (1847-1916) was associated with Titman in his powder enterprises. J. W. Bankes was born at Ringtown, Pa., in 1886, learned the powder business in Titman's mills and continued for some time after their purchase by duPont. After a few years' outside work, he re-entered the mills as a laborer in 1911, and became in succession magazine keeper (1918), powder line foreman (1914), assistant superintendent (1916), and superintendent (1919).

158

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

B L A C K D I A M O N D P O W D E R C O M P A N Y . Hugh Titman became president, H . C. Hoover, secretary, and Brumm, treasurer and general manager. After Titman's death his widow, Dora J . Titman, was elected president. In 1911 this company built a second mill, at Suscon, Pa., which has been in successful operation ever since. I t had a serious explosion on December 9, 1922, when 4,000 kegs of powder blew up, destroying the glazing house, wheel mill, packing house and store house. Five men were killed, including Ralph Brumm, the 22-year-old son of the manager, and six were injured. The Suscon plant has a capacity of 300,000 kegs a year and makes "B" blasting powder principally for the coal mines of the Anthracite region. On January 1, 1919, the Haucks mill was sold to E . J . Jacoby, who is now operating it under the firm name of the A N T H R A C I T E P O W D E R COMPANY. 1 This concern has a capacity of 63,000 kegs a year and makes "B" blasting powder for local consumption. U p to 1924 the mill had never had an explosion or fatal accident although there was a fire which destroyed four stock buildings and the power house. T H I R D PERIOD,

1902-1912

In 1899 the former partnership of E . I. duPont de Nemours & Company had become a corporation under the same name.2 This change produced no modifi-

J There had been an earlier Anthracite Powder Company, organized about 1880 by Samuel Sloan, president of the Lackawanna Railroad, with the idea of getting some of the profits on the powder, of which the coal mines of his company used large quantities. Powder was then being sold to the coal operators at about $2 to $2.50 a keg and was resold to the miners at $3 to $3.60 a keg. Soon after Sloan's mill near Scranton started operating, the price of powder at the pitheads was reduced to $1.00 a keg, which caused a loss to the railroad company of $1.00 on each keg, this being the differential to the miners. As a result, Sloan sold his company to the Laflin & Rand and Hazard companies in 1882. No powder was made after this date, but the existence of the company was maintained until 1904. W. S. Colvin of the Hazard Powder Company was president and treasurer from 1882 to 1902. 2 See p. 203.

MODERN METHODS

159

cations of their policies or relations to the other companies in the business, but in 1902 Eugene duPont, who had been the senior partner and was then president of the firm, died and the ownership passed into new hands. The new owners, headed by Coleman duPont as president, set out to simplify the corporate structure of the company. Heretofore they had only manufactured black powder and smokeless powder, but they had held various amounts of stock in a number of other companies and found that they would control most of these concerns if they could acquire the Laflin & Rand company. This was consummated in the same year and as rapidly as possible the balance of stock in the controlled companies was bought or exchanged for shares of the duPont company, their assets transferred to the latter, the affairs of these companies wound up, and the companies formally dissolved. There were at the time over thirty such concerns, each with its president and board of directors, whose policies and methods did not always coincide with those of the parent company. It was found, for instance, that the Hazard Powder Company was shipping fuse powder to the West Coast and allowing a rebate, when the California Powder Works could furnish this not only at the same price to the consumer, but with a better profit to the manufacturer. The next step was to abrogate all existing price agreements with the result that the Gunpowder Trade Association came to an end in 1904. There were some doubts as to the legality of the arrangement of the King Mercantile Company,1 and this arrangement was terminated by the payment of $100,000 to The K i n g P o w d e r Company. The socalled European Agreement between the American explosives manufacturers and those of England and 1 See p. 165.

160

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Germany was also cancelled in 1906 at a cost of $140,000.1 In 1907 the E. I. duPont de N e m o u r s P o w d e r Company controlled about two-thirds of the black blasting powder and three-fourths of the black sporting powder business of the country. In spite of this apparently overwhelming control, many of the other concerns then in existence, although much smaller, continued to prosper, and new ones entered the field. Between the first of the year 1903 and the end of 1909 thirteen new black powder companies with an average daily output of 400 kegs each were organized and started in business. These were, according to Hamilton M. Barksdale's testimony: Name of Company A nnual Business 53,000kegs Black Diamond Powder Company. . . Burton Powder Company 220,000 " Egyptian Powder Company 175,000 " Excelsior Powder Company 200,000 " Jefferson Powder Company 60,000 " Locust Mountain Powder Company. . 45,000 " Nuremberg Powder Company 30,000 " Rand Powder Company of Tennessee 135,000 " Senior Powder Company 172,000 " Tennessee Powder Company 18,000 " United States Powder Company 250,000 " Western Powder Company 125,000 " Total 1,483,000 " Of the above, the history of the Locust Mountain, Nuremberg, Rand and Tennessee powder companies will be found in the appendix. The B U R T O N P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was incorporated on December 9, 1903, under the laws of Pennsylvania by Job Burton, Thomas J. Ohi and Joseph H . 1 See p. 427.

BURTON POWDER COMPANY

161

Riddle, and a mill for the manufacture of "B" blasting powder was built in 1904 near Quakers Falls, six miles from Hillsville.1 This plant is also known as the Lowellville mill from the name of a neighboring Ohio town. It has a capacity of 540,000 kegs a year. In 1917 it was acquired by the Grasselli company,2 with some high explosives plants of the same interests.3 Job Burton 1 (1868-1924) honorary member of the Institute of », i »u i Makers of Explosives, organizer of the Burton Powder Company and the American H i g h Explosives Company, was an outstand. . ! J . J ing figure in the powder industry of his day. H e was a hard worker and a square fighter. H i s influence did much to bring about a kindlier feeling among his competitors.

' J o b Burton (born January 1, > a t Wednesbury, England), came to Sharpsburir, Pa., as a child. H e e n t e r e d t£e p o « d e r b u s i n e s s in 1885 as a salesman for Arthur Kirk & Son of Pittsburgh, Pa., and rose to position of sales man°Ker» continuing until the sale of this concern to the duPonts in 1903. Besides the Burton Powder ComP8."?- he or(|aniied ^the^Americwi ¡„"fgoT.Yn"«?/he TokThis'interests to the Grasselli Powder Cornpany and practically retired from active business. He was one of the four honorary members of the Institute of Makers of Explosives. His knowledge of explosives enabled him to render valuable service at the time of the Johnstown flood in 1890, when he helped to remove debris that was damming up the water, and a little later at Ford City, where he aided in the release of an ice jam which was threatening the town. Burton was a man of genial good nature. His bluff exterior covered a heart of gold that was always ready to respond to human appeals. He had many devoted friends in and out of the powder industry, and his passing 2 away was a matter of sincere regret. See p. 626. * The officers of the Burton Powder Company from its organization to the time of Its merger with the Grasselli Powder Company were: Job Burton, president; J. S. Burton, secretary and treasurer (from 1913, Thomas J . Ohl having held this office until that year). Job Burton died in 1924 and J . S. Burton is now president of the Grasselli Powder Company which operates the plant as its Burton Mill. 1868

162

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The E G Y P T I A N P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was organized in 1903 by a number of coal operators who thought that they were paying too much for their powder and that they could do better with a mill of their own. In this way they believed they would save not only the profit to the powder manufacturer but also the selling expense, as the entire product of their mill would be taken by its stockholders. The leading spirit in the enterprise was F. S. Peabody of the Peabody Coal Company, who became president of the new concern. Other officers were J. B. Cavanaugh, secretary; A. W . Underwood, vice-president, and H . N. Taylor, treasurer. C. E. Bedient, who had operated a number of powder mills, was engaged to build and operate the plant. This was located at Pollard or Marion, Illinois, and was completed early in 1904, but the expected profits did not materialize. The original capital had been $100,000 and this was increased to $150,000 in May 1904, and in January 1907 it was found necessary to ask for another increase of $50,000 to enable the company to remain in business.1 By this time the stockholders had become very much dissatisfied, and a majority of them welcomed an offer from the Equitable Powder Manufacturing Company in May 1907 to buy their stock. The latter company now took over the management of the Marion plant, which had to be remodelled at considerable expense to make it efficient. In this they were so successful that a small dividend was paid in 1908, and this has been maintained at a modest rate. The present capacity of the plant is 390,000 kegs of "B" blasting powder a year. The

EXCELSIOR POWDER

MANUFACTURING

COM-

P A N Y was incorporated in New Jersey on March 16, i One reason for the high cost of the plant was that repeated drillings failed to locate an adequate water supply on the plant site and a supply had to be piped a long distance at considerable expense.

T H E HOLMES PARK MILLS

163

1904, by Frank P. Gorman 1 president, Ellis R. Simpson vice-president, N. G. Taylor secretary and treasurer, and L. A. Miller auditor. Gorman established temporary offices in St. Louis, until machinery was ordered and a plant site purchased. A tract of land was selected at Holmes Park, Missouri, not far from Kansas City, and construction started in June 1904 under the supervision of W . H . Gaffett, who had been superinteindent of the Clippergap mills of the Giant Powder Company. The plant was completed in February 1905 at which time manufacture of "B" blasting powder was started. The company sells its product largely in the states of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. The plant has a capacity of 600,000 kegs a year. The JEFFERSON P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was organized in 1905 in co-operation with the Pratt Coal Company and the Republic Iron & Steel Company to manufacture black powder and high explosives for the mines in the neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama. The president of the new concern was Culpepper Exum, a i Frank Gorman (b. 1860) started in the powder business in 1879 in the St. Louis office of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, with which his uncle Paul D. Maher had been connected from the start. In the following year he joined William McBIair & Co., the St. Louis agents of the Hazard Powder Company. After a short experience in {he railroad contracting' business in Kentucky in 1888, F. L. Kellogg offered him the St. Louis agency of the new Phoenix Powder Company. Gorman thereupon returned to St. Louis, opened an office in the Commercial Building,' and built a magazine. This agency was very successful in spite of the price war that raged from 1891 to 1896. When the Phoenix Powder Company was sold to the associates in 1896 Gorman remained in charge of the sales department until 1903 and also represented the Eastern Dynamite Company. When in that year the consolidation of the various branch offices took place, Gorman felt that he should be given the consolidated St. Louis office, instead of John G. Miller who had been Laflin & Rand agent at Chicago. Since this was not done he resigned and organized his own company. Later he resigned the presidency in favor of William H. Taylor, formerly one of the original financial backers of the Phoenix Company (q. v.).

164

THE

EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

native of the state, and the superintendent C. B. Rogers. Its mill was located one mile beyond Sayreton Townsite of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, about five miles north of B i r m i n g h a m . A fter two years the owners of the Keystone Powder Company acquired an interest in it, and A. C. Blum became vice-president and Sam Rand general manager. In 1915 it E d w a r d Senior, president of was merged with the new the Senior Powder Company Aetna Explosives Comof Cincinnati, Ohio. pany, and in 1921 it became the property of the Hercules Powder Company. It was still in operation as the Birmingham plant of the latter, making both dynamite and black powder until replaced in 1925 by the Bessemer plant. Further details of its history will be found on page 556. T h e SENIOR POWDER COMPANY was incorporated

in April 1904 under the laws of Ohio by E d w a r d Senior, a business man of Cincinnati, 1 who became 1 Edward Senior, born at Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1849, was engaged in the distilling and wood alcohol business in Cincinnati before he went into powder making. Under the name of E. Senior & Son, he is also interested in other enterprises. At the time Senior's company was formed the feelings of the so-called independent powder manufacturers toward the "trust" were very bitter and Senior conceived the idea of forming the independents into a trade association which could take a united stand. He also did everything in his power to improve the relations of the independents with the trust, and later urged a larger trade association which should take in all the explosives manufacturers in the country. The first association was formally organized anfl adopted a constitution and by-laws on May 21, 1906, and was composed of the following members: A j a x Powder Works, *Cressona Powder Mfg. Co, Emporium Powder Mfg. Co., 'Excelsior Powder Mfg. Co., Keystone

T H E MORROW

MILLS

165

president of the company. A plant was built and put into operation the same year on a tract of land on the Little Miami River, about three miles north of Morrow, Ohio. The plant at Morrow has a capacity of 300,000 kegs a year. I t has had two serious accidents; in 1908 the glazing and sizing mills blew up, killing two men, and about ten years later the corning mill exploded with the A. G. Cummings, President of t le loss of one life. 1 ' United States Powder Co. When Norman P . Rood and A . G. Cummings first considered plans to engage in the dynamite manufacturing business, which led later to the organization of the I N D E P E N D E N T P O W D E R C O M P A N Y of Missouri in 1902, they felt that they would sooner Powder Company, Nitro Powder Company, 'Rockdale Powder Company, 'Senior Powder Company, ' U n i t e d States Powder Company, •Burton Powder Company, Cerberite Powder Mfg. Co., Eldred Powder Company, Independent Powder Co. of Mo., George R. McAbee, Pennsylvania Powder Company, *D. C. Rand Powder Company, 'Shamokin Powder Company. In the following year, owing to Senior's efforts, -the duPont company was invited to join the association and the first joint meeting took place at Cincinnati. As a result of these meetings and the mutual exchange of ideas, the bitter feelings, that existed for a time, gradually disappeared. About 1920 Robert M. Senior, born 1880, was made secretary and treasurer and, owing to the advanced age of his father, Edward Senior, he has had virtual charge of the business since that day. ( ' Black Powder.) i The officers of the company since organization have been: president: Edward Senior; vice-president: Max Senior (retired 1921); Charles Iglauer, a son-in-law of Edward Senior (1921 to d a t e ) ; secretarytreasurer: Robert M. Senior; sales manager: Charles C. Alward (19041914) ; W. C. Means (1914-date), who is also second vice-president; superintendent: W. H. Beck (retired 1919), W. A. Kermode (since 1919), who had been the assistant superintendent since the beginning of the plant.

166

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

or later need a black powder mill to round out the business they planned to establish at Joplin.1 Consequently, before they left Terre Haute for Joplin, they placed a contract with a local foundry for the equipment needed for a complete black blasting powder mill. As soon as the dynamite venture had been fairly started, the 2 U N I T E D S T A T E S P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was incorporated in Indiana and an office opened at Terre Haute which still remains the business headquarters of the company. The $100,000 capital stock, with which the company was launched, was promptly subscribed, largely by the coal operators of the district with whom Rood and Cummings were well acquainted through their former connection with the Indiana Powder Company. The first board of directors consisted of Job Freeman of Linton, Indiana, president; M. L. Gould of Indianapolis, Indiana, vice-president; A. G. Cummings, treasurer and general manager; Norman P . Rood, secretary; and J. J. Higgins. Elmer Sarchett, an experienced powder maker formerly employed at the Fontanet mills, was engaged as superintendent. H e has served the United States Powder Company continuously since that time, ending his twenty-first year in that position in 1925. While Rood returned to Joplin immediately after the organization of the new company, Cummings and Sarchett set about to find a location for the new mills. Property was purchased along the Southern Indiana Railway, just west of Coalmont, twenty miles south of Terre Haute, Indiana, and construction started in April 1904. Building had scarcely started before Sarchett came down with smallpox. There being no suitable dwelling or hospital nearby, he was quarantined for the regulation period in a barn on the property. i See p. 529.

= Februarys, 1904.

THE COALMONT & CLINTON M I L L S 167

Clinton Mills of the United States Powder Company. This plant, which was built in 1917, has a capacity of 450,000 kegs a year.

Construction work, though seriously interfered with by Sarchett's illness, was vigorously pushed by Cummings, and on November 10 of the same year the mill produced its first powder. Owing to its favorable location and the close connections of the management with the consuming trade the mill operated practically continuously at capacity from the start. In the first few years of the business a large portion of the output was delivered by horse and wagon to local mines over the then bad roads of Indiana. In winter this was a matter of some difficulty. A t the present time the splendid Indiana roads make the delivery of a large tonnage of powder by the company's "fleet" of five large automobile trucks a comparatively simple matter. However, in order to reduce delivery expense and improve its service, the company built a second mill in 1917 near Clinton, Indiana, about twenty miles north of Terre Haute on the C. & E. I. Railway. This mill has now a capacity of 450,000 kegs per annum, the same as the Coalmont mill, and has been as successful as the latter.

168

THE

EXPLOSIVES

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Upon the death of Job Freeman in 1918, Cummings was elected president, which office he still holds. The other officers are H. M. Ferguson, vice-president; A. G. Cummings, treasurer; M. Boucher, secretary; Homer Talley, W. J. Freeman and J. J. Higgins complete the board of directors. James F. Jones, formerly connected with the Hercules Powder Company, was appointed sales manager in 1920. The WESTERN POWDER COMPANY was organized in 1908 by F. W. Olin, president of the Equitable Powder Manufacturing Company, to take over the property of the Buckeye Powder Company and operate it. The latter had been started by R. S. Waddell, who had been general agent of the Hazard Powder Company for about twenty years, until Coleman, Pierre and Alfred duPont took over the old duPont company. Waddell had been more or less disgruntled because the regulation of powder sales and contracts by the Gunpowder Trade Association had taken away some of the powers of the local agents, and he became more disgusted when Coleman duPont started to consolidate the branch offices of his different companies to supply powder from the nearest mills, instead of giving the business to the mills that had had it heretofore. Coleman had also strictly forbidden all price cutting and rebates, in which Waddell was an adept. During his stay in Cincinnati, and later as general sales agent in Wilmington, Waddell had become thoroughly familiar with the duPont trade and had also been in the midst of some of the severest competition. Fortified with this knowledge, he decided to enter the powder business on his own account, with the idea that if he could not make a success of it, he could at least sell out to the duPonts, as many others had done while he was with that company.

THE EDWARDSVILLE MILLS

169

I t appears from the evidence in the dissolution suit that Coleman duPont offered to go into the business with him. A tentative contract between the two men, drawn up by Coleman, stipulated that Waddell should furnish 51% of the capital and the powder company (Laflin & Rand) 49%, that Waddell should name three directors and the powder company the other two, that a 1200 keg mill should be built at a place to be agreed upon, and that Waddell should make 250,000 kegs of powder a year which were to be sold through one of duPont's companies. Waddell was to receive a guaranteed price of $1.00 a keg for this powder and a salary of $10,000 a year as president. H e was also to pledge 2% of his stock for the faithful performance of his contract which further provided that he should not sell his powder directly or engage in the powder business elsewhere. The negotiations failed, as the parties could not agree on a location for the mill, and Waddell left the duPont company in 1903 and selected a site near Peoria, Illinois, at a place called Edwardsville or Edward's Station. Later he claimed that the duPonts had stirred up the inhabitants, where he wanted to build, against the erection of a powder plant, and that they had also tied up the manufacturers of p o w d e r m a c h i n e r y by contracts which forbid the manufacturers to furnish machinery to anyone but themselves. Nevertheless, he completed his plant and started operations with two pairs of wheels in November 1903.1 For the first two years i Waddell seems to have had some idea of entering the smokeless powder business too, as he, together with G. W. Gentieu, took out two patents (806,131 and 808,036) for a process and apparatus for breaking up moist nitrocellulose with compressed air, spraying with a watersoluble solvent and granulating by agitation with compressed air. Gentieu in the next two years, apparently still working for Waddell at Peoria, obtained three additional patents (832,605, 837,468, 856,859) along similar lines and two patents (868,919 and 871,395) for picrate powders. This work did not go beyond the experimental stage.

170

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Waddell claims to have made a profit, although: a small one, but after 1905 the price declined gradually to as low as 95c a keg, at which figure he was unable to compete. This low figure was reached in 1907, when the country as a whole was suffering from a panic and the price of powder had gone very low. On the other hand, it was claimed that Waddell had not made an earnest effort to produce powder, that he had found it more profitable to resell saltpeter, which he had bought at a low figure, rather than to make it up into powder. Waddell had been careful to preserve copies of all orders instructing him, while he was still a Hazard agent, to cut prices or to fight competition, as well as all documents tending to show a concerted action by the old Gunpowder Trade Association 1 in the maintenance of prices. With this ammunition he went to the United States Department of Justice in 1907 and accused the duPont company of violation of the Sherman Act of 1890. As a result, the Government on J u l y 31, 1907, instituted suit against this company and others, asking that they be restrained from committing further unlawful acts contravening this act. Waddell, however, was at the end of his resources, and in the following year he sold his plant, which he claimed had cost him $118,385.94, to F . W. Olin, president of the Equitable Powder Company, and Almon Lent, president of the Austin Powder Company, for $75,000. Olin spent another $100,000 in improving and enlarging the plant and continues to operate it under the name of Western Powder Company. Waddell then started suit on his own account against the E . I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company, the Eastern Dynamite Company and the International i This association had been dissolved in June 1904. See p. 159.

DuPONT COMPANY SUED

171

Smokeless Powder & Chemical Company, alleging that his failure in the powder business was due to unlawful conspiracy and competition on the part of the defendants and alleging that he had been injured to the extent of $404,428.07; he asked for triple damages as provided for in the act. The case was tried in the Federal District Court at Trenton, N . J., and on February 25, 1914, the jury returned a verdict, in favor of all the defendants, of no cause of action. In the meantime the so-called dissolution suit had been tried and decided. The defendants included, besides E . I. duPont de Nemours & Company, all the companies owned or controlled by it that had not been previously dissolved, some of its individual directors and the former members of the Gunpowder Trade Association and parties to other trade agreements.1 The Government's petition recited at length the activities of the Gunpowder Trade Association and the events leading up to the formation of the various duPont companies. It charged that all the acts recited had been for the purpose of stifling or eliminating 1 The petition cites as defendants E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company of New Jersey, duPont International Powder Company, Delaware Securities Company, California Investment Company, Delaware Investment Company, The Hazard Powder Company, Laflin & Rand Powder Company, Eastern Dynamite Company, E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company of Delaware, E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company of Pennsylvania, Hie King Powder Company, Austin Powder Company of Cleveland, California Powder Works, Conemaugh Powder Company, Fairmont Powder Company, International Smokeless Powder & Chemical Company, Judson Dynamite & Powder Company of California, Metropolitan Powder Company, Peyton Chemical Company, The Aetna Powder Company, The American E. C. & Schultze Gunpowder Company, Limited, The American Powder Mills, The Anthony Powder Company, Limited, The Equitable Powder Manufacturing Company, The Miami Powder Company, Alexis I. duPont, Alfred I. duPont, Eugene duPont, Eugene E. duPont, Henry A. duPont, Harry F. duPont, Ir£n£e duPont, Frances I. duPont, Pierre S. duPont, Thomas Coleman duPont, Victor duPont, Jr., Jonathan A. Haskell, Arthur J . Moxham, Hamilton M. Barksdale, Henry F. Baldwin, Edmond G. Buckner, and Frank L. Connable. (This is the list as it is given on the title page of the Pleadings.)

172

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

competition, alleging that at this time the duPont company controlled the following percentages of the explosives business of the country: Black blasting powder 64% Saltpeter blasting powder 72% Black Sporting powder 74% Dynamite 72% Smokeless sporting powder 64% Smokeless military powder . 100% To relieve this condition it prayed the court to restrain the defendants from carrying out the agreements alleged to exist between them and to force them to refrain from further restraints of trade. Specifically it asked that the various duPont holding companies be forced to give up their control of various subsidiaries. The trial lasted several years, and the testimony and exhibits offered by the Government and the defendants filled volumes. The defense insisted that the various acts alleged to have been unlawful were not done with illegal intent, that the companies and mills of competitors were acquired because they were advantageously located and it was cheaper to buy them than to put up mills of their own. I t also stressed the fact that the defendants were primarily engaged in the manufacture of explosives and not in interstate trade. The Court finally dismissed the complaint as to the Aetna, Miami, American, Equitable, Austin, King, Anthony, E . C. & Schultze, Peyton, California, Conemaugh, duPont 1 and International Smokeless comi This was the E. I. duPont Company (later changed to E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company) of Delaware, which was organized on August 1, 1908, to act as an intermediary in the transfer of the properties of the 1912 Delaware corporation (E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company) and its subsidiaries to the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder

ATLAS AND NEW HERCULES

173

panies and Henry A. duPont and Henry F . Baldwin. The remaining defendants were adjudged guilty of maintaining a combination in restraint of interstate commerce in powder and other explosives in violation of the Sherman Act and were enjoined from continuing this combination and monopoly. To carry out this decree the Court, by consent of counsel for the government and for the defendants, ordered the dissolution of certain of the defendant corporations and a re-grouping of the properties of the duPont companies in three corporations, which might be either the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company (of 1903, New Jersey corporation), the Laflin & Rand Powder Company and the Eastern Dynamite Company, or the same duPont company and two new corporations. I n the latter case the Laflin & Rand Powder Company and the Eastern Dynamite Company were to be dissolved. The latter alternative was chosen, and the Hercules Powder Company and the Atlas Powder Company were organized in Delaware in 1912. The stock of the new companies, and one-half of the bonds paid as a purchase price to the duPont company, were distributed to the old stockholders with the restriction that only one-half of the stock issued to the individual defendants in the suit should have the voting power. I n addition to the plants mentioned in the decree the new companies were given a fair proportion of the business then controlled by the duPont company and sufficient working capital. Company of New Jersey (org. 1908). When its purpose was accomplished in July 1907, it was dissolved, a short time before the suit was started. Under the laws of the state, however, dissolved corporations, although they can do no business, are continued for a time for the purpose of suing and being sued. (See U. S. v. duPont, Pleadings, pp. 125 and 298-803.)

C H A P T E R VII. E. I. D u P O N T D E N E M O U R S & C O M P A N Y

E

I. D u P O N T D E N E M O U R S & COMP A N Y 1 is the largest as well as the oldest company manufacturing explosives in the United States. It can look back over an unbroken history of over one hundred and twenty years and has the unique distinction that during this long period a member of the same family, indeed, with the exception of three years following immediately upon the death of its founder, a man by the name of duPont has always been at the head of its affairs. Eleuthere Irenee duPont, the founder of the business and the younger son of Pierre-Samuel duPont de Nemours 2 (1739-1817) and Nicole Charlotte Marie Louise Le Dee de Roccourt, was born at Paris on June 24, 1771. His father was an eminent economist of the physiocratic school and president of the Constituent Assembly of France in 1790.3 Irenee was educated largely at home under the supervision of his mother and early evinced a predilection for scientific pursuits, especially for agriculture and botany. A t the age of eighteen he was sent to Essone, where the prin1 This account is largely based on E. I. duPont de Nemours 12 -q a jj a a •J
a 2

e J Q2 -Ui;; CO 1 £! «3 a- < X «a s

a«

3

**

u

1 j Kg J as ®
See p. 954.

EARLY "SAFETY" EXPLOSIVES

343

flame from blowing out of the borehole by placing a water cartridge above the charge. Settle perfected this arrangement by enclosing the explosive charge in a water cartridge1 in which it was held centrally by a system of wire rings and stays. Moist moss, wet sand or kieselguhr, etc., were also proposed and used for tamping, as was also a water curtain in front of the borehole. These methods, while satisfactory as a rule when properly carried out, depended too much on the care and responsibility of the individual miner, and efforts were therefore made to devise explosives which would be safe in this respect without special methods of loading. The first step along this line was to mix salts containing water of crystallization, such as carbonate of soda (NaaCCh lOHzO), magnesium sulphate (MgSO47H2O), or alum, or salts which on heating give off gases and thus reduce the temperature of the explosion, such as ammonium oxalate, sodium bicarbonate, etc., with nitroglycerine and kieselguhr. "Wetter" dynamites or "grisoutites" 2 of this type have practically gone out of use. Another type was the "Carbonite" group developed by Bichel in 1887. These are low grade dynamites containing 25-30% nitroglycerine and 25-40% each of meal and potassium or sodium nitrate. Their low explosion temperature is due to incomplete combustion (to carbon monoxide) and they can therefore be

1 Later investigations showed that while the length and duration of the flame are the most important factors, especially in the case of black powder, other factors also have considerable influence. Among them are the pressure developed, the strength, the velocity of detonation, the heat and temperature developed, and the size of the charge. The theory of safety explosives has been treated by Heise in Sprengttoff« und Ziindung far Sprengtchutte (1904), by Dr. W. O. Snelling in Bulletin IS of the U. S. Bureau of Mines (1912), and by Kast in 8preng-und ZUndttoff» (1921). 2 So-called from the German (Wetter or Schlag-wetter) and French (grisoa) words for fire damp.

344

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

used only in well ventilated mines. Gelatinized carbonites were also made at a later date. Explosives of the carbonite style are only in limited use in the United States, although they are on the "permissible" list of the Bureau of Mines. The type of safety or more correctly permissible explosive most widely used in America is a class of ammonium nitrate explosives containing relatively small amounts of nitroglycerine and wood meal. I t was also found that the replacement of part of the ammonium nitrate by sodium chloride or sodium nitrate permitted the use of larger charges without igniting gas or dust. 1 Gelatinized permissibles have been introduced in the United States only within the past two years. Although this country was in the front rank in the development of graded dynamites with active base, it was rather slow to take up the study and application of these "safety explosives." U p to 1902 only small quantities of so-called "flameless" (Wetter type) powders had been made and used here. General Oliver, veteran black powder manufacturer of Laurel Run, Pennsylvania, who also had a small dynamite factory, was undoubtedly the first to make such explosives. His flameless powder was a low grade dynamite to which finely ground salts containing water of crystallization were added. When the duPonts acquired his business they continued to manufacture this powder for a time, but in 1902 they took steps to attack this problem more vigorously. Dr. Charles L. Reese, their chemical director, was sent to Europe to study the situation and the progress that had been made there since the appointment of their "Fire Damp" i For a fuller discussion of this development in America see Charles L. Reese, "Twenty-five Years' Progress in Explosives", an address delivered at the Franklin Institute Centennial, Philadelphia, 1921.

PERMISSIBLE EXPLOSIVES

345

commissions. As a result of his investigations, testing apparatus developed by Bichel, Schmidt and Mittegang, including the pressure gauge, calorimeter, apparatus for determining the velocity of detonation and for photographing and measuring the length and duration of the flames, were installed at the Eastern laboratories of the company in 1904. The German Carbonite and the English Monobel types were chosen as the most satisfactory representatives of this class of explosives and their manufacture started. A few years later the United States Government, through the efforts of Dr. Joseph Austin Holmes, also turned its attention to the problem of permissible explosives. Since 1904 and 1905 respectively there had been in existence in the United States Geological Survey two divisions—the one charged with the testing of fuels and the other with the testing of structural materials. In 1907 they were consolidated as the Technologic Branch of the Survey under Dr. Holmes as chief technologist. H e realized that coal mine accidents were a factor to be reckoned with in determining the extent and availability of our fuel resources, and in line with this idea he obtained authorization to study this problem of safeguarding life in coal mines. Beginning in July 1907 Dr. Holmes and his associates, Clarence Hall and Rollin T. Chamberlain, started to investigate the causes and results of a number of disastrous coal mine explosions in the United States. In connection with this work, Clarence Hall as explosives engineer and Dr. Walter O. Snelling 1 i Dr. Walter Otheman Snelling, born December 13, 1880, at Washington, D. C., was educated at George Washington University, Harvard and Yale. From 1907 to 1912 he was explosives chemist of the Technologic Branch of the U. S. Geological Survev and its successor, the. Bureau of Mines. During this time he invented among other things the waterproof detonator which is now in general use, a densimeter for determining the absolute density of black powder, and the sand test which is now regarded as the most dependable test for the strength of deton-

346

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

as explosives chemist, under the advice of Professor Charles E . Munroe who had had wide experience with explosives, made a study of the methods employed in American and foreign countries to prevent their occurrence. The first result of this study was a bulletin1 Coal Mine Accidents, their Causes and Prevention by Hall and Snelling, which pointed out the need for testing work on explosives in this country similar to that done in Europe. There was very little money available for this work, and the Technologic Branch had no laboratory in which it could be carried on. Nevertheless, a beginning was made by Dr. Snelling in a large room on the second floor of the laboratory of George Washington University which had been put at his disposal through the kindness of Professor Munroe. Congress supplied the needed funds the next year by passing a special appropriation for investigating the causes of mine explosions, but this was not sufficient to provide buildings to house this important work. Permission was, however, obtained from the War Department to use the old arsenal grounds and buildings at 40th and Butler Streets, Pittsburgh, and in the late summer of 1908 actual work was undertaken to convert these buildings to their new uses. In the lower part of the grounds a ballistic pendulum and a testing gallery were erected, as well as other apparatus, such as a Bichel gauge, impact machine, cameras for recording the flames of explosives, etc. The testing gallery consisted of a steel plate tube, 100 feet long and 6 feet in diameter, provided with a mortar at one end from which charges of explosives could be fired into explosive mixtures of gas and air, or coal dust ators. In 1912 he resigned to carry on private investigations on oils and explosives. Since 1917 he has been director of research of the Trojan Powder Company. i U. S. Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 333.

PITTSBURGH TESTING STATION 347 and air. In the meantime the analysis of the various explosives on the American market at that time was started in the old army warehouse1 in the upper part of the grounds by the chemical staff which had been increased to three through the appointment of Archibald L. Hyde, formerly of the California Vigorite Powder Company, and Hugo Schlatter, formerly of the Naval Powder Factory, as assistant explosives chemists. As has been mentioned above, European countries had been devoting time and attention to this problem since the eighties and had gained considerable experience. Dr. Holmes and George S. Rice, the first mining engineer of the division, therefore went to Europe to study European testing stations while construction work was going on at Pittsburgh. To profit as much as possible from this experience, James R. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, invited the foremost European authorities to come to the United States and study conditions. As a result of this invitation, Dr. Holmes brought back with him late in August 1908, Victor Watteyne, Inspector-General of mines of Belgium, Arthur Desborough, H.M. Inspector of Explosives of England, and Carl Meissner, Councillor of Mines of Germany. A series of meetings were held in Pittsburgh and later these experts, accompanied by George S. Rice, visited representative mines in the larger coal fields and drafted recommendations which were published as Bulletin 369, U. S. Geol. Survey.2

On December 3,1908, the Pittsburgh Testing Sta1

This work was carried on under difficulties, as there was at that time nothing but a bare building. There was not even a water connection, and all the water, even that used for condenser purposes in ether extractions, had to be carried from the stable in the rear of the building. However, carpenters, pipefitters and other workmen soon appeared on the scene, and by fall a laboratory well equipped for the work had been completed. 2 Reprinted as Bu. of Mines Technical Paper 21, 1912, 12 pp.

348

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

tion was formally opened by the Hon. James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior, with a public demonstration of the tests in the gas and dust galleries, the ballistic pendulum and the flame test apparatus, which were to be the regular work of the station. A month later the director of the Geological Survey notified the manufacturers of explosives in the United States that any explosives they might desire to submit would be officially tested for admissibility to a list of "permissible" explosives, i.e., permissible for use in gaseous or dusty mines. The response was immediate. During the year 134 samples were submitted, 64 were examined, and of these 36 passed the tests required to place them on the list. The value of the work was so apparent that the Technologic Branch was raised to the status of an independent bureau in the Interior Department by the act of May 16, 1910, which created the United States Bureau of Mines "to make diligent investigations of the methods of mining, especially in relating to the safety of miners, the use of explosives and the prevention of accidents, and other matters relating to mining." Dr. Holmes was appointed to be the first director of the new bureau. He died on July 13,1915, before his work was completed, but his ideals and ideas still provide inspiration for the Bureau of Mines. The quarters in the old arsenal before long proved inadequate, and in 1916 a new building was erected in the Schenley Park Section of Pittsburgh, which houses the chemical laboratory, the offices and files, and the mine safety section which has charge of mine rescue work and equipment. A t Bruceton, 1^4 miles from Pittsburgh, there is another laboratory in which the physical tests are carried out which determine the permissibility of explosives. Here there is also an ex-

T H E B U R E A U OF MINES

349

This photograph was taken at the time work was commenced on the Bureau of Mines' Station at Pittsburgh. It shows many of the men who were prominent in the Bureau's early activities. From left to right they are: W. O. Snelling; J. W. Paul; Clarence Hall; Joseph B. Holmes, first Director of the Bureau; George Otis Smith, Director of the U. S. Geological Survey; Victor Watteyne, Inspector General of Mines, Belgium; Carl Meissner, Counselor for Mines, Germany; next but one, Col. B. W. Dunn, Chief Inspector, Bureau of Explosives; Charles £ . Munroe, Chief Explosives Chemist, Bureau of Mines; J. C. Roberts; Arthur Desborough, H. M. Inspector of Explosives, England; J. L. Cochrane; and H. M. Wilson.

perimental coal mine where experiments on the explosibility of various coal dusts are made and different methods for the prevention of coal dust and gas explosions are tried out. The mine is also used for training men in mine rescue work. The Bureau is also doing a very helpful work through its educational bulletins on such subjects as state regulations of the use and storage of explosives in mines, on mining equipment, mine ventilation, production statistics, etc. Its first instruction book for coal miners, which appeared in 1909, is still a classic on the subject.1 Dr. Munroe who had been the consulting chemist on this work, was chiefly responsible for developing the basic methods of analysis of explosives in use at the Bureau. These were later elaborated under his guidance by Walter O. Snelling, C. G. 1

C. E. Munroe and Clarence Hall, a Primer on Explosives for Coal Miners, Bull. 423, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, reprinted as Bull. 17, Bureau of Mines. For others see Bureau of Mines list of publications.

350

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

I n J u l y 1907 the Technological Branch of the U n i t e d S t a t e s Geological S u r v e y under D r . J o s e p h A. H o l m e s w a s directed b y the S e c r e t a r y of t h e Interior to investigate the causes of coal mine accidents in the U n i t e d States. T h i s resulted in the establ i s h i n g of this Government testing station in Pittsburgh.

Storm and others, and published for the trade. During the war the Bureau was charged with the carrying out of the federal act requiring the licensing of manufacturers, sellers and users of explosives, and after the war it recommended the use of excess military explosives for road and farm work. After the death of Dr. Holmes in 1915, Van H . Manning was appointed director and served until June, 1920. H e was succeeded by Dr. F. G. Cottrell who resigned January 1, 1921, then H . Foster Bain until 1925.1 The present director is Scott Turner. While it would thus seem that dynamite had reached a high state of perfection, the high freezing point of nitroglycerine presented certain disadvantages. Although nitroglycerine exists in two forms, the one i During this time the Pittsburgh station has been under the supervision of the following men: 1907-1909, J. C. Roberts; 1910-1915, H. M. Wilson; 1916-1917, Lawson Stone; 1918-1919, C. A. Lyon; 1920, E. A. Holbrook; 1921, A. C. Fieldner. The physical and the chemical tests on explosives have been directed by the following: Explosives Engineers: 1907-1913, Clarence Hall ; 1914-1922, S. P. Howell ; 1922, J. E. Crawshaw ; Explosives Chemists: 1907-1912, W. O. Snelling; 1913-1915, C. G. Storm; 1916-1919, W. C. Cope; 1920, W. J. Huff; 1921, C. A. Taylor.

LOW FREEZING DYNAMITES

351

The Bureau of Mines Gallery for studying mine explosions.

freezing at 1.9°C. and the other at 13°C.\ the former easily reverts to the latter and is never found in dynamites. It is true that, in spite of the high freezing point, it often will not freeze at lower temperatures, exhibiting the phenomenon of super-cooling, but once frozen, it is equally difficult to melt. While Mowbray and others had found that nitroglycerine in the frozen state is less sensitive than the liquid, and that frozen dynamites are only incompletely detonated by a blasting cap, dynamites seem to be in a sensitive condition while being thawed out, and many accidents have occurred, either on account of this fact or through incautious thawing in front of open fires or on top of hot stoves, instead of by the slower but safer method of hot water thawing cabinets.2 Early attempts were therefore made to lower the freezing point of nitroglycerine by the addition of other substances. The first seems to have been made

1 Determined at the Eastern Laboratories of the duPont company by Harold Hibbert ( V I I I Int. Congress of Applied Chemistry, New York, 1912, IV, 87). 2 One of the earliest accidents of the kind recorded in America (Sei. Am., New Series, 1867, X V I I , 877), occurred on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, near South Bergen, N. J . The cans of froxen nitroglycerine were placed in water and red hot iron bars were plunged into the water to raise the temperature. On one occasion the nitroglycerine exploded, killing several laborers and demolishing the building.

352

T H E EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

1

by A. E . Rudberg who added benzol or nitrobenzol. Others proposed methyl and ethyl nitrate and the acetines*, ortho-nitrotoluene3, iso-amyl nitrate 4 , the nitrates of polymerized glycerine1, and the use of dinitroglycerine * in place of part of the usual trinitroglycerine. I n America Carl W . Volney had patented as early as 1872 an explosive consisting of 3 parts of nitrobenzol or nitrotoluene and 7 parts of nitroglycerine' and in 1877 Otto Burstenbinder claimed an explosive that would not freeze at low temperatures for which purpose he added 8% glycocoll to his absorbent of pith or sponge.8 In 1895 F . G. A. Broberg of Emporium, Pennsylvania, patented 9 a low-freezing explosive, containing mononitronaphthalene, which was put on the market by the Nitro Powder Company but was unsatisfactory as it was rather insensitive. The earlier patents were not practical on account of the volatility of the added substances, and polymerized glycerine could not be used on account of manufacturing difficulties until S. H . Fleming of the duPont company worked out a satisfactory production method.10 Dinitroglycerine had the disadvantage of being water soluble, but its chlorine substitution product, dinitrochlorhydrine, is extensively used in Europe for low-freezing dynamites and was also used in this country for a time by some of the smaller companies. The first really successful low-freezing dynamites were introduced in this country about 1907 by the duPont company and contained 20 to 25 parts of the liquid isomers of T N T dissolved in the nitroglycerine, 1 Swedish Patent of April 80, 1866. 2 Nobel, Swedish Patent of July 8, 1876. s A. W. Wahlenberg and K. J. Sundstrom, April 13, 1877. * Liebert, German Patent No. 61,022 (1889). s Wohl, German Patent No. 58,957 (1890). • Mikolajczak, German Patent application No. 25,176 (Aug. 15,1903). J U. S. Patent No. 124,397. » U. S. Patent No. 542,724. » U. S. Patent No. 190,954. io U. S. Patent No. 978,443 of 1910.

TETRANITRODIGLYCERINE

353

giving a mixture which freezes around 30° F. As the supply of this material was limited, substitutes were developed, first through the direct nitration of toluene to a mixture of the mono-, di- and tri-nitro-derivatives, and then, more satisfactorily, through the nitration of solvent naptha, which consisted at that time principally of xylene, toluene and some mesitylene. Many millions of pounds of low-freezing explosives containing this mixture were sold and accepted by the trade, but they were not quite satisfactory on account of odor and staining of the wrapper. As a consequence, after the manufacture of TNT had been established (1909) and the cost reduced sufficiently by tonnage production, this explosive was used instead of the former mixture, until the World War forced a conservation of toluene for military purposes. In 1911 nitrated mixtures of glycerine and sugar were introduced1 with or without TNT. Though the calculated freezing point of this new liquid known as "nitrohydrene" was not much below that of nitroglycerine, it exhibited a marked resistance to freezing, even at temperatures lower than 0° F., and these explosives have found extended use in America. As stated above, the duPont company succeeded (in 1910) in developing a practical method for the production of diglycerine or glycerol ether, which is one of the polymerized glycerines suggested by Wohl in 1890, as well as for the nitration of these polymers. Tetranitrodiglycerine is particularly useful in permissibles and gelatine dynamites to which the other methods of lowering the freezing point had not been applied. Mixtures of this with nitroglycerine have been frozen at extremely low temperatures, but dynamites containing them have successfully resisted i Woodbury, U. S. Pat. No. 1,1*9,487.

354

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

freezing even under storage conditions in the very low temperatures experienced in the Northwest. A more recent development is the new nitroglycol.1 Brief mention should also be made of a few other types of explosives which do not contain nitroglycerine, but were used at one time or another in America. First among these in point of time is the Sprengel class. These explosives, which were patented by Dr. Hermann Sprengel in England in 18712 consisted of an oxidizing substance, such as chlorates, perchlorates, nitrates or nitric acid, and a combustible substance such as nitronaphthalene, nitroaniline, picric acid, benzol, nitrobenzol, alcohol, ether or oils. They differed from the usual powders in the fact that one of the ingredients chosen was liquid and that the mixture was made immediately before use. One type, represented by Oxonite and Hellhoffite, had fuming nitric acid as the liquid component, but found little use on account of the difficulty of handling this corrosive substance. This type was not used at all in America. The other type was represented by Rack-a-rock, the invention of Silas R. Divine of Loch Sheldrake, N. Y.a Although this was not patented until 1881, it seems from a caveat deposited in the United States Patent Office by Divine on January 7, 1871, that he anticipated Sprengel who obtained provisional protection in England on April 6 of the same year. Racka-rock, as manufactured by the Rendrock Powder Company, consisted of a paper or cloth cartridge of potassium chlorate which was dipped into nitrobenzol immediately before use. Two hundred and forty thousand pounds of this material were used by General 1 Ind. $ Eng. Chem. (Easton), 18 (1926), p. 1195. 2 Brit. Pat. 921/1871 (Provisional) and 2,642/1871. 3 U . S. Pat. 243,432 and 248,433 of 1881; 289,755, 289,756 ; 289,757; 289,758 ; 289,759 ; 289,760 ; 289,761; 289,762 ; 289,768; 289,764 and 289,765

G U N C O T T O N A N D N I T R O S T A R C H 355 Newton in the Flood-Rock blast in New York harbor in October 1885, together with 75,000 pounds of No. 1 dynamite. 1 The explosive was rather insensitive and the dipping proved inconvenient, so that Rack-a-rock never attained much commercial importance in U. S. A. I t was, however, used for many years as a demolition explosive by the U. S. Army. Guncotton, as such, never had any commercial use in America as a blasting explosive, but a mixture with barium nitrate was made and sold for a short time in California by the Tonite Powder Company.2 In recent years nitrocellulose in the form of ground smokeless powder has been introduced as an ingredient in low grade blasting powders, such as Dumorite and Pyrotol, 3 but only to use up the smokeless powder left over from the war. Nitrostarch, which is closely allied to nitrocellulose, always appeared attractive as an ingredient of explosives, since it cannot freeze as nitroglycerine; but it was only in the early years of this century that it became possible to make it of sufficient stability. The duPont company put out a brand of "Arctic" powders and the Trojan Powder Company certain nonfreezing powders which contain nitrostarch. Another recent development, which received a fresh impetus in Germany and Austria during the war on account of the nitrogen shortage, is the use of liquid oxygen. This might be called a Sprengel type of explosive, as the liquid oxygen and carbon black or other carbonaceous material are mixed immediateof 1888. Different combustible substances are specified. i See text p. 647, illustration p. 1027. * See p. 654. 3 Sodatol was a somewhat similar agricultural explosive made largely of TNT and nitrate of soda in approximately equal parts. It was designed to overcome the difficulty of using straight picric acid and straight TNT as a blasting explosive. It is fully as powerful as 40 per cent dynamite. See Sodatol, a New Agricultural Explotive. A. J. Adams, Mich. Agr. Expt. Sta., Quart. Bui. 6, No. 2, 52, 53 (1928).

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T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

ly before use. But, outside of the Pachuca mines in Mexico, this method has been little used in America.1 Having surveyed rapidly the development of dynamite from the standpoint of composition, it becomes necessary to speak briefly of improvements in manufacturing processes. As was natural with a new industry the methods of making nitroglycerine were very crude in the early days, as may be seen from the directions for making nitroglycerine published in the Scientific American:2 "Smoking nitric acid is mixed in a sandstone trough standing in cold water, with double its weight of concentrated sulphuric acid, while at the same time a quantity of glycerine, exempt from either lime or lead, is evaporated in a caldron to the consistency of syrup, making from 30° to 31° Beaumes areometer. When this glycerine is perfectly cool, 500 gms. of it are slowly poured into a glass balloon immersed in cold water and containing 3300 gms. of the mixture of acids, which must also be cold. While this is doing, the liquid must be well stirred. I t is then left to -stand for ten minutes, after which it is poured into about six times its bulk of cold water, which is made to turn round all the time. The nitroglycerine is immediately precipitated in the shape of a heavy oil, which is separated by decantation and then bottled." Although these directions did not mention the necessity of careful washing and neutralizing, to which Professor Charles A. Seely of New York, George M. Mowbray, and others called attention,3 some ni1 See p. 978. 2 New Series, Sept. 22,1866, X V , 195, R e p r i n t f r o m London Mining J I. 3 Seely in Scientific American, X I V , 410 (1866), where he also suggests that a small quantity of a powdered neutralizing agent be kept suspended in the nitroglycerine to make it safe in storage; Mowbray in his book on Tri-Nitro-Qlycerine.

NORTH CAROLINA FACTORY

357

troglycerine, perhaps considerable quantities for those days, was made in America in this way. Charles L. Kalmbach of Charlotte, N. C., for instance, reports to the same journal 1 that he had followed these instructions, except that he used a little less glycerine, and had "used it almost daily (since the article was published) without mishap." H e evidently continued to work with nitroglycerine, for in 1874 he took out a U. S. patent 2 for "Fulgurite" which consisted of 4 to 1 parts of corn meal and 6 to 9 parts of nitroglycerine. H e claimed that the addition of carbon in this form "sensibly assisted" the nitroglycerine. A method that was in use by the "moonlighters" of the Pennsylvania oil fields as late as 1882 is perhaps typical. The nitroglycerine factory of Casterline & Young near Bradford, Pennsylvania, begun in 1879, consisted of a small wooden shed so situated that the water from a small stream could be run through a wooden trough in the center of the shed. The trough held ten five-gallon crocks of earthenware, in each of which about 40 pounds of mixed acid were placed. A t the side of each crock stood a pitcher with about five pounds of glycerine. The operator passed from one crock to another, pouring a little glycerine into each and stirring with a stick until he came to the end of the line when he would start again at the beginning, thus giving each crock a chance to cool off between additions of the glycerine. When the glycerine was all used up, the contents of the crocks were poured into a large tub of water while a second man stirred vigorously with a wooden paddle. The weak acid water was then drawn off from the top, while the nitroglycerine remained on the bottom of the tub 1 8cL Am., Nov. 17, 1866, XV, 335. 2 No. 163,086. Later he also patented an electric fuze (U. S. Fat. No.

16V21).

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T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

and was washed with several changes of fresh water. With the arrangement described it was possible to make about 400 pounds of nitroglycerine in a day. George M. Mowbray, who was really the first to make nitroglycerine successfully in commercial quantities in America, describes his lay-out and process in his book on Tri-Nitro-Glycerine. While he worked in small individual units, he introduced many improvements over the method just described and exercised at least some chemical control. H e had in use 116 stone pitchers, each holding 17 pounds of a mixture of two parts sulphuric and one part nitric acid, which were arranged in nine wooden troughs. The troughs were filled with ice-cold water or with ice and salt. On shelves above the troughs there were an equal number of glass jars, each holding two pounds of chemically pure glycerine which was allowed to fall drop by drop into the corresponding pitcher through a siphon made of glass and rubber tubing. Below the shelf there was a 2^4" pipe through which cold air was supplied under pressure. The air was distributed to the various pitchers through ^4" glass tubes which were connected with the pipe by means of rubber tubing. Nitration required from 1 t o 2 hours and the attention of three men whose duty it was to test the mixture with a thermometer and to regulate the flow of glycerine accordingly. When nitration was complete, the pitchers were emptied into a large wooden tank filled with water. This "drowning" tank extended through the floor into a basement and had an inclined bottom, so that the nitroglycerine, after drawing off the acid water, could easily run into a wooden swinging tub, in shape somewhat like an old-fashioned butter-churn, but a good deal larger in diameter. Here it was washed three times with plain water and

I M P R O V E M E N T IN Y I E L D

359

twice with weak soda solution, while a current of air kept it in agitation. The wash waters ran through three settling barrels before running to waste, and here a small quantity of nitroglycerine was thus collected and saved. After it had settled for three days and any scum had been skimmed off, the nitroglycerine was drawn into paraffine-lined tin cans of 56 pounds each and frozen, in which condition it was shipped. Mowbray reports that 450 pounds of nitroglycerine constituted a batch, which corresponds to a yield of about 194 pounds of nitroglycerine from each 100 pounds of glycerine. This was undoubtedly higher than the average of the time though it looks small as compared with present day yields of 233 to 235. As the theoretical yield is 246.7 pounds of nitroglycerine from 100 pounds of glycerine, and the glycerine used is 98% pure, modern yields represent 96.4 to 97.2% of the theoretical. The improvement in yield is due to the use of a purer glycerine and stronger acids, the separation of spent acid and nitroglycerine instead of drowning the mixture, low temperature nitration, and to the use of more efficient ratios of acid to the water present and formed in the reaction between the glycerine and nitric acid. Air agitation is still in use in European dynamite works, except that the air jet also serves to inject the glycerine into the acid. This was also the type of nitrator installed at the American Forcite works in 1883. Most American works, however, installed mechanical stirrers, which is the type of nitrator in use generally in this country today, although provision is made to use air for stirring in emergencies. The nitrator, for instance, which was installed at the Giant plant and at the first Hercules plant of the California Powder Works at San Francisco, con-

360

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

sisted of a lead tank of 16 lb. lead on the sides and 20 lb. lead on the bottom, built within an oval tank made of 2" lumber. A 2" space was left between the wooden tank and the lead shell. Through this space, as well as through coils of 1^4" pipe, the cooling water circulated. The lead bottom sloped towards the drain cock so as to facilitate discharging. Agitation was provided by two vertical iron agitators connected by bevel gears to a shaft, at each end of which was a large wheel fitted with a crank handle. A platform was erected at each end of the shaft, and two Chinamen turned the cranks while the superintendent added the glycerine and observed the thermometer. About 1875 a boiler and engine were installed in the nitroglycerine house, one of the cranks was replaced by a pulley, and the agitator was now driven from the engine with a belt, thus displacing two Chinese laborers.1 Electric drives are now sometimes used. While lead is still used for the construction of nitrators in continental Europe, American manufac1 A somewhat different type, the invention of Edward A. L. Roberts, the torpedo man of Titusville, Pa., was installed at the Atlantic Giant works in 1871. According to Thomas Varney's description (Letter to L. L. Robinson, president of the company, of May 6, 1871) it consisted of an open "square lead vessel with an indefinite number of lead tubes passing horizontally through it and open at each end." In it revolved a cylinder about 20 inches in diameter which was cooled by water entering through a small pipe which pussed through the hollow shaft, and flowed out through the space between the pipe and the shaft. The glycerine dropped through a perforated copper pipe on to the cylinder and the revolution of the cylinder carried it into the acid. Attempts were also made to nitrate continuously but they were not successful. One is described in Nobel's patent No. 57,175. The apparatus was simply a funnel-shaped perforated vessel into the top of which extended two pipes through which the mixed acids and the glycerine flowed in such a way that the issuing streams intermingled. The mixture then ran through the perforations into a tank of water. A. E . Rudberg's apparatus seems to have been used in Europe, but did not And application here. Glycerine and acid ran through separate pipes into a pan with centrally sloping bottom which was given a reciprocating motion. The mixture then ran through the central hole of the pan into cooled channels with stair-like bottom which conveyed it into a drowning tank. (See picture on p. 361 from F. Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, J a n . 15,1876, p. 73.

NITRATORS

361

turers began to turn to steel for this purpose as early as 1878. However the Continental type of lead tank with air injection of glycerine and air agitation continued in use at Forcite until about 1900 and is still used in Canada. The modern American nitrator is a circular steel tank, about seven or eight feet in diameter, provided with a cover with glass winAn early illustration of one of the (unsuccessful) methods proposed dows. Agitation is profor a continuous process of nitrat- duced by two vertical ing glycerine (see note p. 360.) paddle shafts, or occasionally by one vertical propeller shaft. These are driven by means of an overhead shaft fitted with bevel gears and driven by a belt from a steam engine or electric motor. This shaft has a clutch near the pulley end, so that if the power fails the driving belt may be disconnected by throwing out the clutch, leaving the stirring device free to be turned by a hand crank mechanism which is located at the other end of the driving shaft. As a further precaution, an air pipe is provided which reaches to the bottom of the tank, so that compressed air can be used for stirring and cooling in emergencies. The charge is kept cold by means of coils through which cold brine circulates. The bottom of the tank slopes toward the outlet cock. The nitrator is charged with 7,000 pounds of mixed acid, and 1,200 pounds of glycerine are slowly added to it from a scale tank located above the nitrator, in

362

THE EXPLOSIVES mt& MK/C AMD j m u r Me

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such a way that the glycerine is well distributed. After the glycerine has all been added the mixture is drawn off into the separator, a low circular lead tank, in which it is allowed to stand until the nitroglycerine rises to the top and the acid settles at the bottom. It is interesting to note that this separation, which was not generally practiced in Europe until after 1877 and in America not until later, was evidently in use in Nobel's early works and also in the Giant plant in 1870, but was abandoned1 on account i Nobel, writing to Amark in San Francisco on J u n e 8, 1870, about an explosion at one of his plants, says: "There is hardly any doubt that the explosion started in the separator. For this reason stop this operation immediately and let the mixed acids flow directly into water (10 water by weight to 1 acid)." In a later letter, dated J u n e 22, 1870, he continues the subject: " I t has been proven that the cooling coil in the a p p a r a t u s was choked so that U. Rathman (evidently the nitroglycerine maker) could not operate with as low a temperature as usual. In the nitroglycerine apparatus itself it is not of much importance, but in the separator it can easily be dangerous because the contents are at rest and local heating is possible . . . With reference to the California manufacture, I consider it is not economical to separate spent acid. It may j u s t as well be run into water, but I would advise for greater security not to use less than 10 parts of water to 1 part of acid, and not to allow the temperature to exceed 140° F."

S P E N T A C I D F R E E Z I N G PROCESS 363 of its supposed danger. Separation of the acids gives a somewhat higher yield of nitroglycerine owing to its lower solubility in the stronger acids; but since the spent acids could not be made use of at that time, drowning was preferred. Shortly after 1880 successful results were obtained in recovery, and soon acids were separated, at least in the larger factories. It was also found that a fair amount of nitroglycerine could be recovered from the spent acids by allowing them to stand for a day or so, and the minute book of the Repauno Chemical Company shows that in the first year of its existence (1880) the erection of two tanks was authorized "at a cost not to exceed $1,000, if possible, in order that the waste acid may be held from day to day and allow all the particles of nitroglycerine to settle to the bottom, thereby saving heavy loss which takes place at present." James Lawrence, who later became assistant superintendent in charge of production at Repauno, had noted, while he was at Ardeer, that more nitroglycerine separated out in the after-separators in winter than in summer and had verified this observation by cooling the acids while he was in charge of the laboratory at the Scotch plant. After he had come to Repauno he recalled his earlier experiments when confronted with troubles in the spent acid store house. In summer hardly any nitroglycerine would be recovered here, while in winter the nitroglycerine and acid often froze in the pipe lines and spigots. On warm, muggy nights, on the other hand, the tanks had a tendency to "fire" or fume, which had to be controlled by frequent air agitation. He therefore obtained authority to install cooling coils in one of the tanks and circulate ice water through them. The trial was made in 1891, and an average of 44 pounds of

364

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

nitroglycerine per charge, of about 5,000 pounds of mixed acid, was recovered. Thousands of dollars worth of nitroglycerine Were recovered by this process1 and the spent acids were rendered safer to handle, although not all the danger was eliminated, since nitroglycerine still had to be handled in the freezing house. A number of bad fires and explosions later originated in this operation. A further step along this line which was the first radical improvement in the process since Nobel began the manufacture in Sweden, was the adoption of refrigeration in nitration. This was also developed at Repauno under the direction of H . M. Barksdale, H. G. Haskell, W . C. Spruance and O. R . Jackson, and was first used on a plant scale on January 4, 1901. Much difficulty was experienced with certain brands of glycerine in separation; some brands took as long as two or three hours to be separated and this held up the nitration process which only took about an hour. This delay was found to be due to the presence of gelatinous or colloidal silica, and the remedy was discovered to be the addition of sodium fluoride,2 which removed the silica in the form of silicon tetrafluoride. It was later learned that normal separations with glycerine free from colloidal silica could be hastened by the addition of small amounts of waterglass and the later addition of sodium fluoride. About 1900 a new factor was introduced, through the advent of fuming sulphuric acid at reasonable prices, in the contact process. Yields at this time had risen from 200 or even less in the early nineties to about 220. After careful investigation of the use of stronger acids at Kenvil and Repauno, the use of fum1 U. S. Pat. No. 482,372 of September 13, 1892. 2 This was called "S. E . " compound after Sidney S. Emery who did thè greater part of the work (U. S. Pat. 804,817 to C. L. Reese).

ACID MANUFACTURING

365

ing sulphuric acid became general, and combined with refrigeration and more careful chemical control resulted in increasing the yields to the present figure of 233 to 235. Compared with the yields of 1890 this represents, based on present output, a saving of over three million dollars a year. The early dynamite manufacturers purchased their acids in the open market or, as in the case of the Giant company and the Judson and Sheppard Chemical Works, or the Forcite company and the deCastro Chemical Works, from friendly interests who had their acid plants in close proximity to the dynamite works. Only Mowbray made his own nitric acid as early as 1870. As the plants grew in size, and especially after separation and recovery of acids was generally practiced, it was found advantageous to have at least a nitric acid plant in connection with the recoveries and the sulphuric acid concentrating plants. The introduction of the contact process made it also desirable to erect sulphuric acid plants, which made a stronger acid than the old chamber plants. Experiments on the recovery or denitration of the spent acids seem to have been started at about the same time in the early eighties at the Giant, Repauno, Forcite and Kenvil plants. It is not definitely known just what was done at Giant by Dr. Jensen, who had been sent over by Nobel in 1882 to introduce improvements, except that he was the first to use iron concentrating pans for sulphuric acid in place of the glass pans in use in California theretofore. Owing to a disagreement between him and the Giant management he left after about two years, and the work on acid recovery was later brought to a successful conclusion by Roller. The work at Repauno was temporarily halted on account of the explosion which occurred dur-

366

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

ing the separation of the acid in 1884 and which killed Lammot duPont, the president of the Repauno Chemical Company, Walter N. Hill, the superintendent, and several others. Later on, when James Lawrence arrived at Repauno, the work was taken up again. At Forcite, the work was principally on the recovery of the nitric acid and was carried on by Sundstrom, while at Kenvil Penniman devoted his attention mainly to the recovery of sulphuric acid and its concentration for re-use. These early recovery units consisted of a sort of covered pan or still which was connected by pipes to a series of earthenware jars or tourils for condensing the nitric acid fumes. In the system started at Giant by Dr. Jensen, this pan was filled with clean 60° Be sulphuric acid which was heated to about 250° F . The fire under the retort was then withdrawn and the spent acid gradually introduced. The temperature was maintained by the heat of decomposition of the spent acid. As this did not entirely remove the oxides of nitrogen, the sulphuric acid was run through a stoneware tower filled with pumice stone in which it met a stream of water which broke up the nitrosyl-sulphuric acid. The nitric oxide vapors were also conducted to tourils for absorption. Penniman at Kenvil found that he could recover more of these oxides by running the gases thrpugh stoneware towers filled with quartz or pumice stone over which a small stream of water passed. The sulphuric acid was concentrated at first in glass pans arranged over a fire in cascade form, but this was an expensive method on account of the breakage. Dr. Jensen introduced the iron concentrating pans in California, and later lead pans were introduced for the early stages of the concentration of the weaker acids obtained in more efficient denitrating sys-

ACID RECOVERY

367

An early spent acid recovery plant operated at the Forcite Plant in 1884 (sketch by A. W. Nibelius).

tems. In the newer systems the spent acid is run directly into the top of towers made of stoneware or acid resisting metal and filled with a packing of quartz, pumice stone or stoneware rings, while steam is introduced at the bottom. The dilution of the acid assisted by the heat breaks up the nitrosyl-sulphuric acid, the nitric oxide gases are conducted to absorption towers where under the influence of moisture and air they are converted into nitric acid, and the weak sulphuric acid collects at the bottom. The recovered nitric acid is generally used in the manufacture of nitrate of ammonia, while the weak sulphuric acid is concentrated in a series of lead and iron pans and is used for making nitric acid. After a preliminary washing the final neutralization of the nitroglycerine, which has been separated from the spent acid, is now almost universally carried on in a separate building to which it is conveyed by

368

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

a gutter. 1 Nobel suggested as early as 1870 that there should be a break in this gutter, so as not to communicate a possible explosion, when it was not in use, and this precaution is frequently followed today. The wash waters are run through settling basins, as had been Mowbray's practice, to collect any nitroglycerine that might be carried along mechanically. From the neutralizing house or the nitroglycerine storage, if there is a separate house for this purpose, the nitroglycerine is taken to the mixing house as needed. A t first this was done in buckets, but as the quantities handled increased, gutters or rubber hose lines were installed. This, however, seemed to involve the danger of communicating an explosion originating in one house to the other, so the gutters or hose lines were brought to a small intermediate store house. Present practice makes use of a wooden buggy, with rubber tires and lead lined body, which is pushed by man-power over planked walks leading from the store house to the mixing house. A t one or two plants an overhead mono-rail system has been used for the same purpose. The "dope" or absorbent is brought to the mixing house ready mixed. Originally dynamite mixing was done by hand, the ingredients being stirred by means of shovels and rakes and sometimes also sieved by hand. Early in the eighties Lammot duPont, assisted by William duPont, developed a machine to do this work. The mixing machine or "pug mill" was similar to a black powder wheel mill, but was almost entirely built of wood and was driven from overhead. This machine, with minor improvements, is still in general use today. The bowl is built of carefully joined wood, i In some plants there are four buildings: one for nitrating, one for separating, one for neutralizing, and one for storage. In others two or more operations are carried on in the same building.

PACKING D Y N A M I T E

369

and the wooden wheels are faced with hard rubber. Dynamite, since it cannot be handled loose like black powder, has to be put up in cartridge form. Chinamen made the shells for this purpose of heavy paper by hand at the Giant and other plants until Thomas Varney developed a machine to make pasted tubes which were cut to the desired lengths and were then closed by hand at one end. Later others made improvements on these shell machines and about 1893 H. P. Hall designed a machine which made a spirally wrapped paper shell, one end of which was closed or crimped over automatically. Filling these shells was also a hand operation. Indeed, even at this time some of the smaller plants continue to do it this way, and the larger plants pack large or unusual sizes by hand. The stem of a tin funnel was inserted in the paper tube and the dynamite rammed into it by means of a wooden rammer of the proper diameter, which was sometimes weighted with lead, The first successful machine to do this work was designed by Captain W. R. Quinan of the California Powder Works and dates from about 1883. This machine, which was extensively used at Hercules, Giant, Kenvil and for a time at Forcite had a capacity of 1,000 to 5,000 pounds a day according to size; but it was not very popular, as it packed many grades entirely too soft and irregular; but it was a vast improvement over hand packing. After Hall had finished and placed in operation his shell machines he was put to work at Repauno with the assistance of Harry M. Pierce, a resourceful young mechanical engineer who had been obtained from the Pusey & Jones shops at Wilmington, to design a better machine. Hall had been told by Lawrence of the hand operated machines in Scotland and Hall figured that

370

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

an individual friction tamp machine could be made to pack dynamite into paper cartridges held in a revolving drum. Work was started in 1895 on a 15tamp machine, and Pierce completed the drawings by the last of July 1896. The machine was built in Wilmington, and after November 1896 was intermittently operated in an experimental building located where the " A " gelatine line was later built at Repauno. Numerous improvements were made from time to time, and after about two years regular production on these Hall machines was commenced. An excellent shell feeder was later added by H . A. Stillwell and various air control devices by Donaldson and others. These and other improvements helped the Hall machine to retain the supremacy over the Kimber machine, which threatened it for a while and which, like the Potts machine at Forcite, was a type of power driven Quinan machine, except that the tamps were operated independently. Nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose for blasting gelatine and gelatine dynamites were also at first mixed by hand, which was very hard work, as the jelly, for the former at least, becomes very stiff. In the early nineties Schrader at Kenvil produced his first gelatine mixing machine which consisted of a bowl in the shape of a figure eight with two vertical stirrers. In 1909 Herbert Talley of the Independent Powder Company at Joplin, Missouri, brought out a new type of gelatine mixing machine with a horizontal stirrer, an improvement which later was extensively used. The first gelatine packing machine installed at the Forcite works, where the first gelatine dynamite was made in America, is described in Eissler's Modern High Explosives published by J . Wiley & Sons

G E L A T I N E P A C K I N G M A C H I N E S 371 in 1884 (New York), and resembled a sausage machine. The chunks of gelatine, as they came from the mixers, were placed in a hopper about 4" by 6" and 10 to 12 inches deep. The hopper was then closed by a wooden block and the powder forced down by means of a hand screw into a horizontal cylinder at the bottom of the hopper. The cylinder was closed at one end by a lignum vitae block which served as a supplemental bearing for a brass screw running through the cylinder. The other end of the cylinder was provided with a removable brass nipple or die through which the revolutions of the screw forced the gelatine to emerge in the form of round bars. The bars were run out onto wide boards and then cut into the desired lengths by hand and wrapped in paper. The screw was operated by means of a small steam or air engine. About 1893 Schrader developed an improved type of gelatine packing machine at Kenvil; Talley at Joplin designed a similar machine to avoid the patented parts of the former; and about 1908 T. W. Bacchus brought out his multiple-nipple type of gelatine cartridge packing machine, which was later improved by the addition of a shell feeder. Later Talley designed a machine based on the principle of the Bacchus machines but with a larger capacity than either. In the early plants little attention was devoted to safety precautions. The buildings, which are now called danger buildings were placed quite close together and were unprotected by any barricades, although Nobel as early as 1870 had suggested the use of earth embankments around the nitroglycerine separating house.1 As many as three dozen men were employed in a single hand or power packing house. The inevitable result was that when an accident happened, i Letter to Amark in San Francisco, dated June 8, 1870.

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THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

the loss of life was high and every building of the plant was more or less affected. Gradually the manufacturers learned that this was a mistake. The buildings were placed at g r e a t e r distances; earth embankments or plank, log or re-inforced concrete faced barricades were built around them; and the operations that required a large number of men, such as hand packing, were subdivided into smaller units. The introduction and perfection of more or less automatic machinery has further added to the safety by reducing the number of men employed in any one place. More particularly in the last two or three decades a great deal of attention has been paid to this subject of safety by the individual companies, and especially valuable collective work has been done along this line by the Institute of Makers of Explosives which is composed of practically all the explosives manufacturers in the country. The duPont company and later a committee of this Institute, after studying all the available records of explosions, worked out what is known as the American Table of Distances which prescribes the distances to be observed between the locations of manufacturing buildings and magazines on the one hand and public highways, buildings and railroads on the other hand. Other tables show the distances that are considered reasonable between various operating explosives buildings on powder plants. They have also cooperated with the Bureau of Explosives of the American Railway Association in developing and perfecting rules and regulations for the safe transportation of explosives. The establishment of the B U R E A U OF E X P L O S I V E S was due to a situation which existed in connection with the shipment of high explosives from the Repauno Chemical Company's works on the Delaware River

R A I L W A Y ASSOCIATION

373

opposite Chester, Pennsylvania. A t first shipments were usually made by water, but in winter, when the river froze over, this could not be done. Many of the railroads at that time would not accept dynamite for shipment. With the increase in the use of these explosives, particularly after 1900, this situation became acute and renewed efforts were made by the manufacturColonel B e v e r l y W y l y D u n n , ers to induce the railroads to change their rules. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the first to issue a set of regulations, which was drawn up by Dr. Charles B. Dudley, their chief chemist, to make possible the safe transportation of such shipments over their lines. In 1905 a committee was appointed by the American Railway Association to consider the question, and guided by Dr. Dudley's recommendations they drafted a new set of regulations. Colonel Beverly Wyly Dunn 1 was designated by the Government to act as an adviser to this committee. A f t e r a year's trial of these regulations it was found that some of the railroads were languid in the matter of application and enforcement. As a result the Bureau of Explosives was organized, and in 1907, at the request of the Association, Colonel D u n n was assigned by the W a r Department to special duty in connection with its work. As Chief Inspector of the Bureau he i Beverly Wyly Dunn, born in 1860 in Louisiana, was graduated from West Point in 1883, served in the artillery from 1888 to 1890 and in the ordnance department from 1890 to 1907. See also p. 948.

374

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

organized a corps of inspectors which went about the country instructing manufacturers and railroad men in the proper observance of the rules for safe transportation of explosives, reporting and correcting infractions of these rules and investigating accidents with these shipments with a view to eliminating them in the future or at least greatly reducing their frequency and seriousness. Colonel Dunn's success was so marked that he was asked to take charge of the bureau permanently, and in 1911 he retired from the army to make the Bureau his life's work. H e has continued in this work ever since, with the exception of a period of active military duty from April 1917 to the time of the Armistice, and has since also organized (1921) the Freight Container Bureau, under the same auspices, which is charged with the duty of investigating and preparing suitable specifications for the construction of containers for all classes of freight.

C H A P T E R II. M A N U F A C T U R E A N D U S E OF NITROGLYCERINE IN AMERICA A L T H O U G H Nobel did not organize the U. S. / % Blasting Oil Company until the early sumi ^ mer of 1866, it seems that the shipments of blasting oil which had been made prior to that date and thé news items that appeared in various American and foreign papers had aroused considerable interest in the new explosive and that numerous attempts were made, at least on a small scale, to manufacture it before Nobel's company started business. One such attempt late in 1866 has already been mentioned.1 Among the first to become interested was GEORGE MORDEY M O W B R A Y 2 a pioneer oil refiner of Titusville, Pennsylvania, who was a chemist of considerable ability and had read a great deal about nitroglycerine, principally in foreign scientific journals. 1 Sec p. 857. 2 George Mordey Mowbray was born at Brighton, England, on May 5, 1814. A f t e r studying chemistry in France and Germany he went into the manufacture of drugs in England and later was a member of a firm of wholesale druggists. His health broke down about 1854, and his doctor recommended a long sea voyage. Mowbray took passage on the clipper ship "R. D. Palmer" which brought him to California around the Horn. While there he was in considerable demand as a surgeon and doctor and incidentally established lime kilns. About 1868 he came to New York where he became associated with Schieffelin Bros., wholesale druggists. When Drake discovered oil in Pennsylvania, Mowbray went at once to Titusville (1859) and erected a refinery where he produced the first refined oil. The reaction following the speculation in oil closed his refinery about 1866 and he turned his attention to nitroglycerine. He successfully manufactured over a million pounds of nitroglycerine in the simplest possible type of apparatus and with the product he completed the famous Hoosac tunnel (see p. 1042) in record time. So carefully did he do the work and so successful were his methods that he continued to ship nitroglycerine all over northeastern and central United States long after modern type dynamite was introduced. Later Mowbray did valuable work in the development of Zylonite (or celluloid, see p. 791) and also experimented with films and smokeless powders. H e died on June 22, 1891, of heart failure following a severe attack of grippe. H. Siddons Mowbray, the sculptor, is his son by adoption.

376

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Starting with Sobrero's original laboratory method, he improved it to permit manufacture on a commercial scale, introducing agitation by means of compressed cold dry air1 and careful washing of the nitroglycerine. When he had completed his experiments he inserted an advertisement in the Scientific American' inviting "parties requiring nitroglycerine in quantity —say 100 lbs. per day—to correspond with the subscriber, who has devised a new method for its manufacture, reducing the cost as well as the risk to a minimum." While this advertisement gives Mowbray's address as Titusville, it is uncertain whether he made nitroglycerine in commercial quantities there at that time, although he did so in the winter of 1868-9.3 However, his advertisement led to an invitation dated July 1,1867, from the commissioners of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel to come to North Adams, Massachusetts, and furnish his explosive for the tunnel work.4 A contract was made with Mowbray under which he was to establish a factory at the mouth of the tunnel and the state was to furnish a site, compressed air and a supply of water. Mowbray arrived at North Adams on October 29, 1867 and started building on the following day. The plant6 was ready to operate by the end of the year, and during the first week of the following January the nitration of glycerine was 1 U. S. Pat. No. 76,499 of April 7, 1868. 2 New Series (Dec. 8, 1866), X V , and subsequent issues. s Mowbray, Tri-Nitro-Olyeerine (1872), p. 27. * Col. T. P. Shaffner had demonstrated Nobel's blasting oil at the West Shaft of the tunnel with success (op. cit., p. 7) but it had to be imported from Europe, and "much time was consumed in ordering, shipping, and passing it through the custom house." Shaffner also seems to nave been busy elsewhere and did not follow up his first success in introducing nitroglycerine, and the railroads began to refuse to transport this dangerous material. 5 For description of his factory see p. 868.

MOWBRAY'S FACTORY

377

Entrance to Mowbray's Nitroglycerine Factory at North Adams, Massachusetts.

-

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Mowbray's Nitroglycerine Factory photographed about 1872. Employees left to right: E. J . Wilson, (d. 1876), N. G. helper; Sidney Simmons (Mowbray's nephew); James ( J i m ) Wallace, a helper; Robert Wallace, guttapercha foreman; John Wallace, superintendent; and George Wallace, guttapercha helper.

378

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

begun. The first lot was made with imported acids and was satisfactory. Later American acid was purchased but this proved to be lower in strength than desired and it became necessary for Mowbray to erect nitric acid stills, which caused a delay.1 Mowbray always maintained that his product which he insisted on calling "tri-nitro-glycerine" was different from Nobel's and he gave various reasons for this, such as a difference in color, melting point, stability, etc. His views on this subject are very interesting and are fully set forth in his book Tri-NitroGlycerine and in his testimony in the suit instituted against him in the middle seventies by the Atlantic Giant Powder Company.2 Mowbray made nitroglycerine at North Adams until the Hoosac Tunnel was completed, manufacturing altogether over one million pounds. A large part of this was shipped to other points of consumption throughout the eastern part of the United States and in Canada. An interesting story is told by Alfred Lovell of such shipments to Manitoba, where the Canadian Pacific Railway was then (1877) pushing its construction work. Lovell, who later became superintendent at Kenvil,* was a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and at that time a teacher of drawing in the public schools of North Adams. He 1 Mowbray also manufactured fuses and guttapercha-covered wire (see p. 748). His foreman on this work was Robert Wallace, whose four sons were also in Mowbray's employ. Of these Alfred was foreman of the nitroglycerine factory at North Adams until 1875 when he retired from the explosives business. James and George worked in the fuse plant. The latter later moved to Marquette, Mich., to take charge of the manufacture of nitroglycerine for the Lake Superior Powder Company. John Wallace was sent by Mowbray to Maysville, Ky., to erect a nitroglycerine factory to supply the contractors on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. (This factory was later operated by Gus Koehler and by Volney and Pratt.) J Atlantic Giant Powder Company v. George M. Mowbray, Francis Shanly and Walter Shanlv, U. S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts, in equity, No. 607, filed January 11, 1875. s See p. 491.

THE NORTH ADAMS PLANT

379

•if., ':

Four additional views of Mowbray's Nitroglycerine Factory and two interior views showing the nitrating pitchers, cooling trough and a stirring device (from early editions of Mowbray's Tri-Nitro-Glycerine).

380

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

was asked by Mowbray, who had a contract for 100,000 pounds of nitroglycerine from the Canadian Pacific Railway, to design a suitable car for conveying this material to Canada. Lovell not only undertook the design work, but also went to Troy, N. Y„ to superintend its construction and later accompanied the first shipment of 20,000 pounds of nitroglycerine to its destination. The car was designed for several tiers of 50 lb. nitroglycerine cans, each one placed in a separate padded compartment, so that each can was separated from each adjoining can by a cushion of thick hair felt covered with canvas. The car was provided with ice tanks to keep the nitroglycerine in a frozen condition. At one end of the car there was a separate compartment equipped with sleeping accommodations for the attendant who was to travel with the shipment. Long thermometers were placed in the partition so that the attendant could observe the temperature in the nitroglycerine compartment at all times. When the car reached Buffalo, attended by Lovell and a nephew of Mowbray's by the name of Simmons, a hot box resulted in a broken axle, which made it necessary to get at the king bolt of one truck. While Simmons was arranging to have the repairs made, Lovell busied himself moving the cans of nitroglycerine away from the king bolt within the car. I n the meantime the officials of the city of Buffalo became suspicious of the contents, which had been described as a certain kind of oil, and arrested Simmons. Lovell prevailed on the yardmaster to take the car out of the city limits to Black Rock, but did not finish his job of replacing the cans in their proper compartments until after the movement had been made. H e then wired Mowbray to get Simmons out of jail and moved on

S H I P M E N T TO MANITOBA

381

with the car to Chicago where the next day Simmons joined him again. The shipment finally reached Fargo, N. D., where the cans had to be transferred to a steam boat. Unable to secure white help, they engaged Indians to carry the cans over a narrow plank from the shore to the boat. The Indians had been cautioned to handle the cans very carefully, as dropping them would mean their going to "the happy hunting grounds." Nevertheless one of the Indians slipped on the narrow plank and landed in the water up to his neck. H e coolly held the can he was carrying over his head and called out: "Me no go to happy hunting grounds." After the entire shipment had been transferred, Lovell returned to North Adams with the empty car while Simmons went on with the boat to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here the nitroglycerine was loaded on twowheeled "bull carts" and hauled 110 miles to the Lake of the Woods, then across the lake by boat, and then the 50 lb. cans were packed on men's backs to the advanced construction camp of the railroad. The car subsequently made several similar trips until the entire 100,000 pounds of nitroglycerine was safely delivered at the front in Manitoba, although Lovell did not go on these later trips. However, his association with Mowbray continued another year or so in which he had charge of his nitric acid factory. Following the adverse decision against Mowbray in the suit instituted by the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, Mowbray stopped manufacturing nitroglycerine.1 H e then became associated with the Zylonite Company at North Adams until the latter was absorbed by the Celluloid Company. 2 During this 1 For the histories of Mowbray's other factories see pp. 876, 378, 394, 704. 2 See pp. 790-1.

382

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

time he also experimented on smokeless powders. The Scientific American of December 8, 1866 carried not only the first advertisement of G. M. Mowbray but, by a strange coincidence, the first of the U N I T E D S T A T E S B L A S T I N G O I L C O M P A N Y . This concern had been organized, as has already been stated, on June 27, 1866, through Nobel's personal efforts, with a capitalization of 10,000 shares1 of a par value of $100 each. The organizers, who also constituted the first board of trustees, were Israel Hall of New York (president), Martin Still of Syracuse, N. Y., (vicepresident), James Deveau of New York (secretary), Colonel Talliaferro P . Shaffner of Washington, D. C., Julius R. Pomeroy of New York, Edgar F . Wait of New York, Jacob Clark of Toledo, Ohio, and William H . White of Syracuse, N. Y. Wait was the salesman for the company, Howes and Macy the bankers and Chambers & Pomeroy of New York the attorneys. Hall was one of the largest stockholders with 1623 shares, but he was in poor health and retired from the presidency in the following year, and Shaffner was elected in his place. Talliaferro P . Shaffner 2 was a world traveller and an elusive man of early prominence in the nitroglycerine industry. After practicing law from 1843 to 1848 he became interested in the telegraph and was president of telegraph lines in the southwest until 1854. H e also published "Shaffner's 1 Of the 10,000 shares Nobel received 2,500, from which he gave Bürstenbinder 125 shares for promotion work. 2 Talliaferro Preston Shaffner was born in Smithfteld, Virginia, in 1818 and died in Troy, New York, on December 11, 1881. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but gave much time to invention. The account of his life is taken mostly from his own testimony in the suit of the Atlantic Giant Powder Company v. Jasper R. Rand et al., manufacturers of Rendrock powder (see p. 624). Besides the books mentioned he also published "The Secession in America" (London 1862); "History of America" (2 vols. 1863); and "Odd Fellowship" (New York 1875). After the demise of the Blasting Oil Company he is listed as having a law office at 78 Wall Street (until 1880).

S H A F F N E R S T U D I E S E X P L O S I V E S 383 Telegraph Manual" and was editor of "Shaffner's Telegraph Companion." In 1854 he went to Europe to promote a North Atlantic Telegraph line, and while in Russia during the Crimean War he was consulted on the subject of torpedoes and mines on which he claimed to be an expert, although his knowledge seems to have been based on a few experiments with guncotton, the reading of technical books, and on conversations with E. N. Dickerson. During the next few years he carried on more experiments with explosives and also had occasion to see some nitroglycerine at Nobel's foundry in St. Petersburg, although at that time "none of them (the Nobels) knew how to explode it." After spending two years in deep sea soundings in the Atlantic Ocean he again worked with explosives in England and France during 1862 and 1863. During the Schleswig-Holstein War (1864) he had charge of the Danish torpedoes and land mines. In the fall of that year he went to Sweden to instruct the army and navy in his system of military mining for which Charles X V of Sweden made him a Commander of the Sword. During this time he also obtained further information about nitroglycerine from Nobel and Swedish army officers. He then returned to the United States and in February 1865 submitted his system of submarine mine firing to Army authorities at City Point, Virginia. The board of engineers, of which General Abbott was a member, reported it of great value, and General Grant recommended its adoption. He remained with the Army for another year, experimenting with powder, guncotton and nitroglycerine. In a letter to the Scientific American1 he makes the quite modest admission that he "has had, probably, more experience in the use of nitroglyci New Series (October 20, 1866), XV, 267.

384

THE EXPLOSIVES

erine than any other man." In the same letter he states that the U.S. Blasting Oil C o m p a n y was then erecting works on a large scale. Nobel had sent a man named Briese over from his Hamburg works to build the plant and start the manufacture. This factory, which was the first high explosives factory of any size to be erected in the United States1 was located "near Paterson, N. J." actually

INDUSTRY

Co1

" Talliaferro Preston Shaffner * was a pioneer telegraph promotabout ten miles away at er, being president of the New Little Ferry and subse- Orleans and St. Louis Telegraph quently k n o w n as the Companies, as well as the presiRidgefield factory. Be- £ e n t n

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tore nitroglycerine was ] l i g h explosives corporation in actually produced here America, (about Nov. 1866) Shaffner demonstrated imported blasting oil on the Hoosac tunnel and in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, but his efforts seem to have been largely in the nature of scattered demonstrations as Mowbray secured the contract for supplying the former. However. Shaffner's company furnished blasting oil for the hard rock work of the Bergen tunnel of the New York and Newark railway and in 1868 it supplied another sample lot to be used on the Hoosac tunnel blasting in competition with Mowbray's product.

i Shaffner says (A. G. P. Co. v. Mowbray, Pleadings and Evidence, p. 229), that the first nitroglycerine made in this country to his knowledge (about ten pounds) was made on his order and under his direction

T H E NITRO GLYCERINE COMPANY

385

Shaffner seems to have thought that he could make more money by licensing others to make and use nitroglycerine, than by having the Blasting Oil Company do so. Such a license was granted to Joseph P. Stewart on March 24, 1868 (the royalty in this case being 10c a pound) ; to the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company, E . A. L. Roberts and Walter B. Roberts ; to Marsh and Harwood, trading as the Marquette Nitro-glycerine Company; and to William M. Shaffner. H e also organized the Nitro-glycerine Company to operate under the Stewart license as the "Lessee of the United States Blasting Oil Company's patents for the whole United States; also all the patents of Alfred Nobel and Tal. P. Shaffner, relative to nitro-glycerine and blasting", so that the original company became merely the holder of the patents and the latter the operating company. The officers and the home office of the two were identical. Nobel seems to have been suspicious of Shaffner's actions, for Dr. C. E. Bandmann of the Nobel company at Hamburg wrote to his brother Julius in California under date of June 15, 1868:—"The scoundrels have transferred for a pittance to others the profits which is in the patent; the shares, of course, receive nothing, but Shaffner and his colleagues keep all the money . . . They will try to smuggle in this way the dynamite into their possession." The last sentence refers to the dynamite patent1 which had been assigned to Julius Bandmann and by him to the Giant Powder Company, and in which the Blasting Oil Company and Shaffner had no interest, although they claimed that Nobel's agreement of June 23, 1866, reserved to them the right to any other explosives patby Physer & Company of New York City, about September 1865. i U. S. Pat. No. 78,317 of May 26, 1868 (Re-issues 5619 of 1873 and 5799 of 1874).

386

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

ents Nobel might take out in America later. There may have been some grounds for Bandmann's suspicions, or else Shaffner realized that the use of nitroglycerine as such must of necessity decline due to the introduction of dynamite. At any rate on November 7, 1870, a contract was made between the United States B l a s t i n g Oil Company (by Shaffner .

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as Its president and attorney-in-fact) , Shaffner as an individual and Joseph B. Stewart, and the Atlantic Giant Powder Company. By this agreement, the first three assigned to the last a license for the whole United States under the Nobel patents which the Blasting Oil Company owned, all of Shaffner's patents1 and

i The following Shaffner patents were included in the agreement: 66,620 (1866) f o r improved method of packing nitroglycerine; 60,578 (1866) for improved method of blasting with nitroleum, (Re-issues 8874 and 3375 of 1869); 86,701 (1869) for improvement in preserving nitroglycerine (by keeping it under w a t e r ) ; 98,752 (1869) f o r "Selenitic" powder consisting of nitroglycerine and powdered or granular gypsum: 93,753 (1869) for an explosive called " P o r i f e r a Nitroleum" consisting of nitroglycerine absorbed in finely divided sponge, cotton fibre or sawdust to which small quantities of gypsum or soda may be a d d e d ; 93,754 (1869) for addition of powdered metals to nitroglycerine t o increase its brisance; 93,756 (1869) f o r a nitrator with agitator and cooling coil; 93,757 (1869) improved method of blasting with gunpowder and other explosive substances; 98,425 (1869) f o r a p p a r a t u s f o r washing nitroglycerine in which water, dilute alkali solution or air is forced through a perforated pipe into a mixture of nitroglycerine and w a t e r ; 98,426 (1869) for absorption of nitroglycerine in sponge or porous vulcanized rubber to increase safety of storage or transportation; 98,427 (1869) for a mixture of equal p a r t s of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose, preferably guncotton; 94,847 (1869) for a cartridge for artillery and blasting.

RECEIVERSHIP

387

the rights Stewart had under his license arrangements, in return for "one dollar and other valuable and sufficient considerations".1 Shaffner and his allies then proceeded to buy up the other shares of the Blasting Oil Company at something less than a dollar a share for the account of the Atlantic company. H e then sued his company, through Robert Rennie of the Lodi Chemical Works to whom he had assigned his claim, for some $29,000 salary and moneys advanced. Deveau, the secretary, also sued for some $7,000 and both obtained judgment; the company became bankrupt and Shaffner was appointed receiver on June 10,1871. Several explosions which occurred at the Ridgefield factory in 1870 contributed to or possibly initiated the difficulties of the company. The first happened on Friday, January 28, and a second and more serious one on March 17.2 Laborers were loading a sloop, lying at the wharf of the factory on the Hackensack River, with a cargo of nitroglycerine. The cans were packed in bags and carried over the backs of the men. One of these bags is said to have fallen from the shoulder of one of the laborers, exploding and killing him. This in turn detonated the magazine where "thousands of gallons" were stored. The factory was demolished with the exception of one chimney. The loss was estimated to be $75,000, not covered by insurance. Although seven thousand pounds of blasting oil exploded only four or five men in the Shaffner was also the owner of the following additional patents: 61,672 (1865) for an improvement in cartridges; 51,673 (1865) for an improvement in cartridges for blasting; 56,620 (1866) for a vessel for transporting nitroglycerine; 60,569 (1866) for an electric exploder; 60,571 (1866) for improvement in the manufacture of guncotton; 98,428 (1869) for an improved blasting fuse provided with a fulminate percussion cap at its end; 139,738 (1873) for an explosive consisting of a mixture of nitrocellulose or nitrated sugar with various substances. i The other stockholders later claimed that the other considerations were $2,500 and 2,000 shares Atlantic Giant Powder Co. stock. See p. 479. *Nere York Timet, March 18, 1870.

388

THE E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

factory were killed and the sloop was not seriously damaged beyond losing a mast. The work of cleaning up the debris was started early in April, and on the 8th two of the men engaged in this work were killed by a third explosion. While the receivership was pending the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, which now owned a majority of the stock, elected four of its own men to the board, satisfied the claim on which the receivership petition had been made for some six hundred dollars, and secured a discharge on April 12, 1873. On the same day it caused a transfer to be made of the "nitrine" patents and some re-issues which had not been included in the original contract. This was the end of the United States Blasting Oil Company in so far as manufacturing was concerned, although its corporate existence seems to have been maintained and its name is found in the New York directory at 78 Wall Street, which was also Shaffner's office, as late as 1880. The other stockholders claimed fraud in the transaction and false representation by Shaffner through which they had been caused to sell their stock, and on April 5, 1875, they entered suit in the New York Supreme Court1 against the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, the Giant Powder Company, Shaffner, Stewart, Grosvenor P. Lowery 2 and the United States Blasting Oil Company, asking that the transfer of the patents mentioned be rescinded and their stock returned to the plaintiffs. The suit evidently was unsuccessful, as 1 Israel Hall, Martin Still, Edgar F. Wait, George Babcock, H. B. Slauson, Otto Bürstenbinder, against the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, the Giant Powder Company, Talliaferro P. Shaffner, Joseph B. Stewart, Grosvenor P. Lowery, and the United States Blasting Oil Company (referred to as Hall v. A. G. P. Co.). 2 Lowery had succeeded Shaffner as receiver shortly before the receivership was terminated. He represented the Atlantic company.

T R A N S P O R T A T I O N D I F F I C U L T I E S 389 the powder companies continued in business and the Blasting Oil Company is not heard of any more. The use of nitroglycerine as such for blasting purposes was apparently wide-spread at this time, as an advertising pamphlet of the Nitro-glycerine Company lists accidents, due to improper handling, in such widely separated places as Maine, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Lake Superior, Panama, Connecticut and New York. Although Congress had passed a law in July 1866 prescribing that nitroglycerine should be packed in metallic cans, surrounded by plaster of paris and labelled "Nitroglycerine—Dangerous", and prohibiting its transportation on steamers, passenger trains or vehicles carrying passengers, many hair-raising stories are told of attempts to evade the law, such as that of a passenger carrying two gallons of nitroglycerine in a corked tin can which was wrapped in a newspaper and placed in a burlap bag. The New York Times tells of a shipment of 900 gallons of nitroglycerine in barrels which was hauled in an open cart through Ridgefield on its way to a destination in Connecticut. The opposition of the residents of Nyack and Tarrytown, however, forced the driver to take the load back to the factory. During the night the barrels were covered with straw and the next day a new German driver was hired to take the "load of straw" to Connecticut via the 42nd Street ferry. As nothing further is heard about this shipment, it is presumed that the "straw" reached its destination without mishap. The unfamiliarity of the public with nitroglycerine and its innocent appearance undoubtedly caused many accidents, of which one recounted in the Scientific American1 may serve as an example. i New Series, X V , 348.

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T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The men on a small sailing vessel on the Pacific Coast had procured (probably stolen, as the survivors were reluctant to tell where it had come from) what they thought to be oil and had filled the cabin lamp with it. Before it was lighted it was discovered that the material was nitroglycerine and it was promptly replaced. However enough was left on the wick and sides of the lamp, so that an explosion occurred as soon as it was lighted and one man was killed. The New York Times of December 25, 1869, tells another interesting story. It seems that a consignment of blasting oil was loaded on a ship in New York harbor without the knowledge and in the absence of the captain. When he found out the nature of his cargo, he recalled the recent disasters and would have none of it. As the ship had to sail at once he had the cans of nitroglycerine transferred to a small boat which was rowed to the Battery and left pounding against the pier. Owing to the difficulties of transportation small nitroglycerine factories sprang up in various parts of the country. It was not an unusual thing for a railroad contractor, for instance, to hire a nitroglycerine maker and put up a small shanty for him to use as a "factory". The use of nitroglycerine in "torpedoes" to increase the flow of oil wells, which was patented by E. A. L. Roberts in 18661 accounts for the existence of a number of such factories in the oil regions. The use of nitroglycerine for general blasting in out-of-the-way places continued until long after the introduction of dynamite and was not entirely abandoned until the eighties. Nitroglycerine "torpedoes" are still used in the oil regions. How rapidly the use of nitroglycerine spread in the early days is i See Roberts Torpedo Company, p. 397.

OTHER PIONEER FACTORIES

391

shown by a statement in the Journal of the Franklin Institute 1 that in May and June 1867 two thousand blasts were fired, and by Colonel Shaffner's statement2 that upwards of 10,000 blasts had been made under his directions. A record of some of these nitroglycerine factories has been preserved. There was one in 1867 at Julesburg, Colorado, on the first transcontinental railroad (now Union Pacific). Ten years later, when representatives of the California Powder Works were looking for a location for another dynamite plant, they found a small idle factory at Black Hawk, Colorado, not far from the Bobtail Mine. An operation at Donner Lake, California, near the Nevada state line, seems to have been of considerable importance to judge from the language of the complainant's attorney in his argument in the case of the Giant versus the Vulcan Powder Company. H e says: " I t (nitroglycerine) assisted in solving one of the greatest engineering problems of the age—that of building the (Central Pacific) railroad over the Sierra Nevada mountains . . . the railroad used it in its liquid state long prior to the dynamite patent (1868) and in fact they never did use it except in that way . . . This discovery (of Nobel's) that nitroglycerine could be detonated was worth millions of dollars to that one corporation." The factory where this nitroglycerine was made was built and operated by James Howden, an English chemist, who also made some dynamite by mixing nitroglycerine with sawdust and other absorbents, but does not seem to have used the latter much. Howden later developed Hercules powder." The Lake Shore Nitroglycerine Company, consisting of J . H . King of Painesville, i Vol. 84, p. 74. » L e t t e r to Scientific * See p. 498.

American

(Oct. 5, 1867), X V I I , 211.

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T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Ohio, C. M. Wheeler1 of Negaunee and Marquette, Michigan, and Henry Hinckley, worked under a license from G. M. Mowbray and had a factory at Fairport Harbor, near Painesville, Ohio. Their nitroglycerine maker was a man named Thomas. They operated only in the summer, or at most six months in the year, and shipped their product on small sailing vessels to the copper mines on the Keweenaw peninsula, the iron mines at Negaunee, and other points back of Marquette. Some of it was also used in the adjacent oil fields for torpedoeing. The New York Times of November 2, 1870, mentions an explosion at this factory, the second in two months, which caused the death of four persons and a loss of a magazine containing 150,000 pounds of nitroglycerine. Buildings on the east side of the river were greatly damaged and the people of Fairport were highly excited. Shortly after this it was decided to move the operations to Marquette, and some of the other factories that existed later in that region may have been outgrowths of this company. About 1871 they also acquired from the U. S. Blasting Oil Company the right to operate under the Nobel patents. Otto Bürstenbinder, who fired the first recorded blast with nitroglycerine in America,2 also made nitroglycerine in this district, but little is known of his operations, except that he nitrated, like Mowbray, in stoneware crocks set in a trough of running water. He seems to have been a German chemist who had been associated with Stephen Chester, as they jointly took out U. S. Patent No. 85,906 in 1869 for a process of nitrating glycerine in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, apparently simply a blind to evade i While handling nitroglycerine at Negaunee about 1878, Seneca Wheeler, a brother of C. M. Wheeler, was killed by an accidental ex2 plosion. See p. 324.

F A C T O R I E S O N T H E G R E A T L A K E S 393 Nobel's and Mowbray's patents.1 Another local nitroglycerine maker was Billy Code, a Cornishman, who in the late seventies operated a small nitroglycerine factory at Humboldt, Michigan. Later he moved to Clarksburg, two and a half miles nearer the mines. This factory was bought by the Lake Superior Powder Company, which also made niRoderick C a m p b e l l , troglycerine for blasting before born 1854 in Scotland, they began to make dynamite in started in the explos2 ives business in 1878 1881. as a s s i s t a n t blaster Marsh & Harwood, trading during the construction under the name of the Marquette of the Canadian Pacific Nitroglycerine Company, also at Cross Lake, Manitoba. He handled ni- operated in the Marquette distroglycerine made by trict in the early seventies under Mowbray and later bea license from the U . S. Blasting came foreman of nitroglycerine plants there Oil Company.. This firm also manufactured acids. and in Michigan. General Abbott's reports3 state that he obtained samples of nitroglycerine in 1871-2 from Marcelin & Warren and from Charles T. Chester as well as from Mowbray, who "furnished a superior article." The first-named firm, of which Robert W . Warren, who later promoted the Vulcan Powder Company, was probably a member, supplied large quantities of blasting oil to General Newton for blasting in New York 1

For his low-freezing dynamite see p. 352. See p. 656. There was also a James Coad of Humboldt, Mich., of whom nothing is known except that he took out U. S. Patent No. 175,929 on April 11, 1876, for a dynamite made with rotten wood as absorbent. A feature of his process was the addition of one per cent of common salt during the nitration of the glycerine. s Profettional Papers of the Corpt of Engineert, U. S. A., No. 23, Washington, 1881. 2

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harbor. Their product had a milky appearance, while that supplied by Chester, whose factory was somewhere on the Hudson River, was "highly colored, contained free acid, and was evidently liable to give trouble if not carefully watched." In fact, "after keeping it for 56 days it failed to explode"! Dr. Carl Walter Volney,1 a German chemist who seems to have been associated with Dittmar at Neponset about 1870-71, was in 1872 head of the firm of Volney, Burns & Company at 22 Congress Street, Boston. An advertising pamphlet issued by them2 offers nitroglycerine to the public at any place, "as they are prepared to manufacture it on the spot by a process of their own." They refer to their work in sinking shafts on Lake Superior, in driving levels in wet limestone with pockets of pyrites in Wisconsin,3 and in tunnelling, ledge and bench work. Among the branch factories established by Mowbray was one at Kingston, Ontario. Nitroglycerine from this works was used on section 15 of the Canadian Pacific Railroad at Cross Lake, Manitoba. Roderick Campbell, who later worked for many years for the Lake Superior Powder Company, was the assistant blaster on this job. When shipments from Mowbray ceased in 1879, Cooper, Fairman & Sons of Montreal established a nitroglycerine factory at Cross Lake.4 The firm failed in the following year and the plant was acquired by the Hamilton Powder Company which operated 5 the factory until the railroad coni (c. 1845-c. 1911). See also New York Powder Company of N. J., Independent Powder Company, and International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite Company. 2 Library of Congress. s Comparative cost figures are given: With nitroglycerine the cost was $10.50 a foot for the first eight feet on a 7 ft. x 9 ft. cross section, as against $75 to $100 a foot for black powder (in 1870-71). * Gus Koehler was their superintendent, and John Wallace and later Rod Campbell the nitroglycerine maker. s H. H. Pratt, who had been Mowbray's superintendent at Kingston

HUDSON RIVER PLANTS

395

struction was completed. One of the last uses of nitroglycerine for general blasting, after dynamite had displaced it almost everywhere else except in the oil fields, was on the Haverstraw tunnel of the West Shore railroad in 1881 and 1882. Arnold and Stevens, the contractors, had used nitroglycerine previously in driving a tunnel on the Delaware & Hudson railroad. Nitroglycerine had also been used on the West Shore tunnel at West Point, N . Y . H . Allen Ely, who had made it for the West Point job, now entered into a partnership with Wilson P . Foss 1 and together they erected a small factory on a small stream not far from Rockland Lake, N. Y., near the southerly end of the Haverstraw tunnel. The liquid nitroglycerine was hauled to the mouth of the tunnel in large cans and there poured into smaller tin cartridges which were carried up to the heading or bench for loading into the drilled holes. Foss also sold nitroglycerine to some extent along the Hudson River, wherever there was any work near the river. H e made these deliveries personally in a row boat, a usual load consisting of 1,000 pounds. Leaving Haverstraw for points up-stream towards night, he would row out and make fast to a passing tow. Then he wrapped himself in a blanket and went to sleep until the tow had brought him far enough to make his deliveries, when he would cast off. The return trip was made in the same manner. and had then become a salesman for the Hercules Powder Company, had been engaged to act as their demonstrator and salesman In 1879 and was now placed in charge. He remained until 1881 when he returned to the Hercules Company at Cleveland (q.v.). i Wilson P. Foss was born in Fairfield, Maine, on April 9, 1856. In 1880 he was superintendent of a hat factory at South Norwalk, Conn. For his later activities in the powder business see Clinton Dynamite Company, p. 665. After retiring from the powder field he formed the New York Trap Rock Corporation, one of the largest producers of crushed stone in the United States. He also became prominent as the champion amateur billiard player of the United States from 1899 to 1904.

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When the tunnel work at Haverstraw was finished in 1883, Foss and Ely shut down their plant; in fact it was bought by the Repauno Chemical Company, with whom Foss now took a position. A f t e r this date the use of nitroglycerine as such was restricted, except in a few isolated instances, to the "shooting" of oil wells. Edward A . L . Roberts of the firm of Roberts & Company of Titusville, seems to have been the one to discover that blasting at the bottom of oil wells would increase their flow and indeed often restore the flow of apparently exhausted wells. A t any rate he was granted a patent 1 covering the use of every method of effecting an explosion in an oil well, and his claims were later sustained in the courts. During the following thirteen years he took out several additional patents perfecting his methods, of which that of May 20, 1866, specifically included nitroglycerine. As a result a number of nitroglycerine factories sprang up in the oil regions, many of which operated without regard to the Roberts and Nobel patents. The first of these seems to have been that of Colonel P . Davidson 2 whose f a c t o r y was located on Church R u n near Titusville. H e seems to have started the manufacture of nitroglycerine as an adjunct to his oil operations. On March 18, 1869, this factory blew up, killing three men instantly and injuring the colonel so seriously that he died that night. Mowbray, whose first experiments on nitroglycerine had been made at Titusville, returned in 1868, while the work on the Hoosac tunnel was held u p due to a change from state operation to a private coni.U. S. Patent No. 47,485 of April 27, 1865. 2 Colonel P. Davidson had been a lawyer at Peoria, 111., and colonel of an Illinois regiment of volunteers raised in that town during the Civil War.

ROBERTS & COMPANY

397

tractor, and established a factory there. H e claims1 that up to that time nitroglycerine had been unsatisfactory and that Ehrhardt, Oriental (both chlorate powders) and ordinary black blasting powder had been generally used for shooting these oil wells. H e demonstrated that with proper ignition nitroglycerine was superior to any other explosive, and with a charge of six pounds he succeeded in increasing the flow of the first well he shot from six barrels to 120 barrels, which settled down to a steady flow of forty barrels for over a year. His factory was also located on Church Run, not far from Davidson's, but does not seem to have operated for very long, probably because of the Roberts patents. The third factory in this town was that of the firm of Roberts & Company, which consisted of Colonel Edward A . L . Roberts and his brother D r . Walter B. Roberts. This was located just northeast of the Driving Park, and seems to have been established about the time of the Mowbray enterprise, for an explosion occurred in it on December 16, 1869.2 The buildings destroyed were three in number and consisted of one wooden building with cellar beneath used for storing powder and "compound" and for filling shells, a second building for thawing out the "glycerine" and for preparing it for use and sale, and a third building used as a storehouse for "glycerine" and the manufacture of the same. The explosion was supposed to have originated in the storehouse where Patrick Brophy, the company's agent, was thawing out some nitroglycerine at the time. I t is stated that three to four thousand pounds of nitroglycerine, 2,000 pounds of gunpowder and 500 pounds of "compound" (1872), p. 27. 1 Mowbray, Tri-Nitro-Olyeerine 2 TituroiUe Herald of December 17, 1869, and New December 20, 1869.

York Timet

of

398

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

exploded. The hole where the buildings had stood was "large enough to contain a dwelling house, and for a hundred yards in every direction the ground was torn and ploughed up as in a newly-ploughed field." In the town windows were broken, chimneys thrown down, and "the church bell struck three times." It is not quite clear from the records whether the Roberts actually manufactured nitroglycerine at this time, as it seems that the material which exploded was part of a shipment of 3,000 pounds recently received from the U. S. Blasting Oil Company's plant in New Jersey and of 500 pounds from the Lake Shore Nitroglycerine Company at Painesville, Ohio. However, early in 1871, Roberts & Company, or the Roberts Torpedo Company, as they now called themselves, acquired the right to manufacture and use nitroglycerine under the Nobel patents by the payment of $1,500 to Colonel Shaffner of the U. S. Blasting Oil Company, and from this time on they manufactured their own blasting oil. With their basic patents on the shooting of oil wells this gave them the exclusive right to this business for the life of the patents, and they were the dominant factor in the oil well shooting business for the next fifteen years. The business was an attractive one for ambitious and adventurous spirits, because the Roberts Torpedo Company held the price of their "torpedoes" so high that profits seemed to be large and easy.1 The equipment was cheap, and a "factory" could be set up 1 The printed price list of Roberts torpedoes gave list prices ranging from $280.00 for an eight-quart torpedo (2% in.zfi.l ft.) to $1,820.00 for a 60-quart torpedo (4 in.x24ft.). There was a discount of 60% to occasional customers and one of 78% on contracts. The best discount would make the net price of an eight-quart torpedo $61.60, or $2.31 per pound of nitroglycerine, and that of a 60-quart torpedo $290.40, or $1.45 per pound of nitroglycerine, disregarding the cost of the container. Lower prices seem to have been quoted at times, as a list found among the company records shows pencilled figures which were about a third lower.

MOONLIGHTERS

399

The Oil Well Shooters were always ready for a lark in spite of the dangerous goods they were handling.

in almost any location. It is not surprising that infringements of the Roberts patents were frequent. The cost of shooting a well often exceeded $1,000 and, as results were speculative anyway, individual oil operators were only too willing to patronize an independent shooter if even 10% of the cost could be saved. Although the Roberts Torpedo Company would sue these independents and readily obtain injunctions, they were not able to stamp out the practice. To many of these infringers the sustaining of the patents seemed like taking away their livelihood, and they would load their apparatus on a wagon and move to some isolated spot, preferably in a new oil field, and quietly manufacture enough nitroglycerine to shoot a few wells. Through personal friendship with the oil operators, frequently acquired through the great American game of poker, the nitroglycerine maker would agree to shoot a well during the next moonlight period at a price somewhat under that quoted by Roberts. Delivery would be made by moonlight, the

400

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

well would be shot for cash, and the regular makers would not know for a long time who furnished the explosive, and in some cases would not even know that a shot had been fired. This game became wide spread in the seventies, and the operators became known as the "moonlighters." The acid and glycerine dealers would sell them supplies as they paid good cash prices, but to insure secrecy the shipments were frequently made through middlemen to isolated stations or large shipping points from which these supplies were teamed to the "factory." Even if the Roberts Torpedo Company knew of the location of the "factory" they still had to prove that the nitroglycerine had come from it, and this was often a very difficult thing to do. One of these pioneers was Omer A . Nelson 1 who started in the business in the Bradford district at Ricksford, Pennsylvania, in 1869 with two partners, Robison and O'Brien. Their product was sold from New York State south to Butler County, Pennsylvania. They were successful, but the firm finally was forced out of business by a patent suit of the Roberts Torpedo Company, which obtained an injunction and damages amounting to thousands of dollars. The factory was abandoned in 1882 after an unusually fine production record with no fatal accidents. Another firm of moonlighters in the same field was Casterline & Young. 2 C. L . Casterline, born 1851, arrived in Bradford in 1878 and started to work as a teamster. The next year, in partnership with Thomas Young of Tarport, Pennsylvania, he erected a nitroglycerine factory south of Bradford. I t was abandoned 1 Omer Alexander Nelson, born 184-6, later organized the Venture Powder Company (see p. 703) and the Home Powder Company of Colorado. In 1892 he entered the employ of the Repauno Chemical Company and in 1912 he retired from the duPont company to reside in Los Angeles, California. 2 For description of this factory see p. 361.

C. L. C A S T E R L I N E

401

in 1882 and a new factory containing a one drum (1,500 lb.) nitrator was erected. After the expiration of the Roberts patents in 1884 the business was continued as the Casterline & O'Hara Glycerine Company. In 1885 the business was sold to Dana & Adams. Casterline went to Findlay, Ohio, where he organized the Bradford Glycerine Company in cooperation with C. S. Corthell. This firm followed the oil well shooting business in the Ohio and Indiana fields until 1896 when the business was sold to S. M. Keiper (see New York Powder Company, p. 695). Four years after Casterline retired from the Bradford Glycerine Company, the Independent Torpedo Company was organized at Findlay, Ohio, and Casterline became director and treasurer of the company. It operates oil well shooting in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming and Montana. The Torpedo Company was organized jointly by the duPont interests and the Grasselli Chemical Company of Ohio to supply nitroglycerine for oil well shooting in that district. Other concerns in the same line of business were the Hercules Torpedo Company at Lima, Ohio (a subsidiary of the Hercules Powder Company at Cleveland); H . E. Harper & Co. (later known as the High Explosives Company, Limited); the Western Torpedo Company operating in Kansas and Oklahoma; and a number of others. A t the present time there are still a number of nitroglycerine companies in existence and operating in the oil fields. Among these are the American Glycerine Company, the Eastern Torpedo Company, the Illinois Torpedo Company, the Independent Torpedo Company, the Mendenhall Torpedo Company, the United Torpedo Company and the Pennsylvania Torpedo Company.

CHAPTER III. T H E D Y N A M I T E I N D U S T R Y IN AMERICA

T

H E dynamite industry in the United States had its beginning on the West Coast. For this there are a number of reasons—California was a new country, populated largely by adventurous spirits who were quite ready to try something new; there was a big demand for explosives in California due to the development of mining and the building of railroads across the Rocky Mountains, and only one powder mill—that of the California Powder Works at Santa Cruz—to supply them. In the East, on the other hand, the black powder industry was well established. The owners were not anxious to introduce a possible competitor with their product; indeed they did not believe that any other explosive could compete with, much less displace, black powder. General Henry duPont, then head of the duPont firm, for instance, wrote as late as March 14, 1871: " I t is only a matter of time how soon a man will lose his life who uses Hercules, Giant, Dualin, Dynamite, Nitroglycerine, Guncotton, Averhard's Patent 1 or any explosive of that nature. They are vastly more dangerous than gunpowder, and no man's life is safe who uses them." And two years later he warned the Pennsylvania Railroad against carrying "any compounds of nitroglycerine" adding, "We have sent circulars to all our agents cautioning them against allowing any such to be stored in our magazines", a warning that proved embarrassing later on. i He probably meant Ehrhardt'g powder, a chlorate mixture.

D Y N A M I T E IN CALIFORNIA

403

Furthermore, liquid nitroglycerine was being made and used with some success in the East in spite of its danger and inconvenience, and thus the need of dynamite there was not so apparent. The principal reason that dynamite and not liquid nitroglycerine was introduced in California was the fars i g h t e d n e s s of Julius Bandmann1 Julius Bandmann imported nitroglyc- of the San Franerine from Nobel & Company and cisco firm of Bandfathered the dynamite industry in Amermann, Nielson & ica by organizing the Giant Powder Company. H e handled the sales of the C o m p a n y , mercompany during its pioneer days and chants and importfor twenty-five years thereafter. ers. Through his brother, Dr. Charles Edward Bandmann, a Hamburg attorney who was a member of the firm of Alfred Nobel & Company, they became agents for Nobel and > Julius Bandmann, generally known as Juls, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in July 1825. He came to California in 1850 as tutor to a young Swede by the name of Alfred (Hans) Nielson. Shortly after their arrival in San Francisco they organized the firm of Bandmann, Nielson & Company, importers of supplies, probably including black blasting powder for the miners. Bandmann was a large man of striking personality, highly educated, speaking several European languages, always polished in his manner and perfectly groomed, which gave him an air of culture among the many rough early California miners and ranchmen. He married Antonia Florencia Pollard and had a son, Charles Julius, and a daughter, Antonia. He died in 1900.

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imported some nitroglycerine in 1866 for use in the California mines. The two brothers corresponded regularly and Juls was kept in close touch with developments abroad. The accidents experienced in the transportation of blasting oil1 led Juls to look favorably upon the offer of the United States Blasting Oil Company to sell a license for its manufacture in the Western States to a company to be formed for this purpose in San Francisco. H e interested a number of his friends in the proposition, and on March 11, 1867, twenty of them subscribed to one hundred shares each in the Pacific Blasting Oil Company. Among the subscribers were Bandmann, Thomas Varney, and Egbert Judson, all of whom became prominent figures in the explosives industry. The Pacific Blasting Oil Company was intended to have a capitalization of 5,000 shares of a par value of $100 each, of which 2,500 shares were to be given to the United States Blasting Oil Company of New York for the blasting oil rights on the Pacific Coast; 2,000 shares were to be sold to the subscribers at $25.00 a share to raise a working capital of $50,000 and the balance of 500 shares was to be retained for commissions.2 It appears that some of the money was actually paid in; but before further steps could be taken, Bandmann heard from his brother that Nobel had discovered something better, viz., dynamite. The subscribers changed their ideas and decided to ta;ke up Nobel's lastest invention. Nevertheless, when later in the year Israel Hall and W . H . White of the United States Blasting Oil Company came to California to dispose of the blasting oil rights for the Pacific Coast they paid $1,250 for these rights, as they were afraid that the dynamite patent would be useless without the right i See pp. 825-27.

2 Subscription paper in Giant company files.

GIANT COMPANY ORGANIZED

405

to detonate it by means of a fulminate cap. Presumably at Bandmann's suggestion or invitation, Nobel sent one of his partners, Theodore Winckler, to conduct the negotiations and demonstrate his dynamite. Winckler arrived in San Francisco on July 24, 1867, and early in August he made three pounds of dynamite at the Judson and Sheppard (or San Francisco) Chemical Works. On August 10 he demonstrated its action by blasting some boulders on the line of the Bay View Railroad. This three pound lot was undoubtedly the first dynamite ever manufactured and shot in America. Evidently the demonstration was successful so far as it went, for on the 13th the Giant Powder Company1 was incorporated under the laws of California, more than ten months before the American dynamite patent was granted. The contract between the directors of this company and Winckler, acting for Nobel, provided that Winckler should prove the Giant powder to be superior to nitroglycerine and manufacture an experimental lot of 2,000 pounds. But before he could carry out these provisions and while he was looking for a suitable site for the plant, he was taken sick on September 8 and died on September 27, 1867, without disclosing the dynamite secret to anyone in California. On December 24, 1867, about as quickly as a letter could go to Germany and back, Nobel's second agent arrived in the person of Dr. J. Fuchs, who was to carry out the provisions of the contract Winckler had made and to superintend the erection of a factory. The company leased some property in Rock House Cañón where there was a small house in which Dr. Fuchs set up a little laboratory. There he made up another sample lot of about ten pounds early in i For history of the Giant Powder Company see p. 431.

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February 1868. On the fourteenth a trial was held in the presence of one or two hundred spectators at the Lime Point fortifications with the consent of Colonel Mendell, U. S. E n g i n e e r in charge. Various charges were exploded and "its great disruptive force was manifested", but its composition was kept secret, as the United States patent was not issued until May 26, 1868. Work on the factory, which probably did not have more than two or three buildings for all the operations, now went forward rapidly, and on March 19 actual manufacture started. The crew consisted of a nitroglycerine maker, with perhaps an assistant or two, and a few Chinese laborers. The nitroglycerine was made by nitrating, in an open lead tank, one part of nitroglycerine in eight parts of a mixed acid consisting of one-third nitric acid and two-thirds sulphuric acid and keeping the materials cool (c. 75° F.) by agitation and refrigeration. 1 I t is interesting to note that ice water was used for the latter purpose in this first factory, as Judson found on an inspection of the factory on March 10, 1868, that "certain of the coils of pipe which Dr. Fuchs had made for the purpose of being filled with ice water would not allow the water to pass through." For the first six or seven years the company used crude glycerine supplied by Nobel & Company of Hamburg, but by 1880 obtained it largely from Marx & Rawolle of New York and Judson & Sheppard of San Francisco. In these early days its cost was about 40c a pound. Kieselguhr was also imported from Germany. But the acids were made by the San Francisco Chemical Works, and the American Russian Commercial Company furnished the ice. i Giant v. Vigorite, Pleadings and Evidence (1880).

T H E SAN FRANCISCO P L A N T S

407

San Francisco was the cradle of the dynamite industry in America and over fifteen companies established dynamite plants around the Bay.

After nitration the entire charge was drowned in water, the nitroglycerine separated, washed and probably neutralized. It was then mixed with one-third of its weight of kieselguhr and packed by the Chinamen into hand-made paper cartridges. These cartridges were then packed in wooden boxes and sent to the magazine. The new explosive aroused great interest among the miners and in the press, and in spite of the high price charged by the Giant Powder Company ($1.75 a pound), the California Powder Works began to feel the competition of dynamite with their black powder. In most cases, owing to the difference in price, the latter was more economical, but for hard rock dynamite was unexcelled at any price. The California

408

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Powder Works tried to meet this competition by putting up high grade sporting powder in paper cartridges similar to the dynamite cartridges, but found this subterfuge of no avail. I t seems that they then engaged James Howden, 1 who had been making nitroglycerine at Donner Lake, California, until the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869, to erect a nitroglycerine factory for them. A t any rate in that year they were selling "a new article called Hercules, which is blasting powder soaked in nitroglycerine." 2 This "Black Hercules" powder, as it was locally called, was not very popular, although it was just as good for most purposes as the 75% Giant powder and sold for 50c a pound as against 75c a pound" for the other. To overcome the objections, Howden later modified the "dope" by using a mixture of magnesium carbonate, sugar and potassium nitrate, to which sometimes a little potassium chlorate was added. This gave it an even lighter appearance than kieselguhr and made it a stronger and better dynamite. 4 To meet this competition the Giant Powder Company had to start in 1872 the manufacture of an active dope dynamite which was known as Giant Powder No. 2 (40% dynamite). In the meantime the Giant Powder Company, at the instance of Alfred Nobel, whose United States 1 See p. 498. Howden was said to be one of the best chemists in San Francisco at that time. 2 Correspondence of E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, December 21, 1869 (quoted by B. G. duPont in her history of the company, p. 121). 3 Competition had forced the Giant Powder Company to reduce their original price of $1.75 a pound to $1.00 and later to 76c a pound. * Owing to Howden's death (1874) the patent was applied for in the name of Joseph W. Willard (No. 157,054 of July 9, 1874). Formula I—Magnesium Carbonate, 20.85%; Potassium Nitrate, 2.10%; Potassium Chlorate, 1.05%; Sugar, 1%; Nitroglycerine, 75%. Formula II—Magnesium Carbonate, 10%; Potassium Nitrate, 81%; Potassium Chlorate, 3.34%; Sugar, 15.66%; Nitroglycerine, 40%.

T H E A T L A N T I C G I A N T COMPANY 409 Blasting Oil Company had not been successful, set about the organization of an eastern branch. Their original contract with Nobel only covered the dynamite rights for the West, but an agreement of January 9, 1868, gave them a six months' option for the eastern rights, which was extended from time to time until they were ready to exercise it (1870)

C h i n e 8 e laborers o p e r - t h r ^ h 0 1 . g a n j z a t i o n Qf the ating under the direc, i , t i o n Of A m e r i c a n s , Atlantic Giant Powder Company, made most of the d y n a To this new company the Giant mite in America in the Powder Company transferred on early days especially A ¿j j g 1 8 7 4 > a U i t s rights, title in California. Most of , . , . . _ AT 1 • j and them came to Califorinterest in the Nobel dynania in the sixties to mite patents for the states and build t h e first t r a n s - territories east of Montana, Wycontmental^ r a i l r o a d . o m i n g > Colorado and New Mexico

- Thomas Varney, one of the original promoters of the California company, was sent east and selected a site for a factory at McCainsville (now Kenvil), on the Morris & Essex canal, near Dover, New Jersey, then an important iron mining centre. Ground was broken in July 1871 and operations began late that year.2 When dynamite was first placed on the market, it encountered not only the opposition of the established black powder manufacturers, but also the prejudices and ill-will of the prospective users. The miners feared ihe g lasTfo return 7 fr W om Giant.

1 Hie records of the Secretary of State of California give the date of incorporation as June 12, 1876. However, a contract made November 7, 1870, (Hall v. A. G. P. Co., Exhibit B) by this company, mentions it as "a corporation organized under the laws of the State of California and having its principal place of business at the City of San Francisco." 2 For history of the Atlantic Giant Powder Company see p. 47» et seq.

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that it would cut down the number of jobs or lessen their wages, and often they did not hesitate to use strong measures to prevent its use. Successful salesmen, therefore, had to be men of strong character, good mixers, and not afraid of hard work with miners, quarryinen and contractors. One of these pioneer field salesmen, Fred Julian (1845-1921) of the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, has left an interesting story of his experiences in this work. 1 H e says "on May 18, 1872, I was employed by the Atlantic Giant Powder Company as chief salesman and demonstrator. A t that time the company had twelve demonstrators, but they could m a k e no headway f o r several reasons: First, they were not experts in mining; second, all miners and rock men were afraid of the very name of dynamite and also believed that if dynamite were brought into general use, in a short time there would be no work for them; third, the prices were so high that the company or contractors were really afraid to buy. A t that time there were only two grades of dynamite, viz., 75% and 40%, the latter costing 50c. lb. "My first instructions were to go to the factory at Kenvil, N. J., and learn all I could about the manufacture of dynamite. When I got there, I found the goods were being made in the farm buildings, except for one n i t r a t i n g house. T h e employees were ten Chinese sent over from San Francisco where the Giant Powder Company had a little plant. A f t e r spending some time at Kenvil I returned to New York, fully i See HerctUet Mixer, 1921, p. 224. Julian later became the St. Louis representative of the company. While occupying this position he lost his two boys by diphtheria in 1885. This affected him to such an extent that he lost his agency. H e then became manager of the Eldred Powder Company and in 1889 promoted the Climax Powder Manufacturing Company. When the latter was sold to the d u P o n t company in 1908, Julian joined the sales force of the Aetna Powder Company at Wilkes-Barre, where he died in harness in 1921. His connection with the dynamite business extended over a period of nearly fifty years.

JULIAN'S EXPERIENCES

411

fledged to go out and sell the goods and feeling that with so powerful an explosive I would get along famously. But, alas, there was little doing. I went first to the very sewer where I had last worked, feeling sure that the men there, most of whom I knew very well, would do all they could for me. But not a man would help me. Finally I convinced them that the goods were not dangerous and that they would do well in water. They reluctantly gave their consent for me to try the experiment. Then came more trouble, for I feared the shots would throw stones and do much damage, as the sewer was in the middle of a well-built street, but we logged the holes and had no difficulty. "You will wonder, perhaps, how I convinced these men and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men afterwards that dynamite was not dangerous. Well, I simply took a cartridge, which I carried with me in a valise, and placed it on a plank; then I would take a sledge hammer and pound it, light a match and set fire to it while holding the cartridge in my hand, let it burn a little while, knock off the fire, and put the remainder in my valise for future use. This I did thousands of times in the next ten years. "I used to go to the sewers clad in overalls and working boots, get friendly with the men and strike the drill for this man and then that man. At noon and again in the evening I would take the fellows to a saloon. When I felt the time was ripe I would tell them what I wanted. Then I would go to the foreman, and later to the contractor, and if all were willing I would demonstrate. Sometimes I would get an order for fifty or a hundred pounds, often nothing, and so it went along. My salesmen were doing next to nothing in the way of getting orders. They were well dressed, were not experts, and were afraid to soil their

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clothes. Finally I discharged most of them and hired nine good rock miners, most of whom could not even write, and sent them on the road with instructions to drill holes and demonstrate anywhere and everywhere they could, and if they could not sell dynamite, to give it away, for we simply had to get business, cost what it might. " I n July I went to Southeastern Missouri, to the town of Granby. I had taken, no matter how, about six hundred pounds of dynamite to St. Louis. The railroads would not carry it, if they knew. I had left about 525 pounds in a leading hotel while I went out to Granby. On arriving, while going up the street, I met a miner whom I had known at Hell Gate. When I told him my business, he at once circulated the report among the miners that if they used dynamite they would be severely poisoned. The result was that I was there three weeks before I could get a single man to permit me to make a demonstration in his workings. Finally H a r r y Tamblyn, who kept a saloon there and was afterwards to become my agent, said: 'Julian, you will never get in a shot unless you set them up for the men.' I at once said: 'Let her go for a hundred dollars.' The next day a man named Chester told me I could put a shot in his workings. So Tamblyn and I went there, drilled our holes, and fired the shot with wonderful success. I then sold 375 lbs. of dynamite for $1.00 a pound and ordered 2,000 lbs. more from New York and left for Joplin, Missouri. "When the goods arrived, Tamblyn made a magazine out of his basement 1 and kept the dynamite there i Harry Tamblyn (1840-1919) was descended from a family of Cornish tin miners and started to work in the mines at Granby in 18T0. Later he acquired some capital through the operation of a mining lease and went into the saloon business. His son-in-law, Geo. N. Spiva, states

A ST. L O U I S D E M O N S T R A T I O N

413

right along. The next time I came to town, the miners said: 'Here comes the man who put the white hat on Granby', and they could not do enough for me." Julian had similar experiences at Joplin, Cuba and St. Joseph, Missouri. Here the miners, after the first few successful shots, complained of headaches, although the mine was well ventilated. Julian considered this just an excuse to get rid of the dynamite, so he got permission from the superintendent of the mine to shoot black powder while telling the men it was dynamite. When the miners nevertheless complained of headaches, the superintendent saw it was a put-up job and ordered 2,000 pounds in addition to 300 pounds, all Julian had at St. Louis. Many of the railroads would not accept dynamite for transportation, but when an ice jam threatened the railroad bridge at St. Louis, the railroad officials begged Julian to dynamite the ice and save the bridge. This he did after obtaining a promise from the railroad that thereafter they would haul his dynamite. The enemies of dynamite among the miners even threatened to kill Julian if he delivered any more of it. This happened at Port Henry, N. Y., but Julian delivered a 500-lb. order for this place just the same. He only took the precaution of carrying a six-shooter and fusing six cartridges of dynamite, intending, if attacked, to light the fuses with his cigar and hurl the cartridges among the attackers. But happily no one that he kept the dynamite at flrst under the bed in his shanty where his wife could watch it, as he thought the saloon was not a safe place for it. Soon, however, his wife and infant daughter began to suffer from headaches, until Julian came back and located the cause in the nitroglycerine fumes. It was then kept in the saltion until the saloon caught fire one day, and then it was decided it was too valuable to keep there, and special arrangements were made for storing it. Tamblyn sold it for 60c a stick, which brought him about 966-00 a case. Tamblyn was later sent to Joplin as salaried agent for the powder companies. At one time he represented seven different ones, but principally the duPont company, until 1907 when he was pensioned.

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interfered. Many more stories could be told of Julian's and other pioneer salesmen's experiences in introducing the new explosive, but the above must suffice, being typical of the conditions encountered. Shortly before the Giant Powder Company started its eastern branch, Dittmar began to make "Dualin" at N e p o n s e t , near Quincy, Massachusetts. Carl Dittmar was a contemporary and, for a short time, a collaborator of Alfred Nobel. The story of his life leading up to his going to Baychester, New York, is told in affidavits furnished by himself, his wife and his sister-in-law in support of a suit he brought in 1879 against the agents of the A t l a n t i c Giant Powder Company 1 for infringement of his "Dualin" patents. It has been impossible to corroborate his claims to his anticipation of Nobel's dynamite invention. Nevertheless his story, as told by himself and abstracted below, is extremely interesting, although his claims appear to be exaggerated and it is therefore difficult to properly value his work as a pioneer in the high explosives industry. Dittmar was born in Prussia in 1837 and was educated in the Prussian Military Academy and the Royal Artillery and Engineers' School. After a short service in the army proper he was sent to the government powder factory at Spandau in 1861 as technical director, where he had charge of the manufacture of black powder and guncotton, and where he claims to have started his experiments on other types of explosives, notably smokeless powder and nitroglycerine. In 1862 he resigned from the army to become director of the alum works at Hamburg. On October i In the U. S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, Carl Dittmar v. Alfred Rix, Thomas Varney and George I. Doe, Complainants Papers, pp. 27-36, 71-81, 111-115. Varney and Doe were the N. Y. agents and Rix was general counsel of both Giant companies.

DITTMAR'S D U A L I N

415

21 of this year he married Maria Wilhelmina Kruger, a fine German girl only 18 years of age, who was destined to be the first woman to figure prominently in the explosives industry in America.1 In the following year he became associated with Captain Schultze who had started to make a sporting powder of nitrated wood chips.2 Since neither he nor Schultze had much money he did not stay long, but went to Bomlitz, near Walsrode in Hanover, to erect a powder mill for private interests. He remained here until the end of 1865 operating the plant and experimenting with nitroglycerine and mixtures of nitroglycerine with sawdust treated with nitric and sulphuric acids or sawdust treated with solutions of saltpeter and alkali. He then proposed to Captain Schultze and others the formation of a company to manufacture "nitroglycerine made into powder form", but was unsuccessful in interesting them, so that he took a job as superintendent of construction of a cement works at Vienna. During the war with Austria (1866) he again served as an officer in the Prussian artillery. In July of that year Theodore Winckler, a partner of Nobel's, engaged him to study the causes of explosions of nitroglycerine and to write a treatise on this subject.'1 He was then sent to Krümmel in the duchy of Lauenburg, near Hamburg, where he rebuilt the nitroglycerine works of Nobel & Company which had been destroyed a short time before. Here he met Nobel who returned from America early in September. Dittmar claims to have discovered kieselguhr dynamite about this time and to have demonstrated it publicly before a board of government officers at Krümmel in October 1866. He further states that i See p. 621. 2 See p. 773. * This treatise was published in Berlin in 1866, under the title Dai Nitroglyzerin by Carl Dittmar.

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Nobel ridiculed these mixtures as well as the mixtures with treated sawdust, being convinced that nitroglycerine had to be in the liquid form to be effective, and that diluting it with wood alcohol would make it sufficiently safe for transportation. 1 In 1 8 6 7 , according to Dittmar, the manufacture of these compounds by Nobel had reached such amounts that he felt jusC h a r l e s F r e d e r i c k William tified in asking for full Ernest (Carl) Dittmar ( 1 8 8 7 - p a r t n e r ' s rights in the 1888) was employed by Alfred firm. When this was reNobel & Company and other firms in Germany and claimed

f u s e d

^

N o v e m b e r

,

l g 6 7

J

he left Nobel and entered again into a partnership with Schultze. H e also " " ' ' ^ u n t r s u i r ' " « « his mixtures with combustible and explosive substances in England, Prussia and Russia. In Prussia his application was refused on the ground that mixtures of gunpowder with nitroglycerine had already been used for blasting and that his treated sawdust was little different from gunpowder. H e abandoned his application in Russia on account of the cost. In England he was granted provisional protection,2 but he did not pursue it further, as he was told by his attorney that it would cost him a share in the development of dynamite. H i s factory at Neponset, Mass., was the first dyna-

1 Winckler, on the other hand, was interested and approved of Dittmar's experiments. 2 Brit. Pat. No. 3,458 (Provisional) of December S, 1867.

THE DUALIN PATENT

417

10,000 pounds to litigate the possible interference with Nobel's dynamite and black powder mixture patents.1 Since Schultze did not have the capital to start the manufacture of Dittmar's powders, the latter left him again and built a small factory for the Prussian government at Kiel where he made dynamite (kieselguhr base) and dualin (active base) for about five months. H e then secured, from the King of Prussia, land near Berlin where he built another plant and "until about the first of December, 1869, manufactured and sold dynamite and dualin in very large quantities." Shortly before this time Dittmar had applied, through the military attaché of the Prussian legation in Washington, for an American patent on "dualin" and the latter induced Dittmar to come to this country with the understanding that a $600,000 corporation would be formed to exploit his invention. Leaving the Berlin works in charge of his brother, he arrived in America about December 15, 1869, only to find that his patent application had been refused "on account of a defect in the papers," and that the $600,000 corporation had not materialized because of the failure to obtain a patent. H e then applied personally for a new patent, which was granted on his filing a disclaimer as to Nobel's dynamite patent which had been issued the year before. He filed this disclaimer, he says, "since he was ignorant of the laws of this country in respect to interferences and proceedings for the purpose of enabling me to obtain full and complete rights to my invention". The patent was so poorly drawn and so full of inconsistencies, perhaps on account of Dittmar's unfamiliarity with the English language, that it was really worthless. He also obi The dynamite patent was No. 1,845 of May 7, 1867; the nitroglycerine-black powder patent was No. 2,359 of September 24, 1863, both patents taken out by Nobel in England.

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THE EXPLOSIVES

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tained patents at the same time for "Xyloglodine", which he obtained by nitrating mixtures of glycerine with starch, cellulose, mannite or benzol,1 and for a nitrating apparatus with cooling coils and a stirring device made of tubing. On the strength of these patents and with a very small amount of capital he erected a factory at Neponset, Mass., where his wife joined him in March 1870. H e started the manufacture of dualin there in the following May. While the patent described dualin as a mixture of cellulose, nitrocellulose, nitrostarch, nitromannite and nitroglycerine in varying proportions, it actually consisted, as manufactured and sold, of nitroglycerine absorbed in mixtures of unnitrated sawdust and small quantities of nitrate of soda, in other words it was a very simple type of straight dynamite, Dittmar's later history is taken up in the history of the Dittmar Powder Works on p. 618. While Nobel was without doubt the first to make dynamite with an active base,2 since he made and patented nitroglycerine-gunpowder mixtures as early as 1863, he did this largely for the purpose of causing the explosion of the nitroglycerine. I t was Howden, Dittmar, Beach, Warren, Judson, Willard and others, rather than Nobel, who recognized the value of such a base, although its adoption in the first place was probably due to a desire to circumvent Nobel's kieselguhr dynamite patent. A t the time that Dittmar first made his Dualin commercially and Howden made black and white Hercules powder, Nobel had given up gunpowder mixtures and for some years afterwards confined himself entirely to the use of the inert absorbent. Thus A m e r i c a n m a k e r s developed the i Dualin patent No. 98,854 of January 18, 1870. Xyloglodine patent No. 99,069 of January 25, 1870. Apparatus patent No. 99,070 of January 25, 1870.

GRADED DYNAMITE

419

graded dynamites that fill the gap between the slow action of black powder and the brisance of No. 1 dynamite or blasting gelatine. As an advertising pamphlet of the California Powder Works published in 1897 says: "The American inventor realized that between black powder and Nobel's dynamite there was a great gap to be filled with graded explosives to obtain the greatest economy in blasting. The first step in the way of improvement was the use of mealed gunpowder as an absorbent. This was found to absorb and cushion a smaller percentage of nitroglycerine, while contributing materially to the explosive strength. Moreover, it was found that the mixture developed a greater force than the sum of the forces of the two elements fired separately. I n other words, the gunpowder mixture was detonated by the nitroglycerine. This principle of absorbing nitroglycerine in gunpowder materials, a carbonaceous element on the one hand and an oxidizing element on the other, is the cornerstone of modern American dynamites, although the absorbents now used include a great many mixtures better adapted to the purpose of absorbing nitroglycerine than gunpowder itself, while they are even cheaper. Nitroglycerine, the most costly ingredient, serves as the detonating agent to develop the latent energies of these added substances. This, then, is advanced American practice, and it extends to the use of very small percentages of nitroglycerine, even five per cent, serving to make an explosive very much more powerful than gunpowder." About 1873 George M. Mowbray, who had been making nitroglycerine for the Hoosac tunnel work since 1868,1 found that for certain types of work an explosive of less shattering power than this liquid i See p. 376.

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would be better, and he set about to dilute it, first with glass blown into fine flakes and then with finely divided scales of mica. This "Mica Blasting Powder" 1 was extensively used during the later years of construction on this tunnel, until the Atlantic Giant Powder Company secured an i n j u n c t i o n against Mowbray as an infringer of the Nobel patents. Another competitor of kieselguhr dynamite arose in 1873 in the form of "Rendrock" powder, the invention of Treat S. Beach.2 I t was very similar to the German "Lithofracteur" and consisted, according to the patent, of 40% nitroglycerine, 40% saltpeter, 13% treated wood pulp and 7% paraffine. H e interested Jasper R . Rand and Addison C. Rand, sons of Albert T . Rand who was president of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, and these men formed the Rendrock Powder Company and built a factory at Pequannock, New Jersey, in 1874. A t about the same time George A. Goodyear, who had been a manufacturer of electrical fuzes in Boston, started to make Robert W . Warren's "Vulcan" powder, which consisted, according to General Abbott 3 who tested it at Willets Point, of 30% nitroglycerine, 52.5% nitrate of soda, 10.5 charcoal and 7% sulphur. Other dynamites of this period were Jupiter powder made by Huber & Company and a powder made at Baltimore or Havre-de-Grace. 4 By 1875 the Pacific and the Atlantic Giant Powder Companies began to feel this competition, which they considered, in view of their ownership of Nobel's nitroglycerine and dynamite patents, to be infringei U. S. Patent No. 150,428 of May 5, 1874. 2U. S. Patent No. 138,841 of May 13, 1873. See also pp. 331, 624 et seq. 3 Professional Papers, Corps of Engineers, V. 8. A., No. 23 (1881). 4 Judge Rix's report to the trustees of the Giant Powder Company, February 1877.

G I A N T vs. O T H E R C O M P A N I E S

421

ments of their rights, so strongly that they decided to go after these infringers. They therefore started suit in the Federal courts against Mowbray, Dittmar, the California Powder Works, the Rands (including the Laflin and Rand Powder Company which was selling Rendrock powder), Goodyear and others.1 In the California case, however, the injunction was denied on the ground that re-issues 4,818, 4,819 and 5,799, on which the suit had been brought, claimed more than the original patents and were therefore invalid. The Giant Powder Company appealed the case to the Supreme Court which rendered its decision on November 28, 1878. The California court was sustained as to the first two patents which were for gunpowder and rocket powder mixtures with nitroglycerine, but it was held that nothing had been adduced in evidence as to the non-validity of the last patent, which was a re-issue of the dynamite patent and covered, as has been mentioned before, "mixtures of nitroglycerine with some absorbent substance".2 The California Powder Works then went on manufacturing their active base dynamites. Indeed, they had felt so sure of their position, even before the decision of the Supreme Court, that they had established in 1877 an eastern plant at Cleveland, Ohio.3 Judge Field's decision in 1880 in the case, which again declared re1 In the U. S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts: Atlantic Giant Powder Company v. George M. Mowbray, Francis Shanly and Walter Shanly (1875) ; Atlantic Giant Powder Company v. Geo. A. Goodyear (1877). In the U. S. Circuit Court f o r Southern District of New Y o r k : A. G. P. Co. v. Neptune Powder Company (1878); A. G. P. Co. v. Vigorite Powder Company of New York (1878); A. G. P. Co. v. J . R . Rand et al. (1878); A. G. P. Co. v. Andrew J . Parker et al. (1878); A. G. P. Co. v. William A g a r et al. (1878). In the U. S. Circuit Court for the District of California: Giant Powder Company v. California Powder Works (1875); G. P. Co. Y. California Vigorite Powder Company (1879); G. P. Co. v. Vulcan Powder Company (1880). 2 See p. 337. s See pp. 503, 518, et seq.

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issue 5,799 invalid, vindicated the California company's stand. The Vigorite Powder Company was organized in 1877 to manufacture a dynamite patented by one of its promoters. 1 This product consisted of mixtures of nitroglycerine with potassium nitrate and chlorate, sawdust and chalk; or of nitroglycerine with nitrate of soda and charcoal. On J a n u a r y 15, 1879, the company was reorganized as the California Vigorite Powder Company, probably to distinguish it f r o m an eastern Vigorite Powder Company which had j u s t lost a patent suit instituted by the Atlantic Giant Powder Company. The Giant Powder Company promptly took u p the new challenge and on September 8, 1879, sued for an injunction. The plaintiffs, who had regularly won decisions in the eastern courts, had the same counsel and experts. The defense, being short of money, employed a practically unknown army lieutenant by the name of William R . Quinan, a W e s t Point graduate, who was then stationed at the Presidio. I t was largely due to his testimony that J u d g e Field's decision, rendered early in 1880, declared reissue 5,799 invalid, as being broader in its claims than the original dynamite patent, and refused to grant the injunction. This important decision, which to the practical explosives man seems sounder than the previous eastern decisions, opened u p the manufacture of graded, active base dynamites to anybody. While the Giant companies still had the sole right to explode nitroglycerine alone or in mixtures by means of blasting caps, the enforcement of these claims was manifestly impossible in view of the great number of users of dynamite, and as a consequence of this situation a large 1

For experiments made by the promoters before 1877 see p. 640.

MANY N E W COMPANIES

423

number of new companies were formed in the next decade. Robert W . Warren, who had been stopped from making dynamite in Massachusetts through the Goodyear decision and had then set up a small factory at Reno, Nevada, had already started his Vulcan Powder Company (Jan. 13, 1879) in California. In 1880 the Eureka and the Safety Nitro Powder companies were formed in California. In the middle West the Aetna Powder Company was organized with a plant near what is now Gary, Indiana, which shortly passed into the control of A. O. Fay of the Miami and American powder companies. This year also saw the entry of the old eastern gunpowder manufacturers into the dynamite field. The Laflin & Rand Powder Company had previously taken some interest in dynamite through their connection with Jasper Rand & Company 1 and had also had a contract with Dittmar for a supply of dualin, but they had terminated these relations, probably on account of the patent litigation, about 1877. After this they sold some Giant powder. For some years prior to 1880 they had also been making electric fuzes and blasting machines which were largely used with the new high explosives. In the duPont firm Lammot and William duPont were the only ones who had taken an active interest in this development, and Lammot had done some experimental work on his own account. Through his efforts the Repauno Chemical Company was organized in 1880 with the duPont, Laflin & Rand, and Hazard companies, and Lammot and William duPont as the owners. A year or so later he organized the Hercules Powder Company to take over the factory which the California Powder Works had erected in 1877 at Cleveland. i See Rendrock powder, p. 624.

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THE EXPLOSIVES

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The Hecla Powder Company was also formed in this year by the Morse brothers, one of whom had been connected with the Cleveland plant. The Lake Superior Powder Company, which had been making nitroglycerine for a short time, began early in 1881 to make dynamite. In the next few years a number of other small companies appeared on the field. Although Nobel had invented blasting gelatine and gelatine dynamites in 1875 and had had an immediate success with them in Europe, he had not been able to interest the American assignees of his patents in their manufacture. About 1882 he sent Dr. Jensen, one of his chemists, to California to take the matter up again with them; but as he had other matters, such as acid recovery, to introduce to them, progress was slow and before they could get ready its manufacture was undertaken by the American Forcite Powder Manufacturing Company. The organization of this company was the result of a visit paid by Manuel Eissler, a mining engineer who had had experience in powder manufacture in California, to the Belgian Forcite works at Baelensur-Nethe. This plant was making gelatine dynamite ostensibly according to a patent issued to John Malcolm Lewin,1 a Swedish army officer then living in Paris, which specified 75% of nitroglycerine, 7% of cellulose (with or without dextrine) and 18% of potassium nitrate. Actually this does not resemble Forcite powder in anything but the name, and this composition would not produce a practical explosive. It is probable that the Belgian works really produced a gelatine dynamite containing nitrocellulose. At any rate Eissler succeeded in interesting Julius de Castro, and through him John W. Mackay, the California i U. S. Pat. No. 242,783 of June 14,1881.

CONSOLIDATION

425

millionaire mining man who was then in Paris, so that the latter purchased the American rights from Lewin. As a result a factory was built in 1883 on the southern end of Lake Hopatcong, near what is now Landing, New Jersey. Numerous other d y n a m i t e companies sprang up during the next decade; but as was natural the older companies, particularly those owned by the concerns that were associated in the black powder business through the Gunpowder Trade Association, gradually acquired a preponderating influence in the dynamite trade. Their own plants grew through able management and technical advances, and they acquired stock in the smaller companies. When J . Amory Haskell assumed the management of the Repauno and Hercules companies (1892) and then became president of Laflin & Rand (1895), and Charles L. Patterson's influence for consolidations began to be felt, this process became more rapid. A t this time the duPont, Laflin & Rand and Hazard companies controlled the Repauno, Hercules, Hecla, the Sterling and the Lake Superior Powder Companies and had a one-third interest in the Atlantic Dynamite Company (the successor of the Atlantic Giant Powder Company). I n 1895, due to trouble between Small and Schräder, the general agents of the Atlantic Dynamite Company, the Giant Powder Company, which still owned two-thirds of its stock, offered to sell. To make this purchase the Eastern Dynamite Company was formed with a c a p i t a l of $2,000,000 of which $600,000 was used to pay for the plant and other assets of the Atlantic Dynamite Company. The balance of the stock ($1,400,000) was exchanged for the stock of the Repauno and Hercules companies, thus consolidating the principal dynamite producers in the

426

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

East. A t the same time Haskell, acting for the new company, made an agreement with A. O. F a y of the Aetna Powder Company, whose business amounted to about 10% of that of the combination, whereby sales quota were assigned to the parties to the agreement. Before the end of the century the Eastern Dynamite Company purchased about a dozen more smaller concerns, the most important of which was the American Forcite Powder Manufacturing Company. In 1897 the American explosives manufacturers were threatened by competition from the European manufacturers represented by the Vereinigte KoelnRottweiler Pulverfabriken of Cologne, Germany, and the Nobel Dynamite Trust Company, Limited, of England. The Europeans bought 500 acres of land near Jamesburg, New Jersey, and proceeded with the erection of a plant for the manufacture of exploders. As this was believed to be only the first step in a program of building explosives works of all kinds at advantageous locations throughout the United States, the American manufacturers became alarmed and sent Hamilton M. Barksdale of the Eastern and A. O. Fay of the Aetna company to Europe (May 1897) to see whether some amicable arrangement could not be made with these people. I n July they were reinforced by Eugene duPont of the duPont company and Bernard Peyton of the California Powder Works. The result of the negotiations was the famous International, London, or Jamesburg agreement in which E . I. duPont de Nemours & Company, the Lailin & Rand Powder Company, the Eastern Dynamite Company, the Miami Powder Company, the American Powder Mills, the Aetna Powder Company, the Austin Powder Company, the California Powder Works, the Giant Powder Company, Con-

T H E EUROPEAN AGREEMENT

427

solidated, and the Judson Dynamite & Powder Company joined as the "American Factories." This provided that the Europeans should not erect explosives works in the United States and should abandon the Jamesburg project. In return the Americans would refrain from invading Europe, would pay for the expense so far incurred at Jamesburg and would take from the Europeans 5,000,000 exploders a year. For the sale of high explosives the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Columbia and Venezuela in South America were to be exclusively American territory; all other countries in South America, as well as British Honduras and the islands in the Caribbean Sea, which were not Spanish possessions, were to be common or "syndicated" territory, for which local arrangements were to be made similar to these provided for in the "Neutral Belt" of the agreement with the California Powder Works; the Dominion of Canada and the Spanish possessions in the Caribbean Sea were to be free market uilaffected by the agreement; the rest of the world was to be European territory. The result of this agreement was that, with unimportant exceptions,1 no European explosives works were established in the United States. However, as the legality of the agreement seemed to be open to question, Coleman duPont terminated it in 1904 by the payment of $140,000 to the European factories. Besides eliminating the menace of European competition, the agreement also served for a time to bring the American manufacturers closer together. While relations in the Eastern and Central states had been harmonious on the whole, the California manufacturers had engaged in price wars which were injurious to themselves as well as to the trade. These diffii See Star Electric Fuxe Works, p. 756.

428

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

culties, which existed principally among the California Powder Works, the Judson and Giant companies (the latter had combined with the Safety Nitro Powder Company in 1892 as the Giant Powder Company, Consolidated), were composed shortly before this time. The friendly relations were considerably strengthened by the Mexican agreement of October 1, 1898, which regulated the dynamite business of the California, Giant, Judson, Aetna and Eastern companies in Mexico. By another agreement of October 11, 1898, the last named company became the exclusive sales agent (with the exception of the business with certain mining companies) of the Hancock Chemical Company, an agreement in which the Aetna and Lake Superior companies shared through a supplementary contract. These agreements remained in force until about 1905. When Coleman, P i e r r e and Alfred duPont acquired the old duPont company and then the Laflin & Rand Powder Company in 1902, they found themselves in complete ownership or control of a large number of dynamite companies in which the duPont company had heretofore held a minority interest, the largest of which was the Eastern Dynamite Company. The three new owners proceeded to buy up or exchange for stock in the parent company, the minority interest in these smaller subsidaries. They then transferred their assets to the Eastern Dynamite Company and dissolved the old companies as fast as they could. I t was their intention eventually to dissolve the Eastern Dynamite Company also and vest all the properties in the duPont Powder Company. Before their program could be carried to completion, the government suit under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act intervened. As a result of this suit, the duPont Pow-

CONDITION OF T H E INDUSTRY

429

der Company was split up into three separate corporations, viz., E . I . duPont de Nemours Powder Company, Hercules Powder Company and Atlas Powder Company, among which the old company's dynamite plants and business were distributed. 1 In spite of the preponderating influence the Eastern Dynamite Company with its affiliations had in this field, numerous other concerns entered it from time to time. Between 1902, when the consolidation process became most active, and 1909, when the government suit was heard, the following companies were organized: Allentown Non-Freezing Powder Company, annual business in 1908: 375,000 lbs.; American High Explosives Company, 3,000,000 lbs.; Emporium Powder Mfg. Company, 4,825,000 lbs.; Illinois Powder Mfg. Company, 2,400,000 lbs.; Independent Powder Co. (of M o . ) , 6,287,000 lbs. ( 1 9 0 9 ) ; Jefferson Pow-

der Company, 3,025,000 lbs.; Masurite Company, 1,575,000 lbs.; Monguagon Powder Company, 500,000 lbs.; Pluto Powder Company, 2,100,000 lbs.; Potts Powder Company, 3,025,000 lbs.; Puget Sound & Alaska Powder Company, 175,000 lbs.; Sinnamahoning Powder Mfg. Company, 4,675,000 lbs.; Texas Dynamite Company, 520,000 lbs.; Trojan Powder Company, 1,350,000 lbs.; West Pennsylvania Dynamite Company, 875,000 lbs.; making a total annual business of 34,707,000 lbs. At the present time the industry may be considered to be in a stabilized condition. The rapid expansion which characterized the early days of high explosives has given place to a steady growth to keep pace with the more gradual increase in the demand. Owing to the nature of the products, which makes it unwise to i See p. 178.

430

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

keep them in storage for long periods, the present capacities for production are in excess of the average annual consumption, being sufficiently large to take care of the peak demands during the most active season. This condition is reflected in the fact that since 1912 there have been comparatively few changes. A small number of new concerns have started up and a small number of others have gone out of business or have been absorbed by one or the other of the stronger concerns. The most important event was the consolidation of a number of small producers, including the old Aetna Powder Company, into the Aetna Explosives Company in 1914 and the purchase of this company by the Hercules Powder Company in 1921. The World W a r , of course, brought great activity in the lines of smokeless powder and military explosives which ordinarily constitute only a small fraction of the business of the powder companies. This phase of the industry is taken up more in detail in parts I V and V. The importance of the explosives industry to the welfare and development of the country is illustrated in the part V I of this book. Following this outline of the growth of the high explosives industry in America, the history of the individual companies will now be taken up.

C H A P T E R IV. T H E ATLAS-GIANT GROUP

T

GIANT POWDER COMPANY

H E Giant Powder Company was the first company to manufacture dynamite in America, and its history is therefore of great interest. I t is hard to visualize today the courage and daring of the pioneers of the explosives industry. A t a time when disastrous explosions of nitroglycerine in Europe and America were attracting universal attention and causing the passage of laws forbidding its manufacture and transportation, these men forged ahead, determined to overcome and conquer all obstacles. Besides the troubles attendant on the production of a new product whose properties and behavior were none too well understood, they had to fight the prejudice of the prospective users and the active and not always scrupulous opposition of the black powder manufacturers whose supremacy the new explosive threatened. The Giant Powder Company in particular had a hard struggle for its existence. The California Powder Works were in the field in California and, until they began to make dynamite themselves a year or so later, used every argument possible to point out the danger in handling and using dynamite. Furthermore, the Giant company was thousands of miles away from the sources of necessary supplies; glycerine and kieselguhr had to be imported from Europe on sailing ships or on one of the few steamships around the Horn, or to the Isthmus of Panama where they were transhipped by railroad across the Isthmus and then sent by another ship to San Francisco.

432

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

A f t e r their enterprise was started, they had their full share of explosions which were the lot of pioneer enterprises in high explosives. No sooner had they demonstrated that dynamite was practical and successful, than competitors sprang up in defiance of the patent rights which seemed to grant them a monopoly. Later internal dissension in the organization brought another strong competitor into the field and started a disastrous price war which nearly ruined all the California companies. Today, however, the Giant Powder Company stands firmly established as the oldest dynamite company in America and one of the leaders on the West Coast. I n the preceding chapter the beginning of the company has been briefly d e s c r i b e d , how Bandmann, Nobel's agent in California, interested some of his friends in the new explosive and how on August 13, 1867, the company was incorporated. L . L . Robinson as the first president and treasurer, H e n r y Pichoir as the first secretary, John N . Risdon and John Baker constituted the first board of directors with Egbert Judson, Thomas Varney, and H e n r y Brickwedel who had been very active in the promotion of the enterprise. Robinson and Pichoir were members of the French banking firm of Pioche, Beyerque & Co. of San Francisco. Bandmann, who had given the first impulse to the formation of the company, through his firm of Bandmann, Nielson & Company, acted as the sales agent on a 10% commission. The capital stock of the c o m p a n y consisted of 10,000 shares of a par value of $100 each, of which 6,000 only were issued. Nobel & Company were to receive one-third 1 with a cash payment of $20,000 in i Giant Powder Co. v. Vulcan Powder Company, Ex. Vol. II, 61-63, quoted by plaintiff, Oral Argument, p. 37. According to another account Bandmann, Nielson & Co. received 500 shares as promotion commission

F I R S T COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION 488 United States gold coin for their process and patent rights. The construction of the first factory in Rock House Cañón, where Dr. Fuchs had made the sample lot used in the demonstration at Lime Point, was in the hands of Thomas Varney1 under the general supervision and advice of Dr. J. Fuchs who represented Nobel. But Judson2 also L . L. R o b i n s o n ( 1 8 2 4 - devoted much time and attention 1 8 9 2 ) was the first to it and went to the factory p r e s i d e n t o f the G i a n t every day during its construcand A t l a n t i c Giant tion and after it was completed. Powder Companies a n d l a t e r w a s associ- The first run of the factory lasted a t e d with t h e V u l c a n only about a week (from the C o m p a n y and t h e T o n - 19th to the 26th of March 1867) ite P o w d e r C o m p a n y . during which time Fuchs made about 1,300 pounds of Giant powder. He then went up the country carrying samples in his satchel to show and demonstrate to the miners. Operations were resumed on May 5. Apparently Fuchs left California soon after this to return to Germany and another chemist, Dr. Casemans, was placed in charge. The Rock House Cañón factory was destroyed on November 26, 1869, by an explosion in which Dr. Casemans and another white man lost their lives.* Since the city was getting rather close to this site, the company bought 100 acres of land out in the sand dunes south of what is now Golden Gate Park. This tract seems to have extended south from about where and Nobel & Co. only 1,000 shares. European correspondence gives the Nobel firm 2,000 shares, or one-third of the stock issued. i For picture of Varney see p. 480. « Judson's picture appears on p. 682. » N.T.Timet, 11-28-69. The other, John F. Bussenius(S.F.Bul. 11-27-69).

434

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

' —îrrr.rriT%-

Sketch by Eric A. Starke, 1923, from memory, of the second Giant Powder Plant, near Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Cal., as it existed in 1878.

Kirkham Street is now laid out to Ortega Street or beyond, and from 20th Avenue to 32nd Avenue. This second Giant plant started operations the early part of the next year1 and Nobel & Company, at the request of the Giant company, sent Carl Erik Ferdini A letter dated January 7, 1870, from Nobel & Co. to Bandmann, Nielson & Co. says: "We hear with pleasure that you think to recommence again about the middle of February."

SECOND G I A N T P L A N T

435

and Amark, a Swedish chemist (1831-1898) to take charge. His contract called for an engagement of two years at a salary of $250 gold a month. It seems to have been the intention to send Amark to build a dynamite plant in the East for the Atlantic Giant Powder Company, which was organized about this time as a subsidiary of the western concern, but possibly on account of delays in selecting a site, he left San Francisco on May 4, 1871, and returned directly to Sweden. He was succeeded as superintendent or supervising chemist, which in those early days meant also nitroglycerine maker-in-chief, by one of the Kampf brothers1 who had come from Rhenish Prussia during the gold rush. About 1870 Frank Roller,2 a former midshipman in the German merchant marine, arrived in San Francisco and secured employment at the Giant plant. Although he was inexperienced in the manufacture of explosives and had to depend for his technical information largely on Louis Kampf, his executive skill advanced him rapidly and about 1873 he became superintendent, retaining this position until the time of 1 Also spelled Kempf, Kompf or Kumpf. There were three brothers, the sons of a prominent German leather chemist, and according to current report, refugees from the German revolution of 1848. Louis Kampf was known as the chemist of the works until he committed suicide in 1880 by blowing his head off with dynamite. Ferdinand Kampf was assistant superintendent until he was killed in the explosion of January 21, 1883. (Nne York Timet, January 23, 1883). 2 Frank Roller was born at Koenigsberg, Prussia, on April 18, 1844, and died on November 27, 1912. After receiving a high school education in Germany he became a midshipman in the merchant marine, but evidently did not like his occupation. On arriving in China he deserted, hiding himself until all danger of capture was past. After coming to America he was employed for a short time by the Van Leak Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of brooms. Through Bandmann's influence he then became an assistant to Louis Kampf, the Giant chemist. According to the testimony of the men who worked under him, he was a man of amiable disposition and kind hearted, a man for whom men gave their best efforts. He would always listen to their troubles and was ever ready to lend a helping hand. Yet he was forceful when necessary.

436

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

his death on November 27,1912. His elevation to the superintendency was directly due to an act of heroism which saved the plant from an explosion. While a charge of nitroglycerine was in the nitrator, the belt which operated the stirrer gave way, and before the man in charge noticed it, the charge began to fume. Instead of turning it into the drowning tank, he and his assistants left. Roller, who happened to be a short distance away, noticed the fumes. H e had been told by the chemist what this meant and knew well that in the course of a little time there would be an explosion; but he took the desperate chance of running into the building, opened the discharge cocks into the drowning tank and turned off the glycerine. Fortune was with him—no explosion occurred. Roller showed this same courage and iron nerve more than once during his life and thereby saved his employers many thousands of dollars in property and the lives of many of his fellow workers. A t about the time that Roller was made superintendent there was also a change in the management and George C. Hickox was elected president. Vigorous steps were now taken to go after the manufacturers of dynamite that had started up in California and in the East without regard to the Nobel patents, which were owned by the Giant Powder Company. Hickox was succeeded about 1876 by Albert Dibblee1 who continued this policy. On January 14, 1879, the second disastrous explosion in the history of the company occurred2 when the packing house containing nine tons of No. 1 dy1 Albert Dibblee was born at Pittsfleld, N. Y., a little settlement in the western Catskill mountains, on July 16, 1821. In 1860 he came to California around the Horn and soon became a prominent business man in San Francisco. He retired from the Giant and Atlantic Giant companies in 1893 and died in 1895 at his home in Ross, Marin County. 2 San Francisco Bulletin of January 15 and IS, 1879.

THIRD GIANT PLANT

437

namite blew up, killing Oscar Carlson, a Swede; Edwin Moniz and Samuel Thayer, two Americans; and Ah Heang, a Chinaman. The shock of the explosion was felt in the city with terrific force; glass was broken everywhere and great consternation resulted. Serious objection was made to the rebuilding of the works on the same location and as a result land was acquired On Fleming Point, then sometimes referred to as Clement Point, in Ala-

Frank Roller was one of the prominent pioneer dynamite superintendents He was associated with the Giant Company in , , „ meda the early seventies and was su. County, on San perintendent of the factory for Francisco Bay just befortyyears. yond West B e r k e l e y

which was then known as Ocean View. Here the Giant Powder Company erected its third California factory in 1879. Operations started in the fall and taxed the capacity of the plant, as the explosion and the loss of time in building the new plant had exhausted the stocks. At this time the force consisted of about thirteen white men and twenty-five Chinamen. The new plant had hardly been operating six months when a large packing house containing 6,000 pounds of dynamite blew up. Eleven white men and twelve Chinamen, who were packing or "punching" powder by hand, were killed. Six other factory buildings including apparently at least one of the magazines, also exploded, but the men working in these escaped, ex-

438 T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY cept one man in the magazine. Six houses, including the men's boarding house, outside the plant, were more or less damaged, but were left standing. The coroner's verdict censured the company for permitting piece work in this operation and for having Caucasians and Mongolians at work together. In consequence of this disaster the packing houses were rebuilt in small units, each holding but four handpackers. These small buildings were barricaded from each other by placing them separately in excavations in the hill side. A car, operating on wooden rails, conveyed the dynamite from the mixing to the packing houses, and from there to the box packing house. This safety measure would have been effective, if the distance between the individual packing houses had been greater. The houses were heated by hot water from a boiler located between the line of packing houses and the mixing house. One windy, cold Sunday afternoon in 1883, while the plant was working to capacity to fill an order for 50,000 pounds for Portland, Oregon, the foreman ordered one of the Chinamen to rake the fire under this boiler and put on more coal. While the latter was carrying out this order, a gust of wind blew one of the hot coals into a car of loose powder that was on its way from the mixing to the packing houses. The powder took fire, but the men with the car got away safely before the powder exploded. This set off the small packing houses one by one, and finally the mixing house went too, where some of the men had taken refuge when the first packing house exploded. Altogether thirty-seven Chinamen and Ferdinand Kampf, the assistant superintendent, lost their lives. All that remained of the plant was the nitroglycerine department and the magazines. The driver of a wagonload

GIANT EMPLOYEES

439

440

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

of dynamite which was being carted over the wharf to waiting schooners had a narrow escape. H e jumped into the water when the first explosion was heard, making it just before his wagon exploded. During this accident Roller again showed his heroism. When the mixing house exploded, burning brands set one of the schooners, which was being loaded, afire. Everyone had left the wharf and the schooners as they were in full view of the mixing house; but Roller observed the fire, ran out and with a sack beat out the fire, which had attacked the boxes of dynamite. The charred boxes were kept as souvenirs for a long time. Roller was rewarded for saving the cargo by the gift of a gold watch and a raise in salary. The factory was immediately rebuilt on the ruins on a more extensive scale. The new packing houses were all equipped with cartridge loading machines which were thought to reduce the hazard greatly, if it did not entirely eliminate it. A type of Chile mill made of hard wood and lead was used for mixing. For years after these changes had been made no more accidents originated in the mixing or packing department of this factory. During the early eighties a number of other improvements were introduced. D r . Jensen (or Jansen), who had been sent over by the Nobel company, installed the first acid recovery system and instructed the company in the manufacture of gelatine dynamite. But he was in poor health and had to leave the company 1 and work was completed by Roller and his assistants. Jensen was a very able man, who devised the concentration of sulphuric acid in iron pans, but he seems to have been handicapped by interference from Judson and others. Judson was one i He died shortly afterwards of tuberculosis.

T H E ACID CONTROVERSY

441

Giant Plant Veterans ( l e f t to right), (taken about 1919 and showing year of employment): Daniel McNamaree ( 1 8 8 7 ) , W. H. Williams (1888, d. 1 9 2 3 ) , Joseph Hattick ( 1 8 8 9 ) , Nels Johnson ( 1 8 8 6 ) , and George H . Phillips ( 1 8 8 2 ) .

of the proprietors of the San Franeisco Chemical Works, whose plant adjoined the powder works, and naturally did not approve of the saving of acid as this would cut down his sales to the powder company. He had introduced in 1873 the manufacture of "Giant Powder No. 2", an active dope dynamite1 to compete with the Hercules powder of the California Powder Works. Some years later he patented2 his Judson powder or RRP, which was made by Judson in the plants of both the California and the Atlantic Giant Powder Companies. Later this powder was improved by Orlando B. Hardy'—and the acquisition of the latter's patent rights, as well as the building of nitric and sulphuric acid plants by the Giant Powder Company, led to Judson's withdrawal in 1890 and the fort See p. 881. 2 See p. 888. * See Vulcan Powder Company, p. 649.

442

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

•GIAKT PCM DEB PLAHT I . H i t r o G l y c e r i n e House. 2 . S i t r o G l y c e r i n e Wash Hems*. F l e m i n g P o i n t - West B e r k e l e y . 3 . Mixing Hons«. 188a 4 . J w U o n Mixing House. By S . A . S t s r k e . 6 . Packing Rouses. _ 6 . Maga t i n * . 7 . G e l a t i n e Mixing House. 11. Acid Mixers and Montéju» 8 . N i t r i c Acid R e t o r t s . 12. A i r C o m p r e s s o r s . 9 . Acid S e e o v e r y P l a n t s . l i . Ju by Solomon T u r c k for the Laflins & Rand, 1 and o n e - f o u r t h | j y JJ Wheeler for the Hazard

INDUSTRY mmmmm* -> I

jm

jjijk;.. H S H ^ ^ ^ B L 1 I „ , „ Lammot duPontv (1831-1884) was t h e first membe r of t h e d l / P o n t firm to become interested in higli explosives. Before then, however,

he w a s a bIack

Powder

m a n of

national prominence (see pp. 117.

.„„ . „ ,K

u

t

A

' ^-l). " e w a s founder of what is now America's largest dynamite plant. His short but brilliant career in high explosives was e n d e d by an explosion which occurred at Kepauno during the experimental development of the acid recovery process. His sons ,ater became prominent leaders

Powder C O m P a n y . I t seems2 that the building of a plant on this site proin t h e industr gressed to a point where yit was almost ready to produce dynamite, when something happened to persuade General duPont that it would be unwise, if indeed not unsafe, to manufacture nitroglycerine and dynamite so close (about three

i See also p. 238. - According to William duPont. Herbert Gay Chase, a pioneer employee of the Repauno works, also confirms parts of the account. He furnished much information for this history of the Repauno company.

LAMMOT D u P O N T

563

miles) to his extensive black powder mills on the Brandywine. His objections prevailed, and the Delaware plant was abandoned. Lammot duPont then found a more isolated and better location on the Repaupo meadows in New Jersey above the confluence of the Repaupo Creek and the Delaware River almost directly across from Chester, Pennsylvania. He was very enthusiastic about the location and the prospects of the business and one day told some visitors that at this point there would be located the largest dynamite plant in America, a prophecy that came true some thirty years later. General duPont was not so sanguine but on January 29, 1880, he announced without much enthusiasm: "We are going into the high explosives business; that is, we are forming a company in which we are heavily interested to manufacture the same, and have not as yet fully determined on the name." The company was finally incorporated in Delaware on June 17,1880, with a capital of $300,000, one-third of which was taken by each of the three companies mentioned, who were then the leading manufacturers of black powder in America. By this arrangement the duPonts acquired practically a two-thirds interest, as they had owned the Hazard Powder Company since 1872.1 A t first the name "Repaupo Chemical Company" was considered, but finding that the next railroad station south of their own station of Gibbstown was called Repaupo, they changed this to Repauno Chemical Company. Later additional land was bought to allow for expansion and protection for the plant. i In 1883 Lammot duPont, after he had sold his interest in the duPont firm, personally bought a one-fourth interest in the Repauno company from the associated owners. After his death in 1884, the executors sold one-half of this back to the associates, leaving a one-eighth interest to the estate. In 1889 William duPont, when he retired from the duPont firm, acquired a one-sixth interest in the company. The only other stock in the hands of the public were a few scattered shares owned by individuals actively connected with the business. (Wm. & P. S. duPont, 1924).

564

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Lammot duPont was made president of the new company and took an active part not only in the general management, but in the construction and operation of the plant. His c o u s i n , W i l l i a m duPont (the son of General Henry duPont, the head of the firm) was the first secretary and treasurer.1 At first the home office was at Wilmington, but as soon as an office ,„.„. L 'IJ'

,

n

.. . .

L J L

J « « h a m d u P o n t was the first acD U l i d i n g had been erected tive treasurer and the third presiat Repauno, most of the dent of the Repauno Chemical a c c o u n t i n g was trans- Company. His faith in and deferred to the plant. A t yotion to the industry in the tryr . ing days following the death of about the same time the Lammot duPont undoubtedly inhome office of the com- fluenced the duPont firm in bepany was moved to Phila- coming more interested in high delphia. L a m m o t and explosives.

William duPont made frequent trips to the plant, often crossing the Delaware River at Chester in a row boat until a steam launch was purchased to transport officials and employees. Construction of the plant was started on January 31, 1880, even before the organization had been completed. At first no one in the neighborhood knew what kind of a plant was being built. During the excavations numerous Indian burial mounds were found, containing the skeletons of some 25 or 30 Indians, and 1 General Henry d u P o n t had acted in this capacity at the organization and then turned the office over to his son. 2 Ellis Studio photograph of a painting by Harrington Mann.

CONSTRUCTION S T A R T E D

565

Repauno Pioneers: William Mcllvaine (1854-1925) (left),dynamite line foremen; Dayton Corson (top), soda dry house foreman; H. Frank Young (center), box packing house foreman and inspector; and George K. C. West (right), cashier.

the graves of perhaps ten squaws. The stone implements and weapons found there were turned over to Lammot duPont who was well versed in Indian lore. In an old house which was located near the wharf and had been built before the Revolution, an old pot and several old English coins were found. Lammot duPont was on very friendly terms with Joseph W. Willard, the manager of the Hercules plant at Cleveland, and it was natural that he should turn to him for an experienced powder man to build and operate his plant. Willard recommended his nephew, Charles A. Morse, who had set up an experimental laboratory adjoining the plant and had developed some low grade dynamites. Morse was accepted

566

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

as superintendent, and Herbert 6 . Chase,1 a theatrical man and a distant relation of Willard's, was selected as bookkeeper, later becoming general assistant at the plant.2 On April 5, 1880, Samuel T. Appollonio, former bookkeeper of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company in New York City, arrived and was installed as manager of the plant. On the same HerbertG. Chase (born day Harry W. Norcross, also a 1856) started in the exrelative of Willard's and a nitro- plosives business when glycerine maker on the Cleve- the Repauno W o r k s started in 1880, and land plant, was placed in charge had been an official of the nitroglycerine and dyna- there for f o r t y-o n e mite operations of the plant, and years when he retired. the company's minutes state that on April 22, 1881, he was made superintendent. One of the first jobs of this company was to build a wharf and a tram line to handle the river freight,® 'Chase was a member of the Independent Boston Fusiliers and later became a first lieutenant in this organization. H e was also an ardent and active Mason and on September 19, 1905, he received the honorary 33d Degree in that body. H e served at Repauno for many years, particularly looking a f t e r the dynamite shipments and transportation matters. When he retired in 1921, he had the unique record of having personally handled and directed the shipment of more dynamite than any other individual in the world. 2 Morse and Chase secured a combined bedroom and office a t the old Hotel Lafayette at Broad and Sansom Streets, Philadelphia, where the Land Title & Trust Company's building is now located. Their office was moved to the plant in the next month but only a month later Morse resigned to organize, with other members of his family, the Hecla Powder Company (see p. 659). At this time Lammot duPont was in California, negotiating for the purchase of the Hercules plant at Cleveland. 3 Much trouble was experienced from camping parties which had been in the habit of pitching their tents on the property, and from river pirates who stole lumber and various materials at night. The regular watchman, James Lawrence, had a cabin right at the wharf, but had to make occasional trips through the yard during the night, at which time the stealing usually occurred. One night Appollonio sent Huggard, the

A P P O L L O N I O A N D NORCROSS

567

Repauno Plant on the Delaware River as it existed in 1895.

as the Delaware River Railroad siding was not completed until some time later. The first charge of nitroglycerine was run on May 29 or 30, 1880, in the presence of Lammot duPont and assistant superintendents Norcross and Chase. The actual work was done by John (Jack) Ward, who later became superintendent of the Hecla P o w d e r Company, and by William Munyan. One hundred pounds of glycerine were nitrated in 1,000 pounds of mixed acid, and then the charge was drowned in a wooden tank and washed in a smaller one. After washing, it was let down in a third wooden tank and neutralized with soda ash; the nitroglycerine was then drawn off into copper buckets, tested, stored, and finally carried1 to the mixing house. A t that time sturgeon fishing in the Delaware was a big industry in the spring. Some of the fishermen made their headquarters along the river just below clerk from the office, down to the wharf to see what he could find out. When the watchman returned he saw Huggard sneaking about and, as he had been given orders to arrest anyone he caught prowling around, he locked Huggard up in the watch house for the night. The incident was considered a great joke by all except Huggard. i Later a two-wheeled barrow was built to carry first four, then six, and finally eight buckets (see illustration p. 685).

568

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

the plant, where they would impound the fish in the creeks or drainage ditches. They claimed that the acid water from the first lot of nitroglycerine made1 killed a great number of about 15,000 sturgeon which they had thus impounded, and they filed a claim for $10,000 damages which was settled, however, for $4,000. This experience demonstrated the necessity of having a direct outlet to the river to remove this acid waste until permanent arrangements could be made to save it, and caused a ten days' delay before the next lot of nitroglycerine was made. The first dynamite packing occurred a few days later.2 Lammot duPont was present, and when the work was done, he asked how many of the six packers would be out next day. All thought they would, but the severe nitroglycerine headache which developed later kept all but two from returning. The first batch of dynamite made consisted of 250 pounds of 40% dynamite and two of these batches made up the day's production which was put up in ten cases marked "Atlas" powder. The ten cases packed that day constituted the first shipment from the plant. It was hauled in a tram car to the wharf and carried on the company's steam launch "Repauno" to Chester, where it was loaded on a P. & R. freight car for shipment to one of the nearby quarries on Crum Creek. The next shipment left Chester a few days later for Calahan's quarry at Port Deposit, Maryland; quarry trade took most of the early output. By July, production had reached 2,000 pounds daily and by September 2,500 pounds. 1 All the spent acid was wasted at that time. 2 Chase says this was on May 30; Young, who was not present, says June 7; Mcllvaine, who was one of the powder packers, says June 10. AH agree that Lammot duPont was there—some even say that he carried the first bucket of nitroglycerine from the nitroglycerine storage house for the first mixing.

REPAUNO PLANT

569

570

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Besides killing the sturgeon the first day, the acid going into the river was also a cause of complaint from the shad fishermen every spring. For these reasons, and also to stop the waste, Lammot duPont very soon set about to experiment with acid separation and recovery. In the laboratory experiments, the nitroglycerine was separated from the spent acids after diluting them N. Hill (1850with a small quantity of water Walter 1 8 8 4 ) was a distinto facilitate separation and on guished chemist from March 29, 1884, arrangements t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s were completed to try this on a N a v a l T o r p e d o Station at N e w p o r t , R. I., and manufacturing scale. Details are the author of Notet on not fully known, but it is un- Certain Explotivet derstood that after a regular Agent».2 H e became the charge of n i t r o g l y c e r i n e had third superintendent of Repauno plant and was been made and then discharged the first of a long list into another tank with a small of distinguished techq u a n t i t y of water, Lammot nical men who have served in that capacity. d u P o n t arrived on the plant, and, hearing that all was not going well, hastened to the nitroglycerine house with Norcross and Hill, the chemist. 1 They had been there only a few minutes when a terrific explosion occurred which killed duPont, Hill, Norcross, George Norton, the foreman of the house, Louis Ley, his helper, and A . S. Acker1 Walter N. Hill was another man of promise. He had been chemist at the Naval Torpedo Station (see pp. 804 and 746) when duPont met him in 1882 at the trial of a damage suit against the Hamilton Powder Company in Montreal, where Hill was engaged as an expert witness. He was so impressed with Hill's ability that he immediately engaged him for the Repauno plant. Hill had made a number of improvements in the short time he had been at the plant. 2 Published by John Allyn, Boston, 1875.

W A L T E R N. H I L L

571

son, of the St. Louis sales office of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, who was visiting the plant. The loss of these men was a severe blow to the young company. Lammot was a most promising and progressive man. H e had been in close touch with the manufacture of dynamite but a year or two when he started to experiment with machine packing, although at the time without success. He had assisted the employees in organizing a workmen's club and in the building of a club house, a plan that was not repeated for nearly twenty years. He had also built six houses, the nucleus of the first dynamite town building project. H e also installed the first powder plant telephone system in 1882 or 1883. The affairs of the company were now placed into the hands of William duPont, although S o l o m o n Turck of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company acted as president from 1884 to 1886. William moved the offices of the company from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Delaware, and from that time on Wilmington has been the home of America's principal explosives manufacturing companies. Appollonio became dissatisfied with this move; he was not recognized as the chief executive and Wilmington was even farther away from New York than Philadelphia so he resigned and went into the powder business for himself.1 After the March explosion Oscar R. Jackson 2 was placed in charge of the plant. H e had been employed about the same time as Hill and was an able chemist and a Harvard graduate (1876), who had spent three * See Standard Explosives Company, p. 675, and Bradford High Explosives Company, p. 678, for activities of Appollonio after he left the Repauno plant. 2 Oscar R. Jackson was the son of Dr. Charles T. Jackson (18051880), who first discovered and successfully used anaesthetic ether. He was also a nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was named for King Oscar I of Sweden because of certain decorations the king had bestowed on his father.

572

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

years in Germany completing his chemical training u n d e r P r o f e s s o r Adolph Bayer, the celebrated chemist. H e was only 29 years old when he was made superintendent. During his administration, which lasted from 1884 to 1901, extensive improvements to the plant and scientific control of operations were i n t r oduced. H e was the leading technical adviser of the company, whose ad- Oscar R. Jackson (1855-1916) vice was sought by all as- w a s t h e chemist and superintendsociates and freely given, f 1 . < after , HiU > o f Re P aun ° T

.

.

i-

ii

during its formative period, and

Information supplied by u n d e r h i s guidance m a n y refinehim could be absolutely ments in the art of dynamite relied upon, as he was very making were introduced, careful to avoid expressing an opinion concerning things about which he was at all doubtful. H e was the czar of the plant and insisted on the strict carrying out of his orders; no one was ever scolded if an error had been made; but the workman who changed his orders for something he thought better assumed a big risk of strong censure. His training as a research chemist had taught him habits of concentration which led the men to accuse him of snobbishness at times when he would walk by absorbed in thought and pass his associates and workmen without recognition, but this feeling was absolutely unjustified, as he was a very democratic, sympathetic and lovable man, as fond of his workmen as any superintendent ever was. U p to the late nineties

SUPERVISING PERSONNEL

573

Group of Employees at Repauno Works ( 1 8 9 5 ) : Superintendent Jackson is in the front row center (wearing a large fur cap). The two men with derby hats next to him, (left to right) are George E. Potts and Harry M. Pierce.

he had personally supervised all the details of factory construction as well as of operation. When the growth of the plant exceeded his ability to give them his personal attention, mistakes and home office criticism worried him, as he was naturally of a nervous temperament. Towards the end of his administration he was given the title of works manager and his assistant, James Lawrence,1 a genial Scotsman, was made superintendent. Jackson was completely unnerved by an explosion of 1901 and the testimony of certain workmen at the coroner's inquest, and it became necessary for him to take a long rest. H e made a trip abroad and when he returned he was given an important but less trying position as chief of the works cost division at the home office. Lawrence remained in charge of the plant until September 1902 when he left to establish the Joplin Powder Company. In February 1902 Thomas Wally Bacchus,2 who had made his mark with the old Hercules Powder > See Standard Explosives Company, p. 675

2 See p. 522.

574

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Company, was sent to Repauno to prepare himself for the management of the new Barksdale, Wisconsin, plant. Lawrence's leaving changed this plan and in September 1902 Bacchus was appointed superintendent. H e remained in this position until 1912 when he was transferred to the company's home office as general superintendent of high explosives plants. 1 The plant capacity, as in most powder plants, was in excess of average requirements so as to take care of the peak demands which g e n e r a l l y came in the spring and fall. The first available production figures show that in August 1880 the company produced 130,900 pounds of dynamite, or at the rate of over 5,000 pounds a day—a figure which must have been very encouraging. However, other reports indicate that this was not maintained and probably represented a summer peak, due in part to the novelty of having dynamite available for the local quarries. According to the recollection of some of the pioneers, the production of the plant for April 1881 amounted to from 3,500 to 4,000 pounds daily.2 Late in the summer of 1884 business became very active, partly due to an accumulation of orders following the March explosion, and production for a while rose to 6,200 pounds a day, which necessitated considerable overtime. The average output for the next few years was about 4,400 pounds a day, with high days reaching two and perhaps four times this quantity. In May 1889 a record run was made by packing 420 fifty-pound cases or 21,000 pounds in one day. This remained the high record until machine packing started. As has been previously mentioned, the owners of 1 Bacchus was succeeded by Charles A. Patterson (1912-1916), John Willard McCoy (1916-191Ó) and Irving J. Cox. (after 1919). 2 The price of 40% dynamite in the East at this time ranged from 26 to 29c a pound.

EASTERN D Y N A M I T E COMPANY

575

The machine shop at Repauno as it existed in 1895. The shops at Repauno did not amount to much until the middle nineties when Hall began to develop his cartridge making and dynamite packing machines. At this time the management secured expert mechanics from Pusey & Jones in Wilmington and from Wetherill's shop in Chester. Among the latter was John Chesney, a Scotchman who was employed as foreman of the machine shop, who contributed much to the mechanical efficiency of the factory.

the Repauno Chemical Company also owned the Hercules Powder Company of Cleveland and had gradually acquired a one-third interest in the Atlantic Giant Powder Company at Kenvil, which was renamed the Atlantic Dynamite Company. In 1895 they secured the remaining interest, and the Eastern Dynamite Company was now incorporated in New Jersey with an authorized capital stock of $2,000,000. Of this $1,400,000 were given in exchange for the capital stock of the Repauno and Hercules companies, and the remaining $600,000 for the assets of the Atlantic Dynamite Company. These assets (Kenvil plant) were transferred to a new Atlantic Dynamite Company incorporated in New Jersey, of which the Eastern Dynamite Company owned the entire capital stock issued. The Eastern Dynamite Company was therefore merely a holding company, and the opera-

576

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Hamilton M . Barksdale ( 1 8 6 1 - 1 9 1 8 ) was a graduate of the University of Virginia and an engineer and executive of great ability. H e became vice-president of the d u P o n t company and was recognized by his contemporaries as the leading dynamite executive in America. On his urgent recommendation Coleman d u P o n t launched his campaign of building f a c t o r i e s at s t r a t e g i c locations throughout the U n i t e d States. H i s kindly disposition won for him the firm friendship and affection of his associates.

tions were conducted by its constituent companies. J. Amory Haskell,1 who had succeeded William duPont as president of the Repauno company in 1892, also became president of the Eastern Dynamite Company, Closer relations brought about t h r o u g h this arrangement resulted in interchange of ideas and improvements among the p l a n t s . Although there was no central operating or technical department, technical knowledge and experience of the operating men was c l e a r e d through

i J . Amory Haskell was one of the few successful men who entered the powder business from the top. His ability as an executive had been demonstrated in the railroad and coal business and in 1892 he was employed to become vice-president and general manager of the Repauno Chemical Company, becoming president shortly thereafter. Three years later he organized the Eastern Dynamite Company which became the most valuable nucleus of the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company. He became vice-president in charge of sales of the latter company, later was in charge of smokeless powder manufacture, a branch in which he developed keen personal interest, later becoming vice-president of General Motors Company, and held other executive and honorary positions.

POWDERMAKING DEVELOPED

577

Hamilton M.Barksdale, the g e n e r a l manager of the Repauno c o m p a n y since 1892, and became available elsewhere. D u r i n g this period H . P. Hall perfected his shell machines and. with the a s s i s t a n c e of H. M. Pierce, designed and successfully put in operation his famous dyn a m i t e cartridge I packing m a c h i n e which soon displaced J- Amor yea-

The Beloeil Plant of the Canadian Explosives Company is the oldest dynamite plant in Canada, having been started about 1878 by the Hamilton Powder Company. The picture shows the present plant.

Beloeil, Quebec, for the manufacture of dynamite, replacing the nitroglycerine industry in Kingston. The product of the Beloeil plant was sold (in 1879) under the name of Vigorite blasting powder. The Windsor Powder Company, which was merged with the Hamilton company soon after Thomas C. Brainerd purchased control,1 had also begun the manufacture of dynamite in the early seventies (1873-4). Their product was known as Dualin or more commonly as Giant powder; but the dynamite plant was dismantled and the production transferred to Beloeil soon after the merger (1880). The Windsor plant had operated only in summer and transportation difficulties made it inadvisable to continue to operate it. The Acadia Powder Company, of which the Hamilton Powder Company had also early acquired control,2 began the manufacture of dynamite in 1881 at Waverley, N. S. This plant, as well as the black powder mill erected in 1862, continued to operate until i See p. 299.

2

See p. 800.

706

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

1913 when dynamite operations were moved to Beloeil and black powder operations to Windsor. In 1890 the Hamilton Powder Company had established a black powder mill 1 near Nanaimo, British Columbia, of which W . A. Young from Windsor mills was the first superintendent. 2 Two years later a dynamite plant with a capacity of 2,000 pounds a day was added to supply the metal mines of the district. As there were many large stumps to be removed in the clearing of the land, W . A. Young and W . H . Hygh in 1893 developed a stumping powder8 which was made by wheeling a black powder mixture for a short time and then adding, in the dynamite mixing house, to three parts of this mixture one part of nitroglycerine. Several disastrous explosions occurred at this plant of which the most serious was the one in 1903, in which two white men and ten Chinamen were killed while working in the dynamite mixing and packing house. On April 10,1912, the nitroglycerine house exploded, killing Superintendent Walter Wilson. The business at Tweed had originally been established by a Mr. Brent, contractor for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. When his work there was finished, he closed the plant; but in 1898, when the railroad proposed to do further work on its line at this point, it was acquired by Daniel Smith, a former employee of the Hamilton company, and C. A. McPherson who had also been with the Hamilton company. They at once reopened the factory and established headquar1 See p. 297. 2 When he died in 1902 he was succeeded by Guy J. Burnham. Later superintendents were Walter Wilson (1909-1912) ; Philo B. Yancey(19121915); and J. H. Hall (1916-1919). > An attempt was made to copyright the name "Stumping Powder" for this powder, but this was rejected as being too general. It was then copyrighted as "Dualin Stumping Powder", the last powder apparently to be named "dualin", the name Dittmar used in 1866 for active base dynamites. (See p. 346).

STANDARD AND WESTERN

707

ters at Kingston, Ontario, Smith taking charge of the manufacture and McPherson of the home office. A t first they made only 50 cases or less a day, but by 1910, when they sold out to the Canadian Explosives, they had made as high as 600 cases a day. The new owners shut down the plant soon after the purchase and supplied the trade from Beloeil. Standard Explosives, Limited, was a Quebec corporation that had been promoted by W. T. Rodden about 1905. He built, near Vaudreuil, P. Q., a dynamite factory with an ultimate capacity of 600,000 to 700,000 pounds a month, with which was a black powder mill with one pair of wheels. H. A. Drackett was the superintendent and the principal customers were railroad contractors on the new Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad. The plant was shut down in 1913 by the Canadian Explosives Limited, which had acquired it in 1910. The Western Explosives Company, an off-shoot of the Standard, was promoted in 1908 by W. T. Rodden and certain stockholders of the latter, who interested some members of the contracting firm of Foley, Welch & Stewart1 of Vancouver, B. C., in the enterprise. A site containing 600 acres of land was acquired on Bo wen Island, about 16 miles from Vancouver, and a dynamite plant with a capacity of 50,000 pounds a month and a two-wheel black powder mill were erected late in the same year. George C. Tunstall was engaged as sales manager and operations started early in 1909 under C. C. Johnston as superintendent. He was later succeeded by Ray Murphy, formerly a chemist at the Hercules (California) plant. The plant was operated until 1913, when operations i Foley, Welch & Stewart had formerly had important contracts in connection with the construction of the western extension of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad.

708

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Type of Gelatine Mixing Machines used at Nanaimo, about 1908.

CANADIAN EXPLOSIVES, LTD.

709

Hall Dynamite Packing Machine used at Nanaimo, about 1908.

were transferred to the Nanaimo plant of Canadian Explosives, Limited, which had acquired the company. . In October 1913 the Canadian Exti^^S»

wuvcr Is^&nd in the

plant af t e r F. J. ^ w ^ f Shand, the manag- glimpse of

at Nanaimo Plant, with _a the Paget Sound country.

710

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The Kimber Type Dynamite Cartridge Packing Machine nsed by Curtis's & Harvey at Dragon. It is said to have had a capacity of 3,000 pounds an hour.

ing director of Nobel's Explosives Company, Limited, of Scotland, which had a large financial interest in the Canadian company. This was intended to replace the dynamite and black powder plants at Nanaimo and Bowen Island (or Tunstall Bay) and the fertilizer and chemical plant of the Victoria Chemical Company at Victoria, B. C. Owing to the business depression of 1914, work was discontinued. In 1915 a TNT plant was built to supply the growing war demand, for which the acid plant, power house and other service units which had been completed were utilized. Manufacture of TNT at the rate of 1,500,000 pounds a month continued from October 1915 to the time of the armistice. A f t e r the war the dynamite equipment was completed and the manufacture of commercial explosives started in April 1919. 1 The TNT equipment was dismantled in 1921. i Superintendents: R. J . Walley (1916-1919), J . H. Hall (1919-1921), R. H. Lyons (1921-date).

CANADIAN GIANT, LTD.

711

The company also erected a new dynamite plant at Nobel, Ontario, just before the war. This was converted into a cordite plant, and the British government built another cordite plant of its own just across the railroad track from it. Philo B. Yancey was superintendent of the former for the period of the war. The Giant Powder Company's dynamite plants in Canada have been considered with the history of that company,1 since they were operated in that name until January 1, 1916. At that time the Canadian business was turned over to the Giant Powder Company of Canada, Limited, which had been incorporated2 in British Columbia on February 13, 1912, but had not been organized as an active operating concern until after the Atlas Powder Company acquired control of the business. Operations were continued at Powder Point until 1925, when a new corporation, the C A N A D I A N G I A N T , L I M I T E D , was organized to purchase this plant from the Northern Giant Explosives, Limited, for the purpose of consolidating the business at this point with that of the Shand plant of the Canadian Explosives Limited, as there did not appear to be enough demand in the district to keep two plants operating. The Canadian Explosives Limited, therefore, took an interest in the new company and since then the Powder Point plant has been dismantled and consolidated with the James Island plant. The new company is managed by E. W . Monk, formerly sales manager of Canadian Explosives Limited. The company, N O R T H E R N EXPLOSIVES, L I M I T E D , was organized by James Johnstone Riley and George C. Riley in 1907 with Montreal capital and a site was i See pp. 461-453.

2 Originally as the Giant Explosives, Limited.

712

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

acquired near Rigaud at a place now called Dragon, P . Q., on the Ottawa River about 37 miles west of Montreal. The previous owner of this site was the Detonite Explosives, Limited, a company promoted by certain foreign interests in 1905 to manufacture a patented or safety explosive, but which had never started operations. D. H . McDougal was president of Northern Explosives, Colonel James J . Riley vicepresident and managing director, George C. Riley secretary and sales manager, and Arthur Hough 1 superintendent and technical director. This company operated continuously, manufacturing straight, lowfreezing, and ammonium nitrate dynamites of all strengths, and in addition a powder similar to Judson which was sold under the trade name of "Liftite." The Northern did not join the other Canadian powder companies when Canadian Explosives Limited, was formed; but shortly thereafter they materially increased their plant, the new capital for this being furnished by Curtis's & Harvey of London, England, who thus acquired control. At the same time the name of the company was changed to Curtis's & Harvey (Canada), Limited. The Canadian personnel was not changed nor was the character of the product, except that gelatine dynamite grades were added. In the fall of 1914 an explosion wrecked the nitroglycerine house, which was promptly rebuilt but never used, as the company had undertaken the manufac> Arthur Hough was an Englishman who became interested in explosives about 1888-9 from an investigation of a new method of producing nitrolactose, an invention of P. Muravieff. Later he studied the nitration of sugars and starch and after arriving in America established an experimental factory near Asbury Park, and about 1903 a small plant at Lake Junction, near Wharton, N. J. His original intention was to make a non-freezing nitrostarch dynamite, but financial and technical difficulties forced him to abandon this plan in favor of the manufacture of standard nitroglycerine grades. A few years later a disastrous explosion wiped out the plant, killing Hough's brother, and he moved to Canada. In 1917 he retired and has taken up other activities.

N O R T H E R N G I A N T E X P L O S I V E S 713 ture of a large contract for guncotton for the British Admiralty and at the same time the production of TNT. 1 This necessitated an enormous enlargement of the plant but prevented the manufacture of commercial explosives. The company was one of the first to undertake large scale production of recrystallized or high grade TNT and successfully handled large contracts for the British, Russian, and Italian governments. Just as the company was about to start on a large contract for the United States Government in August 1917, a fire started in one of the buildings and wrecked the whole plant, fortunately with the loss of only one life. The company was then liquidated and the creditors paid in full with interest. After the war Major George C. Riley, an officer of the old company, interested a large number of consumers of dynamite in Canada and in 1920 purchased the property and reincorporated the company as the Northern Explosives Company, Limited, of Quebec.2 E. B. Corless, managing director of the Mond Nickel Company, was elected president and Major George C. Riley vice-president in charge of sales, the position he had held with the original company. In 1922 the Atlas Powder Company of Delaware acquired control and consolidated it with the Giant Powder Company of Canada, Limited, which they also controlled. The N O R T H E R N G I A N T EXPLOSIVES, L I M I T E D , was organized for this purpose on October 27, 1922, and the new company for about three years operated the Dragon and the Powder Point plants, but 1 See p. 950. 2 Among the consumer-stockholders were the British Empire Steel Company, Limited; the Mond Nickel Company, Limited; the MclntyrePorcupine Mines Company, Limited; the Dome Mines Company, Limited; the Consolidated Asbestos Company, Limited; and the Provincial Store & Supply Company, Limited.

714

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The Mexican Explosives Company at Dinamita, Mexico.

the latter was sold in 1925. D. H . McDougal of the Northern was made president; W. T. Penniman, comptroller of the Atlas Powder Company from 1917 to 1922, vice-president and managing director; Alexander Fasken, secretary; and W. J. Webster, treasurer. The war plants were dismantled but the dynamite plant at Dragon was rebuilt and improved and is still operating. MEXICAN COMPANIES

Several attempts have been made to establish dynamite factories in Mexico, but large quantities of explosives have always been supplied by British, German and American manufacturers. The trade in Mexico differs from that in the United States in the fact that gelatine dynamites are used almost to the exclusion of straight dynamites. The most successful of these attempts was the Compañía Nacional Mexicana de Dinamita y Explosivos, whose plant is located

MEXICAN COMPANIES

715

at Dinamita, near Torreon, State of Durango, Mexico, about half way between Mexico City and El Paso, Texas. This was organized principally with capital furnished by a French dynamite company who obtained a concession through Minister Jose Ives Limantour.1 The Compañía Nacional Mexicana de Dinamita y Explosivos was managed entirely by the French interests and the first president of the company was Enrique Tron of Mexico. His son-in-law, don Augusto Genin of the City of Mexico, was the director general. Manufacture of dynamite was begun in June 1904.2 On July 29, 1925, the Hercules Powder Company and the E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company, both of Wilmington, Delaware, organized the Compañía Mexicana de Explosivos, S. A. This company acquired on August 1, 1925, the plant and property of the Compañía Nacional Mexicana de Dinamita y Explosivos, and since that time C. W. Phellis has been president and general manager, and R. G. Erskine, vice-president and sales manager of the Compañía Mexicana de Explosivos, S. A., with headquarters in Mexico City. An interesting attempt to use liquid oxygen as an explosive has been carried out at the Pachuca mine of the Real del Monte Company, a subsidiary of the U. S. Smelting & Refining Company. The first installation here was made by the German Oxyhydric & 1 The Cia. Industrial Jaborera de la Laguna, S. A., of Gomez Palacio, makers of dynamite glycerine, took a one-third interest in the company; the Société Financière pour l'Industrie au Mexique one-third; and the Société Centrale de Dynamite the remaining third. Afterwards, both the Société Financière pour l'Industrie au Mexique and the Société Centrale de Dynamite transferred part of their shares to other Paris concerns. 2 Superintendents were: first Col. (French); second Lemarignier (French); third Chiaraviglio (Italian); fourth Pollit (English); fifth Vissi (South Tirolian) ; sixth Andres (provisional) (Italian) ; seventh Schwartz (Czechoslovak) ; eighth Sam Soddy (English) ; 1925, John Bernard (American).

716

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Stock Company, but with their system it was impossible to load more than four shots before the oxygen evaporated and the explosive lost its detonating power. A high grade lamp black was used to absorb the oxygen, but this has now been replaced by a crude product made from the residual tar of Mexican crude oil. The process consists of first preparing several rows of sheet metal molds, 1.38" in diameter by 12" long, which are held in a metal container. These are called the soaking cans and are filled with the crude carbon. The liquid oxygen is brought from the compressors in metallic Dewar flasks (or Thermos bottles) and is poured into the molds on top of the carbon. The explosive is now finished and taken from the molds, resembling an icicle in form. Each cartridge is placed in a drilled hole which is to be blasted, and a No. 8 cap and fuse are also inserted. The shot must be fired at once. I t takes about a quarter of an hour to load a round of holes, and during this time about 20% of the oxygen evaporates. Recently at Pachuca as many as 28 holes have been loaded at a time without undue haste in the operation. A t this mine, where about 250,000 pounds of gelatine dynamite are used monthly, about 20% of the ore was (in 1925) broken with liquid oxygen which is known as L O X . Each cartridge is considered equivalent to a 1^4" x 8" cartridge of ordinary dynamite; under the conditions existing at Pachuca L O X is said to give fairly satisfactory results.1 SOUTH AMERICAN

COMPANIES

The explosive used in the nitrate fields of Chile is largely black powder,2 and this is made on the spot in i For a more complete description see the Engineering & Mining 2 Journal Press, 114, 23, 978. See p. 303.

SOUTH AMERICA

717

crude wheel mills. However, the rapid growth of the copper, silver and iron mining industries required a better explosive, and several attempts were made to establish dynamite plants. Nevertheless, it was not until 1921 that a factory of importance was erected. I t is the property of the South American Explosives Company, Limited (Compaftia Sud-Americana de Explosivos), and is located at Rio Loa about 5 miles from the town of Calama and 150 miles northeast of Antofagasta. I t started operating on October 31, 1923, and manufactures the usual grades of dynamite. H . M. Lentz is the works manager. The approximate capacity of the plant is 5,000,000 pounds yearly and the product, which is called Explosivos Tronador, is shipped to all parts of Chile and Bolivia. The Atlas and the duPont companies of Delaware are financially interested in the enterprise. So far as known, it is the only regular dynamite plant in South America. In Brazil, however, there were several factories manufacturing small quantities of explosives of the Sprengel type, containing chlorate of potash.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART III. BLASTING SUPPLIES

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART III. BLASTING SUPPLIES

C H A P T E R I. BLASTING SUPPLIES THE ENSIGX-BICKFOKD COMPANY

T

H E term "blasting supplies" includes a variety of accessories required in the application and use of explosives, such as fuse, squibs, blasting caps, electric exploders, blasting machines, thawing apparatus, leading and connecting wires, cap crimpers, etc. These supplies are generally sold through the explosives manufacturers, as this system simplifies their distribution. In the early days gunpowder, in firearms as well as in blasting, was ignited by means of a torch, glowing tinder, or a heated iron rod. In blasting, a train of fine powder led to the main charge, so as to give the shot-firer an o p p o r t u n i t y to reach a place of safety before the latter exploded. This fine powder was often inclosed in goose quills, straws or rushes, or paper or wooden tubes» and these crude fuses were generally prepared by the miners themselves. Naturally, they were quite uncertain and irregular in their action, and many accidents were caused by premature explosions, due to their burning faster than the miners had anticipated.

722

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

B I C K FORD'S F U S E

These accidents led William Bickford, of Tuckingmill, Cornwall, to turn his thoughts towards the invention of some method whereby blasting could be conducted with a minimum of risk1. His object was to provide a protected core of powder, thin and continuous, along which the fire might travel slowly at a uniform and determinate rate of speed. This result he obtained by causing a number of jute threads, passed through an orifice and stretched by means of a weight attached to their extremities, to rotate slowly while, at the same time, a small current of fine powder fell into the tube thus formed, and was retained therein as a slender core. On September 6, 1831, he took out his first patent 2 for the Miner's Safety Fuse. His specifications describe the process as follows: " I embrace in the centre of my fuse, in a continuous line throughout its whole length, a small portion, or compressed cylinder, or rod of gunpowder, or other combustible matter, prepared in the usual pyrotechnical manner of fire-work for the discharging of ordnance; and which fuse, so prepared, I afterwards more effectually secure and defend by a covering of strong twine made of similar material, and wound thereon, at nearly right angles to the former twist, by the operation which I call 'countering,' hereinafter described; and I then immerse them in a bath of heated varnish, and add to them afterwards a coat of whiting, bran or other suitable powdery substance, to prevent them from sticking together or to the fingers of those who handle them; and I thereby also defend i See "Bickford's S a f e t y Fuse" by Sir George J. Smith, managing director of Bickford, Smith & Company, Limited, at Tuckingmill, a grandson of the inventor, in The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives Industry, pp. 112-122 and 384-335, where an account of the British firm will also be found. 2 British Patent No. 6159/1831.

FIRST FUSE FACTORY

723

them from wet or moisture or other deterioration, and I cut off the same fuse in such lengths as occasion may require for use: each of these lengths constituting, when so cut off, a fuse for blasting of rocks and mining, and I use them either under water or on land, in quarries of stone and mines for detaching portions of rocks, or stone, or mine, as occasion may require, in the manner long practised by, and well known to, miners and blasters of rocks." 1 While Bickford had been actuated primarily by philanthropic motives in his invention, it immediately found favor, and his sons and grandsons developed its manufacture into a profitable commercial undertaking. The W a r Office and the Royal Engineers adopted it for their purposes, and in the early forties a Commission reporting on improvements for the protection of life and limb in mines found, on the testimony of mine owners and surgeons in the mining districts of Cornwall, that the introduction of the safety fuse had reduced "the number of killed and wounded from blasting accidents in West Cornwall by fully 90 percent." 2 The use of Bickford's fuse soon spread, and factories for its manufacture were erected in America in 1836, in France in 1839, in Germany in 1844, and later in other countries. I t was introduced in America through Richard Bacon, 2nd (born 1785in Wethersfield,Connecticut), then superintendent of the copper mines of the Phoenix Mining Company at Old Newgate Prison, 1 John S. Bickford, a son of the original inventor, later patented guncotton as a substitute for black powder in the Bickford fuse. (U. S. Patent 47,043 of 1865). William Leonard of Boston also attempted to use nitrocellulose in the form of a ribbon of xylonite (celluloid) provided with a friction match composition at one end for fuse purposes (U. S. Patent No. 184,043 of 1876), but seems to have had no success. (See also p. 786). 2 op. eit., p. 118.

724

T H E EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Granby, Connecticut. Travelling in England in the interests of copper mining, he met members of the firm of Bickford, Smith & Davey, the original British manufacturers of safety fuse, who had decided to extend their manufacture to the United States. They arranged with him to establish a factory upon his return to America. Bacon built his first plant in 1836 at Old Newgate Prison under the firm name of Bacon, Bickford & Company. Copper mining at this place was not a profitable venture; and when the mines were closed the factory was moved to East Weatogue, near Simsbury, Connecticut. The method of making fuse at this time was based on rope making, as seen in the "rope walks," and was a hand process. Approximately fifty feet of jute yarns, enclosing a powder core, were twisted together by a spinning jenny operated by hand. This fuse was cut and carefully laid down, and afterwards covered with cotton threads by an operator wearing about her waist a yoke carrying the spools of cotton yarn. Finishing the fuse was also a hand process.1 This method was soon superseded by specially designed machinery which has been improved from time to time. Little is known about the work at Newgate; but in 1839 Joseph Toy, 2 who had been employed at the Tuckingmill factory, came from England to take a position as bookkeeper in the American plant. H e was interested in the actual manufacture of the fuse and 1 So f a r as Is known, there is only one person now living who made fuse in this way by hand. This is Mrs. Matilda Munigle of Simsbury, now 85 years old (1925). 2 Joseph Toy was born in 1808 at Camborne, Cornwall, England. H e prepared himself for teaching school by the use of the library of a gentleman in the neighborhood. Ordained as a local preacher in the Wesleyan Church, he preached for several months in England, and then taught school f o r a number of years as principal of the Lancastrian School at Camborne. A f t e r this he was employed by the Bickford, Smith & Davey company at Tuckingmill until he came to America. H e died here in 1887.

TOY, B I C K F O R D & C O M P A N Y

725

soon took an active part in the management. After one or two fires at East Weatogue, Bacon became discouraged with the business, and Toy b e c a m e manager, continuing in this p o s i t i o n until his death. The firm name was changed to Toy, Bickford & C o m p a n y . Shortly thereafter the plant was rebuilt at S i m s b u r y,1 and two of the buildings erected at this time are Joseph Toy came from England s till standing, in 1839 and soon became man» . • „ rp„ >„ , . . ,. , tDuring l o y s manage, ager of the fuse factory which he moved to Simsbury, Conn., changing the firm name to Toy, Bickford & Company.

°

.

J

°

ment many improvements Were introduced to lessen the danger and improve the product, and the capacity was increased from time to time, as the growing amount of coal and metal mining in the United States increased the demand for explosives and fuse. When Joseph Toy died in 1887, Ralph Hart Ensign,2 his son-in-law, became manager, and the firm

1 Toy's two sons assisted him at the fuse factory. The older, Joseph, was badly burned in an explosion in 1869 which did considerable damage and resulted in the loss of some lives. Since then there have been other explosions: one in the seventies, one in the nineties, one in 1905, and one in 1919 at the Simsbury plant; and one in 1905 at the Avon plant. At the outbreak of the Civil War Joseph enlisted and died of fever in the South in 1862. The younger son, George, suffered from ill health which prevented his continuing in the business. He died in 1881. Toy's three sons-in-law, Ralph Hart Ensign, Charles Edson Curtiss, and Lemuel Stoughton Ellsworth, also became associated with the firm in 1863, 1878 and 1867 respectively and contributed to its growth and prosperity. 2 Ralph Hart Ensign was born at Simsbury, Conn., on November 8, 1831, and died on March 22, 1917. After working In a cigar factory in

726

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

name was changed to Ensign, Bickford & Company. In 1907 the business was incorporated as the Ensign-Bickford Company. A t this time a consolidation took place with the Climax Fuse Company1 of New York, whose factory was at Avon, Connecticut. Ensign was elected president of the corporation, holding the position to the time of his death in 1917, when « , , „

.„ .

. ,

R a l p h H a r t h,nsign, a son-in-law Df Joseph T o y , became manager ofe ntth ein S1887 i m s b uAr yt t fhues es a m establishm e time

his son,2 Joseph Ralph Ensign, succeeded him. Charles Edson Curtiss, • i t h e n a m e of the firm became another son-in-law, en- E n s i g l l j B i c k f o r d & C o m p a n y . tered the fuse business in 1878 and for over forty years devoted himself to the successful management of the work. H e was soon made secretary, and later vice-president also, holding these positions until 1919. Lemuel Stoughton Ellsworth, a third son-in-law, was sent to California in 1867 to establish a branch, which is now the Coast Manufacturing & Supply Suffield, Conn., and with his brothers in Georgia, he was employed by Toy in 1863 and was admitted to the partnership in 1870. He was a director in a number of banks and insurance companies, a trustee of the Simsbury M. E. Church, and a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1876. i See p. 729. 2 The 1926 officers of the Ensign-Bickford Company are: Joseph Ralph Ensign (grandson of Joseph Toy), president; Robert Darling (husband of granddaughter), vice-president; H. E. Ellsworth (grandson), vice-president; J. K. Brandon, secretary; and Chester E. Seymour, a nephew of Ralph Hart Ensign, treasurer. Besides the above, other descendants of Joseph Toy are active in the business.

ENSIGN-BICKFORD COMPANY

727

Company. He remained there until 1871, when he returned to the East and engaged in farming. In 1887 he again came into the business. He was made treasurer, and afterwards vice-president also, serving in these capacities until his death in 1917. T h e q u a l i t y of t h e standard product of this f a c t o r y has also been steadily improved. Safety fuse, as now manufactured, is very regular in its rate of burning, has a

Joseph Ralph Ensign, the present president of the EnsignCompany, «presents d a p p e a r a n C e, a n d the third generation of the Toy- ° j j. , Ensign family to have charge of brands for wet work have the oldest and largest fusemanu- excellent water resistance, facturing company in the United The Ensign-B i C k f O r d Stete8

' Company made many million feet of fuse for the Isthmian Canal Commission for use in the construction of the Panama Canal; and during the World War special fuse was furnished for hand grenades, misfire charges, etc., for which the company received a citation from the War Department, in recognition of the services rendered. The large quantities of jute and cotton yarn used made it seem wise to build cotton and jute mills. These have been enlarged until to-day their capacity is 4,032 spindles for cotton and 2,800 spindles for jute. A laboratory is maintained where all raw materials entering into the fuse, as well as the finished product, are tested by a corps of competent chemists.

728

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

G e n e r a l Office o f t h e E n s i g n - B i c k f o r d DETONATING

Company

FUSE

In 1913 the Ensign-Bickford Company introduced "Cordeau" into the United States. This is a detonating fuse1 invented by Louis L'heure in France, 2 and consists of a lead tube filled with trinitrotoluene. The first blast with Cordeau in America was made on August 16, 1913, at the quarry of the Atlas Portland Cement Company at Northampton, Pennsylvania. This Cordeau was of French manufacture, and during 1914 Cordeau of French make was regularly imported and sold by the company. In 1914 the installation of machinery for its manufacture at Simsbury was begun. The outbreak of the European War hampered this work, as the French engineers, who were to set up the machinery, had to return to France. Nevertheless, the installation was completed after some delay, and in 1915 the American product was put on the market as "Cordeau Bickford". It was enthusiastically received by the trade and is now 1 This resembles a fuse proper only in shape. Its detonating principle partakes more of the properties of a blasting cap. 2 U. S. Patent No. 869,219 of 1907.

OTHER F U S E FACTORIES

729

widely used by quarries and mines for deep well holes, for blasts where many holes have to be shot at one time, and for sub-aqueous work. It is also used for testing the velocity of detonation of other explosives. O T H E R F U S E FACTORIES

The C L I M A X F U S E C O M P A N Y , which was merged with the Ensign-Bickford Company in 1907, came from a fuse plant which was started in 1850 in a very small way at Avon, Connecticut, by R. Andrews and his son, A. F. Andrews. It operated intermittently for the next twenty years and then remained idle until about 1880. At that time H. S. Chapman, who was then making blasting caps at Suffield, Connecticut,1 not very far from Avon, came into the business and incorporated it as the Climax Fuse Company. On the West Coast the manufacture of fuse was started in the early sixties, when deliveries from the East were uncertain on account of the Civil War, by James Eva, Captain William Clift and Joseph Powning2 of the California Powder Works, under the name of C A L I F O R N I A F U S E C O M P A N Y . Their factory was located at Colma, Cal., and supplied fuse for many years to the Coast trade. T h e W E S T E R N F U S E & EXPLOSIVES C O M P A N Y

was

started in 1888 by Edward G. Lukens, president of the Vigorite Powder Company. The factory was on Clark Street, near Hyde, in Oakland. California. In the next ten years, dwellings were erected in close proximity to the works, and it would probably have been necessary to move it before long, even if it had not been wrecked by an explosion on July 20, 1898. The explosion came about in a peculiar way. As in 1 See p. 759. Chapman was also one of the owners of the Arlington Company, manufacturers of pyralin, in which Ensign was likewise a director. 2 See p. 502.

730

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

other California powder plants, Chinese help was employed almost exclusively. One of these Chinamen, Goon N g Chung, who had been in the employ of the company for years, got into a quarrel with a countryman about a lottery ticket which he thought had won a prize of $100. I n the course of the fight, Goon wounded the other man so severely that he died soon after midnight. W h e n the deputy sheriff arrived he found that Goon had fled to the powder magazine and had barricaded himself behind a wall of black powder kegs. When called on to come out and surrender, he threatened to blow u p the magazine if the police came any closer. Neither Lukens, the president of the company, nor Quong Yong, a Chinese boss from San Francisco, had any better luck. The end of the siege came at dawn the next day. While the deputies crept closer to the door—some said that the criminal had offered to surrender—the Chinaman fired his revolver and immediately the powder in the magazine exploded, killing three of the deputies, two other men, and a woman who had remained in her house which was hardly more than the width of the street from the magazine. The factory and a number of houses in the neighborhood were wrecked. The plant was then moved to E l Cerrito Hill, where it remained until the West Coast Fuse companies were consolidated at Fitchburg, California. I n 1 8 9 8 the M E T R O P O L I T A N F U S E C O M P A N Y , which had a license for a German fuse, built a factory at Stege, California. They also erected a fuse powder mill on a tract of land adjoining. 1 I n 1902 the California Fuse Company, which had in the meantime been acquired by the d u P o n t company, the Western Fuse &; Explosives Company and i See Metropolitan Powder Co., appendix p. 1091.

OTHER F U S E FACTORIES

731

the Metropolitan Fuse Company were consolidated with the California branch of the Ensign-Bickford Company under the name of COAST M A N U F A C T U R I N G & S U P P L Y C O M P A N Y . Its plant is now at Trevarno, near Livermore, in Alameda County. The P I T T S B U R G H F U S E C O M P A N Y was established about 1900 at Callery, Pennsylvania, by a man named Lewis, an explosives dealer, and Charles Grubb, a manufacturer of fire-works, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It discontinued after a few years. T H E N A T I O N A L F U S E & POWDER C O M P A N Y w a s e s -

tablished in Denver, Colorado, about 1894 and since then has been an important factor in supplying the trade of the Mountain States. In 1862 Richard Uren, Thomas Dunstan and Joseph Blight of Eagle Harbor, Keweenaw County, Michigan, patented a safety fuse1 on which the last named had worked for nearly three years before he perfected it. These three men, under the firm name of Blight, Uren & Dunstan, built a factory at Eagle River, not far from their home town, where there was water power available. This place was centrally located in the copper mining district of upper Michigan, and the plant's output found a ready sale in the nearby copper and iron mines. After some years Blight bought out the other partners and carried on the business in his own name until he died in 1898. His sons, Richard and Joseph, Jr., then took charge. Within the past three years they have also died, and Richard's son, Roscoe L. Blight, is the present general manager. The business is still carried on at the original location under the name of the ORIGINAL L A K E SUPERIOR F U S E C O M P A N Y , owned by Blight's Son & Company. i U. S. Patent No. 37,079 of December 2, 1862.

732

THE EXPLOSIVES DETONATING

INDUSTRY

MATEBIALS

The cap and detonator industry is based on the one hand on the discovery of mercury fulminate, and on the other hand on the development of the percussion principle. Fulminates of gold and silver were discovered as early as 1600 by the Dutchman Cornelius Drebble, and are mentioned by Samuel Pepys in his diary under date of November 11, 1663: "He (Dr. Allen) tells me that which is more strange, that something made of gold, which they call in Chymistry Aurum Fulminans, a grain I think he said, of it put into a silver spoon and fired, will give a blow like a musquett and strike a hole through the silver spoon downward, without the least force upward and this he can make a cheaper experiment of, he says, with iron prepared." However, these substances were interesting curiosities only, of no practical or commercial use, until Edward Charles Howard, F.R.S., announced his discovery of the mercury compound at a meeting of the Royal Society on March 13, 1800. Other fulminating compounds, consisting of mercuric oxide and sulphur or potassium chlorate, or mercuric nitrate and phosphorus, had been prepared before, but had found no use. A t a later date nitromannite was introduced and it has found a limited use up to the present as a partial substitute for mercury fulminate in blasting caps.1 Alexander Forsythe, a Scotch minister, made his first experiments2 with detonator locks about 1805, when he constructed a lock for a sporting gun with 1 J. Liebig and Kopp Annual Report of Chemistry for 1847-8, (London 1850), Vol. II, pp. 376-7. 2 See The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives Industry, ed. Hodgetts, (London, 1909), pp. 94-111, for a full account of the invention of percussion caps.

PERCUSSION CAPS

733

which he shot "with safety during the whole season". In the following spring he submitted his invention to the Master General of Ordnance, with the usual result that nothing was done; in fact, the percussion principle for military fire arms was not adopted in England until the early forties. The inventor's expenses during the demonstration were paid, but it was not until after his death in 1843 that £, 1000 was paid and distributed to his heirs. In 1807 Forsythe took out a patent which was broad and all-inclusive, claiming in effect "all forms of percussion locks with all suitable detonating mixtures". This blocked other inventors from making improvements on Forsythe's original design to which he stuck with obstinacy. This design was a bottle-shaped chamber mounted near the flash hole of the musket in such a way that it could be revolved over the flash hole, thus charging it, and then moved away to one side during the discharge of the gun by the impact of the hammer. Forsyth also refused to use mercury fulminate in place of his mixture of potassium chlorate, charcoal and sulphur, and would not recognize the superiority of the cap over his lock. PERCUSSION CAPS

The percussion cap was invented some time between 1810 and 1820, but Forsythe's broad patent prevented the issue of a patent for the cap, and this accounts for the lack of any definite record of the date and author of this invention. One of the earliest patents for such a cap was issued to Prélat in France in 1820. His caps contained a secret composition which was most likely a chlorate mixture. But there are earlier claimants, chiefly Joshua Shaw and Joseph Egg. It appears, however, that the latter ob-

734

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

tained his information from a workman who had been employed by Shaw, and he may therefore be disregarded. Joshua Shaw, according to an account of his life, said to be based on a biography written by himself in long hand,1 claims to have used a reusable steel cap as early as 1814, a pewter cap in 1815, and a copper cap in 1816. He came to America, probably about 1820, and settled in Philadelphia. Up to this time he had kept his invention secret, having been advised that it infringed the Forsythe patent in England. When he applied for a patent in the United States it was refused, as he had not resided in the country the two years required for an alien. However, he states that the Patent Office admitted that he had a patentable invention. In 1822 he was granted a United States patent for copper and pasteboard caps, filled with Forsythe mixture. A committee of the Franklin Institute investigated his "primers and reported2 that "these improved primers are of two kinds, one is generally formed of copper, the other is a composition of pasteboard or other elastic substance. . . . The first of these improvements, and which has .been patented in the United States, is so generally known 1 Published in the Scientific American of August 7, 1869. Joshua Shaw was born a t Bellingborough, Lincoln County, England, in 1776. L e f t an orphan at the age of seven, he tended cattle, was apprenticed to a glazier, carried mail, and worked for a sign, coach and house painter, where he developed his artistic and drawing ability. H e had considerable success with his pictures, b u t claims to have been discriminated against by the directors of the Royal Academy. This led him to come to America where he started to manufacture his cap. H e was a member of the Franklin Institute and a contributor to the Franklin Journal. W r i t i n g in the latter in 1829 ( p p . 271-278) he says that he has used copper caps f o r a t least thirteen years (i. e., since 1816) and has manufactured them at the rate of two millions a year f o r the last seven years (i.e., since 1822). H e died in 1860. 2 Report of the committee appointed by the managers of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, to investigate the merits of, and advantages t o be derived from, the use of Joshua Shaw's improved percussion primers, etc., etc., by D. H . Mason, Isaiah Lukens and John S. Phillips, dated J u l y 1, 1824, and printed in the American Mechanics Magazine (the forerunner of the Franklin J o u r n a l ) , 1, 214-215 (1825).

PERCUSSION CAPS

735

that our observations upon it are almost superfluous. Mr. Shaw's second improvement is also very simple . . ." This second improvement refers to the use of pasteboard in which holes were punched and the holes filled with fulminating composition which was held in place by a covering of wax. The committee apparently was convinced of Shaw's claim that he was the inventor of both the copper and the pasteboard cap. It also states that Shaw used Forsythe's mixture "which had been the only vehicle in use till within some few months, when a new discovery was made of a metallic preparation, perfectly neutral, and indeed less corrosive than gunpowder itself, and of this Mr. Shaw has availed himself." For this discovery Shaw gives credit to W r i g h t " A s soon as this period (the fourteen years during which Forsythe's patent was in force) had terminated, Mr. Wright introduced the fulminating mercury." It is interesting to note that, according to Shaw,2 "in America, the percussion gun has, in consequence of the manner in which the caps have been made here, been more generally employed than in England, although the guns themselves are the manufacture of that country." In 1828 he took out another patent for a percussion lock and wafer primers for cannon. In 1823 E. Goode Wright, of Hereford, England, published his paper8 on the preparation of mercury fulminating caps. This is the first time that the two are mentioned together, although both fulminate and the cap had been known for some time. In this paper 1 Franklin Journal, New Series, III, 272 (1829). See next paragraph, also footnote 2. 2 Ibid, p. 273. »Phil. Mag. LXII, 203. A year later F. Joyce, a chemist of London, manufactured copper caps experimentally, evidently stimulated by Wright's paper, and later developed the enterprise to commercial proportions. The firm of F. Joyce & Company, Ltd., is now a subsidiary of Nobel's Explosives Company, Ltd.

736

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

he insists on the superiority of fulminate over Forsythe's chlorate mixture. The invention of the fulminate cap is of great importance, as it made the modern rifle and shotgun cartridge possible, and it is unfortunate that it cannot be definitely determined who was the original inventor. DETONATING PRINCIPAL, APPLIED TO H I G H

EXPLOSIVES

F o r blasting, as long as black powder only was used, caps or detonators were not necessary for the miner who could explode his powder by the use of a simple fuse. Nevertheless, where shots had to be fired from a distance, as in military land and sea mines or in deep holes, or where a number of blasts had to be set off simultaneously, other means than the fuse were desirable, and we find early attempts to do this by electricity and by electric igniters or exploders. This accounts for the fact that the development and manufacture of electric exploder or fuze 1 precedes that of the ordinary blasting cap, 2 which is fired by a fuse. I t was only after Nobel had introduced nitroglycerine and dynamite that exploders, whether electric or the common blasting cap, became a necessity whenever the new "high explosives" were used. ELECTRIC BLASTING CAPS

Electrical ignition of gunpowder seems to have 1 Wherever the spelling "fuze" (pronounced fu-zee) is used, it is intended to refer to electric blasting caps or exploders, as this term and spelling were used by General Abbott and others during the period of its development. At the present time the terms "electric blasting caps" (or simply "E. B. caps") or occasionally electric exploders or detonators are in use. " F u s e " refers to the tape fuse invented by Bickford. 2 A blasting cap consists of a metallic capsule containing sufficient detonating material which, when ignited by the fire of an ordinary fuse, will impart a rapid "rate of detonation" or explosives wave to dynamite or similar high explosives.

ELECTRIC BLASTING CAPS

737

been accomplished first by Dr. Watson, a member of the Royal Society of England, in 1745 by means of an electric spark. However, a considerable quantity of powder was scattered by the spark before it took fire.1 In America Benjamin Franklin overcame this difficulty by encasing and compressing the powder in a cartridge.2 It appears from the researches of Professor Munroe3 that Franklin had received "an electric tube," evidently a Ley den jar, from his friend Peter Collinson, F.R.S., of London, which he used for a number of experiments. Writing to Collinson under date of July 27, 1750, he describes how he fired gunpowder with it: "I have not heard that any of your European electricians have ever been able to fire gunpowder by the electric flame. W e do it here in this manner. A small cartridge is filled with dry powder, hard rammed, so as to bruise some of the grains; two pointed wires are then thrust in, one at each end, the points approaching each other in the middle of the cartridge till within the distance of half an inch; then, the cartridge being placed in the circuit, when the four jars are discharged, the electric flame leaping from the point of one wire to the point of the other, within the cartridge against the powder, fires it, and the explosion of the powder is at the same instant with the crack of the discharge." The Maryland Gazette of June 14, 1749, reported ' Daniel, Dtetionnaire de Matiire» Exploiive», (Paris, 1902), p. 239, in article on the Application of Electricity to the Firing of Shots. A year earlier, Ludolf, at the inauguration of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, had ignited sulphuric ether by means of an electric spark. This feat is generally attributed to Priestley, the celebrated British chemist who emigrated to America and settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania; but this is an error, due probably to the fact that Priestley was the first to record it in his History of Electricity, published in 1767. 2 Letters on Electricity, 1751; also Daniel, loc. cit. « "Franklin's Unheralded Achievement" in The Explotivet Engineer, IIT, 115 (1925).

738

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

the firing of a "battery of eleven guns" by means of a frictional machine, and it has been assumed that these guns were charged with gunpowder. 1 Professor Munroe, however, concludes from the description found in another of Franklin's letters 2 that this "battery" consisted of eleven panes of glass coated on both sides and connected in parallel so as to form one huge Leyden j a r or condenser, and that they were called "guns" because of the loud report attending their discharge. Eighty years after Franklin's first experiments along this line, Moses Shaw, of New York, was granted a United States patent 3 for firing charges of gunpowder simultaneously by electricity through the use of a priming composed of fulminating silver and gunpowder. 4 I t also appears that the blast fired at Blackwell's Island, New York, a year earlier was a demonstration of Shaw's method, in which, however, a Leyden jar was used as the source of electricity, thus following Franklin's earlier example.'1 Shaw had difficulties in applying e l e c t r i c i t y u n d e r certain weather conditions and he sought the aid of Dr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia,® who was known as an investigator of electrical phenomena and had de1 Encyclopedia Americana, (New York, 1918), X, 65. 2 Quoted in the article in the Explosives Engineer. 3 Dated June 3, 1830; recorded in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, VI, 218. The editor's comments on this patent express considerable doubts as to its value. * See Professor Munroe's article on "Early Development of the WireBridge in Blasting by Electricity" in the Explosives Engineer, III, 187 (1925), for Moses Shaw and Dr. Hare. The account of the later developments up to 1880 is largely based on General H. L. Abbott's report on submarine blasting (Professional Papers of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., No. 23, Washington, 1881). « American Journal of Science, I, 372-373 (1829). • Dr. Robert Hare (1781-1858) studied chemistry and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and was regarded as an authority in all matters pertaining to chemical research. In 1839 he was granted the Rumford Medal, being the first to be considered worthy of this honor, although it had been established by Count Rumford as early as 1796

ELECTRIC BLASTING CAPS

739

^ H B H or "defiagrator" on account of the marked ther-

^PhBF'*'*

J16

&

ble to

also, b e g i n n i n g about "^¿jjj"

xfjii^ik i iS«! c&tcd t 1 can esce cc ¡¡¡sg^ with a current from his b a t t e r y , for exploding | gaseous mixtures in his ^ „ , I¥ „„ e u d i o m e t r i c a l experiD r . Robert Hare. T h e originator •, T x m of the wire-bridge method 0 f « n t s - r e n o w a PP l l e . d electrical blasting and t h e first this principle to the igniwinner of the R u m f o r d m e d a l , tion of gunpowder and developed the blasting cap shown on the following page. A bundle of twisted wires " D " was cut away at one point so that only one fine wire remained. I t was then inserted in a wooden block " F " which formed a support for the wire and also contained a cavity for the reception of a priming charge of metallic arsenic, or sulphur, and potassium chlorate. The wooden block was now introduced into the tinned iron tube " A " to which the lower end of the bundle of wires was soldered. The upper end of the tube, after being filled with gunpowder, was closed with a cork through which the wires were led. A copper wire, soldered to the outside of the tube at "B", constituted the other terminal. With these caps and his "deflagrator," H a r e was able to fire as many as twelve charges at a distance of This was in recognition of Hare's invention of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe and his improvement on the voltaic pile. For further details of Hare's life and achievements see his biography by Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith.

740

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

130 feet from his batt e r y (1832). T w o years later he suggested that this method might be used in military mining, "as for instance, the mines associated w i t h the fortifications erecting near Newport". In England, Colonel Sir Charles Pasley applied a similar method in 1839 on a Si 11 large scale to the removal of the wreck of the "Royal George" which had been sunk at S p i t h e a d. His blasts were fired by means of a current, •Hare s Blasting Cap." "The Forerunner of the Modern Electric Blast-

f r

°

m

a

lar

Se

a n d

powerful voltaic bating Cap." tery made up of a form of Daniell cells, which passed through a very fine platinum wire imbedded in the charge. In 1843, nine and a quarter tons of powder, disposed in three charges, were fired simultaneously at Dover, England, with a similar battery, and this broke down over 40,000 cubic yards of rock.1 In the same year, Colonel Samuel Colt, of Hartford, Conn., the inventor of the revolver that bears his name, blew up a brig under full sail on the Potomac river with a battery placed at Alexandria, Viri Daniel, Diet. Explosives,

(Paris, 1902), p. 240.

E L E C T R I C B L A S T I N G M A C H I N E S 741 ginia, five miles distant. A sketch found among his papers after his death and bearing the date of 1836, indicates a method of firing torpedoes at will by the use of a fine platinum wire to be heated by a battery, and shows that he was convinced of the practical advantages of the low-tension fuze.1 However, ignition devices were not satisfactory. Batteries of sufficient size were heavy and the liquid contents were easily spilled and the original frictional machines were delicate and easily got out of order. About the middle of the century, Baron von Ebner of the Austrian Engineers first devised a machine which was suitable for practical use in the field. H . Julius Smith of Boston further improved this machine in 1869, and this found extended use in blasting the Hoosac tunnel.2 Mowbray modified it by substituting a rotating cylinder for Smith's rotating plate, but this machine (known as the "powder keg" machine), according to General Abbott, was not as satisfactory as the Smith machine. In 1856 Sir Charles Wheatstone, who was working with Professor Abel in England to improve existing methods for exploding mines, invented the earliest form of magneto-electric apparatus suitable for field use. It was especially intended to be used with Abel's so-called magnet fuze which was designed about the same time. This was a medium tension fuze in which a i Abbott divides electric exploders {Prof. Papers, p. 179) or fuzes into three classes; Low Tension, for use with comparatively strong currents of low voltage, in which a very fine wire or bridge, imbedded in the priming, unites the ends of the insulated conducting wires which act through the heating of this wire; Medium; and High Tension Fuzes, which require higher voltages. The last two classes are fired by the passage of the electricity through a small break of the metallic circuit. A sensitive priming is packed around this break, which is formed by slightly separating the ends of the wires. They differ only in the composition and the electrical resistance of the priming. For our purposes these two classes may be considered together as the high tension or matchhead type in contrast with the low tension or bridge type of fuze. 2 U . S. Patent No. 93,563. See also Mowbray, Tri-Nitro-Olycerine, 8rd edition, p. I l l , and Abbott, pp. 257-259.

742

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

priming of 10 parts of subphosphide of copper, 45 parts of subsulphide of copper, and 15 parts of chlorate of potash were packed around the exposed extremities of the wires, and in which the main charge consisted of mealed gunpowder or mercury fulminate, depending on whether it was intended for exploding gunpowder or guncotton. This fuze displaced the Statham fuze 1 which had been in use since about 1840. It, however, had the disadvantage that it would accidentally explode if subjected to the continued action of even a weak testing battery, and Abel, therefore, devised a new priming composition, consisting of an intimate mixture of powdered graphite and mercury fulminate, for submarine mines. The fuze designed by General von Ebner in Austria, which superseded the Statham fuze on the continent, differed from Abel's mainly in the priming composition, which consisted of 44 parts of antimony sulphide, 44 parts of potassium chlorate, and 12 parts of plumbago. A n original American fuze, which played an important part in the Civil W a r , was designed by Captain Fred. E . Beardsley 2 for use with the magnetoelectric machine, invented by his father, which was largely employed to operate the field telegraph system and naval torpedoes of the Union. I t was first publicly tested in February, 1863, in the defences of Washington, and it is claimed that it has been fired over a distance of more than 200 miles of ordinary telegraph wire. In this fuze the wires were fixed in a short cylinder of wood, ebonite, or glass and were cut off flush with the end of the cylinder. The poles were 1 In this (see Daniel, Diet. Explotivet, p. 738, Paris,1902), the ends of the wires were fixed, about 2 or 3 mm. apart, in a rubber tube which was coated on the inside with copper sulphide and contained a priming of fulminate mixed with sporting powder. 2 U. S. Pat. No. 39,542 (Aug. 18,1863).

ELECTRIC BLASTING

743

joined by a line of graphite made by drawing a soft pencil back and forth several times (as in the grid leak of the modern radio), and then the ends were coated with collodion. A paper cylinder around this plug held the priming charge of mealed powder, the main charge consisting of fine rifle powder. Although this was the electric fuze almost exclusively used by the Union forces during the Civil War, it was little used in non-military work—perhaps on account of the high price demanded (50c each)—and it disappeared after the war. In 1866 Colonel T . P . Shaffner, the president of the U. S. Blasting Oil Company, 1 obtained patent No. 60,569 for a fuze in which the end of the wires were imbedded in a poorly conducting mixture which could easily be detonated by the electric current. In the following year Jabez B. Dowse of Lockport, Illinois, patented a mixture under the name of "copper amalgam",2 which was used extensively during the next few years. I t consisted of three parts of finely divided copper and one part of mercury fulminate and this mixture was moistened with 30% of water and heated to 212° F . until the moisture was reduced to about 15%. I t was extremely sensitive, so much so indeed, that fuzes prepared with it Could often be exploded by such static electricity as might be produced by a person walking across a rug in dry weather. Mowbray3 cites a number of accidents that occurred in the handling of such fuzes. H e considered them altogether too dangerous and tried to make Abel fuzes for his own use on the Hoosac tunnel. His method was 1 See pp. 382, 386, 1043. 2 U. S. Patent No. 68,055 (Aug. 27, 1867). Copper fulminate had been discovered by Dr. John Davey in 1838. » Tri-Nitro-Qlycerine, (1872), Appendix B, pp. 93-94.

744

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

as follows: 1 "Two insulated (with guttapercha in his own factory) wires, from four to twelve feet long, are inserted in a moulded guttapercha plug, threefourths of an inch long and one-eighth of an inch in diameter at one end, and three-sixteenths of an inch at the other, to which they are fastened by a weld of guttapercha. Immediately before the priming is inserted, an electric spark is passed through and between the wires where the priming is put, so as to ascertain that the insulation is perfect, and to guard against the p o s s i b i l i t y of a miss-fire. This being proved, the priming 2 (which was prepared by himself in his own laboratory) is put in, and a small paper plug boiled in paraffine inserted; then a copper cap, three-fourths of an inch long and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, receives twenty grains of fulminate of mercury, on the top of which a varnish is poured which prevents any of the f u l m i n a t e from being shaken out by accident, or affected by vibration. This copper cap having been previously covered with a guttapercha envelope, the electric fuze is inserted about one-fourth of an inch, when it is cemented tight, the parts painted w i t h a s p h a l t u m varnish around the joints, and the exploder is complete and ready for service." This exploder was not entirely satisfactory, due in large measure to the priming composition as made by Mowbray. H e therefore devised a "safety compound" 3d edition (1874), p. 72; see also 1872 edition, 1 Tri-Nitro-Olycerine, p. 50. At first, very light exploders were used (see page 100 of the third edition of Mowbray's book), containing only eight grains of a mixture of chlorate of potash, powdered catechu, and sulphur confined in a copper capsule. Mowbray insisted on the necessity of using a heavy fulminate exploder in order to secure the full effect of nitroglycerine and his "mica" powder. 2 According to Mowbray's U. S. Patent No. 93,113, this consists of 9 parts of copper sulphide, 2 parts of copper phosphide and 3 parts of potassium chlorate. It was, therefore, the same as Abel's priming composition.

C H A S . A. B R O W N E & B R O .

745

for electric igniters1 which was made by mixing 5 parts of phosphorus, 15 parts of sulphur, 100 parts of silver, 25 parts of mercury, and 30 parts of potassium c h l o r a t e , by means of alcohol, forming silver sulphide and phosphide. Mowbray patented other priming mixtures. 2 Fuzes with the Dowse sensitive p r i m i n g composition were made by the i n v e n t o r ; Charles A . Charles A. Browne, a pioneer Browne & B r o t h e r in manufacturer of electric blasting North Adams; H . Julius caps at North Adams, Mass. Smith in Boston; and George A. Goodyear. Plumbago was generally added to reduce sensitiveness to some extent. Smith's output, so long as he was manufacturing at Boston, was mainly sold through the Oriental Powder Company, and that of the Brownes through the Laflin & Rand Powder Company. Goodyear also developed another high tension fuze, which was not placed on the market, in which the priming consisted of lead picrate, potassium chlorate, and saltpeter. 3 » U. S. Patent No. »6,465, Nov. 2, 1869. 2 U. S. Patent No. 128,241 (1872), three parts mercury sulphide and one part potassium chlorate, mixed with alcohol, dried and sieved. U. S. Patent No. 161,430-1-2 (1874) mercury fulminate with varying proportions of powdered antimony, bismuth or cadmium. The first of these was quite satisfactory as a high tension fuze in use with Mowbray's "powder keg" frictional machine. Another Mowbray patent relating to exploders is No. 139,686. 3 In 1893 Samuel Rodgers of San Francisco, whose picrate powder was made by the U. S. Smokeless Powder Company( see p. 917), also patented a picrate priming composition consisting of 48% potassium picrate, 48% potassium chlorate, 12% logwood extract and 2% gallapple extract (U. S. Patent No. 489,761).

746

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The Giant Powder Company's fuze, as made by Detwiller, Street & Co. in 1874, consisted of zinc oxide, litharge, and ammoniacal nitrate of silver. Abbott considered this as over-sensitive. A fuze devised by Professor W. N. Hill of the Newport Torpedo Station was used for a time (in the seventies) by the U. S. Naval Torpedo Service for use with frictional electricity, but was never placed on the market. Its priming composition consisted of potassium chlorate, antimony sulphide, and red phosphorus, with or without the addition of plumbago. Charles A. Browne,1 the senior member of the firm of Chas. A. Browne & Bro., started his experiments on exploders in 1868 in association with Samuel C. Bishop, a guttapercha manufacturer in New York, who was trying to develop an electric exploder made with a shell of guttapercha. This was not a success, and Browne returned to North Adams, where he found that the exploders then in use on the tunnel work were not altogether satisfactory. Together with his brother, Isaac S. Browne, he started work in this line according to his own ideas. In a comparatively i Charles A. Browne (1842-1907) had been a blaster on the Weaverton & Hagerstown railroad (now a part of the B. & O.) where he had used both black powder and liquid nitroglycerine furnished by Colonel Shaffner. The western portal of the Hoosac tunnel was located on the farm belonging to his father, and when he saw Mowbray's advertisement in the Scientific American (see p. 376) he called it to the attention of the tunnel officials, which led to Mowbray's building his plant at North Adams late in 1867. On Thanksgiving Day 1869 Browne lost an eye through the explosion of some copper fulminate which he had been led to believe was safe to handle when wet. The other eye was affected and was lost shortly thereafter. Nevertheless, he continued his work on exploders which resulted in the granting of a number of patents to the firm (U. S. Patents 108^24 of 1870, 128,945 of 1872, 152,790 of 1874 and 158,672 of 1875). Isaac S. Browne (born 1850 and still living in 1926 at New London, Conn.), the other member of the firm, had been engaged in the supervision of blasting on the Hoosac tunnel prior to his association with his brother in the exploder business. After the sale of this business he entered the advertising field. He is a great lover of music and has composed a large number of songs which have attained a wide circulation as phonograph records.

THE BROWNE FACTORY

747

Browne Brothers Factory near the Hoosac Tunnel, North Adams, Massachusetts.

Insulating copper wire at the Browne Fuze Factory. I n the seventies the business was acquired by the Laflin and Rand interests.

748

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

short time they developed a high tension fuze 1 which was not only adopted by the contractors of the Hoosac tunnel, but came into general use throughout the United States and Canada. In 1873 Isaac S. Browne also demonstrated this fuze on the St. Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland where he introduced their system of electric blasting. A few years later they sold the water rights on their property at North Adams to the Arnold Print Works and the exploder business to the Laflin & Rand Powder Company. 2 H . Julius Smith (1844-1901) was granted his first patent relating to electric exploders (No. 79,268) on June 23, 1868. This covered an electric fuze in which two insulated wires were introduced directly into a cap filled with mercury fulminate. As stated above, he manufactured fuzes at Boston for the Oriental Powder Company for a number of years, and produced also an improved, practical frictional electrical machine for generating the spark needed to detonate the fuzes. H e testified in the patent suit instituted by the U . S. Blasting Oil Company against Mowbray and others,3 that he had manufactured and delivered upward of twenty thousand fuzes to the contractors of the Hoosac tunnel, "capable of exploding Nitro-Glycerine when unconfined," and that he 1 General Abbott called their high tension fuze No. I V "excellent." Professional Papers No. 23, p. 213. 2 Perry ("Pell") Gardner, a former employee of theirs, then began to manufacture an electric exploder w i t h a platinum wire bridge in the building formerly used by the Brownes. In this exploder the platinum bridge was dipped into a paste consisting of mercury fulminate and starch. A f t e r drying, the bridge was placed in a copper Cap, imbedded in more fulminate and capped with sulphur. In this venture Gardner w a s assisted financially by Schrader and Penniman of the Atlantic Giant P o w der Company; but it was not a success and was abandoned after a few years. 3 United States Blasting Oil Company of N e w York v. George M. Mowbray et al., which was started in the May term of 1870 in the United States Circuit Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Evidence of H. Julius Smith, quoted by Mowbray, Tri-Nitro-Qlycerine, (1872 edition), p. 75.

H. J U L I U S SMITH

749

had also furnished his exploders to Shaffner, the president of the complainant company, for use with nitroglycerine made by others than Mowbray. In 1874 he became master mechanic of the Wayne mills of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company where he continued to make and experiment with electric exploders. One result was the Smith "gold foil" fuze1 in which a small piece of gold foil bridged the gap between the ends of the wires in the ordinary high tension fuze. The priming and exploding charges were of the same composition and consisted of equal parts of potassium chlorate, antimony sulphide, and mercury fulminate. These fuzes could be fired with a voltaic battery or by a spark, as with high voltages the gold leaf deflagrated, thus producing a spark gap. These fuzes were not very satisfactory and were quickly abandoned, especially as, about this time, the low tension fuze with a bridge of fine platinum, platinum-silver, or platinumiridium wire was generally introduced on the market. This type had the advantage that it had a continuous metallic circuit and could thus be tested before and after it was placed. However, its adoption for general use was largely due to the development of a simple igniting mechanism that was portable and did not easily get out of order. This was the dynamo-electric machine, the first really practical form of which was designed for this use by Moses G. Farmer of Newport, R. I., in 1871 and adopted by the U. S. navy. His machine weighed 120 pounds and was actuated by a crank. I t had the disadvantage that the operator had to depress a key, in order to send the current through the external circuit and the fuze, when the proper speed of the armature (and thereby the proper current strength) had i U. S. Patent 173,680 (1876).

750

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The H. Julius Smith Electric Blasting Cap Works at Pompton Lakes as they existed about 1895.

been reached. H. Julius Smith improved this machine by making this switching of the current automatic and also reduced the weight to 77 pounds. The key was actuated by a magnet and was so adjusted that it required the full strength of the current to release it.1 Two years later he did away with the crank and substituted for it a rack and pinion. When rapidly pushed down, the rack bar revolved the pinion, and with it the armature, with sufficient speed to attain the current strength desired. At the end of its descent the bar struck a brass spring, which closed the external circuit and sent the current through the fuze. The pinion was connected to the armature by means of a clutch so that the armature continued to revolve after the motion of the bar had been arrested, and would not revolve in the opposite direction when the bar was raised.' This machine was manufactured and put on the market by the Lafiin & Rand Powder Company and was known as "Magneto No. 3". It was mounted in a wooden case measuring 16 by 8 by 5 inches, 1 U. S. Patent No. 173,682, 1876. 2 U. S. Patent No. 201,296, March 12. 1878.

SMITH'S P O M P T O N L A K E S P L A N T

751

weighing only 18^ pounds. Its principles are followed in present day blasting machines. Smith continued with the Lailin & Rand Powder Company until 1886, when he left and built a plant of his own at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. There was some ill feeling on account of this step, but this was compromised by the good offices of Theron R. Gue of the H . J u l i u s S m i t h w a s a mechani- Acadia Powder Company cal g e n i u s and one of the e a r l y in Canada, who had been A m e r i c a n m a k e r s of electric connected with Laflin & b l a s t i n g caps. H e took out m a n y Smith's output p a t e n t s and f o u n d e d t h e P o m p - Rand. ton L a k e s electric f u z e p l a n t n o w was sold through the lata p a r t of t h e d u P o n t c o m p a n y . ter, and this arrangement continued until his death in 1901. The factory was then operated for a short time by H. Julius Smith, Jr., and his younger brother Amasa, who was assistant superintendent. After the death of H. Julius Smith, Jr., (1905) the factory was purchased by the duPont company, who sold the buildings to the German Artistic Weaving Company and moved the equipment to their new fuze works along the Wanaque River above Pompton Lakes.1 1 Smith had prolific ideas and introduced many improvements. Some of his last work led to a patent on a delay-action electric cap. He was also called on to build plants for other interests in England and Canada. Other patents of H. Julius Smith relating to exploders: U. S. No. 97,241, 1869; 107,201, 1870; 112,859, 1871; 178,680-1, 1876 ; 226,173, 1880; 534,289, 1895. His son, Amasa Smith, born 1877, joined him as assistant superintendent of the fuze works in 1898, continuing in this position after the

752

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Another pioneer electric blasting cap factory was started in the early eighties by Walter N. Hill 1 and J. J. Blakeley at Newport, R. I. This was in the upper part of a small building, the lower part of which was occupied by a blacksmith shop. The original output was 500 exploders a day, which were produced by five men. When the capacity had to be increased, an extension was built from the upper part of this building, as the blacksmith would not move. This plant was bought in the fall of 1889 by A. O. Fay, president of the Aetna Powder Company. E. M. Harrington2 was made superintendent, and his brother, William Goddard Harrington,3 assistant. The plant ran until December 1891, when operations were removed to Xenia, Ohio, near the mills of the Miami Powder Company, which was owned by the same interests. The first plant at Xenia was located directly behind the Miami office and turned out 3,000 exploders a day. By 1897 this had been increased to 10,000, and a new plant outside of the town became a necessity. The new plant was destroyed by fire in 1899, fortunately without an explosion, as the employees succeeded in removing all explosives to a place of safety. After this the operations were housed in new brick buildings, and a wire insulating department was added. In 1917 the capacity had reached 20,000 exploders a day, and all the machinery was moved to Port Ewen, New York, where there was a blasting cap plant4 which, like the Xenia factory, had become the sale to the duPont company until 1913. He then became assistant superintendent at the Port Ewen plant of the F. K. Brewster, Inc. A grandson, Amasa Smith, Jr., is also employed at this plant which is now the property of the Hercules Powder Company. i See p. 570. 2 See p. 747 3 William Goddard Harrington, born 1868 at Roxbury, Mass., was assistant to his brother Edward at the Xewport electric blasting cap plant from 1887 to 1889, becoming superintendent when the latter left in 1889. * See F. K. Brewster, Inc., p. 761.

T H E A E T N A FACTORIES

753

The first Aetna Electric Blast-Cap Factory at Newport, R. I., in 1888.

property of the Aetna Explosives Company in 1915. W. G. Harrington, who at that time was superintendent at Xenia, was placed in charge of the electric blasting cap department, and in the fall of 1921, after the Aetna Explosives Company had been bought by the Hercules Powder Company, he was made superintendent of the whole plant. Karl J. Sundstrom, while superintendent of the Forcite plant (1884-1887), built an electric exploder plant on the company's land near Landing, New Jer-

754

THE E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y

i, ii

,

m

A portion of the Aetna Electric Blasting Cap Plant at Xenia, Ohio.

sey, and employed about fifty girls here at one time. The plant, however, was dismantled after a short time. When Sundstrom left Forcite, he started a small exploder factory at Dover, New Jersey; he is said to have been associated with James Macbeth. The latter had been the first New York agent of the Forcite company1 but had left them about six months after the formation of the American Manufacturing & Supply Company and had begun the manufacture of electric blasting caps at Jamaica, L. I., under the name of J A M E S M A C B E T H & C O M P A N Y , disposing of his output to the trade generally, but particularly to the Hercules and Repauno companies. It may be that Sundstrom was merely doing experimental work for Macbeth; at any rate the Dover enterprise had only a short existence. In 1904 James Macbeth & Company was bought by the Eastern Dynamite Company, which held and operated the Jamaica plant for a time through a subsidiary, James Macbeth & Company, Inc. (of N. J., dissolved in 1905). After a few years the growth of population in that district made it advisable to move the plant to Pompton Lakes, and combine it with 1 See p. 454,468.

E L E C T R I C E X P L O D E R C O M P A N Y 755 that of the Electric Exploder Company which was owned by the duPont interests. The latter concern started operating in 1900 as a subsidiary of the Eastern Dynamite Company. A . E . Porter, a brother-in-law of Theron R. Gue, who had been Smith's superintendent and had built a plant for Gue in Canada,1 built Pompton Lakes plant. A t the time of the purchase of the Macbeth concern, this plant had a capacity of about 15,000 electric blasting caps a day and employed about 75 men, while the Macbeth plant had about 80 employees, most of whom were girls, and produced about 20,000 a day. The Smith plant had about the same capacity as the former, but its output gradually declined after the death of Smith, and in 1908 it was bought by the duPont company, into whose control the others had also come, and the entire production of the three plants was concentrated at the works of the Electric Exploder Company at Pompton Lakes, which has since been known as the DuPont Fuze Works. N . I. Steers, 2 who had been vice-president and m a n a g e r of the Macbeth 1 See p. 763. The Pompton Lakes plant started operating in November, 1902. 2 Newton I. Steers had been the vice-president and general manager of James Macbeth & Company since 1892. He continued in this capacity a f t e r its purchase by the duPont company until March 1, 1907, when he became manager of the fuze works and pulp mill, cap works and lumbering operations under the Explosives Manufacturing Department of the latter company. On September 1, 1917, he became general superintendent in the department and in 1919 assistant director. Later he was made director, remaining as such until he left February 28, 1925, to become vice-president and general manager of the duPont-Pathd Film Manufacturing Corporation, of which company he became president J a n u a r y 1, 1926. During the early p a r t of his connection with the duPont company the equipment of the C. C. Chemical company of Bound Brook, N. J., was purchased and shipped to the fuze works. This company was a small concern which was operated for a short time by a man by the name of Branch and W. P. Ferguson, former manager of the Forcite Powder Manufacturing Company, for the purpose of manufacturing a cap with a pointed end, designed by the latter, to facilitate its introduction into the dynamite cartridge. The history of the Jamesburg, N. J., plant is given on p. 426.

756

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

works, managed the Fuze as well as the Cap Works (see p. 760) at Pompton Lakes from 1907 to 1917. Since that time John Mclver has been manager of the Fuze Works until 1925, when he was made manager of the combined Fuze and Cap Works, which are now known as the Pompton Lakes Works of the duPont company.1 A match head type of electric blasting cap was manufactured by the Star Electric Fuze Works at Georgetown, near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of the Fabrik Elektrischer Zünder of Cologne, Germany, and was organized by the Germans when they were unable to sell their match heads to other manufacturers of caps in the United States. Julius Schuermann, the manager, returned to Germany at the outbreak of the World War, and E. J. Fischer of Wilkes-Barre then managed it until it was taken over by the Alien Property Custodian in 1917. The Atlas Powder Company bought it from the latter in 1919 and a few years later moved the entire plant to Reynolds, Pennsylvania, where they had been making blasting caps for some years. BLASTING CAPS

The common blasting cap owes its origin to the necessity of having a stronger initiating agent for nitroglycerine and high explosives than the black powder fuse which acts merely by ñame. When Nobel i The superintendents of the Fuze Works have been A. E. Porter, until his death in 1912, and F. H. Carr since. John Mclver was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1866. His first work in this country was with the National Metal Company at 120 Liberty Street, New York, in which W. B. Lewis, president of the Forcite Powder Company, was heavily interested. As a consequence, he did occasional work for the latter concern, as well as for the Electric Exploder Company, which was organized in 1900. In August 1903 he was sent to Pompton Lakes to systematize the office work of the Fuze Works. Since then, with the exception of about a year back in New York, he has been at this plant, first as chief clerk, then assistant superintendent, superintendent, and manager (1917).

BLASTING CAPS

757

found that he could not detonate these explosives in the same manner as black powder and have them develop their full force, he tried to accomplish this by means of black powder which was either confined in a cartridge and immersed in the liquid nitroglycerine or was packed around the cans of liquid nitroglycerine; but he found this also unsatisfactory. His next step was to evolve a "cone-shaped receptacle made of tin-plate and filled with fulminate of mercury". He patented this in 1867, specifying, however, a copper shell instead of the tin-plate receptacle. This is in effect the common blasting cap of to-day, except that later about 10% of potassium chlorate was added to the fulminate.1 The application of an initial detonation, by means of the fulminate cap, to the firing of nitroglycerine and dynamite was an improvement of immense importance and made the use of high explosives as blasting agents practical. The first common blasting caps used in America were imported from Germany, although at the time electric blasting caps or fuzes were being manufactured in America to a considerable extent. [General Abbott (Professional Papers, p. 239) in 1880 states that "as a class, our American fuzes are believed to be inferior to those of no other nation, for civil or military purposes".] Dependence on a foreign source of supply for the common caps was, however, unsatisfactory, particularly on the West Coast, and it is there that we find the first American manufacture of these blasting caps was started about 1877 by William Letts Oliver and Freeborn J. Fletter. Oliver had made and sold collodion cotton for photographic puri Tal P. Shaffner in 1869 patented (U. S. Patent No. 98,428) an "improvement in blasting fuses" in which the lower end of a Bickford fuse was inserted into a shell filled with mercury fulminate.

758

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

poses in Chile, and his little factory there had been taken over by the Chilean government for the manufacture of military guncotton. After arriving in the United States and while directing mining operations in California he became interested in Tonite, a blasting explosive which was a mixture of guncotton and barium nitrate.1 Strong caps were an absolute necessity for detonating this rather insensitive explosive, and to protect his company from the expense and uncertainty of delivery of the European caps, which were normally quite weak, he started with Fletter a small cap factory at Stege, California, near the Tonite plant. The C A L I F O R N I A C A P C O M P A N Y was incorporated in April 1880, and the business begun by these two pioneers in a small way, developed to large proportions and is still carried on by the sons of one of the founders.2 Fletter died in 1899 and Oliver in 1918. His son, Roland Letts Oliver, succeeded him as president and general manager; another son, A. Leslie Oliver, is assistant manager and a director in the company; a third son, Edwin Letts Oliver, is also a director, although his main interests are in other lines.8 1 See Tonite Powder Company, p. 664. 2 An attempt was also made by William R. Rosecrans of San Francisco to make a "safety exploder" (U. S. Patent No. 230,820 of 1880). This consisted of a metal case containing a powder that would explode only if confined, such as that patented by Joseph Hafenegger of San Francisco. A disc of compressed black powder was placed over this powder, its purpose being to hold it in place as well as to act as initiator. Hafenegger's patent (U. S. Patent No. 111,642 of 1871) covered the addition of metallic oxides (manganese, lead or zinc) and fatty, oily or resinous substances to powders of the chlorate class (potassium chlorate and sulphur, sugar, phosphorus, potassium cyanide, charcoal, saltpeter). His specifications describe a great number of such mixtures, but it does not appear that either his powder or Rosecrans' blasting cap was ever manufactured commercially. 3 During the World War the company set out to design and build special machinery and to make detonators for the army and navy. The samples submitted proved acceptable, and three large plants were built to fill the contracts that followed. The California Cap Company's eastern unit for ordnance detonators was first built, and shortly thereafter the Oliver Loading Company's plant at Runyon, N. J., for point de-

METALLIC CAP COMPANY

759

Soon cap manufacture was also started in the east. In 1879 H . S. Chapman and his brother-in-law, Frank Kendall Brewster (1862-1921),' formed the Metallic Cap Manufacturing C o m p a n y and started to make blasting caps in a small way on the Brewster farm near Suffield, Connecticut. After three years' operation the plant was destroyed by a fire and explosion, in William Letts Oliver, founder of which Brewster's father the California Cap Company, lost his life. A new plant was erected near Bethayres, Pennsylvania, and as the demand i n c r e a s e d , a fulminate factory was built at Prescott, Ontario.2 The Bethayres plant was operated until 1890, when it was also destroyed by an explosion. A new site was then found near Pompton Lakes, on the site tonating fuzes (the military fuze is somewhat different from the electric blasting cap of the same name) and boosters for the 75 mm. shells. These plants were enlarged in the winter of 1917, and the government plant at Old Bridge, N. J., f o r fuzes, primers, detonators, boosters, hand and rifle grenades was also constructed by R . L. Oliver. 1 For biography of F . K. Brewster see IJerculet Mixer 1921, p. 223. 2 The reason for this location was the high internal revenue tax on alcohol in the United States. In those days there was no denatured alcohol, and all grain alcohol, whether for industrial or beverage purposes, was taxed at the same high rate. In Canada, however, permission was secured from the authorities to use tax-free grain alcohol for this p u r pose, and until Congress passed the act of J u n e 7, 1906, which provided for industrial or denatured alcohol, practically all the fulminate used in the United States was made outside of its borders. Under the present regulations, alcohol to be used in the manufacture of fulminate is denatured by adding to every hundred gallons of 95% ethyl alcohol, three gallons of methyl or wood alcohol and one-half gallon of pyridin bases, or fifteen gallons of the condensed recovered fumes f r o m the manufacture which contain a large proportion of aldehydes (formulas No. 6 and

760

THE EXPLOSIVES

of the black powder plant built by Kellogg a few years earlier.1 The new plant was sold to the duPont company in 1907 and is now being operated as their cap works. In 1909 a fulminate plant was built at this place and the Prescott plant was abandoned. The new plant uses a closed s y s t e m of manufacture with recovery of the alcohoi, whereas the old plant had used the open p o t r

£

INDUSTRY

I J I I |j ! jj^^^B jjj^^^fcj^^QP I | F r a ^ Kendall Brewster, pioneer blasting cap maker of the eastern states, and one of the founders of the largest cap works in America.

method. In 1910 a shell drawing plant was added.2 During the World War the cap works with the neighboring fuze works expanded enormously, the force rose from a normal figure of about 300 employees to 7,500. The daily capacity at the time of the armistice was: 1,500,000 blasting caps, 60,000electric blasting caps, 4,500 pounds of mercury fulminate, 200,000 detonating fuzes (military, 7 different kinds), 40,000boosters (4 kinds), 100,000 primers (15kinds), 100,000 incendiary and tracer bullets, in addition to

6a, Regulations No. 61, Treasury Department, U. S. Internal Revenue). 1 See p. 141. 2 Formerly the copper shells had been bought from the United States Cartridge Company. 1911 was a year of many explosions, five occurring Inside of as many months. T. J . Lyons, who had been superintendent of the plant since 1891, resigned and was succeeded by H. K. Babbitt. The latter was born at Chicago on February 6, 1884, and was trained as a civil engineer at the Iowa State College. He entered the employ of the duPont company in 1906 as a draftsman and became successively assistant engineer of construction at Barksdale (1907), resident engineer at Repauno (1907), resident engineer at the cap works (1909), manager of the cap works (1911-1926), and assistant director of the miscellaneous works division, since 1925. J . P. Lunsford is his superintendent.

F . K. B R E W S T E R , I N C .

761

which they made hand and rifle grenades and drop bomb detonators. Brewster remained with the duPont company as manager of the cap works until 1913 devoting most of his time during the latter years to sales to the smaller companies. He then left to organize F. K. Brewster, Inc. He erected a plant for the manufacture of blasting caps at Port Ewen, N. Y., and resumed the manufacture of fulminate at Prescott, Ontario, where pots and other equipment were still as they had been in 1909, when the plant was abandoned, as the land had only been leased. The location was favorable, as the prevailing winds during most of the year drove the fumes, which arise in great volume during the process, into a desolate and uninhabited region. In 1915 he sold his business to the Aetna Explosives Company and in 1921 it became the property of the Hercules Powder Company, which is still operating both plants. Brewster continued to manage the plants in spite of the change in ownership until the time of his death in 1921. His son, Rouse Kendall Brewster,1 has been manager since. The present output amounts to 5,000,000 common and 1,000,000 electric blasting caps a month. T H E A M E R I C A N C A P C O M P A N Y was started at Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in 1910 by Charles Loucke (president) and John Ramsey (general manager).2 In 1912 the Fort Pitt Powder Company acquired and continued to operate it. They manufactured their own fulminate and loaded it into shells purchased from outside concerns. The Atlas Powder Company ac1 Rouse Kendall Brewster, born in 1886 in New York City, started with his father at the cap works in 1908 and joined with him in the Port Ewen enterprise, where he became successively superintendent (1918) and manager (1921). 2 The latter had been selling powder for the Keystone National Powder Company under the name of Ramsey Powder Company.

762

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

quired it in 1916 with the Fort Pitt company and operated at Scottdale until 1918. In that year the operations were removed to the Reynolds dynamite plant and the facilities were greatly enlarged so that the combined plant now has a modern fulminate plant, shell drawing and (for the electric blasting caps) a wire insulating equipment. During the war large quantities of detonators were made for the Allies and the U. S. Government. In 1920 the equipment of a primer plant at Newark, New Jersey, which had been bought from the Federal Cartridge Company, was also transferred to Reynolds, and the manufacture of shotgun primers started. CANADIAN

COMPANIES

In Canada, the D O M I N I O N C A R T R I D G E C O M P A N Y , which had been organized in 1886 by Thos. C. Brainerd, Hon. John Hamilton, J. J. C. Abbott, and A. L. Howard, 1 all identified with the Hamilton Powder Company (now the Canadian Explosives Limited), began the manufacture of common blasting caps in 1898. In 1908 the Dominion Cartridge Company also started to make electric blasting caps and in 1912 blasting machines. The factory is located at Brownsburg, P. Q., and is now combined with the Dominion Electrical Works which was bought in 1911 by the 1 Captain A. L. Howard had been a foreman with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, Conn., and later proprietor of a small cartridge factory which he lost through a Are. During the Rielle rebellion he came to Canada in charge of a gatling gun, and as a reward for his services he obtained f r o m the government certain concessions in the tariff on cartridges and cartridge machinery, provided he would s t a r t a factory in the Dominion. The Hamilton Powder Company sold him a site at Lachute or Brownsburg, which they had acquired f r o m Daniel Smith (see p. 302). Sir John Abbott was the first president; later T. C. Brainerd became the president. The Hamilton Powder Company then gradually acquired the balance of the stock. Howard was succeeded as manager of the business by C. P. Simpson. Dennison Rousseau, Who had been trained as a foreman a t Lachute, later started the Western Cartridge Company in the United States.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

763

Canadian Explosives Limited. The D O M I N I O N E L E C T R I C A L WORKS, Limited, was incorporated by Theron R. Gue of the Acadia Powder Company, H . Julius Smith of Pompton Lakes, and A. E. Porter, at Halifax in 1899 to engage in the manufacture of electric blasting caps, covered leading and connecting wire. Porter was manager and built the plant at Waverley, N. S., where a small water power was utilized, with an auxiliary steam plant for dry seasons. After the purchase of the concern by the Canadian Explosives, Limited, in 1911, the equipment was removed to Brownsburg, P. Q RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

More recent developments in the design of blasting caps, both common and electric, include the use of picric acid, trinitrotoluene and tetryl 1 as intermediary substances or "boosters" between the fulminate and explosive proper, and the use of salts of hydronitric acid,2 for instance lead azide, in place of fulminate. Various difficulties were encountered in the practical application of the azides, due to the fact that lead azide forms extremely sensitive copper compounds when it is loaded in copper caps, and that it is not as easily ignited as fulminate. Two attempts t© solve this problem seem to be successful. In the first3 an aluminum shell is charged with a tetryl booster and primed with lead azide to which has been added lead trinitroresorcinate which serves as a kindling material for the 1 Picric Acid and T N T had been suggested by Wohler in 1900 (Brit. Pat. No. 21,065, 1900). W. Will's U. S. Patent No. 827,768 (1906) covers the use of trinitrophenylmethylnitramine or tetryl in place of these substances for priming compositions. 2 Hydronitric acid ( H N 3 ) was first prepared by Curtius in 1890 who also described several of its salts which he found to be extremely explosive (Ber. XXIII, 3023). Their use in priming compositions is covered by L. Wohler's U. S. Patent No. 904,289 (1908). a Brit. Pat. No. 138,083 (1920).

764

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

azide. I n the second, 1 copper shells containing a tetryl booster a r e primed with a mixture of mercury fulminate and mercurous azide which does not f o r m supersensitive copper azides when in contact with the copper cap. T h e booster type is somewhat more effective as an initiator than the fulminate cap. I n a comparative test cited by Grotta 2 fulminate caps gave 90% failures in an a t t e m p t to detonate an insensitive mixture of 9 2 % T N T and 8 % iron oxide, whereas with the G r o t t a type of booster cap 100% detonations were obtained. H u d s o n M a x i m also patented a fulminating compound or priming composition in 1894, 3 primarily for shell and torpedo fuzes, which was used for a short time by the U . S. N a v y . H e mixed about three parts of nitroglycerine intimately with one p a r t of guncotton by means of methyl alcohol; 1 5 t o 2 5 parts of this mixture were then kneaded with 85 to 75 p a r t s of mercury fulminate until a homogeneous, spongy, elastic mass was obtained. Mechanically, the electric exploders have been improved until t o d a y they are water-resistant under considerable pressure. L o a d i n g arrangements have also been perfected, so as to do away with a great deal of hand labor and hazard, besides improving their uniformity and regularity of action. 1 U. S. Patent No. 1,439,099 (1922), Bennett Grotta. 2 Bennett Grotta, Ind. Eng. Chtm., X V I I , 134 (1928), where the development of these booster caps is described in more detail. » U. S. Patent No. 529,384.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART IV. SMOKELESS POWDER

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART IV. SMOKELESS POWDER

C H A P T E R I. INTRODUCTORY HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

T

HE history of smokeless powder shows certain similarities with that of dynamite. The essential ingredients of both were discovered about the same time, but the smokeless powder development extended over a longer period. Nitroglycerine was nearly forgotten when Nobel brought out his blasting oil in 1862, and later his dynamite. Nitrocellulose, however, whose inventor recognized the possibility of using it as a propellent in firearms, was made commercially immediately after its discovery, but serious accidents in manufacture and use soon compelled the various governments to restrict its further production. It was not until years afterwards, when its nature became better known and means had been found to reduce its rate of combustion, that it became possible to use nitrocellulose successfully for smokeless powders. As early as 1833, Braconnot, Professor of Chemistry in Nancy, studied the action of nitric acid on starch and other organic substances, and found that when the reaction mixture with starch was poured into water, there resulted a white curdy precipitate which he called xyloidine. He also found that cotton and linen under the same treatment gave a similar substance which he believed to be identical with xyloidine

768

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

obtained from starch. In 1838 Pelouze, another French chemist, repeated Braconnot's experiments and found that xyloidine at 180° C. ignites and burns with very considerable violence. Among other things, he treated paper with concentrated nitric acid (sp.gr. 1.5), allowing a sufficient time (about two or three minutes usually) for the acid to penetrate the paper, and then removed the paper and washed it with a large volume of water. He obtained a parchment-like material, impermeable to moisture, and of extreme combustibility. The same compound he obtained on using cotton and linen fabrics. He states that paper and fabrics which have been thus submitted to the action of nitric acid owe their new properties to the xyloidine1 which covers them and he adds that he believes that this property (combustibility) may make these experiments of some practical application, particularly in the case of artillery. Nothing was done, however, to follow up this suggestion. In December 1845 and the early part of the next year, Christian Frederick Schoenbein (1799-1868), Professor of Chemistry in the University of Basle, Switzerland, prepared for the first time Schiessbaumwolle (as he called it on account of the use to which he intended to put it), or guncotton, by treating absorbent cotton with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids. He communicated his results to the Naturforschende Gesellschaft of Basle on May 27, 1846, reporting also the results of some firing tests. The late Professor Lewes of the Royal Naval College used to tell an amusing story2 of the circumstances in which nitrocellulose called itself forcibly to 1 Later Pelouze recognized that the nitrated products of starch and cellulose are not identical (Comptes Rendus, 1846). 2 According to C. A. Higgins of the Hercules Powder Company.

SCHOENBEIN'S WORK

769

Schoenbein's attention. I t appears that Schoenbein, like many other inventors, among them our own Hudson Maxim, 1 often used his wife's kitchen for his experiments. One day he was distilling nitric and sulphuric acids on the kitchen stove when the flask broke. H e grabbed the nearest thing—his wife's apron—to wipe up the mess. After this he washed out the apron, which appeared none the worse for the treatment, and hung it up to dry in front of the kitchen fire, congratulating himself that his wife would not be any the wiser. Suddenly there was a puff, and the apron went up in flames. Being a scientist, he repeated the experiment with more cotton and found that by treating it with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids, he obtained a highly inflammable compound of the same physical appearance as the original cotton. This is a good story, but it is more likely that he discovered guncotton in a more logical way in the course of his work on "active oxygen". According to his own account, his experiments had shown that: "ozone forms a peculiar compound with olefiant gas without apparently oxidizing in the least either the carbon or the hydrogen of the gas. I had an idea that it would not be impossible that certain organic matters, exposed to a low temperature, would likewise form compounds, either with ozone alone, which according to my hypothesis occurs in a state of combination or mixture in the acid mixture, or with NO«. I t was this conjecture which principally led me to commence experiments with common sugar. . . . I wished to make experiments also with other organic substances, and I soon discovered all those about which there has been so much said of late in the French Academy. All this occurred in December 1845 and i See Dynamite Stories, (New York, 1916).

770

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

the first few months of 1846. In March (1846) I sent specimens of my new compound to some of my friends, especially Faraday, Herschel, and Grove. I t is necessary to note expressly that guncotton formed part of these products; but I must add that hardly was it discovered when I employed it in shooting experiments, the success of which encouraged me to continue them. . . ." As alluded to in Schoenbein's statement above, which was published late in 1846 and can be found in its entirety in G. W . MacDonald's Historical Papers on Modern Explosives (N. Y.: Whittaker, 1912), the discovery of guncotton led to a lively discussion in the French Academy of Sciences, as to who was the real discoverer of guncotton, Pelouze or Schoenbein. Schoenbein undoubtedly was the first to prepare it in the way in which it was later manufactured commercially, and the first to use it in firearms. His expectation, as expressed in a letter to Faraday, that it would soon replace black powder as a propellent, was. however, not realized for many years, and even today considerable amounts of black powder are used for sporting purposes. Schoenbein promptly set about utilizing his discovery commercially. Due to political conditions he was unable to sell it to Germany, but he sold his secret to Austria and in 1846 he went to England and demonstrated his guncotton before the King. A patent (Brit. Pat. 11,407 of Oct. 8,1846) was taken out in the name of John Taylor; and Messrs. John Hall & Sons built a guncotton plant at Faversham, but this was blown up on July 14, 1847, with the loss of some twenty lives. The plant was not rebuilt and no further work was done in England for 16 years. I t is interesting to note that within a year of the

THE NITROMETER

771

time when Schoenbein first made public his work on guncotton, the principles of our present method of determining its nitrogen content were described by a Scotch chemist, W a l t e r Crum, in the Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow (1847, p. 163). H i s apparatus was crude, consisting of a glass j a r 8 inches long and l 1 /^ inches in diameter, filled with, and inverted over, mercury, but the essential features of the nitrometer were there; the action of sulphuric acid on the nitrate in the presence of mercury and a graduated tube for measuring the gas. Crum analyzed some guncotton he had prepared himself and found a nitrogen content of 13.69% by his method. Guncotton plants in other countries had similar unfortunate experiences to that at Faversham and soon only Austria persevered in the attempt to manufacture it and adapt it to cannon. Baron von L e n k had built two plants for the Austrian artillery and manufactured braided guncotton ropes for use as propelling charges in cannon. Both of his plants, however, blew up, the one in 1862, and the other in 1865, and after the first explosion, the Austrian Government decided that the manufacture of guncotton was too dangerous and relieved L e n k f r o m the obligation of secrecy. This enabled L e n k to lay a report on his process and the plans of his plant before a committee that had been appointed by the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1862 to conduct an investigation on n i t r o c e l l u l o s e . F . A . (later Sir Frederick) Abel, chemist to the British W a r Office, also presented a report of the experimental work he had been doing at W a l t h a m Abbey on guncotton. A s a result of this investigation, Messrs. Thomas Prentice & Co. built a guncotton plant at Stowmarket. This had a serious accident in 1871 but, on investigation, it

772

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

was shown that sulphuric acid in considerable amounts had been added to a quantity of finished guncotton, and the conclusion was that this had been wilfully done by some unknown persons. As this tended to show that the accident was not due to any inherent defect of the guncotton, confidence in this explosive was largely restored. Abel also started manufacture at Waltham Abbey on a small scale for the W a r Office. H e came to the conclusion that the instability and the accidents resulting therefrom were due to traces of acid held tenaciously in the fine capillaries of the nitrocotton fibre, and that simple washing, no matter how prolonged, would not remove it.1 H e therefore destroyed the cotton structure by pulping the nitrocellulose in the beating engine long known in the paper industry. In 1865 Abel obtained a patent for this method and for compressing the pulped nitrocellulose into blocks with or without the addition of a binder (U. S. Patent 59,888, of November 20, 1866). The patent also mentions the use of a mixture of soluble and insoluble nitrocelluloses with solvents for the former. This came rather close to the smokeless powders of later days, but Abel did not pursue this line further at this time. Beating or pulping is still practised, although it was later realized that this does not remove all causes of instability, such as low-nitrated nitrocelluloses and cellulose sulphates. These are destroyed by prolonged boiling in faintly acid water as was shown by Robertson in 1906. In 1869 Brown, Abel's assistant, found that wet, compressed guncotton can be detonated with a small charge of dry guncotton which in turn is detonated i Dr. Dupri invented the heat test with potassium iodide starch paper which reveals the slightest traces of acid. This test is still universally used in the industry.

SCHULTZE POWDER

773

by mercury fulminate. In 1872 the plant at Waltham Abbey was enlarged to a capacity of 250 tons a year, and the guncotton, purified and compressed according to Abel's method, was used as a disrupting charge for mines and torpedoes; but it was still not suitable as a propelling charge in cannon or rifle. It was too brisant, i.e., its rate of combustion, owing to the enormous surface presented by the fibre in the pulped or unpulped state, was too high, and the pressures created in the gun were dangerous and uncontrollable, even when the nitro-cotton pulp, in an attempt to reduce the surface, had been compressed under heavy hydraulic pressure. Various attempts were made to regulate the rate of combustion of nitrocellulose by adding substances intended to reduce the rate and by superficially gelatinizing or hardening the grains. In 1862 Captain Johann F. E. Schultze of the Prussian artillery began to make a powder (U. S. Pat. 38789, 1863) from nitrated wood. According to an early account of his process,1 he cut suitable wood—"the harder it is, the stronger it will be"—into sheets or veneer of a thickness equal to the diameter which it was desired that the grains of powder should have (about Me inch for small arms powder). This veneer was then further reduced to small cylinders of a diameter slightly smaller than the thickness of the sheets. The grains were then purified by treatment with alkali or chlorine and nitrated in a mixture of 40 parts of strong nitric acid and 100 parts of strong sulphuric acid (6 parts of wood to 100 parts of acid mixture). The nitrated wood was then freed from excess acid by centrifuging, and was washed in water, boiled with dilute soda solution, washed again, impregnated with a solution of potassium and barium i Scientific

American,

(1865), XII, 264. See also the patent.

774

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

nitrate or of potassium nitrate alone, and dried. Of course, such a powder, containing metallic nitrates, is not strictly smokeless, but it produced less smoke and was more powerful than an equal weight of black powder. E . C. Powder, patented by Reid and Johnson for the Explosives Company of England in 1882, is somewhat similar, except that nitrated cotton is used instead of nitrated wood pulp. Both powders have been considerably modified and improved, and are still manufactured both in the United States and in Europe. J . B . Powder, patented by Johnson & Borland in England in 1885 and first manufactured in 1888, used camphor as a hardening agent instead of the etheralcohol mixture used for E . C. Powder. Abel in 1865 patented powder grains made of nitrocellulose pulp treated with binders, among which he mentions collodion solutions, in a vibrating vessel (Brit. Pat. 1102, 1865). Prentice of the Stowmarket factory proposed (Brit. Pat. 953, 1866) to interlace the threads of nitrocellulose with threads of unnitrated cotton, or to reduce them together to a pulp. For a sporting powder he made an explosive paper, containing 15% of cotton and 85% of guncotton fibres, which was cut into strips one inch wide and rolled into tight wads to fit the cartridge cases. About 30 grains constituted the charge for a one ounce bullet. The paper, however, absorbed moisture which changed the ballistic properties. To obviate this difficulty, the rolls were coated with a thin film of India rubber, but this dried out and cracked and was not extensively used. In the meantime, nitrocellulose in the form of solutions or plastics had found numerous applications in other industries. Schoenbein as early as 1846 had used 1

American Schultse powder contains nitrated cotton, not wood.

AMERICAN E X P E R I M E N T O R S

775

an ether-alcohol solution which he called "liquid glue" or "liquor astringens". J . Parker Maynard in 1848 when he was only a medical student in Boston, began to use an ether-alcohol solution in medicine as a dressing for wounds. In 1851 Scott-Archer used the same solution in photography. In 1869 John Wesley Hyatt of Albany, New York, patented the use of camphor, heat and pressure in producing celluloid from nitrocellulose. It was found that nitrocellulose so gelatinized by solvents burned less rapidly and with more regularity than loose or even compressed guncotton and this observation probably led the French chemist Vieille to the development of a gelatinized smokeless powder in 1884. The first powder of this type was used in the French Lebel rifle, model of 1886. This powder (known as poudre B after General Boulanger) is a mixture of soluble and insoluble nitrocellulose gelatinized with ether-alcohol and contains no nitrates or nitroglycerine. The French Government kept its composition secret, but permitted the manufacture, sale, and export of "poudre B N " , a similar, but inferior, powder containing metallic nitrates. According to Oscar Guttmann, the well-known explosives expert who died in an automobile accident in Brussels in 1914, smokeless powder of the modern type, i.e., of completely colloided nitrocellulose, was invented in 1870 by Friedrich Volkmann of Vienna (see Oest. Chem. Ztg. of Dec. 15, 1908, also Z.f.d. Ges. Schiess- & Sprengstoffwesen of J a n . 1, 1909). A Frenchman, L . Saincjaire, investigated this claim and confirmed it.1 I t appears that Volkmann applied in 1870 and 1871 for patents which were granted to him as Austrian patents No. 21-208 and 21-257 in 1871. Owing to the i His findings were published in s small booklet under the title

776

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

fact that Austrian patents at that time were not published, the world at large learned nothing of his invention. A company with the imposing name of Volkmann's K. K. Priv. Collidin-Fabriks-Gesellschaft, H . Pernice & Co., was formed and a plant built at Marchegg near Vienna. The company also owned the Schultze rights for Austria and started to manufacture this and Volkmann's powder. But in Austria powder manufacture was a government monopoly, and when the War Department were informed that Volkmann was making sporting powder without permission and without paying any license fees, they closed the plant in 1875. Volkmann never got anything for his invention and it is unknown what became of him. Volkmann's patents clearly outlined the principles of smokeless powder manufacture by gelatinization and described the properties which present nitrocellulose powders have. If the Austrian War Department had but paid more attention to Volkmann and perfected the methods of manufacture, Austria could have had a smokeless powder twelve years before any other country. Replying to Guttmann's letter the Department claimed that Volkmann's powder was lacking in proper qualities, very imperfect and irregular so that it was useless for the army. However, the patent specifications speak for themselves. The powder was made from nitrated wood which was prepared according to Schultze's method. It was then treated with a mixture of 5 parts of ether and one part of alcohol for 30 minutes, and the resulting paste dried for 12 hours at 19-30° C. It was then pressed in special moulds to obtain any desired shape and further dried for 24 hours at 30° and an"L'invention de la poudre sans fumée en 1870" by the Librairie Militaire Berger-Levrault of Paris and Nancy in 1912.

VOLKMANN'S WORK

777

other 24 hours at 50°. This, according to his claims, gave it the consistency of wood. By treating the nitrolignin for a longer time with the solvent and thereby "dissolving the ligneous fibres in the interior more or less", and by varying the moulding pressure, he regulated gas production of the powder mathematically. Volkman made three kinds of powder, one yellow in color in which no solvent was used ; a second, brown in color, which received a solvent treatment of a few minutes only and was only superficially gelatinized; and a third, also brown, which was made compact and of any shape by longer treatment with ether-alcohol and moulding. Volkmann claimed the following properties for his powder: 1. The smoke is transparent. 2. The noise of the detonation is much less than with black powder. 3. Only a very small residue is left in the barrel and this is removed by the succeeding shot. 4. Only half the quantity of powder is required to carry the projectile one-third farther with a velocity one-fourth greater. 5. The trajectory is flatter by one-half. 6. The effect of the powder is constant. 7. There is no danger in its manufacture. 8. There is no danger in storing it, as it explodes only if confined. Otherwise it only burns with a clear flame. 9. There is no danger in its transportation. 10. I t is not injured by humidity. If it is accidentally wetted, it needs only to be dried to make it fit for use.

778

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

For his partly and completely gelatinized powders (types 2 and 3) he claimed further that the volume was reduced, that they were not hygroscopic at all, and that they had in a small volume as great a power as any known explosive. This might have been written of modern smokeless powders, except that nitrocellulose powders are somewhat hygroscopic and their power is impaired by exposure to humid conditions. In 1887 Alfred Nobel, who had brought out his blasting gelatine in 1875, and stimulated no doubt by the study of celluloid,1 found that by greatly increasing the percentage of nitrocellulose in his blasting gelatine he could produce an explosive which could serve as propulsive agent. His British patent (No. 1471, 1888) specifies a mixture of 100 parts of nitroglycerine, 10 parts of camphor, 200 parts of benzol, and 50 parts of soluble nitrocellulose. The pasty mass is rolled between cylinders heated to 50-60° C. where the benzol evaporates. I t is then rolled out in sheets and cut into square grains. Another suggested mixture contains 100 parts of nitroglycerine, 10-25 parts of camphor, 200-400 parts of amyl acetate, and 200 parts of soluble nitrocellulose. The use of camphor, on account of its volatility, was later abandoned and a stabilizer added. Nobel called this powder Ballistite, and the Nobel factory at Ardeer, Scotland, produced it first in 1889. Lundholm and Sayers (U. S. Pat. 438816) introduced a new method of incorporation of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine with the assistance of water, and eventually the nitroglycerine content was reduced to 40%. Hiram (later Sir Hiram) Maxim patented in 18892 a smokeless powder consisting of guncotton with 101 The title of his American B a l l i s t i t e p a t e n t ( N o . 456,508, J u l y 21, 1891), reads "Celluloidal Explosive a n d Process of Making the Same." 2 Brit. Pat. 4477, 1889, U . S. P a t . 434,049, 1890.

B R I T I S H CORDITE

779

16% nitroglycerine, and 1-4% castor oil, using acetone as an assisting solvent. The use of castor oil was suggested to him by Professor Mowbray of North Adams, Massachusetts, either directly or through his brother, Hudson Maxim (see p. 791). Both inventors submitted their powders to the Explosives Committee, composed of three chemists, Sir Frederick Abel, Mr. (now Sir) James Dewar, and Dr. Dupré who had been appointed by the British War Office to recommend the best powder to be used in the Service. They modified Nobel's formula by substituting service guncotton for his soluble nitrocellulose, using acetone as an assisting solvent to bring about the incorporation (Brit. Pat. 5614,1889). They fixed upon 58% of nitroglycerine, 37% of guncotton and added 5% of vaseline or mineral jelly to lubricate the gun. (U. S. Patent 409,549, Aug. 20, 1889). The paste thus produced was squirted through a die to form strings or cords. This powder, under the name of Cordite, was adopted as the British service powder. Later on the percentages were reversed, and the present Modified Cordite or Cordite MD, contains 30% nitroglycerine, 65% guncotton, and 5% mineral jelly, incorporated by means of acetone. Both Nobel and Maxim sued the British Government for infringement of their patents, but were unsuccessful, the courts holding that Nobel's patent did not cover the use of insoluble nitrocellulose, and that Maxim had confined himself to lower percentages of nitroglycerine, while his castor oil was different and was used for different reasons than mineral jelly. The Germans adopted a modified Nobel smokeless powder containing diphenylamine, and Krupps announced in January 1890 that they had been using smokeless powder for all calibers for one and a quar-

780

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

ter years. In 1890 Professor Mendeleef began his researches on nitrocellulose for the Russian navy which led, after large scale trials in 1895 and 1896, to the adoption by Russia of a completely gelatinized (with ether-alcohol) pure nitrocellulose powder. The nitrocellulose used, which he called "pyro-collodion", contained only 12.44% of nitrogen and was chosen because it contained just sufficient oxygen to burn completely to water, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. It will, therefore, disregarding residual solvent, ash, and presence of stabilizer, give the greatest volume of gas at the lowest temperature. A powder of this type, on account of its lower temperature of combustion, is somewhat less erosive in its action on gunbarrels than a powder containing nitroglycerine. MULTI-PERFORATED GRAINING INTRODUCED I N AMERICA

Originally (and this is still practised abroad) smokeless cannon powders were in the form of flat strips or ribbons, or of solid or single perforated rods. In America, Maxim and Schiipphaus, working along the lines of General Rodman's perforated cake cartridge,1 changed this to a short cylinder with a number of perforations. As the rate of burning of smokeless powder is a function of its surface, a ribbon or rod will produce less and less gas, as it is consumed, because its surface is constantly decreasing, and the pressure will therefore drop rather rapidly as the shell moves forward in the bore. A multi-perforated powder, on the other hand, can be designed to maintain a constant surface and a constant rate of gas production, or even an increasing surface and gas production, to partly compensate for the increasing volume of the 1 See p. 23.

PROGRESSIVE BURNING

781

powder chamber as the shell moves forward. This improvement was promptly adopted by the American powder factories.1 PROGRESSIVE B U R N I N G SMOKELESS POWDERS

Early attempts were also made to make smokeless powder burn progressively by coating the grains with a slow burning layer, so as to start the projectile with a gentle pressure and develop the maximum pressure farther from the breech. Dr. Carl Walter Volney2 in 1897 patented such a powder consisting of nitroglycerine and trinitrocellulose, in which the trinitrocellulose on the surface of the grains was reduced to dinitrocellulose by treatment with sulphites or other reducing salts. This was not successful. Later the Germans coated rifle powder with substituted ureas, such as centrallite,3 and the duPont company developed a similar powder consisting of a mixture of soluble and insoluble nitrocelluloses colloided with ether-alcohol and coated with dinitrotoluene. This is on the market under the name of Improved Military Rifle Powder. O T H E R SMOKELESS OR SEMI-SMOKELESS G U N P O W D E R S

Mention should also be made of attempts to produce a gunpowder with a picrate base, the first of this type being made by Designolle in France in 1861. I t consisted of saltpeter, some charcoal, and 20% of potassium picrate for rifle powder, or 8 to 10% for cannon powder. Brugere substituted ammonium picrate for the potassium salt, and his powder gave good results in the Chassepot rifle in 1869. Abel about the same time patented a similar powder, and in 1886 he proposed a mixture of picrate and nitrocellulose. i See p. 794. 2 U. S. Pat. No. 592,485. See also p. 867. 3 The Chilworth Powder Company of England also made such a powder.

782

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Nobel, two years later, patented a mixture of three parts of barium nitrate and one part of ammonium picrate, hardening the mass with 0.5 % of gum or dextrine. Picrate powders were made for a time in America, but were not successful. 1 Potassium chlorate gunpowders have also been proposed from the time of the discovery of the salt by Berthollet to the present. A f t e r a mill at the French powder works of Essons, in which some chlorate gunpowder was being made according to Berthollet's directions, blew up in 1788 with disastrous results, he himself came to the conclusion that this material was too dangerous. About 1850 renewed attempts were made along this line. Augendre's powder, for instance, consisted of two parts of potassium chlorate and one part each of sugar and red prussiate of potash. With slight modifications in the proportions, this is also the composition of J J . Pohl's "White Gunpowder". During the French Revolution the Essone powder works made a gunpowder consisting of 75% ammonium nitrate, 12.5% sulphur, and 12.5% charcoal. J u s t before the introduction of smokeless powders, Professors Hebler of Switzerland and Gaens of Germany took this up again. The latter's powder consisted of 38% ammonium nitrate, 48% saltpeter, and 14% charcoal and was manufactured for a short time under the designation C-86 by the Rhenish-Westphalian Explosives Works, as well as by the Chilworth Powder Company in England, an off-shoot of the former, under the name of Chilworth powder. The American Bureau of Ordnance manifested interest in this development for a time and called it to the attention of the duPont company, which sent Alfred i See p. 917.

OTHER SMOKELESS POWDERS

783

I. duPont to England to investigate it. Nothing was done with it in this country, however, and it was soon abandoned elsewhere, as the hygroscopic character of the ammonium nitrate caused corrosion of the metallic cartridge cases.

C H A P T E R II. SMOKELESS P O W D E R IN T H E UNITED STATES

I

N America, nitrocellulose became known and was made, experimentlly at least, soon after its discovery by Schoenbein. J. Parker Maynard, a medical student of Boston, in 1848 published a note in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,1 and later a pamphlet in which he gave a clear description of and directions for the application of collodion (an etheralcohol solution of nitrocellulose) in medicine. This material found favor with the medical profession, and the U. S. Pharmacopoeia of 1860 included directions for the preparation of guncotton by treatment of cotton with potassium nitrate and sulphuric acid, and of collodion solutions. Collodion, made by Professor Charles A. Seely, was used in the Civil War as a dressing for wounds and collodion solutions were also used in the Civil War to coat Doremus cartridges.2 Guncotton, on account of the many accidents, found, therefore, small favor with the military authorities, although in 1846 Major Mordecai had conducted at 1 38, 226. 2 The nitrocellulose for this was prepared by a young man named L. M. Dornbach in a building not far away from Columbia College In New York. One morning, as he returned to his work, he was very much surprised to And that the building had disappeared during the night. But he was not discouraged and started operations again in a more isolated location, only to experience another explosion in which he lost his life on June 21, 1862. About 1850, Charles I.ennig, a manufacturer of chemicals in Philadelphia, experimented with guncotton charges for small arms, made by him from long-staple cotton fibre, but the experiments were discontinued after he had an explosion. Such a sample of guncotton, made in 1852 by an unknown manufacturer and intended for use in shotguns, was kept for many years in the duPont company's laboratory. It was wrapped in a paper cartridge from which a sufficient quantity for each charge was to be cut or torn off.

HYATT'S PLASTICS 785 the Washington Arsenal an extended series of experiments with guncotton as ft propellant. The same difficulties of high pressures and irregular ballistics that had been experienced abroad, caused abandonment of further work. In 1864 Baron von Lenk, who had manufactured guncotton for a number of years for the Austrian artillery (see p. 771), secured a United States patent for the manufacture of this material according to his process. Rawson and Richmond of Detroit, to whom he assigned his patent,1 announced their intention of erecting a large factory to produce guncotton under the direction of a competent person to be sent by General von Lenk from Austria (Sci. Am. XI, 18). But they seem to have abandoned their purpose, discouraged, no doubt, by the explosion of Lenk's second plant (the first had been destroyed in 1862) in Austria in 1865. The next important step which had its influence on the development of smokeless powder by Nobel, Mowbray, Maxim, Schiipphaus, and others, was the discovery by John Wesley Hyatt2 of Albany that nitrocellulose could be converted into a plastic substance by incorporating camphor with it under heat and pressure and with the assistance of a small quantity of low-boiling solvent. Parkes and Spill in England had used camphor and low-boiling solvents in combination before as solvents of nitrocellulose, but the removal of the larger amounts of solvent used by them was troublesome and they were unable to do with less solvent, until Hyatt showed the way by using less solvent and then employing heat and pressure to increase the solvent action and the plasticity of the mai See U. S. Pat. Nos. 50082 and 50083 in name of Julian John R£vy of Vienna (1865). z Born in November, 1937, at Starkey, Yates County, N. Y. Died 1920.

786

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

terial. Hyatt obtained patents for his discovery in 1869 and 1870 and formed the Celluloid Company (later of Newark, New Jersey), to manufacture his material. In 1914 he was awarded the Perkins Medal in recognition of his work.1 In 1869 Carl Dittmar came to America with the intention of starting the manufacture of nitroglycerine explosives. According to Milton F. Lindsley, who was associated with Dittmar in America for a number of years, Dittmar anticipated Schultze's nitrated wood powder.2 H e first experimented with a smokeless powder made from nitrated cubes of purified wood, while he was detailed as technical director of the Royal Prussian Powder Factory at Spandau in 1861. But he became disgusted with smokeless powder when he was severely burned through accidentally setting fire to a sample which he had prepared for a test before a board of Prussian officers. Soon after this experience, he was invited by Captain Schultze to join him in the manufacture of smokeless powder (1863) and, after being assured by the latter that his powders were entirely different, he accepted, only to find that there was very little actual difference. Nevertheless, they proceeded with their experiments, but were handicapped by lack of capital. After a short time they separated. Schultze went to England to continue his experiments, while Dittmar devoted himself to the manufacture of nitroglycerine and dynamite. In 1867 he and Schultze were again in partnership for a few months, but lack of 1 See I. Ind. Eng. Chem., 1914, VI, p. 155. William Leonard of Boston was apparently the first to recognize that colloided nitrocellulose, on account of its regular burning, might be of value in the explosives industry. For his fuse patent see p. 723. His patent does not seem to have attracted any attention, and it was nearly eight years later that the first gelatinized nitrocellulose powder was made. 2 See also p. 330.

DITTMAR'S SMOKELESS

787

capital again put an end to their enterprise. Coining to America in 1869, Dittmar built a small plant at Neponset, near Quincy, Mass., for the manufacture of "Dualin",1 which began operations in May 1870. This explosive was supposed to contain nitrated wood pulp. Whether it did or not, Dittmar made a nitrocellulose sporting powder of the Schultze type at Neponset and sold it under the name of "New Sporting Powder". In his process he purified wood pulp by boiling it in an alkaline solution and then ground the pulp with starch, made it into pellets, and parchmentized them with sulphuric acid. These pellets were then nitrated, neutralized, dried, treated with a weak solution of potassium nitrate, dried again, and finally sieved.2 Some of this experimental powder was sold to Henry C. Squires, a sporting goods dealer in New York, who became so much interested that he raised some capital among his relatives and friends and induced Dittmar to come to Binghamton, New York, and Dittmar started manufacture of dualin and sporting powder in the latter place in 1878. A paragraph in the "Iron Home" of Ishpeming, Michigan, August 24, 1878, refers to this powder as: "A new kind of gunpowder, called Dytmar, is trying to be introduced here by a powderman, who claims for it that it requires but half the quantity, when compared with black powder, for a charge, cleans the gun, and has no recoil, and but very little report. If all this be true, it surely surpasses the common gun1 Sec p. 618. 2 His U. S. Pat. No. 145,403 of December 9, 18T3, (Reissue 5,759 of Feb. 10, 1874) covers the following process for the manufacture of a smokeless powder: Linen or cotton rags are carefully pulped, cleaned, freed from grease, bleached, etc., and then made into paper, at which time a sugar, mannite, or starch solution may be added. The paper is then cut into small pieces and nitrated in the usual way. Soda, saltpeter, potassium chlorate, or nitroglycerine may be added to this nitrocellulose.

788

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

powder. We understand it is to be tested here in a few days." In the spring of 1881 D i 11 m a r ' s plant was wrecked by a bad explosion which did a great deal of damage to the city of Binghamton, and the operations were t r a n s f e r r e d to Rattlesnake Landing, opposite Hastings-upon-Hudson. Dittmar's failing health made systematic attention to the A c a n i s t e r o f D i t t m a r ' s P o w d e r , development of smokeperiod 1878-81. less p o w d e r impossible but his powder had attracted such attention among sportsmen that Von Lengerke & Detmold, sporting goods dealers in New York, formed a company, largely of members of the Westminster Kennel Club, to take over that part of his business. In 1882Dittmar sold his process and rights to them. Elliott Smith, an attorney of 59 Wall Street, New York, became president, and Von Lengerke & Detmold the selling agency. Milton F . Lindsley (b. 1852) had been associated with Dittmar since 1878, part of the time as superintendent of manufacture, and had made a number of improvements in the original process.1 Since Dittmar 1 U. S . Pat. No. 338,872, explosives consisting of 50 parts nitrocellulose, 88 parts saltpeter, 5 parts charcoal, 3 parts potassium chlorate, 2 parts starch, added as a 7 % solution, 2 parts potassium carbonate. U. S. P a t . No. 341,155, process for making explosives by pulverizing a mechancial mixture of wood fibre, charcoal, bituminous coal, and starch, granulating the mixture and nitrating it in a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids. The nitrated product is carefully washed and impregnated with a solution of potassium carbonate and nitrate or chlorate and dried. Example: 71 parts willow, poplar or other wood fibre, 14 parts wil-

AMERICAN WOOD POWDER

789

was unable to give any attention to the new undertaking, Lindsley was chosen as superintendent of the new company, which at his suggestion was called the American Wood Powder Company, and a site was found near Jersey City, N e w Jersey, where a small plant was built. American Wood Powder enjoyed considerable favor at the time and was used by a majority of the best shots in the country and held many of the shotgun records of the time. Lindsley himself was an excellent shot and did much to introduce smokeless powder among live bird shooters. According to Professor Munroe 1 this powder contained 10 to 18 per cent sodium nitrate, 44 to 55 per cent nitrolignin, 30 to 38 per cent lignin (charred) and "humus", and 5 to 3 per cent volatiles. It had the disadvantage that it had a tendency to absorb moisture when loaded in paper shells, but this defect had been practically overcome when the company discontinued manufacture. The failure of the company was due to lack of capital which made it impossible for it to weather the business depression of 1893. I n 1895 Lindsley joined The King Powder Company, where he became superintendent of manufacture at King's Mills, Ohio. Together with G. M. Peters, the president of the company, he developed a modification of the American Wood Powder which was put on the market under the name of "King's Semi-Smokeless". According to the patent specifications, 2 it consists of 20 parts nitrated wood cellulose, 60 parts saltpeter, 12 parts charcoal, and 8 parts sulphur, and is claimed to have the advantages of both black and smokeless powder, to have a high initial velocity and a comparatively low gas pressure. A somelow charcoal burned below 444° C., 5 parts coal, 10 parts corn starch. 1 Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., XV, 1. (1893). 2 G. M. Peters, U. S. Pat. No. 617,766 of Jan. 17, 1899.

790

THE EXPLOSIVES

T, T . J ,

INDUSTRY

what .similar powder is made by the duPont company under the name of "Lesmok". 1 In the early seventies the United States Navy carried on experiments on the manufacture and use of guncotton as well as nitroglycerine at the Torpedo Station at Newport, R. I., under Walter N. Hill, the chemist in charge of this work. In his . Notes on Certain Explosive

M i l t o n r . L i n d s l e y became associated with T h e King Powder Comp a n y in 1 8 9 6 . After

Agents, published in 1875, he expressed confidence in these explosives, when properly purified,

.

,

,

,

.

,

I Z T ^ l ItmUlT)

and

Ped one o f t h e a c t i v e men induce the Navy in 1882 to build in t h e e x p l o s i v e s in- an experimental nitroglycerine dustry. plant, which was enlarged and converted into a guncotton plant the following year. In his work on nitroglycerine, Hill had exchanged information with George M. Mowbray, who was making nitroglycerine at North Adams for use in the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel. Mowbray probably got much of his first information about nitrocellulose from Hill, and this was very useful to him when he became in 1881 the technical manager of the American Zylonite Company. L . L . Brown, a business man of North Adams, noticing the success of the Celluloid Company, acquired from Daniel Spill & Co. in England, the right to exploit their American patents for zylonite, which was practically the same as celluloid. A factory was built at North Adams in 1881-2 and his

work

no

doubt

hel

2

i In the early nineties "Brackett's Sporting Powder," which closely resembled American Wood Powder, also had a limited distribution and vogue in New England. 2 The year Hill left Newport.

W O R K O F G E O R G E M . M O W B R A Y 791 here Mowbray, with his assistants John Edson and Robert C. Schiipphaus, introduced many improvements in the process and took out a number of patents on the nitration of paper and cotton, among them being one for a machine for continuous nitration. As a result of litigation with the Celluloid Company in which Spill's patents were declared invalid and the Hyatt patents infringed by the Zylonite Co., the latter was absorbed by the Celluloid Company in 1890. Mowbray's connection with the Celluloid industry is important because it suggested to him the possibility of using similar plastics of nitrocellulose in firearms. His first work along this line seems to have been done about 1886, for in that year he had guncotton solutions in his laboratory from which he proposed to make a smokeless powder. He also attempted to produce rifle powders by soaking fluffy guncotton and disks of nitrated fabric in nitroglycerine. In the following year, Sir Hiram Maxim of the Maxim-Nordenfeldt Arms Company of England, got into communication with him and a contract was entered into whereby Mowbray would turn over to Maxim all patents for smokeless powder that might result from this work. In 1888 progress had been made and firing tests were carried on at Springfield, Massachusetts, under Colonel Reppington, U.S.A. It is quite probable that Mowbray's suggestions may have been the germ for Maxim's patent (Brit. 4477, 1889) for a smokeless powder consisting of 10-16% nitroglycerine, guncotton and castor oil. The suggestion to adopt castor oil was undoubtedly due to him, for castor oil was frequently incorporated in zylonite as well as in the collodium flexile of the Pharmacopoeia to make them more flexible. But Mowbray at this time was over 75 years old and in bad health, so that he had to give up

792

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY further work on smokeless powder. The chemist in charge of nitrocellulose manufacture at the Zylonite Works from 1884 to 1888 w a s D r . R o b e r t C. Schiipphaus (b. 1861), a graduate of the University of Gottingen. When he left North Adams, he established a laboratory in B r o o k l y n , where he took up smokeless powder experiments on his Q w n a c c 0 unt. He found

Robert C. Schiipphaus was one of Mowbray s chemists and later . . . one of the patentees of the m u l t i - ^ a t

» ,

urea was a useful perforated smokeless c a n n o n ingredient to counteract powder. the incipient decomposition of nitrocellulose and introduced its use in celluloid. With W. B. Houghton he submitted his first samples of smokeless powder to the War Department in 1890, gradually improving them until a sample tested in 1891 brought forth the comment from the Chief of Ordnance that it was "inferior to none, superior to the great majority" of powders tested. In the next year, a similar powder was tested at Sandy Hook in the 8-inch seacoast rifle with promising results and in 1893 Schiipphaus became associated with Hudson Maxim, which led to the development of Maxim-Schiipphaus powder and the multi-perforated grain. One of the workers in Schiipphaus's laboratory was Francis Barden who, with his brother-in-law Mason E. Leonard, had previously been in Mowbray's em-

HUDSON MAXIM

Hudson Maxim, besides his work on progressive burning smokeless powder (perforated grain), has contributed much to the knowledge of high explosives by his daring and versatile work and writings.

793

ploy. These two men absorbed quite a little knowledge of smokeless powder and later organized the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company. H u d s o n Maxim,1 a brother of Hiram's, while on a trip to England, in 1888, obtained from a F r e n c h artilleryman in the employ of his brother a few grains of the French smokeless p o w d e r , the composition of which was being kept s e c r e t . He f o u n (

j

t h a t

,,

,

¡t

w a s

.,

g

. ,

nitrocellulose and brought a few of the grains with him when he returned to America. Needing a propellant that would give lower pressures than black powder in his experiments on dynamite bursting

i Hudson Maxim was born at Orneville, Maine, on February 3, 1858. Educated at the Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, Maine, he first entered the publishing business at Pittsfleld, Mass. In 1888 he became the American agent of the Maxim-Nordenfeldt Guns & Ammunition Company, Limited, which was introducing the machine gun invented by his oldest brother, Hiram Stevens (late Sir Hiram) Maxim (1840-1916). Besides his activities in the explosives line mentioned in this and the Military Explosives sections, he invented "motorite", a compound of nitroglycerine and guncotton for use as a superheater fuse in automotive torpedoes, a safety delay-action fuze, a torpedo-proof ship, and a magnetic submarine mine. Daring the World War he was chairman of the Committee on Ordnance and Explosives of the Naval Consulting Board, which examined thousands of inventions submitted to the Navy by inventors throughout the country. He died May 6, 1927. His writings have appeared in numerous magazines and he is the author of The Science of Poetry and the Philotophy of Language, Defenteleit America, Dynamite Stories. Clifton Johnson has recently published (1924, Doubleday, Page & Co.) a biography, which is really an autobiography, as it is based on the author's talk with Maxim.

794

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

charges for projectiles, he took u p experimental work along this line and also formed the Maxim Powder & Torpedo Company (1890) which built a small plant at Maxim, near Farmingdale, New Jersey (1894). The first samples made were largely modifications of the British Maxim powder which contained castor oil, but his association with Schiipphaus in 1893 led to a different type consisting of 9% nitroglycerine, 1% urea, the balance being a mixture of 92% guncotton and 8% soluble pyroxylin. This powder was made by rolling, in much the same manner as celluloid, acetone being used as an assisting solvent. The plant never produced more than samples, but it is important as the birthplace of the multi-perforated grain. I n 1896 the patents were sold to the duPont company and the land and buildings to the Dittmar Powder Co., which had a dynamite plant on adjoining land. The smokeless equipment remained idle until the Spanish W a r when the Dittmar Powder Company offered it to the W a r Department and was given a contract for smokeless powder. W i t h Professor Munroe as consulting chemist, an attempt was now made to produce a double base powder. But when C. F . Burnside, 1 the managing chemist and a pupil of Munroe's, had suc1 Charles Fremont Burnside was born at Pataskala, Ohio, on April 11, 1868. After spending a year at Ohio State University, he was successively a druggist, an official court reporter, the contractor of the Oregon Short Line, in the lumber and brick business, a prospector, court reporter and clerk in the Department of Justice. In 1894 he entered Corcoran Scientific School at Washington, D. C., to study mining engineering and chemistry and was graduated in 1898. Having paid particular attention to the chemistry of explosives under Professor Munroe, he became managing chemist for the Dittmar Powder Company's smokeless operations. In 1899 he joined the International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite Co. at Parlin, New Jersey, as assistant superintendent, becoming superintendent in 1904. In 1906 he was made superintendent at Santa Cruz and in 1907, when the plant was closed down, superintendent at Haskell. The following year he was transferred to the Smokeless Powder Operating Department of the duPont company, of which he was made director in 1916. As such he had a large share in the successful prosecution of the company's war work. He retired in 1919.

A D E C A D E OF D E V E L O P M E N T S

795

ceeded in overcoming the I m a n u f a c t u r i n g difficulties, the Army abandoned t h i s t y p e in f a v o r of s t r a i g h t nitrocellulose powder. A small contract for this was secured; but before any powder could be made with the primitive equipment on hand, the Dittmar Powder Company (in 1899) sold out to the Eastern Dynamite Company, whereupon the smokeless p o w d e r and guncotton plant was dis- C h a r l e s Fremont Burnside dismantled >ng the World War successfully adapted nitrocellulose powders Starting in 1890, smoke- t o c a n n o n w h i c h h a d b e e n de_ less powder development signed for nitroglycerine powin the United States took ders - All questions of ballistics on a more rapid Stride. w h i c h " ^ between the duPont r . , company and the Allied GovernIhis year saw the organ- m e n t s w e r e r e f e r r e d to him for ization of the A n g l o decision. American E. C. Powder Company with its plant at Oakland, New Jersey, and the beginnings of Navy smokeless powder under Professor Munroe at Newport, Rhode Island, which in turn resulted in the building of the larger Navy plant at Indian Head, Maryland, in 1898. In 1891 the duPont company built its guncotton plant at Carney's Point, New Jersey, where, in 1893, the manufacture of duPont smokeless shotgun powder was started. In 1893, also, after some years of experiments, the rifle powders made by the California Powder Works at Santa Cruz, California, and by the Leonard Smokeless Powder Com-

796

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

pany at Baychester, New York, were found to be of sufficient merit to procure contracts from the Army. Manufacture was started by the former the next year, closely followed by the duPont company with a similar powder. The Leonard company, however, encountered considerable difficulties, and it was not until its successor, the American Smokeless Powder Company, had erected a new plant at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, in 1894, that deliveries on their contract began. About two years later the three companies mentioned in connection with rifle powders also started to make a double base cannon powder for the Army. In the meantime, the Navy had been carrying on its work with a straight nitrocellulose powder and in 1897 it invited the private manufacturers to undertake the production of this powder on a commercial scale. The California Powder Works and the duPont company responded at once and made their first deliveries in 1898. The American Smokeless Powder Company had been taken over by the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, which erected a new plant at a place now called Haskell, New Jersey, a short distance from the old American plant which had been destroyed in 1898. Soon after this, production of Navy powder was also started at Haskell. In 1898 the International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite Company was formed to manufacture, at first, Dr. Volney's powder and, beginning in 1900, Navy smokeless. The histories of these plants and companies and of the men connected with them will be given in later chapters. In spite of this progress, the American smokeless powder industry had not developed sufficiently up to the time of the Spanish War to supply the ships of the Navy with smokeless cannon powder, although

M I L I T A R Y SMOKELESS P O W D E R 797 the army had fair stocks of smokeless rifle powder. Only one ship, the "New Orleans," had such a powder, but it was cordite of foreign manufacture. The freedom from smoke and the accuracy of fire of this ship were so remarkable that after the war existing contracts for brown prismatic powder were changed to provide for smokeless powder, and steps were taken to increase its supply as rapidly as possible. Smokeless powder history from 1900 to the beginning of the World W a r is largely a record of improvements in manufacturing processes and of the consolidation of the different companies with the duPont company, with the result that when the belligerents in the World W a r came to the United States to purchase additional supplies of smokeless powder, they found the American manufacturers ready to furnish a uniform and satisfactory product. During this period one new plant was built by the Army, and two (Oakland and Santa Cruz) were abandoned. The other plants had been enlarged so that in 1914 the total capacity of the country for cannon powder was in the neighborhood of 40,000 pounds a day. The World W a r brought an enormous expansion of the industry. A t the time of the armistice, the capacity of all the plants then existing or under construction amounted to nearly one hundred times the prewar capacity. This enormous increase was made possible partly through the introduction of labor and timesaving methods and appliances developed by wartime necessity.

CHAPTER III. T H E A M E R I C A N E. C. & S C H U L T Z E P O W D E R COMPANY

U

P to 1890 very little powder of the nitrocellulose type was made or used in the United States, although Dittmar and later the American Wood Powder Company had manufactured some Schultze powder, and a little powder of European manufacture had been imported, such as the product of the E. C. Powder Company, Ltd., of England, which Von Lengerke & Detmold of Murray Street, New York, were selling. About 1892, however, the ammunition companies began to load this type of powder regularly (Winchester Arms Co. 1893). The shareholders of the E . C. Powder Company, Limited, of Dartford in Kent, seeing the large potential market in the United States, sent one of their number, Captain Albert William Money (1840-1922), to investigate. Captain Money was one of the best game shots in England and a distinguished army officer who had been through the East Indian Mutiny and the Red River Campaign. H e had no business experience, but had taken an interest in smokeless powder from the start. As a result of his favorable report, the Anglo-American E. C. Gunpowder Company, Limited, was formed and financed in 1890 by him and other shareholders in the English concern. Several of their men were sent over to start and operate the plant in the United States. Captain Money became business manager of the new concern; his son, Noel E. Money,1 i Noel E. Money, born 1867, is now living in Canada. He rose to the rank of Brigadier-General, B.E.F., during the World War and received the D.S.O. and C.M.G.

E. C. P O W D E R

799

secretary (until 1898, when he was succeeded by E d w a r d Banks); G. J. Henry, works superintendent; and Theodore Baker, chemist. Building was started in t h e s a m e year at Oakland, New Jersey, and opera- Captain Albert William Money of England tions began in (foreground) introduced the manufacture of the Summer of C- shotgun powder in America in 1890. the following year. The company made its own nitrocellulose, buying at first ready mixed acid, later fortifying acid, and returning the excess spent acid to the acid works at Passaic. The nitrocellulose used in the original E . C. powder was a mixture of the soluble and insoluble varieties. At the time Oakland started, a single grade of nitrocotton of 11.5% to 11.8% nitrogen was in use. E . C. powder further contained from 38% to 40% nitrates (about 1/10 potassium and 9/10 barium nitrate), and small amounts of starch and paraffine oil. The grains were hardened with a mixture of ether, alcohol, and gasoline, and colored with aurine. Later alcohol with a trace of camphor was used as a hardening agent, and a partial solvent recovery was practised by direct distillation from cans revolving in hot water. The nitrocellulose content was later increased and the nitrate content decreased.

800

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

At present the moist ingredients are mixed in a wheel mill, rubbed through a perforated metal screen, and placed in granulating pans where the pellets are formed as the particles roll over one another. These pans look like large saucers revolving on a central shaft placed at an angle with the horizontal. The pellets are next sieved and placed in drums revolving in a bath of hot water. Here the solvent, consisting of denatured alcohol with a small amount of acetone, is added; this process hardens the grains as the solvent is driven off by the heat of the bath and recovered by condensation. The hardened grains are sieved again and dried. When dry, the powder is blended, sieved again, and placed in tin-lined bins to "age," after which it is blended again, tested in proof guns, and packed. The first E . C. powder made at Oakland weighed 42 grains per three dram load. This was followed by a Schultze powder which differed very little from it, weighing also 42 grains. New E . C. and New Schultze, which were developed later, weighed 36 grains per three drams. In addition, a blank fire powder was made for saluting purposes, and a .22 caliber rifle powder. "Marksman" rifle powder for mid-range shooting was a later development and was quite successful. In 1904 the manufacture of New E . C. and the 42 grain Schultze powder was discontinued, and a 42 grain powder known as "New E . C. Improved", and the New Schultze 36 grain powder became the regular product. The powder was sold through Von Lengerke & Detmold of New York, the former agents of the English company.1 In 1895 Theodore Baker resigned to go to the duPont company, and C. R . Borland was sent over i The sale of E. C. & Schultze was discontinued about 1903 or 1904.

SCHULTZE POWDER

801

from England to take his place. About 1897 the Schultze Powder Company, Ltd., of Hampshire, decided to establish an American branch and joined with the Anglo-American E. C. Gunpowder Co. under the name of American E. C. & Schultze Gunpowder Company, Ltd., to manufacture Schultze powder at Oakland. Henry Hawkins was sent over from England to start the work, and he soon became superintendent of the whole plant, succeeding G. J. Henry, who resigned at this time. At the same time another son of Captain Money, Harold Bloomfield Money (b. 1877), became assistant chemist. During 1899 the Barwick Works of England put up a small experimental plant on the same property and sent a Mr. Wilcox over to conduct experiments with Rifleite shotgun and rifle powders. Considerable work was done ón mixtures containing nitroglycerine, nitronaphthalene, nitroxylene, etc., but the results were not entirely satisfactory, and the work was abandoned in the summer of 1901 when Wilcox returned to England. In the late fall of 1903, the duPont company leased the property of the American E. C. & Schultze Gunpowder Co., Ltd., for 99 years, at an annual rental of £3750 with the option of purchase. In the following spring the lease was assigned to the Laflin & Rand Powder Co. Hawkins, the superintendent, and Borland, the chemist, immediately resigned, which left the work of operating the plant to the business manager, A. W. Money, and Bernhart Troxler (born February 3, 1884, in Switzerland), who had been a general assistant in the laboratory and plant since 1900. The Laflin & Rand Company transferred A. F. Porter from their Haskell plant as chemist and assistant superintendent. Hawkins returned to Eng-

802

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

land and Borland joined the American Powder Mills where he started the manufacture of Deadshot1 powder, a shotgun powder similar to E. C. In 1905 A. F . Porter was transferred to the duPont plant at Carney's Point where other smokeless powders were being manufactured, and Bernhart Troxler was appointed chemist and assistant superintendent in his place. The duPont company operated the plant until late in the fall of 1909, when the powder equipment was transferred to Carney's Point in order to lessen the cost of manufacture. Both E. C. and Schultze powders were made there until 1923 when the manufacture of E. C. was taken over by the Kenvil plant of the Hercules Powder Company, who had acquired title to this brand in 1912 through the court decision dissolving the old duPont company. During 1910 what remained of the Oakland plant was used for experiments in solvent recovery in the making of artificial leather. On completion of this work, the property was sold. The plant suffered from a number of fires. One in 1895 destroyed the sieve house and in 1899 one of the dry houses was burned with the loss of two men. This fire was said to have been due to the carelessness of the operators, who had been seen to smoke in an outhouse shortly before the fire. It was assumed that they carried loose matches in their pockets which dropped out and were ignited by being stepped on. On September 12, 1901, a laboratory magazine into which samples of powder of various makes were being placed, was destroyed. The fire communicated to an adjacent powder blending house with the result that ten lives were lost. As an evidence that E. C. powder will burn withi Deadshot was also the brand of the black sporting powder made by

FLOATING MAGAZINE FIRE

803

out explosion, the Scientific American of September 1, 1900, cites the case of a floating magazine owned by Von Lengerke & Detmold, the agents of the American E. C. Powder Company, in New York harbor, which was struck by lightning on August 12, 1900. The cabin burst into flames which soon communicated to the hold. The captain, Jensen, brought his wife ashore in a rowboat and returned to put out the fire. The magazine contained fifty cases of E. C. powder each holding ten cans of five pounds each. The cans burst open, but the powder burned without explosion, although the violence of the fire was such that not a single one of the cases was untouched and even the solder was melted. The fire was put out before it could do more than scorch the outside of some kegs of black powder that were stored in another part of the hold. the Massachusetts Powder Works before the Civil War. See p. 271.

C H A P T E R IV. SMOKELESS POWDER IN T H E U N I T E D STATES NAVY H E first effort to produce a smokeless cannon powder in America was due to the United States Navy. The Navy had at Newport, Rhode Island, a Torpedo Station for assembling and testing torpedoes and for instructing the Torpedo Corps. In connection with this there was a chemical laboratory, established soon after the Civil War, in which experimental work on new powders and charges for torpedoes was carried on under the direction of able chemists. The first chemist was Walter N. Hill, 1 and part of his duty was to lecture to the Naval officers sent to Newport for instruction. In 1875 he published a pamphlet based on his lecture notes and entitled Notes on Certain Explosive Agents. H e was very much interested in nitroglycerine and guncotton, and in the pamphlet he describes the methods used at his laboratory for the preparation of these explosives. For nitroglycerine he used Mowbray's procedure, with whom he evidently had close relations, and for guncotton a method of his own which differed in certain details from that of Abel. To quote his own words: "Guncotton has been known for a long time, and many attempts have been made to manufacture and use it, but until recently without success. Accidents which could only be referred to spontaneous decomposition, cast doubt upon its safety and permanency. The trouble lay in the imperfect purification of the guncotton. By the method of Abel, a very perfect i For his picture and further history see pp. 570-571.

W O B K O F W A L T E R N. H I L L

805

washing is obtained, and in addition, the material is prepared in a form convenient to use, and yet perfectly safe. "The essential features of Abel's process are the reduction of the wet guncotton to a fine pulp, which can be easily washed, and the compression of this pulp into convenient shapes. This product evidently cannot be used for certain purposes for which the fibre is required, such as in gunnery. This is not of importance, as guncotton is no longer so applied. For other applications, such as blasting, demolitions, torpedoes, etc., the pulped and compressed guncotton is an admirable agent, and is the only form of this explosive now used to any extent. "The following method of preparing long-stapled guncotton has, however, been employed on the small scale at the Torpedo Station with very good results: "Good raw or carded cotton is used. In either case it is treated with a weak solution of sodium carbonate, which removes a small quantity of resin from the raw cotton, or oil from the carded. The purified cotton is washed and carefully dried. The acids are the strongest nitric acid, especially prepared for the purpose, and sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol). They are mixed in the proportion of three parts by weight of sulphuric acid to one of nitric acid. " A considerable quantity of the acid mixture is placed in a leaden pan, and a little dry cotton immersed in it. When thoroughly saturated, the cotton is lifted with an iron fork and placed upon a perforated iron shelf, which hangs in the pan. As much as possible of the acid is removed from it by pressing. I t is then placed in an earthen jar. A quantity of fresh acid, sufficient to replace that removed in the cotton, is then added to the dipping pan, and a new portion

806

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

of cotton put in. W h e n the earthen j a r is half full of the dipped cotton, fresh acid is poured into it until the cotton is covered, and it is set away in a cool place for 48 hours. The greater part of the conversion takes place during the dipping, but in order that it should be complete, it is necessary that the cotton should remain in contact with the strong acid for a long time. "The guncotton is then taken from the jars and passed between a pair of rolls (covered with rubber, or better, lead), held together by springs, which are supported in a frame over a trough. Almost all the excess acid is thus removed. "The guncotton is next thrown in a tub of water and vigorously stirred about. " I t remains to remove all traces of acid by washing. This is done by passing the guncotton through a clothes wringer a number of times. The clothes wringer is so mounted that the water pressed out is led away, and the squeezed guncotton falls into fresh water. I n this way, a more thorough purification is obtained in a shorter time than by the ordinary method of very long exposure to the action of running water." Hill then describes Abel's method of making guncotton, pulping, and compressing it, and gives some of its properties, including that of being capable of detonation when wet, by a primer of dry guncotton. H e goes on to say: " I t has not been made in this country, but has been largely manufactured in England. The English Government uses large quantities of it in torpedoes and for other military purposes." Hill left the Torpedo Station in 1882 to become superintendent at Repauno, where he was killed on March 29, 1884, in an explosion. 1 i See p. 471.

DR. C H A R L E S E. M U N R O E Hill's work at Newport, however, bore fruit; f o r in t h e s a m e y e a r (1882) an experimental nitroglycerine f a c t o r y was built, which was enlarged and converted into aguncotton plant in 1883. This plant was in intermi t t e n t operation, producing guncotton for torpedoes and s u b m a r i n e mines and for the first smokeless cannon powder made in the United States, until 1893, when the whole plant was de,

, ,

£

.

m l

stroyed by fire. The guncotton plant was rebuilt in 1894, and continued in successful operation until .

.

,

807

Dr. Charles E. Munroe, Chief Explosives Chemist, U. S. Bureau of Mines; and Chairman, Committee on Explosives of the National Research Council, is widely known through his invenMon of "Indnrite," the first American smokeless cannon powder, a n d t h r o u g h his work and writings on the subject of explosives.

1906, when it was shut down and dismantled. In 1886 Professor Charles Edward Munroe2 came

1 Two fatalities occurred at this fire from an explosion of a small can of dry guncotton, which exploded after the fire was well under way and while the fire fighting force was too close to the building. 2 Charles Edward Munroe was born at Cambridge, Mass., on June 24, 1849. He was graduated from Harvard in 1871 and for the next three years was assistant in chemistry there. From 1874 to 1886 he was professor of chetnistry at the U. S. Naval Academy and from 1886 to 1892 chief chemist of the U. S. Naval Torpedo Station. During these years he abstracted and commented on the current literature of explosives for the U. S. Naval Institute (Note$ on the Literature of Explosive!, U. S. Nav. Inst. Proc., 1882-1897). In 1892 he joined the faculty of Columbian (now George Washington) University, of which he is now emeritus professor. He has acted in an advisory capacity to various Government departments (the Census Bureau, Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines, the Civil Service Commission, the American Railway Association, etc.) and was president of the American Chemical Society in 1898-9.

808

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

G e o r g e W . Patterson has been connected with various p a r t s of t h e smokeless powder industry during practically his entire life.

to the Torpedo Station as chemist from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he had been Professor of Chemistry since 1874. Dr. Munroe was a very able chemist and had made a thorough study of explosives, the literature of which he had been abstracting and annotating for a number of years for the Naval Institute. At this time smokeless cannon powder was practically unknown, and the shotgun powrjfle an(J d e r s ( S c h u l t z e , E. C., e

. J

tc.) all contained the U n i t e d S t a t e s N a v y on ex- metallic nitrates and unplosives. gelatinized nitrocellulose. When the first news of a smokeless cannon powder came from Europe (and the news was very meager) Munroe immediately recognized as its basis the gelatinization of nitrocellulose. His first work along this line was done in 1889. George W. Patterson1 became his assistant in this research work on June 1, 1890. Munroe's idea was that the most efficient powder would be one with the highest nitrogen content and the greatest uniformity possible. To obtain a nitrocellulose of this character, he extracted the military guncotton H e is the principal advisor of

i George W. Patterson was born at Worcester, Mass., on March 21, 1868. After graduation from Worcester Polytechnic Institute he was laboratory assistant in that institution for one year and assistant to Dr. Wolcott Gibbs for another year before coming to Newport. In 1899 he was appointed chief chemist of the U. S. Naval Powder Factory and was promoted to the position of Powder Expert in 1909.

MUNROE'S POWDER

80»

manufactured at the Station for torpedoes with methyl alcohol to remove all compounds of low nitration. For manufacture on this basis a small plant was built in the winter of 1890-1. The extracted guncotton, which constituted about 95% of the original mass, was dried and then mixed, first by hand and then in a mechanical mixer, with mononitrobenzol, commercially known as oil of mirbane. The plastic mass was then blocked and extruded through a die in the form of a solid rod or of a tube with a single perforation. On account of its hardness the product was called "Indurite'V The basic idea of this powder was good, but the choice of the solvent was unfortunate, since it was quite poisonous when inhaled, and since its high boiling point made drastic treatment necessary for its removal. The solvent was recovered by boiling the powder in water in closed vessels, but the high temperature of the treatment started decomposition in the body of the powder, and the amount of residual solvent was irregular and could not be controlled. However, some of the powder was of remarkable stability. The varying amounts of residual solvent as well as the fact that the guncotton used was by no means of uniformly high nitration made the powder erratic. Another reason for the unsatisfactory behavior of smokeless powders at this time was due, not to the powders, but to the fact that it was fired in cannon with ignition elements designed for black or brown powder, whereas smokeless powder required a different and stronger primer. Munroe left the Torpedo Station in November 1893 to take the chair of chemistry at Columbian University. While his powder was not adopted for service, he did a vast amount of pioneer work, and the possii U. S. Patent No. 489684, C. E . Munroe.

810

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

bilities shown by his Indurite led to further research and the present Navy powder.1 He was succeeded on February first of the following year by Harry Fletcher Brown,2 who was appointed by Admiral Folger, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, on the recommendation of Professor Cook of Harvard University. He showed that the guncotton that had heretofore been used had not been of uniform nitration. The cause for variations was found in the method of nitration, which was carried out in iron troughs in which the cotton was dipped in the acid. The saturated cotton was then freed from excess acid in hand lever presses and placed in jars to digest. The acid from the presses ran back into the troughs and fresh cotton was dipped in it, without revivifying the acid, until it was all used up. Naturally, the cotton dipped in the last acid, which would become very weak, was of a low degree of nitration and contained a large amount of unnitrated material. The process was changed, by adding strong acid after each dipping so as to produce guncotton of uniform percentage of nitrogen, free from unnitrated cellulose. Ace1 It should also be noted that Munroe's method of removing the solvent by boiling the "green" grains in water was the first water drying process, a modified form of which was later used for practically all the smokeless powder made during the World War, and that the same principle is successfully applied in the alcohol drying process developed by the Hercules Powder Company. 2 Harry Fletcher Brown was born at Natick, Mass., on July 10, 1867, and received his education at Harvard (A.B., 1892, A.M., 1893). He left the Torpedo Station in 1900 to become chief chemist of the International Smokeless Powder and Dynamite Co. (q.v.), where he was made general superintendent in the following year. When this concern was bought by the duPont company he was transferred to the Wilmington office as directing chemist of the smokeless powder department (1904). In 1911 he became director of this department and remained in charge through the World War until 1919, when he was relieved of his departmental duties. He has been a director of the company since 1914, vice-president since 1916, and chairman of the board of the duPont Chemical Company and the Industrial Salvage Company which disposed of the war plants of the duPont company. He also served on a committee appointed by the Secretary of War to make recommendations for the disposition of

HARRY F L E T C H E R BROWN tone, a low-boiling solvent, was substituted for the unsatisfactory nitrobenzol, and barium and potassium nitrates added in imitation of the French "poudre BN", which had in the meantime become known in this country. This powder was not entirely smokeless, due to the presence of metallic salts, and as it was brittle its ballistics were unsatisfactory, although g r e a t e r uniformity had been attained. The French powder, it was found, con• ,

i

,

p

Harry Fletcher Brown became chief chemist of the Newport Torpedo Station in 1893. Besides his technical activities in

sisted not of military trun- .. J

e

811

, ,

j

. .

the smokeless powder business, he became vice-president of the duPont company in charge of all smokeless powder development.

cotton alone, but of a m i x t u r e of guncotton with soluble (in a mixture of two parts of ether and one part of alcohol) nitrocellulose in such proportions as to give an average nitrogen content of 12.75%. The next step then was to use such a mixture and to adopt ether-alcohol as the solvent. The result was a satisfactory duplication of the French powder, but still it was not quite smokeless.1 During this time, Commander George A. Converse was in command of the Station and Lieutenant John Baptiste Bernadou (1858-1908) under him was in di-

the Old Hickory plant and the surplus powder left after the war. - Lieutenant Willoughbv Walke in his "lectures on Explosives", which were prepared for the Army Artillery School largely from Professor Munroe's lecture notes, gives the following as the composition of Navy powder of this period: Insoluble Nitrocellulose (N—18.30±.15%), Soluble Nitrocellulose (N—11.60±.15%), mixed in such proportions as

812

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

rect charge of the smokeless powder work. H. F . Brown was chief and G. W. Patterson assistant c h e m i s t . George Tilley was foreman of the guncotton plant and a man named Blakeley was foreman of the smokeless powder plant. A l t h o u g h Blakeley was not a technical man and had been a sheet metal worker before coming to Newport, he worked hard in supporting Munroe's efforts

Lieutenant John Baptiste

•_ .V

nadou had charge of the smoke-

j

i

.

« i-

Ber-

in the development of his legs p o w d e r { J q i j o f t h e New_ powder. Frederick Kmf- port Torpedo S t a t i o n under fen1 was appointed fore- Commander George A. Converse man succeeding Blakeley2 a n d t h u s h e a n d h i s assistants l a T Y res P ons . ible f ° r in ^ . / j1896, and jhencei first smokeless powder selected « May forth had a great deal to f o r t h e N a v y a b o u t t h e t i m e o f do with the p r a c t i c a 1 the Spanish-American W a r . working out of manufacturing problems. Lieutenant Bernadou, who was a French and Russian scholar and had been Naval attaché at St. Petersburg, had learned of Vieille's "poudre B " (which was a nitrocellulose powder without nitrates) and of the

to give an average nitrogen content of 12.75%—80 parts ; Barium Nitrate 15 parts, Potassium Nitrate 4 parts, Calcium Carbonate 1 part. i Born in 1872 at Ravena, N. Y., and a graduate of Wesleyan University (B.S., 1895, M.S., 1898). z Blakeley had once been poisoned by the oil of mirbane, from which he had apparently recovered. Nevertheless he felt that he had been seriously injured and that his pay was not commensurate with the risks h'e was taking. So he asked for an increase ih pay and statfed that he could not continue at the old wages. The officer in charge of the station, however, believed that Blakeley considered himself indispensable and was using this as a club to get his increase, and discharged him. Blakeley

CONVERSE & BERNADOU

813

work on nitrocellulose or "pyTocollodion" powder which Mendeleef, the famous Russian chemist, had been doing for the Russian Navy and which was just reaching its culmination in large scale trials carried out in 1895-6. Bernadou secured further details from the original Russian publications, from which he obtained the idea that the practice of blending high and low grade nitrocellulose, as in the French powders, was a mistake, and that a nitrocellulose of proper nitrogen content, obtained by a single nitration, would be more uniform and therefore better. Mendeleef's powder was an ether-alcohol colloid of soluble nitrocellulose with 12.44% of nitrogen. Theoretically such a nitrocellulose, when burned in a closed vessel, should burn completely to nitrogen, water, and carbon monoxide, and should give the maximum evolution of gas. Inasmuch as the carbon was burned to the monoxide and not to the dioxide, the heat developed would be somewhat less than with nitrocelluloses of higher nitration (as in the French powder) and considerably less than that of nitroglycerine powders, such as cordite. Bernadou's object, in a d d i t i o n to obtaining the maximum volume of gas, was to secure greater toughness, and the use of ether-alcohol as the solvent had shown the way. Work was immediately undertaken along these lines. A method published by D r . Blomén, a former chemist and superintendent of the Forcite Works, for the manufacture of dynamite cotton was found to give a nitrocellulose with a nitrogen content of approximately 12.44% and complete solubility1. This nitrocellulose, colloided with a mixture of two parts of ether and one part of alcohol, gave a satisfactory powder, and Converse and Bernadou jointly died a few years after leaving the station. i J. Am. Chem. Boe., XVII, 411-419 (1898).

814

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

were granted patents for the process. The winter of 1896-7 marks the abandonment of the use of nitrates in the powder and the definite adoption of a straight nitrocellulose powder, colloided with ether-alcohol without any additions whatsoever, although it contained the inevitable small amounts of ash in the cotton and small amounts of residual volatiles which could not be removed by drying and, in fact, were later found to be desirable rather than otherwise. Later on Brown at Parlin showed that a higher nitrogen content gave better results, and Patterson, under whose directions the water precipitation method for the determination of these volatiles was developed, pointed out that a certain amount of oxygen was necessary for their combustion. To allow for this, the nitrogen content was raised from 12.44% to an average of 12.60% which made it conform to the army specifications. The powder made along these lines was the tough, dense, horny material that had been so much desired. Its manufacture differed considerably from the methods in use to-day, as the following description by H . F . Brown will show: "Purified unspun cotton waste was dipped in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids in earthenware pots. The acid was at atmospheric temperature. The pot was then placed in a bath of hot water and allowed to remain for an hour. A t the end of this time the mass was emptied into a centrifugal wringer, the excess of acid removed as far as possible, and the resulting nitrocellulose thrown into a tank of water, placed on wheels to facilitate the transfer of the contents to the boiling tubs. I n these tubs the nitrocellulose was boiled in a dilute solution of sodium carbonate. I t was then reduced to a fine pulp in a beater, and

NAVY SMOKELESS

815

washed with hot and cold water in a poacher. Samples were taken to ascertain whether the nitrogen, solubility and stability were satisfactory. If so, the material was wrung out and was then ready for use in the manufacture of smokeless powder. A heat test of 15 minutes was considered satisfactory. "The nitrocellulose or 'pyrocellulose', as it was called, containing about 30% water, was placed on trays in a dry house and dried for several days at a moderate temperature until it was air dry. It was then placed in a mixer, and a mixture of ether and alcohol was slowly added. The mixing naturally gave a great deal of trouble. Dehydration with alcohol was unknown, and the colloiding of the nitrocellulose with the solvent took a long time and was much less complete than to-day. The product from the mixer was blocked and pressed out at very low pressure through a flat die in the form of a ribbon in imitation of the French powder. The first powder manufactured was for a one-pounder gun, the next for a 3" field gun. The powder was placed on trays in a dry house and dried at about 40° C. The results were fairly uniform and a great improvement over anything previously obtained." Since the plant of the Torpedo Station had a daily capacity of only 200 to 250 pounds, the Navy Department sought to interest private powder manufacturers in the business and invited their representatives early in 1897 to visit the plant and familiarize themselves with the new powder. Francis G. and Francis I. duPont of the duPont company, Captain Aspinwall and J. R. Pittman of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, and W. C. Peyton of the California Powder Works accepted the invitation; were shown what had been accomplished; and recommended to their re-

816

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

spective companies that they undertake the work. Other companies also manifested interest, as is shown by the bids received by the Navy in 1898 for 1,100,000 pounds of smokeless powder. I n asking for bids, the Navy agreed to furnish the ether and alcohol required for making the powder or the alcohol alone. The bids were as follows:1 Bidder

Quantity ibi.

Giant Powder Company.. 250,000 Dittmar Powder Company 250,000 Lewis Nixon 100,000 Laflin & Rand Powder Co. all all California Powder Works. duPont Powder Company. . all

/—Navy to Supply—* Ether Alcohol and Alcohol only per lb. per lb.

90 80 96 79

c c c c

791/oC

80c 80c 80c

The duPont company at Carney's Point, N. J., and the California Powder Works at Pinole and Santa Cruz, Cal., began the manufacture of Navy powder on a commercial scale in the fall of 1897. The Laflin & Rand Powder Company followed their example in 1899 at Haskell, New Jersey, and in 1900 the International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite Company started a similar plant at Parlin. These companies introduced a number of important improvements into the process which simplified it and produced a better powder. Among the first may be mentioned the dehydration of the nitrocellulose by alcohol in hydraulic presses, instead of drying it in "stoves", and the development of a system for recovering the ether-alcohol solvent, both worked out jointly in 1898 and 1899 by Francis G. duPont and W . G. Peyton. Haskell and Parlin plants also dei Scientific American,

Sup. 1898, p. 19045.

I N D I A N H E A D FACTORY

817

veloped solvent recovery methods of their own in 1902 and 1903. As the facilities at Newport were rather limited, and it was impossible to arrive at accurate costs of manufacture, the navy decided to build a larger plant of its own, so as to have a check on the private companies, and to locate it near its proving ground at Indian Head, Maryland, in order to have the advice of its ballistic experts. A board consisting of Lieutenant Commander Kossuth Niles; H. F. Brown, chemist; Frederick Kniffen, foreman of the powder factory; and Carl Hedberg, engineer, all stationed at the Torpedo Station, was appointed in 1898. On the basis of their plans, Congress was asked to appropriate $95,000 and Bernadou was transferred to Washington to look after this project in the Bureau of Ordnance. G. W. Patterson was sent to Indian Head to act, during the construction of the plant, as expert adviser to Commander A. R. Couden, who was in charge of the proving ground until the early part of 1900, when Lieutenant Joseph Straus succeeded him. Ground was broken on July 1, 1898, when the appropriation became available, but the plant was not ready to operate until the spring of 1900. The original plans were considerably changed and the appropriation was found to be insufficient. In June 1899 Patterson and Kniffen were appointed respectively chief and assistant chemists of the new plant, and a little later Alexander Cruikshank, a Scotchman, was appointed foreman. The latter's duties were those of a works engineer, and the manufacture of powder was entirely in the hands of the chemist, under the general direction of the Naval officers in charge of the Station. Considerable trouble was experienced with the pot nitrating system which was installed originally. Two

818

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

and a half pounds of cotton were dipped in 50 pounds of mixed acid and allowed to digest over night. The fires or fume-offs, which occurred rather frequently, caused considerable loss of material besides being very disagreeable to the workers. Centrifugals for nitrating, which had been found satisfactory in all the other plants, except the California Powder Works where a pot system was in use, were installed the following year and fires in the nitrating process were henceforth a comparatively rare occurrence. The Indian Head plant was self-contained, manufacturing its own ether and nitric acid from the start. In 1906 a contact sulphuric acid plant was installed, which was the first in the United States to use brimstone in place of pyrites for making sulphuric acid for smokeless powder. The original capacity of the plant was 1,000 pounds of powder a day, which was gradually increased until it reached a maximum production of 20,000 pounds in 1917 to 1919. It had a proud record of operating continuously for 22 years without a fatal accident due to the powder hazard. The Newport smokeless powder factory which was confined to smaller calibers and never had an output of more than 250 pounds a day was shut down and dismantled in 1906. All powder testing was transferred to Indian Head as soon as it was built. While the first Navy powder was in the form of strips, the multi-perforated cylinder was adopted in 1898 after the duPont company acquired the MaximSchiipphaus patent. The other powder companies also adopted this form, as a study of the prior art had convinced them that the patent was invalid. Some early powder of the duPont factory and the California Powder Works had nineteen perforations, but soon seven perforations were adopted as the standard.

T E C H N I C A L D E V E L O P M E N T S 819 This particular form of powder led to a violent controversy, which was started by an article in the British Journal Engineering and a letter addressed to President Taft by Sir Hiram Maxim under date of October 10, 1910. The claim was made by him that the frequent explosions of guns on American battleships were due to the multi-perforated form of the powder which both Engineering and Maxim assumed to be composed of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose. The records of the Army and Navy completely refuted his charges, showing that accidents had neither been frequent nor were they due to the service powder, i.e., the multi-perforated nitrocellulose powder.1 The question of stability, however, caused serious concern to the experts of the Government and the powder companies. Some of the early lots, made when purification was not so well understood, showed signs of decomposition, and quantities of powder were ordered destroyed so as not to endanger the magazines of battleships. On the other hand, large amounts of good powder were destroyed on the strength of tests made on shipboard by gunners who had no chemical training. This led to the demand for an anti-acid or stabilizer, or at least an indicator of stability. Beginning in 1907, on Patterson's suggestion, basic rosaniline in very small amounts was added to the powder, which colored it a bright pink. Rosaniline is not a stabilizer, but when decomposition starts, the oxides of nitrogen react with it and destroy the color. Unfortui Por a complete account of the controversy, see a pamphlet published by the duPont company, entitled "Multi-perforated Nitrocellulose Powder", in which may be found the original article in "Engineering", Sir Hiram's letter to President Taft, and the replies and comments by the Chiefs of Ordnance of the Army and Navy, as well as a reply to Sir Hiram's charges, published by his brother Hudson Maxim in the Scientific American of January 21, 1911. The Proceedings of the Naval Institute contain the report of the first Army and Navy board appointed to investigate the question.

820

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

nately, rosaniline is a very sensitive and fugitive color and is bleached out by a number of causes other than oxides of nitrogen, so that the color often disappeared before manufacture of the powder had been completed. The troubles experienced with rosaniline served, however, to call attention to many points in the purification and manufacturing processes hitherto overlooked, and were consequently valuable in perfecting production methods. In 1908 Dr. Charles L. Reese and H. F. Brown of the duPont company made a tour of the Nobel plants in England and in Germany, and Brown thoroughly investigated the data given by the Germans on the stabilizer they had adopted after several years of research. On their return to the United States, the duPont company recommended to the Government the use of diphenylamine in military powders. This recommendation was adopted the same year, and since that time all military powders have contained a small amount of this substance. Formerly powders without a stabilizer had an average life of not over nine years, but diphenylamine powders, if properly stored, have a life of at least fifteen and probably twenty years. In order to save as much as possible of the powder which had begun to decompose and had been declared unfit for service, the duPont company suggested, on the basis of some experiments made at Carney's Point, that the old powder be reworked by crushing the grains and grinding them under water in heavy black powder wheel mills. The ground powder was then given a purification treatment similar to that given to nitrocellulose, and worked up in the same way as powder made with fresh pyro. The problem of dehydrating this ground powder was solved at Indian Head, and a reworking plant was

ARMY A N D NAVY BOARDS

821

installed there in 1907. Reworked powder has a slightly lower nitrogen content than new powder, as some of the nitrogen is lost in purification. Furthermore it is opaque, where new, air dried powder is translucent. G. W . Patterson, shortly before the adoption of a stabilizer, proposed a surveillance test which consisted in exposing several ounces of the powder in a sealed glass bottle to a temperature of 150° F . until the appearance of brown fumes. This test was adopted by the Navy and gives a good indication of the probable life of the powder. H e also developed a small automatically regulated oven for carrying out this test on shipboard.1 The Army and Navy had been going somewhat different ways in smokeless powder development, although both were using powder of the same type. In 1910 action in this regard was unified by the appointment of a joint Army and Navy Board which established joint uniform specifications. During the World War it was planned to enlarge the Indian Head plant to a capacity of 100,000 pounds a day. A considerable part of the work of construction and installation of machinery had been done, when the armistice put a stop to the completion of the project. i A large number of men who later held important positions with private powder companies or other government departments received their first training in smokeless powder in the laboratories and plants at Newport and Indian Head. Among them were: Newport—H. F. Brown, G. W. Patterson, Frederick Kniffen, W. F. Fullam, Geo. W. Albro, W. W. Farnum. Indian Head—C. G. Storm, A. S. O'Neill, Hugo Schlatter, George Rocker, J. H. Hunter, W. B. Angle.

C H A P T E R V. SMOKELESS POWDER IN T H E U N I T E D STATES ARMY

P

R I O R to 1907, the Army did not have a manufacturing plant like the Navy where experiments looking toward the development of smokeless powder could be carried on. Various Secretaries of W a r had urged the establishment of a National Powder Factory under the supervision of a joint army and navy board or under that of the U. S. Ordnance D e p a r t m e n t . In 1837 President Van Buren had included such a recommendation in his annual message to Congress "to enable ordnance corps to control prices, regulate quality, and secure uniformity"; but nothing came of these attempts, although other activities of the Department were provided for. This lack restricted the W a r Department, in its search for a smokeless powder, to the testing of powders submitted by the powder companies and private individuals. The discovery of guncotton by Schoenbein became quickly known in Army circles, and in the fall of 1846 Captain Alfred Mordecai (1804-1887) began to test it at the Washington Arsenal, which was located on the present site of the W a r College at the junction of the two branches of the Potomac. Mordecai made the guncotton for these tests himself according to Schoenbein's formula and obtained a yield of 150%. On firing 60 grains of his material, he observed a mean velocity of 1670 f.s., in 17 rounds whereas an average of 48 rounds fired with 120 grains of "good musket powder" gave a velocity of only 1600 f.s. Firing tests in the 24-pounder gun gave similar

MORDECAI TESTS GUNCOTTON

823

results, two pounds of guncotton giving about the same velocity (1422 f.s.) as four pounds of gunpowder (1427 f.s.). But on firing double charges of guncotton, or single charges with two balls in the musket, (mistakes that could easily occur with the old muzzle-loaders), the barrel burst or at least swelled dangerously. As a shell charge, 2 ounces of guncotton burst a 32-pounder shell into many fragments. George Talcott, Lieutenant-Colonel of Ordnance, in the annual report of the Ordnance Office to the Secretary of War, dated November 10, 1847, says: "Guncotton, the k n o w l e d g e of which had just reached this country at the date of my last report, has been submitted to experiments to test its fitness as a substitute for gunpowder. The limited trials made have not shown it well adapted to use in fire-arms. Its explosive force, or bursting effect, is far greater than that of gunpowder; its nature, in this respect, assimilating more to that of fulminates, a property which seems well suited to mining purposes." In 1877 another report was made on guncotton, in which Lenk's and Abel's processes and trials of it as a bursting charge are described, with the conclusion that it can be safely used and is far more effective than gunpowder for shells and rocket heads, but it is not suitable as a propellant. About ten years later reports began to come from Europe of Vieille's invention of a smokeless powder, and Brigadier-General S. V. Benêt, then Chief of Ordnance, writes in his annual report of 1888: "The results obtained in'France with the Lebel rifle seem to point to a radical innovation in the manufacture of powder for small arms." The next year he notes the tendency in Europe to abandon all but smokeless powders; but, he goes on

824

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

to say, "all efforts, official and otherwise, to date, to obtain a smokeless powder have been abortive, and American powder makers and chemists have not yet awakened to the lucrative opportunity presented to them." After some further remarks along this line, he alludes to an interesting bit of powder history as follows : "There is reason to believe, from an application made to an officer of the Department more than ten years ago, that smokeless powder originated, like many other inventions, in America, only to be brought to the attention of the world in foreign countries, although in this instance the person concerned met with encouragement—encouragement of which he did not avail himself." The incident to which General Benêt alludes is not contained in the report, but in a small pamphlet, published privately in 1900,1 and in the files of the War Department. I t appears from the pamphlet that a Captain William Ledyard Ellsworth (b. Nov. 15, 1829, in Hartford, Connecticut) was on the staff of General Cutler at the Battle of Chancellorville May 1-3,1863, where two Union brigades fired into each other by a mistake caused by the heavy smoke of the black powder used. After the battle, according to his own account, Ellsworth told the General that he would produce a chemical smokeless powder. On Nov. 9,1879, he filed his results with the W a r Department, where he claims he found no encouragement, as there was no appropriation available to buy his invention. Consequently he sold his rights to Germany where, according to cable dispatch from London, his powder was used in the manoeuvres of August 1889 near Hanover. i The Invention of Smokelets Gunpowder by Capt. Ledyard Ellsworth, A.D. 1879. Published privately in Washington, D. C., (Gibson Bros., Printers, 1900).

THE ELLSWORTH INCIDENT

825

The correspondence in the files of the Department puts a somewhat different light on the matter. The records show that Captain Ellsworth volunteered in February 1863 and was honorably mustered out in August of the same year. His brigade does not seem to have been in the battle of Chancellorville, but was in that of Gettysburg a little later (July 1-3, 1863). Under date of November 8, 1879, Ellsworth wrote to the Secretary of War from Philadelphia, where he was then engaged in the railway and steamer supply business, that he had invented a "substitute for gunpowder, which he called the 'silent explosive' from the fact that it was noiseless in opperation, with all the force of gunpowder, safer in manufacture, as well as cheaper, etc." He desired "the Department's oppinion as to its value as an agent of war, on its noiseless claim or silence in opperation in the field and during an engagement, etc." He claimed that two pounds were equal to three pounds of ordinary gunpowder. George W. McCray, then Secretary of War, replied, offering to have a trial made, if Ellsworth would send a sample, with directions how to use it, to Colonel S. Crispin of the Ordnance Board at New York. The correspondence between Ellsworth and the Ordnance Board during the next ten years did not lead to any results, as the former feared to send any of his material or disclose its nature, "the patent not being perfected", and the Board was unable to indicate charges without some knowledge of its composition. Nothing further was done at any rate until 1889 when the newspapers began to mention Ellsworth's invention and the proposed sale of his formula to Germany. Such an article appearing in the London (Ontario) Free Press of November 27,1889,1 brought i "The New Powder"—Captain Ledyard Ellsworth, of Hartford,Conn.,

826

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

forth a spirited letter of protest addressed to the Secretary of War by an American lady in Canada.1 is the inventor of the smokeless and noiseless gunpowder of which much has recently been printed. He has sold to the German Government the exclusive rights f o r all countries with the exception of the United States, Mexico, and Central America. For these rights Germany pays $500,000, and is to pay $10,000 per year in semi-annual payments for ninety-nine years. The German Government received the full formula f o r the manuf a c t u r e of the powder, with drawings of machinery, etc. There is a proviso in the contract that Germany should have before November X, 1889, the option of purchasing the remaining right, that is for the United States, Mexico, and Central America, for a like sum, $500,000 down and $10,000 a year for ninety-nine years. Although Captain Ellsworth has not received notice of the acceptance of the option, claim is made for Germany t h a t such notice was served by mail; if this holds Capt. Ellsworth says he is foreclosed from selling the invention to the United States. The inventor has been at work since 1879 in developing his explosive, which he claims is effective and at the same time smokeless and noiseless. He claims that it is equally good for small arms, artillery and heavy guns. The United States ordnance officers do not accept Ellsworth's invention at the value he puts upon it.—Editorial Column of London, Ontario, Free Press, November 27, 1889. i Honored Sir:—Pardon a stranger, and a lady, for addressing you. But, Sir, I am a daughter of the grand old Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and I wish t o be permitted to utter a protest against Captain Ellsworth selling those Rights of his Smokeless and Noiseless Powder to Germany, to the exclusion of the United States of America. Oh, Sir, if you and the Secretary of the Navy comprehend what that means you will use every effort in your power to secure those Rights to the U. S. of America, ere it is too late. Do not let the Inventor be piqued by lack of appreciation, into making the second sale to Germany. I have no interest in the Smokeless Powder, and am unacquainted with Captain Ellsworth, but I have written him, imploring him to save his Country, and not give her away to hateful Bismarck and that aggressive young Emperor. Oh, Sir, this powder is a most terrible engine of war, and no enemy could contend with one using it. And our Country, with a full Treasury, an overflowing Treasury, can pay as much to get it as any other country. The "letter by mail" from Germany is, probably, all a f a r c e ; do not let the rights be parted with! I told Capt. E . in my letter that I would write the W a r Dept. about it, and begged him t o wait a little. I failed to write yesterday being sick in bed. And I am "only a woman" but I implore you to save our Country, and to distinguish this present Administration by so signal a work for America. God save America! Oh, how Monarchies would like to cripple us! How they would like to disband the United S t a t e s ; How they would like to destroy The Republic and have a Kingdom on American soil! All the more since D— Pedro's fall! Oh, Sir, I pray you do all possible to prevent Germany or any other country from depriving America of the free handling of that frightful agent of war, and self defense—The Smokeless Noiseless P o w d e r ! With great respect for you, Sir, and for your high office, I am, Sincerely yours, Mrs. Stephen S. Seavey. London, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 28, 1889.

SAMPLES TESTED

827

Evidently the Department continued to be skeptical, or it did not move quickly enough, for a month later Captain Ellsworth advised it that he would have to withdraw his offer to sell as his interests had been sold to foreign parties. This closed the matter except that Mrs. Ellsworth in the following year inquired of the Department about the alleged sale to Germany. The Department was unable to give her any information beyond the claims made by Ellsworth. 1 Apparently neither he nor his wife ever saw any of the money they had expected. Inquiries made at the German War Department have also failed to bring any corroboration of Ellsworth's story.2 In 1889 it was also reported that the Japanese were in possession of a smokeless powder, and the American minister to Japan, John F . Swift, was accordingly requested to procure a sample. Apparently he was unable to do so, as the Ordnance reports make no further reference to it. The efforts of the War Department brought a measure of success in the following year when a variety of samples of domestic and foreign manufacture were tested. Among them were several varieties of Maxim's and American Wood Powder, samples of duPont. Mayer's, Felixdorf, Smerling, Emmen's Gilbite. Wetteren, Sleeper, Nobel, B N , B N A , St. Marc's and Walsrode powders. Promising results were obtained with the following given in the order of their merit : 1) Maxim's, 2)duPont's, 3) Wetteren. The Maxim powder was in English cartridges brought 1 Ellsworth was still living in 1902, as the copy of the pamphlet from which this account is partly taken bears a dedication dated March 18, 1902, to Henry C. Watts, then president of the International Smokeless Powder and Dynamite Company, with Ellsworth's signature. 2 Private communication from the late Dr. Richard Escales, editor of Z. get. Schiett-Sprengstoffxceten (8/23/24).

828

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

over by Hudson Maxim. They had to be tested as they were, as neither the service nor Winchester primers would ignite them. The powder was in the form of small squares containing 94% guncotton, 5% nitroglycerine and 1 % castor oil, and the charge was 38 grains. Other varieties of the Maxim powder contained equal parts of nitroglycerine and guncotton, with and without the addition of 1% of castor oil. These were in the form of square flakes and of cylinders (termed cordite) 1.64" long and .05" in diameter. I t was found difficult to load the latter. On the other hand, Maxim's powder did not require an ignition charge of black powder, which was necessary for firing the Nobel powder. The powder submitted by duPont, which was of Belgian manufacture ( P . S. duPont) was almost cubical, measuring .055" to .065" on each edge. I t had a pineapple odor and was almost black in color, gave practically no smoke, but some burning grains were ejected from the gun and some unburned grains were found in front of the gun after firing. The results were better than with Wetteren, but not quite so uniform as with Maxim powder, nor were the velocities as high. Walsrode, a well known European powder, for which Schoverling, Daly & Gale of New York were agents, was less satisfactory than either duPont or Maxim. However, in spite of these promising results, General Benêt makes the comment (annual report of 1890) that it cannot be said that these explosives will supersede the present service powders. I n the following year a new variety of Maxim powder containing 74% guncotton, 25% nitroglycerine and 1% castor oil, was tested in comparison with a number of foreign powders. Wetteren, Nobel and

SCHUPPHAUS POWDER

829

Maxim all gave about the same results, whereas an Austrian powder and the French B N powder were less satisfactory, the latter in addition not being entirely smokeless. Another new powder was submitted by W . B. Houghton for D r . Robert C. Schiipphaus, the inventor. These men had offered their first samples in November 1890, but they were not satisfactory. Being made acquainted with the requirements of the Army, they gradually improved their powder, until samples tested in March 1891 brought forth the comment that "they were inferior to none, superior to the great majority". The grains were dark brown cubes, .05" on edge, soft, and gave no smoke, no odor, and barely a trace of fouling on firing. With a 32 grain charge a velocity of 1966.5 f.s. was obtained with an average pressure of 50,585 pounds. The report of the Chief of Ordnance for this year (1891) also contains as an appendix a translation of a description of Nobel's smokeless powder (ballistite) from the Berlin Post of September 30, 1890, which is interesting chiefly because it mentions the use of diphenylamine as a stabilizer, which was not adopted in this country until 1908. A t this time the influence of size and shape of smokeless powders on their performance in different guns was apparently not realized, which seems surprising in view of the fact that Major Mordecai and General Rodman had pointed out as early as 1846 and 1858 that large grains of black powder were better adapted to heavy guns than fine grained powder, and that the Ordnance Department was definitely committed to the policy of special granulations of black and brown powder for different guns. More systematic work, however, was being instituted, for in 1892 it is reported that "the granulation of powders

830

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

is being investigated and that Captain Pitman has been assigned to organize and conduct a chemical laboratory at the Frankford Arsenal." On the other hand, cooperation with the Navy was sadly lacking. The latter had made some progress with the development of a smokeless powder of its own, but the Army seemed unable to procure a sample of this powder for testing. The two branches of the service pursued their separate ways for a number of years more, until an accident1 with the nitroglycerine powder adopted by the Army led them to change to a nitrocellulose powder similar to that of the Navy, and even then the specifications differed slightly until a joint board appointed in 1905 issued joint specifications in 1910. In 1893 samples of Peyton, Leonard, duPont, Axtell, Alters, and U. S. powders were tested in the rifle, besides a variety of powders for foreign manufacture. The Leonard and Peyton powders (see Leonard Smokeless Powder Company and California Powder Works) gave superior results. The Chief of Ordnance reported that the proprietors of these powders were encouraged to proceed with the manufacture in quantities. The duPont powder, which was made in the same manner as their shotgun powder, was reddish brown in color, very small and regular, gave excellent uniformity with a black powder primer, but the pressures were too high and the velocities too low. The powder submitted by F. C. Axtell of New York, who was a celluloid man and later built a celluloid plant in Japan, was like curled hair in appearance. That of Frank C. Alters of New Home, Arkansas, was of the semi-smokeless type; it resembled iron filings and was granulated like a mealed powder. The velocities i See p. 836.

FIRST ARMY SPECIFICATIONS

831

of both Axtell and Alters powders were entirely too low. The P P G powder made by Lieut. Willoughby Walke of the artillery was said to be a mixture of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose which was not guncotton but a specially prepared compound. I t was claimed to contain less nitroglycerine than Leonard powder and gave good results, but Lieut. Walke was never able to duplicate it. The "U. S." powder which was tested at Leonard's request was made by the U. S. Smokeless Powder Company of California and consisted largely of ammonium picrate, being in the form of small cylinders of yellow color. This company continued to submit samples for several years (until 1897), but the powder was found to be dangerous, as it burned slowly only until a certain critical pressure was reached, above which the combustion took on an explosive character. Furthermore, the powder was hygroscopic and friable and on firing gave off a very disagreeable odor. On November 4, 1894, the Army invited bids on 10,000 pounds of smokeless powder for the .30 caliber rifle and issued the first set of specifications in connection therewith. I n view of the uncertainty as to the type of smokeless powder desired, the specifications were general in terms. Neither composition nor charge was specified, only the dimensions of the cartridge case and bullet. A velocity of 1960 f .s. at 53 feet was desired with a mean variation of 20 f.s. in 40 rounds and a maximum pressure of 38,000 lbs. per sq. in. A number of tests were prescribed to determine the influence of atmospheric conditions, moisture, heat, and cold on the performance of the powder. I t was further required that the powder be uniform in quality, free from dust and other foreign matter, and practically smokeless; that it must not corrode the barrel or car-

832

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

tridge case, require an unduly strong primer, or leave a hard adherent residue in the barrel; that it must not be sensitive to friction or shock, or be so friable as to break up in transportation; that it must not contain ingredients known to be unsuited to form a safe and reasonably stable compound, and that it must admit of machine loading with a variation of not over 3/10 of a grain in 50 consecutive loads. It was also stated as desirable that it should not give excessive heating in rapid fire. Preference was to be given to powder of American manufacture, as well as to one not containing nitroglycerine. As both the California Powder Works and the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company had previously submitted promising samples and seemed to be equipped to start manufacture, the contract was divided equally between them. The former delivered its share in good season early in 1894 and was given an additional order for 10,000 pounds; the latter had difficulties in manufacturing and did not complete deliveries until the first of 1895. Numerous other samples of smokeless powder for small arms were submitted during these years; for instance, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, Frankford Arsenal examined 25 varieties. The Giant Powder Company offered samples at Benicia Arsenal which gave promising results, but never passed the experimental stage and in 1897 this company gave up all ideas of going into this business. Albert Smith of New York, H . P . Weidig of New Jersey, Frank Neidl of California, Lawrence, Volney, Maxim and Schiipphaus, Whistler and Aspinwall, the Savage Repeating Arms Co., and others submitted powders with results that were, as the Chief of Ordnance puts it, (Report of 1895) in most cases "useful only to the makers". U p to June 1895 the Peyton powder made

EARLY AMERICAN PRODUCT

833

by the California Powder Works was chiefly used in the service ammunition for the magazine rifle, with some deliveries from the Leonard (or American) Smokeless Powder Company. After that the duPont company also furnished considerable amounts, and about 1898 the W-A powder of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, which had absorbed the American Smokeless Powder Company, became a strong competitor on account of the excellent ballistics obtained, although it produced comparatively high erosion. However, powder of this type (W.A. .30 caliber powder), containing 30% of nitroglycerine, remained the standard service powder for small arms until 1908 when the present straight nitrocellulose (.30 caliber pyrocellulose) powder was adopted under the specifications of April 18, 1908. These specifications not only prescribed the composition of the powder, but gave detailed directions as to methods of manufacture to be used, whereas previous specifications for nitroglycerine powders had left these points to the discretion of the manufacturers and specified only the tests the finished powder had to meet. While progress was thus being made with the procurement of rifle powder, developments with cannon powder were not so satisfactory. In 1894 only one sample of smokeless cannon powder of American origin (Leonard's Ruby powder containing linseed oil) was submitted, as against 25 varieties of small arms powder. Of course, the army was primarily interested in the latter, as it was absolutely necessary for the new magazine rifle; but seacoast and field guns also had to be provided with smokeless powder. The California Powder Works, the duPont company, the Leonard company, and the Maxim Powder & Torpedo Company responded to an invitation to bid on experi-

834

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

mental cannon powders. These were delivered in the course of the next year and were tested in comparison with German powder from Troisdorf and Rottweil. With the exception of the duPont and Troisdorf powders, they all contained nitroglycerine, to which objection had been frequently made by ordnance officers on account of the greater erosion of the gun barrels due to these powders. The Maxim-Schupphaus powder was in the form of perforated cylinders, and the Chief of Ordnance comments (Report of 1895) as follows: "To the makers of this powder is due the credit for reviving in this very successful application this old principle, first enunciated, I believe, by General Rodman." In issuing specifications for smokeless powder for special tests in the 3.2 inch breech-loading field gun in November 1895, it was stated that the types of powder wanted were (1) a powder same as the Peyton powder for cannon recently tested by the Department, (2) one same as the Maxim-Schiipphaus powder for cannon recently tested by the Department, (3) a plain guncotton powder without nitroglycerine, and ( 4 ) a powder having essentially the composition, 75 % low-grade nitrocellulose and 25% nitroglycerine. The comparative tests carried out with these powders (to which one designated as W h i s t l e r - A s p i n w a l l X X had been added) were not conclusive, and in January 1897 a new set of samples was ordered. Besides the Peyton and Whistler-Aspinwall powders, the following compositions were specified: N N (11.0-40) containing nitrocellulose of 11% N and 40% nitroglycerine; N N (12.0-25) containing nitrocellulose of 12% N and 25% nitroglycerine; N N (13.0-10) containing nitrocellulose of 13% N and 10% nitroglycerine; and the best Rottweil pow-

SMOKELESS CANNON POWDER

835

der was ordered from the American Ordnance Co. for comparison. As a result of these trials a seven-perforated cylinder of the formula N N (12.0-25) was adopted as the most suitable smokeless powder for cannon. The contracts for these special powders had left granulation to the manufacturers, only specifying that it must be "suitable to give the best practicable ballistic resulted without unnecessary waste of charge". On the other hand, a heat test with K I starch paper of 20 minutes at 150-154° F . had been included. Before contracts for powder of this composition could be let, the Spanish W a r intervened, during which the army used only brown prismatic powder for its guns. The specifications of September 24, 1898, however, cover powder of this type, and under them the following contracts were given out: duPont, for 8-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 10-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 12-inch gun 100,000 lbs. Laflin & Rand, for 8-inch gun 20,000 lbs., for 10-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 12-inch gun 100,000 lbs. Dittmar P . Co., for 8-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 10-inch gun 25,000 lbs., 12-inch gun 50,000 lbs. W a r Munitions Company, for 8-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 10-inch gun 25,000 lbs., for 12-inch gun 50,000 lbs. Lewis Nixon, for 8-inch gun 7,500 lbs., for 10-inch gun 15,000 lbs., for 12-inch gun 7,500 lbs. I n addition the California Powder Works had a contract for 140,000 lbs. of this powder which they completed in 1899 and then started on another of 300,000 lbs. This powder was made with an acetone solvent, but it was hard and brittle, not flexible like cordite. The ballistic results were irregular, and when in 1899 a 10-inch gun was blown up by this powder at the Sandy Hook Proving Grounds with fatal re-

836

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

suits to the gun crew, its manufacture was discontinued. I n the meantime, the N a v y had developed its straight nitrocellulose powder and private manufacturers were making it according to the Navy's specifications. A f t e r this accident Captain O. B. Mitcham and Lieutenant C. C. Williams (now Chief of Ordnance) were sent to Newport to investigate the merits of the Navy powder. They were favorably impressed with what they saw and with the plants of the private manufacturers and recommended the adoption of a similar powder by the A r m y . The A r m y specifications of December 7, 1899, differ from those of the Navy only in the nitrogen content, which was increased from 12.44 to 12.65±.10 per cent. W i t h increasing knowledge of the character of this powder, the specifications were made more stringent from year to year and definite requirements laid down for the methods of manufacture and for inspection by the Ordnance Department. The Vieille test at 110°C. (later abandoned) was included in 1901, as was also the so-called " G e r m a n " test at 135°C. I n 1902 an explosion test was adopted. I n 1903 a physical compression test came into use and the so-called "Ordnance Department Test" at 115°C. I n 1906 limits of variations in grain dimensions and limits for residual volatiles were prescribed with the adoption of the water-precipitation m e t h o d of determining these volatiles. I n 1909 the Navy's surveillance test at 65.5°C. was adopted, and in 1910 the joint A r m y and Navy Board that had been appointed in 1906 issued its first set of joint specifications for the two branches of the service. A f t e r a short trial with rosaniline as a stabilizer, diphenylamine was adopted for this purpose in 1908 and has remained in use to the

ARMY POWDER FACTORY

837

present time. Present day specifications lay down detailed directions for the methods to be used in manufacture and provide for rigid inspection from raw materials to finished powder. The efforts of the Ordnance Department to obtain a powder factory of its own, which had been renewed from time to time since the early part of the 19th century, were finally crowned with success in 1906 when Congress appropriated $165,000 for this purpose. This amount was sufficient for the construction of a plant of a capacity of 1.000 pounds of powder a day, without counting the cost of the land which the army already owned near Wharton in Northern New Jersey. This had been bought in 1880 and a powder depot was located on the tract. A forge had been in existence at this place as early as 1749, and work for the army had been done here during the Revolution. When the land was bought, the possibility of using it for a powder mill had been considered, and a report made in 1882 suggested the draining of the pond on the property to make room for such a mill, but no further steps were then taken. Major B. W. Dunn1 was detailed to prepare plans for the smokeless powder factory and he started construction in February 1907. In June he was ordered to duty with the American Railway Association in connection with the organization of the Bureau of Explosives, and Major Odus C. Horney 2 succeeded 1 See p. 373 for picture and biography of Major Dunn, and an account of his work. 2 Odus C. Horney, born 1866, on graduation from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, was assigned to the Ordnance Department and was engaged in the design and construction of ordnance until he was appointed Commanding Officer at Picatinny Arsenal in 1907. From 1907 to 1915 he was also a member of the Joint Army and Navy Powder Board. In the latter year he resigned to become Technical Director of the Aetna Explosives Company. He re-entered the army in 1917 and is now Commanding Officer at Frankford Arsenal, where the army's small arms ammunition is manufactured.

838

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

him as commanding officer. Actual manufacture at the rate of 1,000 pounds of cannon powder a day was started in the following year. Differing from other powder plants in this country, the Thompson displacement process of nitration was installed. In 1909 arrangements were made to add the production of 250 pounds of small arms powder and after 1910 * the plant the was gradually increased

Colonel Odus C. Homey was commander of the U. S. Army smokeless p o w d e r factory at

t o

a

capac

Unds

a

jty .

Gf

9,000 » • .i

A t

the

Picatinny Arsenal when pr^uc- P° . tion started in 1908; he took ac- same time an experiment s part in the development of tal plant for the manufacthe factory up to 1915. ture of military high e x .

plosives was erected. When Colonel Homey resigned from the service in 1915 to take charge of the smokeless powder work of the Aetna Explosives Company, Colonel John W. Joyes succeeded him as commanding officer. Originally all testing of smokeless powder was done at Frankford Arsenal, at first under Captain Pittman and then under Lieutenant (later Colonel) Dunn (now Chief of the Bureau of Explosives, American Railway Asso.). The chief chemist was W . J. Williams, F.I.C., F.R.S., an Englishman with previous powder experience, who did valuable work in developing and standardizing testing methods. His assistants were Dr. A. P. Sy (now Dean of Chemistry at the

A R M Y PROVING GROUNDS

839

University of Buffalo), Charles Preston Beistle (now chief chemist of the Bureau of Explosives,1 American Railway Association), and Charles A. Lambert (now superintendent of the Hattiesburg plant of the Hercules Powder Company). In 1903 the testing of cannon powder was transferred to the proving ground at Sandy Hook. Colonel Dunn, Beistle and Lambert were moved to this place, and Dr. W. O. Willcox was engaged as an assistant. At the present time all chemical tests of cannon powders are made at Picatinny Arsenal, all tests on small arms powder at Frankford Arsenal. Cannon powder is tested ballistically at the new proving ground at Aberdeen. Maryland, which was established in 1918. A range for the testing of small arms has also been established there recently. The entry of the United States into the World War brought with it greatly increased demands for smokeless powder, much beyond the capacity of the government or private plants then in existence. The program contemplated the erection of two government-owned plants with a combined capacity of 1,500,000 pounds a day. The duPont company was asked by the War Department to recommend sites for these plants. It sent its engineers over a large part of the country east of the Mississippi River and finally found two suitable locations, one called Old Hickory, near Nashville, Tennessee, on the Cumberland River, and one called Nitro, below Charleston, West Virginia, on the Kanawha River. The contract for the construction and operation of i Charles Preston Beistle, born 1875, was graduated from Princeton in 1898. He was assistant chemist at the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station (1898-1901), Frankford Arsenal (1901-1902), Sandy Hook Proving Ground (1908-1904), chemist at Sandy Hook (1904-1907), of the Bureau of Explosives at South Amboy, N. J., (1907-1917) and (after 1917) chief chemist of the Bureau of Explosives.

840

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

the former was given to the duPont company, which promptly undertook the work through a subsidiary, the duPont Engineering Company. Construction was started in March 1918 and the first powder granulated in September 1918. The plant was built and came into production in units of 100,000 pounds capacity each, all under the direction of E . F . Johnson, engineer and general manager; at the time of the armistice it was producing 500,000 pounds daily. The plant near Charleston was built under the direction of D . C. Jackling of the Ordnance Department. Colonel Arthur Wass, formerly superintendent of the Picatinny plant and later with the Aetna E x plosives Company, was his assistant and chief technical advisor on the explosives work. The duPont company furnished plans for the plant, which were followed in part by the designers, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, architects of Chicago. The work of construction was contracted to the Thompson-Starrett Company, and after this had progressed to some extent, it was decided to ask the Hercules Powder Company to undertake the operation of the plant. This company at once gathered an organization for the purpose, taking the key men from its own plants and training others in its own laboratories and factories. The operating manager, Leavitt N. Bent, was transferred from the San Diego plant and his principal assistants, John S. Shaw and Charles Hoopes, were transferred from the Union plant and the Wilmington office respectively. A t the time of the armistice the plant was 60% completed and was turning out about 175,000 pounds of smokeless powder a day. After the war both plants were dismantled and most of the equipment sold. Many buildings, however, were retained and used for the storage of surplus

W A R F A C T O R I E S D I S M A N T L E D 841 powder.1 Some of the units, such as acid and cotton purification plants, were sold complete and are still in operation for other purposes. The entire village of Old Hickory (near Nashville) and a large part of the land were purchased in 1924 by the duPont Fibersilk Company for the manufacture of artificial silk. 1 On August 10, 1924, a Are s t a r t e d in one of the solvent recovery buildings at Old Hickory in which p a r t of the war reserve of smokeless powder retained by the army was stored. Owing to various mishaps, such as the breaking down of the fire engines, the fire gained rapid headway and destroyed 106 buildings and about 50,000,000 pounds of powder. There were no fatalities, the only man i n j u r e d being the g u a r d who discovered the fire. H e was caught in one of the first blasts of flames about ISO ft. from the burning material and was burned on the neck and forearms. The immense amount of destruction was due to the intensity of heat which ignited material as f a r away as 400 f t .

C H A P T E R VI. CALIFORNIA POWDER WORKS

P

R I O R to 1891, the California Powder Works made only black sporting powder at its Santa Cruz Mills. In that year the shell loading machinery1 of the ill-fated Standard Cartridge Company 2 was purchased through E . S. Rice, who was then the duPont company's agent at Chicago, and installed at Santa Cruz; and this, as well as the fact that smokeless sporting powders were being manufactured in increasing quantities in the East, probably caused the company to push more vigorously the experimental work on smokeless powders which had been started by W . C. Peyton, the assistant superintendent, in 1889. In the fall of 1891, Captain John Bermingham, the president of the company, received a letter from a young German in Denver who claimed to possess the knowledge of making smokeless and noiseless powders. "As the Great Powers of Europe are now gravitating towards the introduction of smokeless powder for both large and small arms", Captain Bermingham suggested that this German, Chris Hasselmeir, be employed for a brief period at a small salary to test 1 The shell loading plant, of which Flickinger (the foreman who came with the machinery) was the first superintendent, was located first at Santa Cruz, but was later moved to Pinole. Eventually, it reached a production of 18,000,000 shotshells a year. Later superintendents were Otto V. Ort (1864-1920), and B. W. Stevens. Ort later had charge of small arms powder production at Carney's Point, and Stevens was superintendent of the T. A. Gillespie Company's shell loading plant at Parlin, New Jersey, during the World War. 2 The Standard Cartridge Co. had been organized by Elliott S. Rice on behalf of the powder companies to make them independent of the existing loading companies in the sale of sporting powder. It had been a failure owing in part to the fact that some of the machinery infringed certain patents owned by the Peters Cartridge Co.

D E V E L O P M E N T WORK

843

him. This was done and experimental work started in earnest. Hasselmeir knew how to make hydrocellulose guncotton and stabilize it by prolonged boiling, but outside of this his knowledge was meager. He had a notebook of formulas which he had obtained as a laboratory boy in Germany, but he was uncertain about the solvent used. His notes called for "Amyl Aether", which undoubtedly meant amyl acetate, but he claimed that that was not what he wanted, but this ether. So some di-amyl ether was made from refined fusel oil and when Hasselmeir got a smell of this, he exclaimed: "Das is it". Following his directions, guncotton was mixed with a small quantity of this liquid, but as di-amyl ether is not a solvent for guncotton, the powder made in this way was not colloided. The result was that when a small quantity of this powder was tested in a .45 caliber Springfield rifle, it cracked the breech. W. C. Peyton, the assistant superintendent, thereafter continued experimental work on smokeless powder along the line of his own ideas, although he was delayed by the lack of suitable testing apparatus, such as pressure gauges.1 i Hasselmeir left Santa Cruz early in 1894 to go to the Giant Powder Company where serious consideration was being given to the question of going into the smokeless powder business.A small experimental guncotton plant was built and Hasselmeir made a dense smokeless shotgun powder which was quite successful as a dense powder; but the trade demanded a bulk powder that would approximate in bulk the ordinary black powder, and Hasselmeir failed in his attempt to make his powder more bulky. Samples that he sent to some of his former friends in Santa Cruz burst two guns and caused the permanent deafness of one of the shooters. "Monarch Smokeless Powder", as it was called, only had a brief career and failed, as the inventor became discouraged when he could not meet the demand of the trade and took blind chances which resulted in such non-uniformity that the loading companies would have no more of it. At the same time he worked on a smokeless powder for the Array rifle of which the ftrst sample was submitted in 1894. This powder was dark-green in color and gave promising results when tested at Benicia Arsenal; indeed, in the following year the Giant Powder Company advised the army authorities of their intention of going ahead with its manufacture for small arms and cannon, and a contract was made with

844

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The work on smokeless powder was at first confined to small arms powder, with the result that early in 1893 samples were sent to Frankford Arsenal for test in the .30 caliber Krag-Jorgensen rifle. This powder was known as Peyton powder, for William C. Peyton,1 who was responsible for its development and method of manufacture. It was a mixture of nitrated hydrocellulose, nitroglycerine and ammonium picrate, and was, for a time, the standard small arms powder of the Army. The materials were mixed together with an acetone solvent and squeezed from a press in the form of a hollow tube, which was then split longitudinally to make a flat strip. This strip was then run between rollers with circumferential grooves of hemi-hexagonal cross section placed close together, the result being a sheet consisting of a number of small hexagonal prisms loosely held together at the edges. These sheets were cut in a guillotine cutter and the small hexagonal prisms separated, after which they were dried and finished (U. S. Pat. No. 544,517, William C. Peyton). The results obtained with this powder in the tests at Frankford were more than satisfactory, and Captain Bermingham recommended that arrangements be made as soon as possible for the manufacture of such a powder on a scale "commensurate with the Hasselmeir for the purpose. But results were slow in coming and the directors became discouraged so that in May 1897 it was decided to abandon further work. Hasselmeir was assigned to other duties on the plant and was later placed on a "Figure 8" mixer which shot on November 13, 1900, killing him and a number of Chinese helpers. i William Charles Peyton was born at Santa Cruz, Cal., on July 25, 1868. Graduated from the University of California in 1887, he became chemist and in 1888 assistant superintendent of the Santa Cruz mills. In 1900 he left the California Powder Works to go into the manufacture of heavy chemicals and ore smelting as president of the Peyton Chemical Company. When this was sold to the General Chemical Company of California in 1910, he came to New York, where he has since been engaged in various enterprises, including a brief connection in 1915-16 with the Aetna Explosives Company.

FIRST ARMY ORDER

845

possible requirements of this and maybe other governments." A guncotton plant was built at Hercules rather than at Santa Cruz on account of the presence of an acid plant at the former. In December 18 9 3 the Chief of Ordnance called for bids on 10,000 p o u n d s of smokeless powder for the .30 caliber rifle. The bid of J ^ L .JPr^ the California Powder Works was $1.25; that of the Leonard Smokeless William Charles Peyton estabPowder Co., 75 or 80c. lished for the California PowThe Chief Of Ordnance, Works one of the first large „, , scale military smokeless factoafter consulting the com- r i e s i n A m e r i c a , and developed panies, divided the con- many improvements in smokeless tract e q u a l l y between powder manufacture, notably them. Early in 1894 tta ¡¡»„""¿»I guncotton plant at Her- dration and a solvent recovery cules a n d t h e powder process, plant at Santa Cruz were ready and the first shipment on this contract was made in March 1894. It was also decided to put this powder on the market for target practice and sporting rifles. The current reports of the president to the trustees of the company speak in glowing terms of this powder and the achievements of W . C. Peyton. Peyton, collaborating with Lieutenant E . B . Babbitt (now a retired General) of the Ordnance Department, also began work on a smokeless shotgun powder. This was soon abandoned when, in the late sum-

846

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

mer of 1893, the duPont company, which owned a considerable block (44%) of stock in the California Powder Works, sent to W . C. Peyton plans, specifications and formulas for making their new (duPont bulk) smokeless shotgun powder. Peyton prepared a small plant at Santa Cruz for making it and also made a trip East to observe its manufacture. About a year later, the experimental work was completed and the shotgun powder manufactured on a commercial scale. I t was found that the nitrocellulose used in the military powders was not adapted to the shotgun powder, and Captain W . R . Quinan developed a suitable soluble cotton for this purpose. The annual report to the stockholders of February 18, 1895, says in this connection: "The new sporting powder manufactured at Santa Cruz is commanding the attention of sportsmen. W e have yet to hear a complaint from its users and anticipate increased sales of this powder which we believe to be superior to any smokeless sporting powder made in this c o u n t r y , e x c e p t i n g that made by Messrs. duPont de Nemours & Co., in Delaware, which is its equal." Regular orders for the military rifle powder, after the first contract for 5,000 pounds, were received from the A r m y ; so in J u n e 1895 the California Powder Works was awarded a contract for 10,000 pounds, the American (formerly Leonard Smokeless Powder) Co. 3,000 pounds, and the duPont company 2,500 pounds. General Flagler, Chief of Ordnance, in his annual report for the year ending June 30, 1895, paid the "Peyton Powder," for the army magazine rifle, a handsome tribute for its excellence and durability. Early in 1896, Santa Cruz made a lot of smokeless powder, of the same type as the small arms pow-

NITROCOTTON A T HERCULES

847

der, for the 3.2-inch Army field gun to be tested in competition with powders offered by other companies, and later in the year a similar powder was made for 6-pounder rifles. Samples of "Peyton" rifle powder were also sent to President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic. In January 1897, W . C. Peyton went East to visit the Naval Torpedo Station and familiarize himself with the manufacture of the straight nitrocellulose powder developed by the Navy, for which the California Powder Works had received an order for 100,000 pounds. At this time the guncotton plant at Hercules had been increased to a capacity of 3,000 pounds a week which was doubled shortly as the Navy order required 1,000 pounds a day. During the summer the Santa Cruz plant was fitted up for Navy powder with the result that in November work on the Navy smokeless ribbon powder had been begun. The plant was unique in that it manufactured its own ether, distillation of which started in September 1897. Some delay in the starting of the Navy powder manufacture was caused by a fire on October 8, 1897, which destroyed the buildings of the cartridge factory, and also by difficulty in procuring a suitable raw cotton and enough strong sulphuric acid. (There was a scarcity of this caused by a rush of dynamite orders and lack of circulation in the chambers.) Other troubles and delays were due to the vagueness of the Navy specifications, as the powder had scarcely progressed beyond the experimental stages, and the fact that the acid mixtures and purification treatment recommended did not give the desired results under the different conditions at the California Powder Works. To Captain Quinan1 is due the credit for solving these prob1

Among Captain Quinan's assistants were bis two cousins, Clarence

848

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

lems and producing commercially the first nitrocellulose of 12.5% nitrogen and 98 to 100% solubility. A s no f u m i n g sulphuric acid was available in those days, the acid consumption was naturally high; but acids, cotton and Chinese labor were cheap so that smokeless powder could be produced at a reasonable cost. Some trouble was experienced with heat tests and this was thought to be due to the large amount of organic matter in the water at Hercules. T o overcome this difficulty, Captain Quinan and J o h n Bermingham, J r . , decided to dose the water with mercuric chloride, "to kill off these impurities", not knowing at the time that this would mask the heat test. W h e n it was realized that this was the only result and that no real improvement of stability was obtained, the practice was abandoned and other methods adopted for obtaining thorough purification. I n carrying on the development of smokeless powder, P e y t o n worked closely with the d u P o n t company through a mutual exchange of information. Francis I . d u P o n t had worked out a method for drying (dehydrating) the guncotton by displacing the water by means of alcohol, which he communicated immediately to P e y t o n who in t u r n combined the operations of displacing and pressing out the excess alcohol and designed a press for the purpose. 1 This method was used in the manufacture of N a v y powder; but for the A r m y powder the guncotton had to be dried in artificially heated "cabinet dryers", a dangerous proceedand Kenneth, who worked in the laboratory as chemist and assistant chemist respectively. The attempt to produce an ashless nitrocellulose resulted in a patent granted to the former, (Clarence Quinan, U . S. Patent No. 597565, 1898), according to which the cellulose was digested with nitric acid, washed with 2-3% nitric acid and dried with heat. A special plant was designed for carrying out this process and for a time hydrocellulose was produced in quantity for the Peyton powder. Clarence later became a physician, while Kenneth went to the D e Beers E x plosives, Limited, in South America. i See p. 880.

ALCOHOL AND E T H E R RECOVERY

849

ing which caused a disastrous explosion at Santa Cruz on April 27, 1898, in which ten lives were lost and property to the value of several thousand dollars destroyed. The explosions, however, did not materially interfere with the Navy smokeless or the Army and Navy brown prismatic powders. In his report to the trustees of J u l y 11, 1898, Captain Bermingham referred to the questions asked by the newspapers as to why the Government has no smokeless powder, and he placed the blame on the Government's failure to furnish the powder manufacturers promptly with alcohol, as this caused a shutdown of three weeks at Santa Cruz. Captain W . R . Quinan at Hercules at the same time was turning out 2,000 pounds of pyro-cellulose a day1 and W . C . Peyton had perfected appliances for recovering 75% of the alcohol and ether used in the manufacture of smokeless powder. A t this time, the California Powder Works and the duPont company had practically all the Government orders for military smokeless powder, which caused some criticism from the newspapers and from members of Congress. This caused the Secretary of the Navy to advertise in the newspapers for bids for 1,000,000 pounds of the powder. However, as no other firm in the country was then equipped to make it, the contract was again divided equally between these two companies at 80c a pound, the Government to furnish the alcohol. The Laflin & Rand company was an unsuccessful bidder. After the Spanish War, the remaining orders for

i On November 27, 1898, during the prevalence of a strong southeasterly wind, a fire originated in the room where the cotton was discharged from the picker, and destroyed the hank guncotton plant at Hercules with a loss of $26,843.00. The plant was rebuilt as nearly fireproof as possible and equipped with flooding devices and chemical extinguishers. Other improvements made it possible to operate it with about ten men less than the old plant, when the plant resumed operations two and a half ^months after the fire.

850

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

brown prismatic powder for the A r m y and N a v y were changed to smokeless powder, the last of the former being made at Santa Cruz in October 1898. The A r m y also agreed to permit dehydration of nitrocellulose instead of the dangerous drying. The smokeless powder capacity of Santa Cruz had been increased to 4,000 pounds a day, and this was soon further increased to 6,000 pounds, at which point it remained for several years. A t the end of the war, there were over 100,000 pounds of N a v y smokeless in the dry houses. I n addition to the improvements previously mentioned, W . C. P e y t o n designed the die in which the needles are hung from a perforated plate for making the multi-perforated powder patented by H u d s o n M a x i m ; devised the idea of straining the colloid under pressure (macaroni press) and designed powder presses. T h a t the manufacture of these new powders was then profitable, in spite of the losses caused by a few fires, is shown by the report to the stockholders of March 17, 1899, which states that "dynamite, hitherto our most profitable production, has been greatly distanced by the profits f r o m military smokeless powder produced at Santa Cruz Mills where it is being turned out in large quantities to fill orders in hand that will require about a year's incessant labor". I n comparison with present methods, the process of manufacturing N a v y smokeless powder at the California Powder W o r k s may seem peculiar. Originally, long staple cotton in hank form was used as the raw material. A s this was rather e x p e n s i v e , Captain Quinan experimented as early as 1896 with other forms of cotton. Some time later, cotton clippings f r o m underwear factories were used. These rags, received in bales, were carefully picked to sort out for-

NITROCELLULOSE MANUFACTURE

851

eign materials, boiled twice with 3 and 2 per cent of sodium carbonate for a total of 20 hours, and rinsed in cold water. The water was then wrung out in centrifugals, the cotton dried on trays with a forced draft of air at 150° F., run through a chopper and picker to cut the rags rather finely, and dried again for 24 hours at 150° F. Charges of about 9 pounds each were then weighed out in cans. The dipping pots of cast iron were arranged in two rows of six pots each, and a small stream of acid was kept running into each pot at such a rate that it would replace the acid removed with the dipped cotton without overflowing the pots. The acid contained about 6 3 % H 2 S O < , 2 1 . 5 % H N 0 3 , . 5 % N 2 0 < , and the tem-

perature of nitration was kept as near 90° F. as possible by means of a steam pipe running under the dipping pots. In dipping, one man, starting at one end of a row, filled each pot with about 2^/4. pounds of cotton, a man following him pushed the cotton under the acid with a fork. As soon as the six pots in a row were charged, a man forked out the half-nitrated cotton from the first pot into an earthenware crock, and so on until the six charges had been put into six crocks, when the cycle began again. The crocks were now put on a lead-topped car and pushed under a long shed where they were left to digest for from 8 to 24 hours (48 hours over Sunday). They were then dumped into a centrifugal, twelve crocks in each, and the acid wrung out for 5 or 6 minutes at 800 R.P.M. The spent acid wrung out contained about 6 6 % H J S O « and 1 6 % H N O 3 , including N 2 0 * . Fires were rare in the wringers, but rather frequent on hot days in the digesting crocks. Men with rubber gloves lifted the fairly dry cotton from the wringer into an iron wheel barrow, and this

852

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

was wheeled to the drowning tank, containing salt water, and dumped. This sea water had been previously treated with sodium carbonate to precipitate some of the salts. The pyrocellulose was then washed three times with "reclaimed" water, i.e.. water from the boiling tubs that had been neutralized with soda. I t was then again covered with treated sea water and gradually (in about seven hours) raised to the boiling point, where it was kept for about an hour. A f t e r a rinsing in treated seawater to cool it, it was carried in boxes to a wide rubber belt conveyor which carried it to the steaming tanks. H e r e it was boiled for five hours in fresh water, followed by two 5-hour steamings after running off the water. This treatment was repeated until the K I test showed 70 minutes. Then the pyro was wrung out in centrifugals until the water content was reduced to 30% and was packed in sacks lined with oilcloth, each sack holding 100 to 130 pounds of the moist pyro. U p to this point, the process was carried on at Hercules, where the acid plant was located. For final purification the pyro was shipped to Santa Cruz, as the water supply at Hercules was limited. A t Santa Cruz the sacks arriving from Hercules were blended in lots of 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, which constituted one pulper charge. The pulper was of a unique design, having two rolls mounted on separate shafts on opposite sides, adjusted independently and running at the same speed. A f t e r charging, about 12 pounds of soda ash were added, which was sufficient to maintain a decided alkalinity throughout the pulping process, which took about five hours for each charging. The wash tanks, eight in number, into which the charge was run from the pulper, were 8' in diameter

P U R I F I C A T I O N PROCESS

853

and 6' deep, with false bottom and lining of heavy burlap supported about 1 V&" away from the sides of the tank by heavy wire netting of half-inch mesh. This lining served as a filter for retaining the pyro when the tank was drained. The charge received from the pulpers was drained and then covered with previously heated fresh water which was maintained at a temperature of 190°-205° F. for two hours, after which the water was drained off and the treatment repeated four more times. During the treatment, the charge was agitated by means of a two-bladed stirrer that could be lowered into the tank. After the five hot water treatments, the pulp was washed ten times with cold water. The waste water from the wash tanks was run to settling tanks to recover pyro not retained by the burlap filters. From the wash tanks or poachers the charge was pumped to one of a pair of large square settling tanks where the water was filtered off. This tank was then tilted up by means of a hydraulic arrangement to an angle of 45°, one end resting on the floor, and the pulp bailed out in buckets and carried to centrifugal wringers lined with cotton cloth, where it was wrung for 10 to 15 minutes, leaving about 30% moisture. Three men were required to operate four wringers, turning out the daily production, 6,000 pounds, in 12 hours. From the wringers the pulp or "pyro" was packed in barrels which were stored in a shed until the acceptance tests had been made at Mare Island Navy Yard, which took an average of about ten days. After acceptance, the pyro was sifted through a large reel made of wire netting to render the moisture content of the charge as uniform as possible and to hold back any unpulped rags. It was then weighed out in charges for the dehydrating presses, of

854

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

which there were eight of 10" diameter, three of 12" diameter and one of 16" diameter, taking respectively charges of 40, 60, and 100 pounds of moist pyro, and 26, 39, and 65 pounds of 95% alcohol. About half the charge of pyro was put into the press and compressed, then the piston was raised and the remaining half of the charge put in and compressed. The piston was then raised again and the measured amount of alcohol added from a can; a metal lid with rubber gasket was placed on top of the cylinder, held down tightly with the piston and air pressure at 80 to 100 lbs. per sq. in. admitted to the interior of the cylinder, thus forcing the alcohol through the pyro and displacing the water. The air pressure was allowed to act for 35 to 40 minutes, then the cover was removed and the excess of alcohol removed by high pressure on the piston (2500 to 3000 lbs. per sq. in.). The spent alcohol was rectified and used in the manufacture of ether. The total time required for the dehydrating cycle was about \y± hours. Four men operated the 12 presses and attended to the reel. The dehydrated blocks were put into covered galvanized cans and carried to the mixing house where they were broken up in a reel, with Vs" mesh, containing zinc balls. Fifty pounds of alcohol-wet pyro constituted a mixer charge, the amount of ether being a little more than twice the amount of alcohol in the pyro, but varying according to the caliber of the powder to be made and the temperature of the atmosphere. There were five "dough-mixers", one being reserved for working up scrap powder, the others being worked in pairs, two charging and two discharging. The time of mixing was 24 minutes. After mixing, the charge was divided between two blocking presses where it was blocked for 24 minutes.

M A N U F A C T U R I N G PROCESS

855

The blocks were transferred to the finishing house on a small trolley operated by a crank, and there put through the mixing or straining presses, which were equipped with straining plates with holes of 1 /16" to Vfe" diameter. For small powders (6-pounder and smaller) the blocks were strained twice, the second time through a 40 mesh steel wire gauze. The "macaroni" from the straining presses was blocked again in presses located directly under the straining presses. Straining and blocking required 6 minutes or more. The finishing presses, of which there were six, were located on the third floor of the building. The dies were of the single screen type. Usually two presses were used for small caliber powder and four for the larger calibers. With the latter, the strand issuing from the die was received by the attendant on the floor below and led into one of a series of vertical brass tubes slightly larger in diameter than the strand. When a sufficient length had run down to fill the tube (about 8'), it was cut off by the attendant at the die and the remaining tubes filled in the same way. The lower ends of the pieces so cut dropped into the gauge strip of a reciprocating mechanical cutter placed at the ends of the tubes on the lower floor, where the grains were cut from the series of strands, their weight causing them to drop to the gauge strip after each cut. The speed of the cutters was so regulated as to allow the strands sufficient time to drop the length of the cut desired, before the knife returned for the next cut. Small caliber powders, as they came from the dies, were coiled up in small half barrels. These when filled were placed in rows behind small reciprocating mechanical cutters. The strands passed between a pair of rubber rollers which fed them automatically into the

856

T H E EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

cutter, the knife operating vertically at a speed from 400 to 1100 cuts a minute, depending on the length desired. There were three of these cutters, each cutting 25 strands of 1- or 3-pounder powder at a time, while a larger machine was used for 6-pounder and 3" 50 cal. powder, cutting 15 strands at a time. An additional cutter for 1-pounder was of the rotary type, self-feeding at the rate of 100 to 150 feet a minute, and cutting 10 strands at a time. The finished cut powder dropped into barrels which were carted to the solvent recovery plants. This consisted of 40 boxes, each holding 500 pounds of powder, made of heavy sheet tin with air tight joints, and having a wooden lining 2" thick under the tin. The boxes were connected in such a way that the current entered one box at the bottom, passed through the powder, left it at the top and entered the next box at the top, leaving it at the bottom. The iron pipes connecting the boxes were immersed in troughs containing water heated to 110° F . so that the air and vapors passing through were maintained at this temperature. Each box was connected through valves to the main pipe leading to the condensers, but only the valve leading from the box containing the driest powder was left open. A vacuum of 12" to 15" was maintained in the system, and just enough air from the condensers to maintain this reduced pressure was conducted back to the box containing the greenest powder, so that no outside air, and therefore no moisture, was admitted to the drying powder. The condenser system consisted of four condensers, the first two being cooled by running water, the last two by refrigeration. The recovery boxes were on the second floor of the building and were discharged through a hole in the bottom, from which the powder ran through a trough

MANUFACTURING PROCESS

857

where it was picked over to remove imperfect grains; the dust fell through a screen bottom. The dry houses, of which there were four, were equipped with wooden bins about 7' square and 5' to 7' deep. Heated air at 38°-43° C. was forced by a fan blower into a large flue passing under the bins where it escaped through the false bottoms of the bins, passed through the powder, and escaped through an opening about 12"xl8" in the tops of the bins. Each bin of powder was dried until the volatiles were reduced to the proper point, when the powder was removed and taken to the blender in barrels each holding 100 pounds of powder. The contents of ten barrels (1000 pounds) were put into a wooden, barrel-shaped blender mounted on a horizontal axis and rotated 10 to 20 times a minute by a water motor. After revolving for ten minutes, the powder was dumped out on the zinc floor and shovelled back into the ten barrels which were removed to another building and placed in a row. In a similar way the entire lot was blended in batches of 1000 pounds each, the 10 barrels representing each batch being placed in parallel rows. A second blending of the entire lot was now made by taking for each blender charge an equal amount of powder from each of the rows and revolving the blender for ten minutes for each charge as before. Blending a lot of 50,000 pounds including removal from the dry house and packing, required the labor of six men for a week.1 The California Powder Works continued to make smokeless powder until 1907,2 when the Santa Cruz 1 The above description of the manufacture of pyrocellulose and smokeless powder is taken mainly from the reports of the then Navy sub-inspector of powder (TenBroeck and Storm) made for the Bureau of Ordnance in 1905. 2 The superintendents of the Santa Cruz plant during this period were Bernard Peyton (to 1899), Robert Robertson of Virginia (to 1906),

858

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

plant was dismantled. When this company was acquired by the duPont company, it became cheaper to manufacture all smokeless powder in its existing plants in the East. The guncotton plant at Hercules was also dismantled in 1907 and the smokeless powder machinery at Santa Cruz was sent to Carney's Point. C. F. Burnside (to the time of closing down of the plant, 1907). Among the Army and Navy Inspectors were Babbitt, Sr. and Jr. (now a Brig. Gen.), Ames (now a Col. Ord.), Stout (now with Copper Queen Mining Co.), Williams (now Chief of Ordnance), and Chase, O'Neill and McCormick of the Navy.

C H A P T E R VII. L E O N A R D S M O K E L E S S P O W D E R COMPANY—AMERICAN SMOKELESS POWDER COMPANY—LAFLIN & RAND POWDER COMPANY

M

ASON E. L E O N A R D , A painter, AND

Francis Barden, his brother-in-law, both practical men without technical training, were responsible for the organization of the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company. Through their work on nitrocellulose, zylonite, and smokeless powder, with George M. Mowbray and Robert C. Schiipphaus, they had gained an insight into these subjects, and had continued experiments on their own account after they had left this employ. The result was a United States patent (No. 507,279), granted to Leonard, for a smokeless powder consisting of 150 parts nitroglycerine, 50 parts guncotton, 10 parts lycopodium, and 4 parts urea crystals.1 Early in 1892 Leonard and Barden met Colonel Garland Nelson Whistler, U. S. A., and his nephew Edward Ancrum Whistler E v e r i t t (born 1870) at Sandy Hook and showed them samples of their powder. Whistler and Everitt were supervising the making of the Brown wire-wound gun at Reading, Pennsylvania, and had become interested in powder through the desire of General Edw. St. John Greble, U. S. A., for an experimental smokeless powder to be used in testing such guns of small caliber (up to 5"). They were persuaded by Leonard to go into business with 1 Lycopodium is a yellow powder obtained from certain varieties of club-moss, which is very absorbent and is used in fireworks on account of its extreme inflammability. Urea had but recently been introduced by Schiipphaus as a stabilizer for celluloid.

860

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

him and the result was the organization of the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company late in 1892 to make smokeless powder according to Leonard and Barden's formula. H. M. Munsell, who furnished the money, became president; John H a m i l t o n Brown, the brilliant mechanical engineer who had designed the wire-wound gun, vice-president; A. W. Porter, secretary and treasurer; Colonel Whist- Colonel Garland Nelson Whistler ler, who obtained leave ( 1847 " 1914 ) from the Army for the purpose, general manager; Captain Henry Churchill Aspinwall, an Englishman and a friend of Whistler's, superintendent; and Everitt assistant superintendent. The old Dittmar Powder Company's plant at Baychester, New York, was leased and the manufacture of "Ruby" smokeless powder begun. It first contained 58% nitroglycerine, but this gave trouble from exudation and the formula was later changed to 35% nitroglycerine and 65% nitrocellulose. The original cannon powder (made for experimental firings at Sandy Hook), pressed from wooden dies and cut in rods of the length of the powder chamber, was very soft. The Chief of Ordnance in his report for 1893 characterized the results obtained with it as remarkable. The company was not successful financially and failed in 1894. It was immediately reorganized as the American Smokeless Powder Company with James

L A F L I N & R A N D A C Q U I R E P L A N T 861 K. Osgood, president of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, at its head, but with the same operating management a s before. The Laflin & Rand Powder Company loaned the new organization $30,000 to put it on its feet. A new site was purchased from H . Julius Smith in the neighborhood of the cap works near Pompton, New Jersey, at a place that is now called Haskell. Whistler a n d Aspinwall (c. 1 8 5 5 - 1 9 0 4 ) , the first su-

wal1

,r

IOlind that the mtroglycerine content of the powder could be varied between wide limits by changing the urea content.1 With this as a basis, they developed a new military rifle powder for the .30 calibre Krag-Jorgensen rifle which was called W . A. .30 calibre powder, combining in its name the initials of the two inventors. The new powder was not a solid rod, but a short cylinder with one axial perforation. The die for it was designed by Everitt and made of agate or bloodstone. H e also developed the first straining and blocking process in order to get rid of the air which otherwise would be held in the colloid. In 1898 this new company also got into financial difficulties, as a result of which it was taken over by p e r i n t e n d e n t of H a s k e l l smokeless p o w d e r plant.

i Whistler & Aspinwall, U. S. Pat. Nos. 541,909; 541,910; 541,911, smokeless powders containing urea. Jonas E. Blomin & Aspinwall, Nos. 674,159; 674,291; 674,292, nitration of mixtures of cellulose and hydrocarbons, or of hydrocarbons, etc. J. H. Brown & Whistler, No. 666,485, arrangement for carrying powder strings to drying chambers on belt conveyors. M. P. Wilkins & Aspinwall, No. 695,129, rotary powder cutter.

862

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The American Smokeless Powder works near Pompton Lakes, N e w Jersey, as they appeared about 1898.

the Laflin & R a n d Powder Company. The latter had been interested in smokeless powder for some time, having acted as American agents for Troisdorf powder. Some years earlier (1893) the American rights for Ballistite had been offered to them by the Nobel interests for £ 60,000 and a royalty, but they had declined to consider it at the price, partly perhaps because they wanted to wait for the results of American experiments. Shortly a f t e r the change of ownership had taken place, an explosion wrecked the plant ( J u l y 12, 1898) but the next day the board authorized the rebuilding. More land was bought and the new plant, located a short distance f r o m the old one, had a capacity of 6,000 pounds of smokeless powder and an additional capacity of 1,000 pounds of guncotton above that required for the powder. Aggressive work was done in developing new powders for military and sporting rifles, shotguns and pistols, to which the following names were assigned by J . A . Haskell, the president of the Laflin & R a n d company, after whom the plant was now named: Lightning, Sharpshooter,

DOUBLE-BASE SMOKELESS

863

Interior of the Ballistic House at Pompton Lakes about the time it was taken over by the Laflin. & Rand Powder Company.

Unique, L. & R. Smokeless. The form of the last was later changed and it is now known as Infallible. Some of these powders were made on the formula of W . A . powder, some were similar to Ballistite in composition, and some approached that of the Maxim-Schiipphaus powder with a low percentage of nitroglycerine. In the manufacture of these double base powders a process similar to that employed in the manufacture of cordite was used. The guncotton was dried, mixed with nitroglycerine by the aid of acetone, pressed out through dies, cut into grains of the desired length and the grain placed in dryhouses to drive off the acetone. Since, by the action of the solvent and the pressing through the dies, these powders were colloided and emerged in compact form, they were known as "dense" powders, as compared with E. C. duPont shotgun powders which were more bulky, were loaded by volume (bulk for bulk with black powder) and not by

864

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

A 3-in. field gun, a fifteen-pounder, a six-pounder, and a 4-in. Navy gun at the American Smokeless Powder Company's testing station.

weight, and were consequently known as "bulk" powders. These dense powders were quite successful. During the Spanish War, the company made Sharpshooter powder for the .45 caliber Springfield rifle, W. A. .30 caliber powder for the Krag rifle, 4" powder for the Navy, and L. & R. Smokeless. In the following year (1899), the plant also began the manufacture of the straight nitrocellulose powder adopted by the Navy two years earlier. A n ether plant was added in 1900, a solvent recovery system developed in 1902, and experiments on water drying were carried out. These did not lead to practical adoption. Aspinwall, the superintendent of the plant, had been experimenting with Jonas E. Blomén on explosives composed of nitrocellulose and nitrated hydrocarbons.1 A s an example the patents give the followi Jonas E . Blomén (see also p. 701) and Henry C. Aspinwall of Pompton Township, U. S. Patents Nos. 674,159-674,291-674^92 of 1901.

CONSOLIDATION W I T H DuPONT 865 ing: Two parts of naphthalene and one part of cellulose are nitrated in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids for 24 hours with a gradual rise of temperature from 30° to 80° C. For use as a propellent the purified nitrated mixture is mixed with barium and potassium nitrate and a smaller amount of vaseline, paraffine or castor oil. The Laflin & Rand Powder Company bought these patents in 1900, but seem to have done nothing to develop them further. When in 1902 control of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company passed into the hands of the duPont company, the manufacture and marketing of military and sporting powders was made uniform at all the plants. As the duPonts had a shotgun powder with similar characteristics to E. C. powder, the lease of the plant and business of the American E. C. & Schultze Gunpowder Company at Oakland,1 which had been acquired at about the same time, was assigned to Laflin & Rand. Early in 1909, in pursuance of the policy of vesting all properties in the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company, both the Haskell and Oakland plants were transferred to the latter in the form of a property dividend.2 In 1909, by arrangement with the Nobel's Explosives Company, Limited, of England, the manufacture of Ballistite was introduced at Haskell. This is a dense double-base type of powder, very similar in composition to Infallible. It differs from the latter in the method of manufacture, being rolled after mixing and the sheets cut into small square flakes, in the same way that celluloid is made, whereas Infallible is a pressed powder. Originally the powder was cut in hexagonal form on an ingenious cutter, designed by M. P. Wilkins, in which a knife was made to travel i See p. 801.

2 See p. 242.

866

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

at right angles across the path of the sheet of powder, while this traveled at constant speed over the cutting table, thus making an oblique cut. On the return stroke of the knife, a cut was made at 120° with the first. The square form was adopted because it seemed to be as satisfactory ballistically as the hexagonal, and it was easier to cut uniformly. W h e n in 1912 the federal courts ordered the d u P o n t company dissolved, the double base powders with the exception of Ballistite were turned over to the newly formed Hercules Powder Company and their manufacture transferred to the Kenvil plant of the latter. The Haskell plant was very active during the war but in 1926 it was permanently closed and the business consolidated at Carney's Point. 1 1 J. R. Pittman succeeded Aspinwall as superintendent. Later superintendents were C. F. Burnside (1907-8), A. F. Porter (1908-1910), Leo J. Bierwirth (1911-1915), James Lynah (1915-1919) and C. R. D e Bow (1919-1926). Colonel Whistler returned to his army duties in 1903, retired as a General under the age limit law on August 10, 1911, and died at Pensacola, Florida, the place of his birth, on June 26, 1914. For many years after his withdrawal from the powder business, he was in command of the School of Submarine Defense at Fort Totten. Besides his inventions in the field of smokeless powder, he was responsible for a system of fire control for artillery coast defense, by which the exact position of approaching vessels could be mapped out at a central station.

C H A P T E R VIII. I N T E R N A T I O N A L SMOKELESS P O W D E R A N D D Y N A M I T E COMPANY—INTERNATIONAL SMOKELESS POWDER A N D C H E M I C A L COMPANY

I

N 1898 Lewis Nixon (b. 1861), a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, former Naval Constructor, and at that time owner of the Crescent Shipyards of Elizabethport, New Jersey, became acquainted with Dr. Carl Walter Volney,1 a German chemist who had patented a number of blasting powders and who had lately been experimenting with smokeless powders. In 1897 he had taken out two patents, one for a progressive burning powder (see p. 781), and the other (U. S. Pat No. 592,895) for a smokeless powder consisting of 45 parts trinitrobenzol, 55 parts nitrocellulose and 5 parts basic rosaniline. Volney impressed Nixon with his general knowledge of explosives to such an extent that the latter concluded to try out his smokeless powders. Five acres of land with a few buildings were leased at Key port, New Jersey, and guncotton and nitroglycerine were made in small quantities in earthenware pots. The first product was a blasting gelatine for filling the shells of dynamite guns which Nixon had built for the government during the Spanish War. The lanoline i Volney had been superintendent of the Toms River (N. J.) plant of the New York Powder Company (1882) and of the Whiting, (N.J.) plant of the Independent Powder Company (1891). His patents were: 124*397 (1872); 125,635 (1872); 157,143 (1874); 249,490 (1881); 866,281 (1887); 383,420 (1888).

868

THE EXPLOSIVES

which was incorporated with the gelatine as a deterrent gave it a purple tinge and the product was unstable. During the firing trials a number of guns were d e s t r o y e d . Nixon then insisted on the manufacture of 8 " powder for trials with an 8" gun that had been placed at his disposal by the Bethlehem S t e e l Company. The first firing was unsatisfactory as o n l y part of the powder charge exploded, the rest being scattered from gun to tar. °

Dr-

INDUSTRY

C a r l

versatile

W a U e r

Vo

l n e y was a

German chemist

who

w a s associated with a number of

nitroglycerine, dynamite a n d smokeless powder ventures for a b o u t f o r t y y e a r 8 beginning at

get. C a p t a i n Forsyth Meigs, the Ordnance E x - the time Dittmar started in Nepert o f t h e Bethlehem ponset, Mass. Steel Company then refused to permit further trials. Lewis Nixon, knowing through his friends in the Navy of the success at the Torpedo Station of the straight nitrocellulose powder decided to change to this type in place of the Volney powder, but he retained Volney as superintendent. A new company, under the name of I N T E R N A T I O N A L S M O K E L E S S P O W DER & D Y N A M I T E C O M P A N Y , was incorporated in New Jersey April 6, 1899, with Lewis Nixon as the first president and offices at 71 Broadway, New York. This company took over the Nixon interests in the Keyport plant and gave Volney a substantial cash payment and a block of stock. Among the assets was a blanket contract obtained from the Chief of Ord-

PROPOSED U S E OF C O R N P I T H

869

nance for smokeless powder at one dollar a pound but specifying no particular quantity, probably the only contract of this kind ever made in time of peace. Fifty acres of land were bought about halfway between the towns of South Amboy and South River in Middlesex County, New Jersey, south of the Raritan River, at a place now known as Parlin. A small plant was erected with the intention of turning out 1000 pounds of powder a day. But soon Nixon, who had personally financed the enterprise up to this point, began to feel that, for successful operation, a powder plant should be on a larger scale and he set out to interest his friends in the new company. Among them was W. W . Gibbs who had promoted the Marsden Company of Philadelphia and with whom Nixon had cooperated in utilizing cornpith cellulose.1 Gibbs was favorably impressed by the suggestion that cornpith cellulose might be used for nitration and powder making. Dr. Harvey W . Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, who had carried out a series of nitrating experiments with this c e l l u l o s e in connection with the Bureau's work on waste farm products, was consulted and expressed his opinion that this was theoretically a most excellent raw material for the purpose. A s nitration with mixed acids, as practised with cotton linters, did not give a material completely soluble in amyl acetate, he recommended that the cellulose be saturated with nitrate solution, dried, and then dipped in small quantities in sulphuric acid.2 C. F . Burnside discovered later, quite accidentally, that mixed acids 1 A product of the Marsden Company, which was used as a filler for the cofferdams of battleships—the idea being that when pierced by a shell, this filling would absorb water and swell up sufficiently to prevent further entry of water. 2 U. S. Pat. No. 673,070. Wiley also patented the use of cornpith as an absorbent for nitroglycerine (U. S. Pat. No. 673^*7).

870

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

can be used, if the cellulose is digested in them for at least 24 hours, the long time being necessary on account of the woody fibre in the cornpith. Convinced that another use for their cellulose had been found, the Marsden Company purchased a controlling interest in Nixon's powder company. The company started to increase its plant facilities and also bought, giving a block of stock in payment, the Bernadou-Converse patents 1 for the N a v y nitrocellulose powder developed at N e w p o r t which they believed would give them a monopoly in the field of military powders. I n this they were disappointed, as the claims of these patents had been anticipated by Blomen, Mendeleef and others, and they had to permit the other powder companies to make N a v y powder without a contest. The company also had other disappointments. D r . Volney had a vast theoretical knowledge of explosives and was highly imaginative, but in the opinion of his contemporaries he knew little about plant construction and operation so that many absurdities resulted and no satisfactory powder could be produced. I n December 1899 C. F . Burnside 2 was engaged by the directors of the company to go to Parlin to make a report on the condition of the plant and to look after the actual manufacture of powder. H e tried in vain to prevail upon the officials to abandon cornpith in favor of cotton linters. E a r l y in the next year, H e n r y J . L a y n g arrived f r o m California with the plans of the powder presses in use at the California Powder W o r k s . These presses had been designed by W . C. P e y t o n of that company and built in L a y n g ' s machine shop in San Francisco. L a y n g 1 Bernadou and Converse, U. S. Pat. Nos. 550,472 and 551,306. Bernadou, U. S. Pat. Nos. 586,586; 652,455; 652,505; 673,377. 2 See p. 794.

HARRY F L E T C H E R BROWN

871

succeeded in selling these plans to the Navy for use at their new plant at Indian Head, to the Laflin & Rand Powder Company and to the International company. Indeed, he made such a good impression on the officers of the latter, that he was made superintendent of the Parlin plant in February 1900 in place of Volney who was asked to resign as he would not work in with the plans of the company and was dissatisfied because his own powder was not pushed.1 Layng was a breezy Westerner and a capable machine shop man. He knew little, however, about the manufacture of smokeless powder and had some very peculiar ideas about plant management. For instance, to make sure that no matches would be carried into the plant, he built a pond at the factory gates with steps leading into it from two sides. The men arriving for work were supposed to strip on one side of the pond, walk through the water, and put on their working clothes on the other side. Needless to say, this system was never put into practice. For the purification of the nitrated cotton, he designed a "merry-goround" or trough around the sides of the pulping house in which the pulp was to be pushed in one direction by a conveyor, while the water was supposed to flow in the opposite direction. Only the strenuous opposition of the other members of the plant management prevented him from carrying out this plan. In July 1900, after less than a year of Layng's superintendency, Harry Fletcher Brown, who had been chief chemist of the Naval Torpedo Station during the time that the present Navy powder was being developed, and who had had an important share in this development, was engaged as chemist. The nitrocellui After his resignation Volney sued the International company for breach of contract, but he was unsuccessful in his suits. He died about the year 1911.

872

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

lose made from corn pith was full of pectic substances which gave it a beautiful golden color, but made it impossible to obtain a stable product. Brown, with his prestige as former Navy chemist, convinced the directors, even before he assumed his duties, that no better results could be expected from this raw material, and that cotton linters should be used instead. H e was asked to make a report on the condition of the plant and the possibilities of producing a satisfactory powder with the facilities at hand. W h e n he presented his report, eight days after his arrival at Parlin, showing the necessity for larger power equipment and for a complete rearrangement of plant and process, the impossibility of turning out a satisfactory powder before these changes were made and the generally unsatisfactory conditions at the plant, the directors were so startled that they sent him back to Parlin with a message calling for the immediate resignation of Layng. Brown was made acting superintendent as head of a works committee consisting of himself, C. F . Burnside, the assistant superintendent, Wesley Miller, the chief draftsman, and James Westberg, the chief engineer. Six months later, Brown was made general superintendent. 1 The work that he had recommended was immediately undertaken, so successfully that in F e b r u a r y 1901 the first granulation s a m p l e of powder was shipped to Sandy H o o k Proving Ground. The proof test gave such excellent results that production on a small scale was at once begun under the contract previously secured. The next year the N a v y likewise placed contracts. The quality of the powder, from the standpoint of both stability and ballistics, remained uniformly high so that the output was gradually ini See pp. 810.

D u P O N T A C Q U I R E S T H E B U S I N E S S 873 creased until it reached 5000-6000 pounds a day in 1903. At that time the plant had all it could do, working day and night, to fill the Government contracts. In 1903 the Parlin plant also began the manufacture of soluble cotton and lacquers, which have since become a very important part of their production. Owing to the possible hesitation of prospective customers to use the product of a dynamite" plant, the name of the company was changed to "International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company" (April 6, 1903). Lewis Nixon resigned the presidency in 1900, as he was leaving for an extended trip to Europe, and sold his holdings in 1905. H e was succeeded by the vice-president, Henry C. Watts, who had been the company's representative in Washington and had negotiated all the G o v e r n m e n t contracts. In 1903 Colonel E . G. Buckner, who was also president of the Marsden Company, became president. During these years (1901-3) the duPont and the Laflin & Rand companies were having trouble with their powder and were getting only small orders from the Government. The duPont company, alarmed at the competition and success of the International company, approached the Marsden company with an offer to buy them out. The latter were in a receptive mood, as they were short of capital in their own business of making cattle food and cellulose from corn stalks. The negotiations were conducted for the Marsden Company by Colonel Buckner, its president. The result1 was announced on December 18, 1903, and on the first of March following, the duPont International Powder Company, organized in Delaware i Philadelphia North American, December 19, 1908

874

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

with a capital of $10,000,000, half common and half preferred stock, and $1,000,000 collateral trust bonds, took over the business of the International Smokeless Powder & Chemical Company. The Marsden Company received for its holdings of 101,000 shares of common and 2,000 shares of preferred stock ($50 par value) out of a total of 180,000 shares common and 12,000 shares preferred stock outstanding, $120,000 in 5% bonds and 25,650 shares of preferred stock of $100 par value of the new company. The other stockholders were paid for their holdings in like proportion. The Marsden company in turn sold to the duPont company 5,000 shares of the preferred stock they had received for $400,000, so that the latter held all the common stock, 5,000 shares of preferred stock, and $160,000 in bonds of the duPont International Powder Company.1 T. Coleman duPont became president, and Colonel Buckner vice-president of the new company. On the transfer of the plant to duPont ownership, Brown was asked to come to Wilmington as directing chemist for all the smokeless powder plants of the new owners. H e quickly standardized manufacturing methods on the basis of those in use at Parlin, and soon succeeded in turning out uniform powder at all the company's plants. C. F . Burnside succeeded him as superintendent at Parlin. 2 In 1915 the duPont International Powder Company was liquidated, securities of the duPont company being given in exchange.

1 The deal enabled the Marsden Company to retire its own preferred stock with accumulated dividends and pay all its debts, and gave it sufficient working capital for its own business. In 1909 this company consolidated with the American Milling Company of Peoria, Illinois, making "Sucrine" cattle food and cellulose. 2 Parlin Plant superintendents: Carl W. Volney (1898-1900), H. G. Layng (1900-1900), H. F. Brown (1900-1904), C. F. Burnside (19041905), F. L. Fullam (1905-1920), J. M. Elms (since 1920).

CHAPTER IX. E. I. DuPONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY

T

H E duPont company had furnished military powder to the United States Government since its inception in 1802. At first this was only black powder, but when brown prismatic powder was adopted by the European Governments, the Ordnance Department asked the duPont company to prepare samples of a similar powder (1884) and later its manufacture was undertaken on a large scale.1 About this time smokeless powders also began to attract attention. In 1883 a Major Garrett, representing the British E . C. Powder Company, came to the United States with samples of their powder, and Eugene duPont went to Bridgeport to witness tests. The powder, however, did not give the results claimed for it and the price asked for the patents was so high that the company declined to consider their purchase. In 1889, at the request of the Chief of Ordnance that a competent person be sent to Europe to study the new powders which the French Government was said to be making, Alfred I. duPont went to France, England and Belgium, but was unable to find out anything about the French smokeless powder for small arms, as the secret of its composition was closely guarded. H e learned, however, that the Rhenish Westphalian Powder C o m p a n y was contemplating the erection of mills in the United States to make among other things such a smokeless powder. In Wetteren, Belgium, he was well received by Coopal et Cie. and convinced himself that their powder was better than either the French or the German. H e made tentative i See p. 290.

876

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

terms with both firms for their cocoa and smokeless powders, but on his return the duPont firm decided that they did not want to pay a cash price and heavy royalties for the secret formulas of either company. But the Government insisted on the purchase of the rights for cocoa powder and agreed to pay the royalties. Alfred duPont also brought with him samples of the Wetteren smokeless powder which were submitted to the Army authorities and were tested in the following year in comparison with Maxim powder and with Wetteren powder obtained directly from Coopal et Cie. The official report states that this powder submitted by duPont gave better results than Wetteren powder, a peculiar coincidence as these two samples were evidently made by the same firm. The Maxim powder was more uniform and gave higher velocities than either, although the pressures were higher than was desirable. I n the meantime, Charles I . duPont had gone to Belgium to study the manufacture of Wetteren powder, the formula for which had been bought from Coopal & Cie. In view of the Ordnance report, production was not started but negotiations were begun with Maxim and samples of other European powders were sent for, among them Nobel's Ballistite. The fprmula for the latter was not purchased as it seemed to conflict with Maxim's patents. Since none of the powders then in existence seemed to be entirely satisfactory, Charles I. duPont now began experiments of his own at the Brandywine mills, using the old gunhouse for a laboratory. A little later a set of rolls was installed in the soda mill for rolling the powder out in sheets. The first work was on a nitroglycerine-nitrocellulose composition which was rolled out and cut in square flakes. A powder of similar form was also made from guncotton alone with nitro-

THE DuPONTS INVESTIGATE

Francis Gurney duPont was one of the leading black powder makers of the latter part of the last century. He was a member of the duPont firm and for a long time its general manager. During this time he designed and built the Mooar, Iowa, mills (see p. 201), the largest in the world. He turned his attention to smokeless powder in 1889 and built the factory at C a r e y ' s Point New Jersey. With P. S. duPont he invented, patented and developed duPont smokeless shotgun powder and with W. C. Peyton the hydraulic press method of dehydration and solvent recovery. After his retirement from more active duties he was a director of the new duPont company until his death in 1904.

877

benzene as a solvent. But none of the samples made at the Brandywine laboratories were submitted to the Army, as tests made at the mills showed that they were not entirely satisfactory ballistically. Pierre S. and Francis G. duPont had assisted in this-work and the former now went to Newport to consult with Professor Charles E . Munroe who was then making his "Indurite" for the Navy. H e favorably im_ , . ' P a s s e d With the process,

w a s

n o t

which required the drying of the guncotton, SO after c o n f e r r i n g with Eugene , _

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.

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duPont (the president Of the company) and Franc j s Q m duPont, it was decide(

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p o s s i b l e r

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method O 1 manufacture by a wet process should be developed. H e accordingj

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the Brandywine laboratory by suspending finely divided nitrocellulose in w a t e r in a bottle, introducing nitrobenzene, the solvent used by Munroe, and shaking violently in order to produce a uniform mix-

878

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

ture. 1 By May 1892 he had discovered the proportions required to produce a very satisfactory form of granulation. Francis G . duPont, working in a laboratory which he had built near his house, evolved machinery for the manufacture of this powder, and in 1893 Francis G. and Pierre S. d u P o n t jointly patented their process for making duPont shotgun powder (U. S. P a t . 5 0 3 , 5 8 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 ) . Nitrocellulose is suspended in water and formed into grains by stirring, in the presence of amyl acetate or other suitable solvent. This solvent, being insoluble in water, forms an emulsion, and nitrocellulose, having a greater affinity for the solvent than for the water, removes the solvent from the emulsion; thus it becomes gelatinized and agglomerates into grains. The reaction takes place in a large vertical still, and the excess of solvent is then removed by distillation. The powder grains are sieved, dried and blended, and in this general way the famous duPont shotgun powder is still made at Carney's Point. I t was p u t on the market in 1894 and gave the company a product successfully competing with E . C. shotgun powder, which had made considerable inroads on the sales of black sporting powder and had been considerably improved since 1883 when the duPont company had declined to purchase the patents. Because the powder yards on the Brandywine were crowded with mills, it had been thought unwise to attempt to manufacture guncotton (for the Navy's use in torpedoes) and perhaps eventually smokeless powder there. There was also the necessity for better shipping facilities. F o r these reasons a large tract of i A somewhat similar method was patented in 1890 by Richard von Freeden of Walsrode (U. S. Pat. No. 429,516). He, however, first gelatinized his nitrocellulose completely and then treated this colloided mass with an indifferent gas, steam or hot water, whereas in the duPont process the solvent and immiscible nonsolvent were introduced simultaneously.

FIRST POWDER IRREGULAR

879

land had been purchased in 1890 at Carney's Point, on the Delaware River opposite Wilmington, and a large wharf was built in April 1891. Experimental laboratories and a guncotton plant were also built, the latter starting operations on June 6, 1892. In May of this year Pierre S. duPont was transferred to this plant to take charge of o p e r a t i o n s under Francis G. duPont. 1 who directed them from the home office. During the balance of the first year the plant turned out 100,000 pounds of military guncotton. In 1893 a sample of rifle powder from Carney's Point was submitted to the Army. This was made in the same way as the shotgun powder, was reddish brown in color, and very small and regular in granulation, but it gave low velocities and high pressures which made it unsuitable for use in the service rifle. In the following year, at the request of the Ordnance Department, another sample was submitted for use in cannon. This was made of an acetone solution of nitrocellulose alone and was made on the rolls in strip form. Beginning in 1895 the company obtained regular contracts from the Army and made regular deliveries of a double base powder for small arms containing about 30% nitroglycerine. This was in the form of perforated grains and acetone was the solvent used. It was not flexible like cordite, being hard and brittle, but nevertheless fairly satisfactory. Samples and later larger quantities were also furnished for use in cannon, but when in 1899 a 10" gun was blown up by this powder at Sandy Hook Proving Ground, its manufacture was discontinued. 1 Francis G. duPont had been nominated superintendent in 1890 and retained this title until 1902. Succeeding superintendents were: 1902-4, Francis I. duPont; 1904-6, W. K. duPont; 1906-11, A. Felix duPont; 1911-17, A. F. Porter; 1917-19, Willis F. Harrington (during the war the last two were known as managers), and since 1919 Frederick A. Gentieu.

880

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

E a r l y in 1897 the Navy Department, wishing to obtain larger quantities of the new smokeless powder that had been developed at Newport, invited representatives of the powder companies to visit this plant and see what had been accomplished. The duPont company sent Francis G. and Francis I . duPont, who recommended that the manufacture of this powder be undertaken. A s a result, the plant at Carney's Point was enlarged and equipped to make it. Manufacture was started in the fall of 1897, and the first delivery was made in the spring of 1898. Methods in use at Newport were largely in the experimental stage and it devolved on the private manufacturers to devise means for making them commercially more practical. The first improvement at Carney's Point was due to Francis I . d u P o n t and consisted in the dehydration of the nitrocellulose by means of alcohol in a hydraulic press instead of drying it by means of hot air which was a dangerous and cumbersome proceeding. This invention was further improved by W . C. Peyton 1 of the California Powder Works, who combined the operations of preliminary and final pressing in a single hydraulic press and perfected the mechanical arrangements. Another step forward, which resulted in a more stable powder, was the substitution of prolonged boiling for hot water washings at 70° C. in the final purification of the nitrocellulose. The next important improvement resulted in a very large saving of the ether and alcohol used in colloiding the powder. The recovery of the solvent after granulating the powder was successfully accomplished by Francis G. duPont and W . C. Peyton, working jointly on the problem. Apparatus was installed at Carney's Point by the former and at Santa Cruz by the latter. i See p. 848.

CONSOLIDATION

881

The Maxim-Schiipphaus multi-perforated grain which had been acquired in 1898 1 was also a great improvement over the flat strips formerly used and this was at once adopted for military powders. In 1900 the Army adopted the same type of cannon powder as the Navy, and the Carney's Point plant had its share of the contracts. Soon after this date the duPont company began to acquire control of the other manufacturers of smokeless powder. The Eastern Dynamite Company had in 1899 bought the plant of the Dittmar Powder Company at Farmingdale, New Jersey, which included a smokeless powder plant that had never been in production and was now dismantled. By 1906 the plants of the California Powder Works at Pinole and Santa Cruz, of the International Smokeless Powder & Chemical Company at Parlin, and of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company at Haskell and Oakland, New Jersey, had become part of the duPont company. All these plants, with the exception of Oakland where only E. C. and Schultze powders were being made, manufactured Army and Navy powder in their own way. The consolidation brought about a unification and improvement in methods. H. F. Brown took charge of the technical details of smokeless powder manufacture as directing chemist under H. F. Baldwin, vice-president of the company. His efforts were directed towards standardizing the methods on the basis of those used at Parlin. A t this time Carney's Point was having serious difficulties with the ballistics of its powder due to following the Navy specifications too closely. The method of nitration in use—over night in pots—gave a nitrocellulose of very low viscosity so that the grains of powder made with a weight of solvi See p 819.

882

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

ent equal to that of the nitrocellulose were too soft and would not hold their shape. Santa Cruz had the same trouble with distorted grains, although the ballistics were satisfactory. All these troubles quickly disappeared after Brown took hold. The experimental work in connection with this subject was conducted at the Brandywine Experimental Station just outside of Wilmington, and many improvements were made in the quality and uniformity of the powder, to the great satisfaction of the United States Government. Of course the duPont company, having a virtual monopoly of the manufacture of smokeless powder for military purposes, was the subject of numerous attacks in the newspapers and in the Congress. The discussion of the Army and Navy appropriation bills was the annual occasion for charging that the company was obtaining extortionate prices and was making inordinate profits. A particularly violent attack occurred in the Congress in 1910. After hearing Colonel Buckner and J. A. Haskell for the duPont company, General Crozier, Chief of Ordnance of the Army, and Admiral Mason, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy, the committee of investigation declared itself satisfied that the charges were contrary to the facts. Indeed, it was shown that the company had voluntarily reduced its prices to the government during the Spanish War by 3c a pound; that the actual price paid was about 20c less than that paid by other nations for similar powder; that the company had furnished, without charge, plans for the government powder plants; and that it was continually spending money to improve the powder and to acquire valuable inventions that would make possible the production of a better powder for military purposes (see Washington Post of June 2, 1910).

CARNEY'S POINT

f

thJF

883

884

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

One of the inventions referred to was Hudson Maxim's Stabillite which was purchased from the inventor and produced in experimental quantities. Stabillite consisted of nitrocellulose and trinitroanisol, the methyl ester of picric acid. This mixture becomes plastic on the application of heat and can therefore be mixed and made into sheets on hot rolls in the same way as celluloid. No solvent is required, as in the usual smokeless powder, and Stabillite is ready for use as soon as it is rolled and cut. It was made in the form of strips perforated with slots to make it progressive. Unfortunately, trinitroanisol did not prove a suitable solid solvent for the purpose, as it is not very stable and rather readily reverts to picric acid. Furthermore it is quite poisonous and caused skin affections in those who had to touch the powder. With the adoption of a nitrocellulose powder for the Army .30 caliber rifle in 1908 the duPont company started to develop a line of nitrocellulose powders for other military and sporting rifles. This subject became particularly important after 1912, when the Federal court dissolved the old company as a trust and turned over the double base powders that had been an inheritance from the Laflin & Rand Powder Company to the newly formed Hercules Powder Company. The problem was successfully solved, particularly in the case of the so-called "Improved Military Rifle" (IMR) powders, in which the grains are coated with a slow burning compound and, in consequence of a more progressive burning action and slower development of pressure, give a much higher ratio of velocity to pressure. When the allied nations called on the company for huge quantities of rifle powder in 1915, it was ready with these new powders which were superior to any they had ever used.

P R E - W A R C A P A C I T Y OF P L A N T S 885 The dissolution found the duPont company in a somewhat better position on shotgun powders. Besides its own powder, developed by Pierre and Francis G. duPont in 1892, it was allowed to continue the manufacture of Schultze powder, and as a competitor with Infallible (Laflin & Rand's double base shotgun powder) it had Ballistite, which had been made at Haskell since 1909 by arrangement with the Nobel's Explosives Company. The two powders are practically the same in composition, but Ballistite is made by rolling, whereas Infallible is extruded from a press. It was found to be somewhat easier to make a uniform powder by the rolling method, but both have certain advantages over the bulk type of powders in that they are less hygroscopic. The beginning of the World War found the duPont company possessed of three plants with a combined capacity of 28,000 pounds of military smokeless powder a day. While the first orders were for guncotton, orders for powder soon came in such quantities that existing facilities were entirely inadequate. The first contracts were taken on the basis of the regular process in use for United States powder, which required a period of 60 to 90 days for final drying. With the amounts of powder to be made, such a delay was out of the question and H. F. Brown decided to use the water drying process on which a little experimental work had been done following his trip to Europe in 1908. This reduced the drying time to eight days and made possible the subsequent enormous increase in output. For the removal of the water, C. F. Burnside suggested a tunnel through which warm air was blown from one end, while trucks loaded with powder spread out on trays were gradually moved forward from the other end. This system was in use for three years,

886

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

but it was somewhat difficult to regulate the amount of moisture left in the powder. Under the direction of C. A. Bulkeley of the Engineering Department, a new type of dryer was evolved which made it possible, by a continuous and easily regulated process, to obtain a product with any desired percentage of moisture. The first smokeless powder contract (with France) was signed on October 12, 1914, and called for 8,000,000 pounds, which was about the annual production capacity before the war. The existing plants were immediately enlarged, until Carney's Point had a capacity of 900,000 pounds, Parlin of 375,000 pounds, and Haskell of 210,000 pounds of military smokeless powder a day, and the three plants, together employed about 33,000 men and women. It was not possible, however, for various reasons, to enlarge the guncotton facilities of these plants in the same degree as the powdermaking equipment; but the company had at Hopewell, Virginia, a plant site that had been intended for the manufacture of dynamite1 and where, indeed, some of the machinery had been set up. It was now decided to make use of this site for the manufacture of nitrocellulose to supply the smokeless powder plants. Under the able management of William P. Allen 2 the plant was quickly brought to capacity production. The plant was built early in 1915 with the necessary sulphuric acid and nitric acid units and 1 See p. 603. 2 William Porter Allen, born in Philadelphia on August 21, 1881, was educated at Rutgers College and started his career as a research chemist in the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1906 he joined the duPont Company as a research chemist at the Eastern Laboratories. He was promoted successively to assistant superintendent at Repauno (1910), superintendent at Sterling Works (1913), manager at Hopewell (1914), director of the Service Department at Wilmington (1919), general manager of the Cellulose Products Department (1921), and general manager of the Paint, Lacquer and Chemicals Department (1925), which position he now holds.

H O P E W E L L PLANT

887

The Hopewell, Virginia, nitrocotton plant was the largest of its kind in the world.

a complete cotton purification plant. Up to the time of the armistice, Hopewell turned out about 1,158,500,000 pounds of nitrocellulose, supplying during this time the larger part of the requirements of Carney's Point, Haskell, and Parlin, besides furnishing high grade guncotton to the Hercules Powder Company for the manufacture of cordite. This plant employed over 28,000 persons, and here as well as at most of the other plants of the company, it became necessary to provide housing facilities for a large proportion of the employees. A complete village with accommodations for 1850 families and dormitories for a large number of single men was the result. When the W a r Department awarded the contract for the construction and operation of Old Hickory plant1 to the duPont company the construction part was turned over to the duPont Engineering Company and all the resources of the parent company were exerted to complete the job in record time. Operations were started five months after breaking ground, whereas it had been expected that at least i Near Nashville, Tenn. See p. 889.

888 ffi as

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

A An artist's conception of the employment or "Hiring Office" at Hopewell during the war when thousands of men had to be recruited from all parts of the country.

eight months would be required for construction. The plant was named after President Jackson, whose former home, "The Hermitage", still stands within a few miles of Old Hickory plant. A t the time of the armistice, the plant was 13,000,000 pounds ahead of the production schedule. This Tennessee undertaking was enormous, as a daily production of 900,000 pounds of powder was contemplated. The project covered an area of 4706 acres and included a total of 1112 buildings, of which over 200 were factory buildings. It employed at its peak 30,000 persons, 3000 of them being Mexicans who occupied a village of their own. In addition to the plant a complete city with schools, hotels, churches, hospitals, amusement places, etc., had to be built as there were no facilities for housing this great number of employees in the neighborhood. An idea of the size of the plant may be gathered from the fact that the filtering unit had a capacity of 65,000,000

OLD HICKORY P L A N T

889

Old Hickory—the largest smokeless powder plant ever built in America.

gallons of water daily, which were pumped from the Cumberland River; 68 boilers, each of 823 horsepower rated capacity, produced daily 60,000,000 pounds of steam. The average electrical load was 17,500 K W . The credit for the successful completion of these undertakings is largely due to the company's engineering department, at the head of which was H . M. Pierce,1 and to E. F . Johnson, who directly supervised the construction and later managed the plant. A total of 30,000,000 pounds of powder was produced before the end of the war. H . F. Brown2 retired from the active management of the Smokeless Powder Division in 1919 and was succeeded by A. Felix duPont, 3 who had nearly twenty years' practical experience in various branches of the smokeless powder business. A t this time an important problem was the disposal of enormous surplus of 1 Harry M. Pierce became chief engineer of the duPont company after the death of Major Ramsay and successfully completed the construction program of the largest powder factories ever built. 2 For biographical note and picture see pp. 810-811. ' A. Felix duPont entered the explosives business in 1900 as private secretary to his father, Francis G. duPont. From 1902 to 1911 he served first as assistant and later as superintendent of the Carney's Point plant, since which time he has held various executive positions in the Smokeless Powder Division of the duPont company, of which he has been one of the directors since 1915. He has been vice-president and manager of this division since 1919.

890

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

plant and personnel which had resulted from the expansion during the war. A company was organized, known as the duPont Chemical Company, which purchased from the duPont company all of the war time plants including those portions of the plants existing before the war that had been enlarged beyond the point of usefulness in peacetime. This company, under the guidance of Hunter Grubb and a staff of able assistants, salvaged material, sold plant sites and helped organize new industries in many places where plant sites or material, which it was desirable to dispose of, were useful. In the course of time the duPont Chemical Company was liquidated, its work having been carried to a very successful conclusion. The problem of readjusting the personnel was eventually solved with equal satisfaction. W . P. Allen 1 who had been manager of Hopewell, became manager of the Paint, Lacquer and Chemical Department. W . F. Harrington,2 who had been manager of Carney's Point, became general manager of the Dyestuffs Department. F. B. Davis, who was first assistant manager at Old Hickory, became president of the duPont Viscoloid Company. J . Brook Jackson, who had been construction manager at Old Hickory, became assistant to the vice-president of the General Motors Corporation. E. F, Johnson, who had been construction manager of Hopewell and operating manager of Old Hickory, became assistant to the president of the General Motors Corporation. John Lee Pratt, who had charge of plant site selection, plant layout and contracts, became vice-president of the General Motors Corporation. These and many other assignments to responsible positions were possible because the supreme effort made brought out i See p. 886.

= See p. 602.

POST-WAR A C T I V I T I E S

891

latent or hitherto unrecognized qualities in the men engaged in the work. Difficult problems also presented themselves with regard to the maintenance of the smokeless powder business. The demand for sporting powders, which had continued throughout the war, remained about normal, but so many changes had been made in the plants at which these powders were made that it was found that they could scarcely be operated profitably. The supply lines and power machinery had been so enlarged to suit war conditions that operation on such a comparatively insignificant output as the total requirements of sporting powders raised the cost of power, transportation and general maintenance to a point that brought down the profit to a very small margin. In order to meet the demands of the United States military authorities for an improved powder, a research laboratory was maintained which concentrated its efforts upon this problem. This work began in 1919 and has been pursued with vigor up to the present time. Some of the outstanding achievements have been the development of a powder which, coupled with improvements in bullet and cartridge for small arms, has resulted in the production of a very accurate single base rifle powder; the adoption by the Army of a flashless non-hygroscopic powder which gives satisfactory results; the manufacture of a satisfactory powder for the .50 caliber super-machine gun. The result of these e n d e a v o r s has enabled the duPont company to carry on its smokeless powder business without financial loss and to place itself in a position to manufacture in larger quantities when required to do so. Assistance has been rendered the Ordnance Department in making plans for future expan-

892

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

sion in case of war, and in the meantime sales of powder to other countries have enabled the Smokeless Powder Department to maintain a personnel and practice in the art of powdermaking that will be a nucleus of the greatest value in the event of national emergency. Before the war the duPont company maintained and operated three smokeless powder plants located at Parlin, Haskell and Carney's Point, all in New Jersey. Although these plants were seldom operated at full capacity, and it was recognized that concentration at one plant would be far more economical, these plants were operated separately at the express wish of the United States Government, it being considered desirable to have three separate manufacturing organizations so that expansion in time of national emergency could be quickly performed. The wisdom of this policy was demonstrated when the utmost effort was called for. However, after the war the Government did not renew this request because it was impossible to justify the manufacture of a supply of new powder sufficient to keep three plants going. Consequently all of the manufacturing facilities were concentrated at Carney's Point and the other two plants have been salvaged or put to other uses.

CHAPTER HERCULES POWDER

X. COMPANY

T

H E E. C. and the double-base brands of smokeless powders, which were an inheritance from the Lailin & Rand Powder Company, were turned over in 1912 by the U. S. Court to the new Hercules Powder Company. As the former Lailin & Rand plant at Haskell, New Jersey, was making more military than sporting powders and as it seemed to the best interest of the government to have the private manufacture of these military powders in the hands of one company, this plant was left in the hands of the duPont company. Since the Hercules Powder Company had no equipment to make smokeless powder, it became necessary to provide this, and the land of their dynamite plant at Kenvil, New Jersey 1 was used. Until the equipment was ready for use, the duPont company continued to make these powders, although they were sold through the Hercules Powder Company. In order to lessen the handicap of starting a new plant and of making an entirely new product, a number of experienced men were transferred from the Haskell plant. Edward Ancrum Whistler Everitt* (b. 1870), who had started his powder career with the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company and was then located at the Experimental Station of the duPont company near Wilmington, became ballistic engineer and smokeless powder experts at the new plant in February 1913. Bernhart Troxler (b. 1884), who 1 For further history of this plant see pp. 479-497. 2 E. A. W. Everitt was one of the pioneers of the Leonard Smokeless Powder Company and later became smokeless powder expert successively for the Lailin & Rand, duPont and Hercules companies.

894

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

had been assistant superintendent at Oakland and was then in charge of the ballistic laboratory at Haskell, was made assistant superintendent of the Kenvil plant in charge of smokeless powder operations in August of the same year. The original plans called for a daily capacity of 1,500 pounds of shotgun and rifle powder, but when the plant was completed, it was found that with certain changes in operation this could easily be increased to over 2,000 pounds a day. The nitroglycerine was furnished from the regular production of the dynamite plant, but on account of the small output it was decided that it would be more economical to purchase the nitrocellulose and, for a time, to have E . C. Powder made elsewhere on contract. After the World War, when the Hercules Powder Company had come in possession of a cotton nitrating plant, it began to make its own nitrocellulose for these powders as well as for gelatine dynamites (1919) and also built an E . C. plant in connection with the Kenvil Works (1923). The brands that thus became the property of this company were,—besides E . C.,—Bull's Eye, Infallible, W . A. .30 Caliber, Hi-Vel, Sharpshooter, Lightning, Unique, Bear, and Stag. These powders have always enjoyed an excellent reputation for accuracy and power. Bull's Eye is the service pistol powder, and Hi-Vel has been the standard powder in the National Rifle Matches for many years. The advent of the World W a r led the company to enlarge its powdermaking facilities so as to include military powders. Being experienced in the manufacture of double-base powders, it was natural that consideration should first be given to cordite, none of which was being made in the United States. The

CORDITE MANUFACTURE

895

Canadian explosives companies had started to manufacture it a few months after the beginning of the war, and therefore a committee of the Hercules Powder Company, consisting of T. W. Bacchus, the general manager; E. A. W. Everitt, ballistic engineer; and Bernhart Troxler, who was directly in charge of smokeless powder manufacture, went to make an inspection of the Beloeil plant of the Canadian Explosives Company. On their return the Kenvil smokeless plant was enlarged to make 12,000 pounds of cordite a day, for which a contract was made with the British Government. A number of improvements were incorporated into the design so that the powder could be made more quickly and cheaply. One of the most important of these was the dehydration of the nitrocellulose in place of the dangerous and costly method of drying in "stoves". It was found that dehydration was possible if the solubility of the guncotton was kept near the high limit (12%) permitted by the specifications. The next was a change in the cutting arrangements. The English and Canadian practice was to run the strands of powder, as they issued from the dies of a press, directly to a table where they were cut by hand. This resulted in a great deal of waste, as the strands would not come out at uniform speed and were apt to become tangled. Troxler conceived the idea of placing revolving tables directly under the dies, the tables being turned by the pressmen according to the speed of the powder. Slow-running strands would coil up near the centre of the tables, faster ones near the outside. When the press charge was run out, the table with the powder was transferred to another spindle and revolved in the opposite direction to take off the strands. These were placed on a cutting table, about 16 feet long, where they were cut

896

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

into the desired lengths. This resulted in an increase of 500 per cent in production with the same number of men. Later, following another suggestion of Troxler's the tables were replaced by a belt conveyor running at a speed slightly greater than that of the fastest running strand of powder. Thus the belt straightened out each strand of powder so that there was no tangling whatever. The belt ran directly underneath the cutting table to which the powder strands were transferred as soon as they reached the end of the belt. In this way, it became possible to use a 100-hole die instead of the 40-hole die used with the revolving tables, thus more than doubling production and reducing waste due to tangled and uneven lengths by 10 per cent. This also meant a saving in acetone which was a serious consideration at the time. Since cordite on account of its form (strings, 10" in length) could not be blended in barrels or towers in the same way as powders that were in the form of short cylinders, a new method of blending had to be devised. There were two sets of blending houses, seven houses in each set. Each house was 200 feet long and contained a gravity conveyor arranged in the form of an oval. In starting to blend, 182 empty boxes were placed on the conveyor and the powder was brought in on dry house trays. The operators stood along the line of the conveyor, each one spreading in each box as it passed him a handful (about one-third of a pound) of cordite, while the one next to him sorted out the strings that were in any way defective. This continued until the boxes were filled to about one inch from the top and each contained about 80 pounds. The filled boxes were then removed from the conveyor; one-seventh or 26 boxes were left in the house and of the remainder 26 boxes were placed in each

THE ACETONE SUPPLY

897

of the six other blending houses in the set. The powder from these six houses was distributed in the same way so that each house again held 182 boxes. These were placed on the conveyors in rotation as they came from the different blending houses and empty packing boxes were put alongside of each operator, who then took a handful or one-third of a pound from each box as it passed him and spread it out in the packing box. A sorter standing at his side picked out defective strings. When the case was full, it was sent on a conveyor to the adjoining packing house, where it was weighed and the lids screwed down. I n this way each lot of 100,000 pounds received an effective blending with comparatively little labor. The contract with the British Government provided that the acetone used in the manufacture of cordite should come from a source not hitherto available, so as to eliminate ruinous competition with the British agents who were buying American acetone for the powder factories in England, and that the company should in addition furnish the British Government an amount of acetone equal to that used by the Hercules company in the actual manufacture of the cordite. Acetone up to this time had been made from the acetate of lime produced in the destructive distillation of hardwood, but the supply of this raw material was limited and it was not feasible to increase it. I t was, therefore, decided to make use of the German or quick vinegar process, which had been in use since 1823, in gradually improved form, for the making of table vinegar but had scarcely found application for the production of commercial acetic acid, certainly not on any such scale as was necessary in this case. Grave doubts were expressed as to the possibility of increasing the size of the vinegar generators

898

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

beyond that used in the vinegar industry, but the Hercules Powder Company went ahead and induced the U. S. Industrial Alcohol Company (through a subsidiary, the Curtis Bay Chemical Co.) to undertake the actual work of erecting and operating such a plant at Curtis Bay, near Baltimore, Maryland. The engineers and chemists of the two companies combined their efforts and the result was a huge factory covering some 57 acres and employing 250 men. The vinegar plant alone occupied lOl/o acres and employed 60 men. On this area there were 1162 vinegar generators filled with beech shavings, all of which were under cover and had to be maintained at a uniform temperature. Of these 960 measured 10' in diameter and 18' high, the balance being 25' in diameter and 18' high. Of course, many difficulties were encountered before the plant was in successful operation, as the experience of vinegar makers with small generators could not be applied directly to the large units, and the interested companies called in Dr. Milton C. Whitaker, then Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University, to solve these problems, which he did with the assistance of such men as A. A. Backhaus, Carl Haner, F . C. Hettinger, and a large staff of research chemists. Eventually, the average daily output amounted to 220,000 gallons of vinegar of a strength of 5^2% acetic acid.1 Not satisfied with the prospect of acetone from this plant, the Hercules company also built a huge plant at San Diego, California, for p r o d u c i n g acetates through the fermentation of the giant kelps of the Pacific Ocean. While the primary object of this plant i After the war the plant was converted to the manufacture of a variety of solvents derived from alcohol and the by-products of alcoholic fermentation. It is now operated by the U. S. Industrial Chemical Company, a subsidiary of the U. S. Industrial Alcohol Co.

UNION POWDER ACQUIRED

899

was to produce acetone from these acetates, it also produced quantities of potash salts which were converted to potassium nitrate and used in the manufacture of military ignition powder (fine-grained black powder). Incidentally, the fermentation also produced a number of other fatty acids, such as propionic, butyric, valeric, and caproic, which had heretofore been somewhat of a rarity but which now found use in the form of esters as solvents for nitrocellulose and in medicine, the valeric salts being especially useful for shell shock. With the close of the war the demand for acetone slackened and the prices paid for potash returned to normal levels. Under these conditions it become unprofitable to operate the San Diego plant and it was dismantled in 1920. In October 1915 the company acquired by purchase the plant of the Union Powder Corporation at Gillespie, Middlesex County, New Jersey, which had been built that year and had just gone into production. The operating organization, headed by Hugo Schlatter as superintendent and Joseph S. Marx as assistant superintendent, was retained. The company proceeded immediately to enlarge the plant and introduce certain improvements. For this purpose, C. A. Murphy, works engineer at Kenvil, was transferred as chief engineer to Union. A new nitrating house of the mechanical dipper type was built, the power house enlarged, and other additions made. Ultimately this plant was increased to a capacity of 70,000 pounds a day, but at the end of the war the smokeless equipment was dismantled. The nitrating plant is still in operation, making nitrocellulose for the company's requirements for smokeless powder and gelatine dynamite, and soluble cotton for lacquer, artificial leather, paint and celluloid.

900

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The greatly increased output of cordite resulting from the improvements in the cutting arrangements made it possible to utilize a number of buildings at Kenvil that had been intended for cordite manufacture, for the making of nitrocellulose or "pyro" powders. Additional machinery was, therefore, installed in these buildings and the manufacture of these powders started, at first for the Russian, later for the British Government. When the United States entered the war, the demand for cordite had practically ceased—the last contract was completed in July 1917—but the demand for pyro powders increased tremendously. Work was begun, to convert all the cordite lines to the manufacture of the pyro powders, principally for field cannon. In this construction a number of changes were made from the equipment in use at other plants. Mixing and pressing remained virtually the same, but instead of the car type of solvent recovery, which required a large acreage and expensive equipment, a type of large cans, each holding several thousand pounds of powder, was erected, in which both solvent recovery and water drying treatment were given. This proved very successful. A similar arrangement was later installed by the War Department at Nitro, except that here it was used only for solvent recovery. For final drying, the dryers used for grain drying were adapted, so that the powder in its downward path over inclined shelves met a current of warm air. Instead of expensive and somewhat dangerous blending towers, a blending house of medium height was erected in which the powder as it came from the dryers was distributed in twelve large bins with bottom outlets. Underneath the spouts, which converged to one point, a large hopper was mounted on scales. After the bins were filled,

PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

901

one operator was able to draw, without moving from his position, from each bin in turn equal amounts of powder into the scale hopper. Each hopperful received further blending as it was drawn off into the packing boxes. A very important development, which cut the time of powder drying materially below that required in water drying and also gave better and easier recovery of solvents, came in 1918, too late to be generally adopted but of incalculable value if the conflict had continued longer. William F. Nash found that a comparatively weak alcohol would displace the ether in the powder in the course of a few hours and that the remaining alcohol could be quickly and easily washed out with water. The Hercules Powder Company, although it patented the process, gave it to the Government for free use in all smokeless powder plants, whether public or private, where powder for the allied or associated powers was being made. At the time of the Armistice a small unit making use of this process was in operation at Kenvil and others were under construction at Carney's Point and Nitro. The Secretary of War recognized the value of this invention, as is evidenced by letters he sent to the inventor and to the Hercules Powder Company. In addition to the cannon powder mentioned, the Hercules Powder Company produced nearly three million pounds of small arms powders of double base, progressive and pyro types for military purposes. The experimental work carried on in connection with this led to the development by H. H . Champney of a smokeless substitute for the black ignition powder used as a primer for cannon powder. The use of double base powders in the ammunition for Stokes Trench Mortars also led Hugo Schlatter of the com-

902 THE E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y pany to suggest that the containers for this could be made more quickly and economically by the use of a knitted tube which could be turned out in endless lengths, instead of the individually sewed bags made of silk cloth. The scarcity of acetone, besides embarking the company in its manufacture, also caused them to seek for improved methods of recovery for this valuable solvent. It was found that absorption by means of water was the most satisfactory way of accomplishing this, being cheaper and more efficient than the bisulphite method used by the British. The working out of this problem was due to C. A. Lambert and his assistants. The powder program, after the United States entered the war, required, as previously stated, greatly increased deliveries. It was for this reason that the War Department decided to build the two immense smokeless powder plants of its own, the one at Old Hickory (near Nashville, Tenn.) to be built and operated by the duPont company, the other at Nitro (near Charleston, W . Va.) to be built under contract by the Bureau of Ordnance and to be operated by the Hercules Powder Company. Although this company's staff of technical men was none too large, it cheerfully undertook this huge task. Chemists, engineers, and others were immediately engaged and placed in training for their new work at the company's existing plants at Union and Kenvil. The result was that when the contractors turned over the first unit of 125,000 pounds daily capacity, the force to operate it was ready. Leavitt N. Bent,1 the resident manager for the Hercules Powder Company, and his assistants, as well i Leayitt N. Bent in 1907 became chemist and later superintendent of the Independent Powder Company. He was manager of the kelp plant at San Diego before going to the Nitro plant. He is now assistant general manager of the Hercules company. See also note p. 581.

NITRO PLANT

903

as some of the technical men from the home office, were on the ground from the time of the contract to operate the plant was signed, giving valuable assistance to the designers and builders.1 The achievement of the Hercules Powder Company in turning out over one hundred million pounds of military smokeless powders during the war assumes greater proportions when it is realized that this company had never made any cannon powders, that its sporting powder experience was barely one year old, and that its technical men who had had experience in smokeless powder before the war, including those acquired through the purchase of the Union Powder Corporation, numbered less than a dozen. The success of this work was largely due to the inspiring leadership of the company's general manager, Thomas W . Bacchus, who was able to weld the heterogeneous elements that came to his hand into a smoothly working organization. Altogether, the company produced during this period over 46,000,000 pounds of cordite, 3,000,000 pounds of small arms powder, and over 54,000,000 pounds of nitrocellulose cannon powder; a total of over 100,000,000 pounds of smokeless powder. 1

The Nitro plant is considered more in detail on p. 839.

CHAPTER MISCELLANEOUS

XI.

WAR

DEVELOP-

MENTS

W

I T H the beginning of the World War, the belligerents turned to the United States to supplement their own facilities for the manufacture of military explosives, as England and Russia had done during the Crimean W a r . A t first they ordered only guncotton, but before long they began to place contracts for smokeless powder and other explosives in ever increasing quantities. I t was natural that they should approach the established powder companies first. The duPont company took orders for guncotton, followed by orders for smokeless powder, T N T , t e t r y l , etc., for Russia, France, and later for England. The Hercules Powder Company began to make cordite for the British and T N T for others. An account of their war work is given in the chapters dealing with these companies. F o r their supply of guncotton, they also turned to other concerns that were equipped to make it, but had heretofore made only nitrocellulose of the soluble varieties for lacquers and artificial leather. T h e CELLULOID ZAPON COMPANY of

Stamford,

Connecticut, had made before the war large quantities of nitrocotton for some of the smaller explosives companies, besides their own requirements for artificial leather and lacquers, and was the first to receive a guncotton contract (October 1914) from the British Admiralty through C. Tennant Sons & Co. of London. This initial order for 35 tons was successfully filled inside of three months with the equipment on hand,

O'BANNON CORPORATION

905

although the previous output of the plant had hardly been more than 20,000 pounds of soluble nitrocotton a month. This was followed by a contract with the French Government (through Butterworth & Judson) for 600 tons, a contract for 1000 tons with the British Admiralty, negotiated directly by Commodore Leonard Richards, the president of the company, and another with the Spanish Government for 300 tons. The plant, under the superintendency of Edward D. Williams and with Hugo Schlatter, former chemist of the Naval Powder Factory, directly in charge of the nitrocellulose department, was enlarged until it was able to turn out 20,000 pounds a day. The original nitrating equipment, which c o n s i s t e d of pots mounted on a turntable, a very satisfactory arrangement for long time nitration, was changed to centrifugals, and later, when the Atlas Powder Company acquired the property (1917), to the mechanical dipper system. Instead of following the slow and somewhat uncertain English method of adding lime in the form of saturated lime water, it was added as calcium chloride solution and precipitated with soda, which gave excellent results and permitted very close control of the lime content. During the last year of the war the company made pyrocellulose for smokeless powder for the United States Government. The O ' B A N N O N C O R P O R A T I O N of West Barrington, Rhode Island, likewise manufacturers of artificial leather, obtained a contract for 120 tons of guncotton from the Republic of France (through Butterworth & Judson) towards the end of 1914. To fill this contract, centrifugal nitrators were installed at West Barrington.

906

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

A subsidiary company, the Nonnabo Chemical Company, secured a contract for 3,450,000 pounds of guncotton from Russia early in 1915 and built a large nitrating plant at Phillipsdale, Rhode Island. Later in 1915 another contract was made with Russia for an additional 5,500,000 pounds. This plant used a system of mechanical dipping. In July 1916 a disastrous fire, probably caused by a stroke of lightning, destroyed the nitrating building. This caused a delay of about two months, but in the latter part of September the damage had been repaired, and the contracts with Russia were completed in January 1917. As no further contracts were offered, the Nonnabo Chemical Company sold their entire guncotton machinery and equipment to the Russian Government. Before doing so, however, they offered the plant to the United States, as this country had in the meantime declared war. The officers consulted saw no reason for holding up the sale, and so the machinery was dismantled and loaded on cars for shipment. Whether it ever reached Russia and what became of it is unknown. The buildings were then used for dyeing and finishing operations until March 1918 when the War Department at the suggestion of J. T. Skelly (see p. 908) gave the company a contract for 18,000,000 pounds of pyrocellulose. A system of mechanical dipping similar to that formerly in use here was installed, and by summer the plant was ready to turn out this material in the quantities required by the contract. Operations continued until shortly after the Armistice, when the balance of the contract was cancelled. The men directly connected with this phase of the company's work were Richard LeBaron Bowen, vice-

O T H E R N I T R O C E L L U L O S E M A K E R S 907 president and general manager; Urban F . O'Brien, his assistant; Paul S. Smith, chief chemist; and Frank B. Barstow, superintendent. M A A S & W A L D S T E I N of Newark, New Jersey, also had experience in nitrating cotton for the manufacture of lacquers. Being located on the meadows beside the acid works of Butterworth & Judson, they were in a favorable position to undertake the manufacture of a portion of the guncotton contract secured from France by the latter firm, the rest having been sublet to the Celluloid Zapon Company and the O'Bannon Corporation. New companies also entered the field, among them the NITRATED PRODUCTS C O M P A N Y of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, which was organized by Raymond Pynchon & Company, bankers of New York, to carry out a contract for 2,000,000 pounds of military guncotton for the French Government, which had been secured by Robert Grinnell, formerly a chemist at the Aetna (Indiana) dynamite plant. After a serious fire, which destroyed a part of the plant and severely injured a number of men, the plant was taken over by the Atlas Powder Company, to whom considerable sums *of money were due for acids furnished by them. The Atlas company completed the contracts on the books and then shut down the plant. The A M E R I C A N H I G H EXPLOSIVES C O M P A N Y also made about 300 tons of military guncotton for the French Government during 1915 and 1916. L E W I S N I X O N , then Commissioner of Public Works of New York, who had been one of the organizers and the first president of the old International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite Company, built a guncotton 1 See p. 62T.

908

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

plant near Metuchen, New Jersey, to fill a contract from the British Government. The choice of location was due to the fact that the site had previously been occupied by another powder company, the Praeposite Company. Such previous use is like a press franchise for a newspaper and saves much possible annoyance from nearby residents. The contract called for deliveries in 100 days, and the plant was completed and running in that time. After filling a number of guncotton contracts, the plant made pyrocellulose for the account of O'Brien Munitions, Ltd. 1 During 1918 pyrocellulose was also made for the United States. After the war the plant was converted into a celluloid factory, under the management of Stanhope Nixon. George H . Murray, formerly a chemist at the Naval Powder Factory, was chief chemist of the works during this entire period. A portion of the land was also used for the manufacture of military pyrotechnics for the United States Army. After the United States entered the war, the demand for guncotton ceased almost entirely, while the demand for smokeless powder increased enormously. J . T. Skelly, vice-president of the Hercules Powder Company, therefore suggested to the W a r Department that the facilities of the guncotton plants just described be made use of to produce pyrocellulose instead of building additional nitrating units in connection with enlarged powder plants. This suggestion was adopted, and the pyrocellulose made at these places was converted into smokeless powder at the Hercules Powder Company's plant at Kenvil, New Jersey, thus saving the Government a considerable sum of money and time. 1 See p. 9X5.

A E T N A E X P L O S I V E S C O M P A N Y 909 The field of smokeless powder also attracted new capital. The A E T N A E X P L O S I V E S C O M P A N Y , (incorporated November 25, 1914), a consolidation of a number of dynamite and black powder companies which had had no previous experience in this line, built several plants to make this material and other military explosives.1 Construction was started on January 1, 1915, on what became known as the Howard plant at Emporium, Pennsylvania. The original design was largely the work of W. C. Peyton, formerly of the California Powder Works (see p. 844), although D. E. Fogg assisted him in the design of the acid plants. While the plant was going up experimental work on cotton nitration, powder graining and drying was carried on at the Keystone dynamite plant of the company near Emporium by C. H. Cordie under the direction of Peyton and Fogg. Operations were begun about the middle of May. Nitration was carried out in small crocks holding two pounds of cotton and 50 pounds of mixed acid. After dipping, the crocks were carried to an open platform and allowed to digest for 2 hours, when they were wheeled back into the wringer shed and the spent acid wrung out in centrifugal machines that held the contents of four crocks. With this method it was difficult to obtain uniform nitration, since the crocks were exposed to the sun or the rain, the former raising the temperature too much and the latter causing "fires" or fume-offs. Accordingly shed roofs were erected over the platforms, the size of the pots was increased to hold eight pounds of cotton and 320 pounds of acid, and the composition of the acid changed to permit a reduction of the nitrati These operations were carried on through a subsidiary, the Aetna Chemical Company of Maine. The name originally proposed for this subsidiary was Aetna Smokeless Powder Company.

910

T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

ing time to 20 or 30 minutes. The powder mixers were smaller than the usual type, holding only 40 pounds of dehydrated pyro, the blocking presses were arranged directly under the mixers, two presses to each mixer, so that the entire charge could be blocked as soon as it was discharged from the mixer. The time of mixing was only ten minutes and the blocking pressure 1300 lbs. per sq. in. The system of water drying differed from that in use at the duPont plants in that the water was heated in a separate tank and circulated through the powder by means of a pump. This method, although it was condemned by some of the older powder men, proved its worth as it was absolutely safe and made it impossible for the powder to become overheated if by accident the water should leak away from the tank, since there were no steam pipes with which the powder could come in contact. A similar system was later adopted by all the powder companies and the government plants. Arthur Wass, who had previously been foreman of the Army Powder Factory at Picatinny Arsenal, was largely responsible for the quick development of manufacture. He was the first superintendent of the Howard plant and was transferred to New York in October 1915 to act as general technical adviser to all of the Aetna company's munitions plants. He later assisted in the design, construction and operation of the plant of the Imperial Munitions Board at Trenton, Ontario, and after our entry into the war was largely responsible, as a Colonel of Ordnance, for the design of the Nitro plant (see p. 840) The Howard plant was first intended for a produci Wass was succeeded as superintendent at Emporium by Dr. Rutishauser, followed by J. L. K. Snyder early in 1916, and by C. H. Cordie in April 1917 who remained in charge until the plant was dis-

AETNA

PLANTS

911

tion of only 5,000 pounds a day, but this was almost immediately increased to 25,000 pounds and towards the end of the war it was actually producing about 30,000 pounds a day. The Howard plant also had a nitric acid plant of sufficient to supply the smokless powder as well as the picric acid operations1 and a sulphuric acid concentrating plant to take care of the spent acids. The production was mostly 75 mm. powder for the French Government, although small quantities were also made for the Russian, Rumanian and Spanish governments, until April, 1917, when the entire capacity of the plant was turned over to the manufacture of powder for the United States Army. The dynamite plant of the old Aetna Powder Company2 at Aetna, Indiana, which had been abandoned on account of the proximity of the town of Gary, was converted into a guncotton plant early in the war. A second smokeless powder plant was erected by the Aetna company on Silverford Farm, near Mount Union, Pennsylvania, soon after the Howard plant began production. This plant was very similar to the latter, but had a capacity of 50,000 pounds a day.3 Through the Aetna Chemical Company, Ltd., of Canada, a subsidiary, a third plant was built late in 1915 at Drummondsville, Quebec, with a capacity of 50,000 pounds a day. The plant started operating in March 1916, and its maximum production of 1,500,000 pounds a month was reached in December 1918. The plant also had a chamber sulphuric acid plant in addition to the usual smokeless powder equipment/ mantled in 1919. 2 i See p. 942. See pp. 545-548. 3 Superintendents at Silverford were in succession J. F. White, J. L. K. Snyder and B. R. Young. * Howard M. Van Gelder was the engineer in charge of construction for the contractors, Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Company of New York. The superintendents were A. Stanley Fox, A. W. Phillips and R. A. Lockerby.

912

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

After the war this plant was sold. The technical direction of the company's munitions manufacture was in the hands of Colonel Odus C. Horney, who had previously been commanding officer at the Army Smokeless Powder Factory at Picatinny Arsenal. The company maintained a research laboratory in New York under the direction of Dr. C. G. Storm, formerly assistant chemist of the Naval Powder Factory and the Bureau of Mines. In June 1917, after Dr. Storm had entered the military service as a Major (later Lieut. Col.) of Ordnance, the research laboratory was transferred to Emporium and put under the direction of C. H . Cordie. The management of the company until 1917 was in the hands of Egbert Moxham, who was then succeeded by H . L . Wollenberg. During the last two years of the war C. A. Bigelow was assistant general manager in direct charge of the munition plants. Early in the war the Canadian Car & Foundry Company obtained a contract for a lot of assembled ammunition for the Russian 3" field gun. They prevailed on the T. A. Gillespie Company, engineers and contractors of New York, who held a sub-contract for 3" shells, to make the powder for them. Accordingly the U N I O N P O W D E R C O R P O R A T I O N (of Virginia) was formed with the Gillespies and the officers of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York as the principal stockholders. John Bermingham, Jr., formerly superintendent of the Hercules plant of the duPont company (see p. 506), became vice-president in charge of operations and Hugo Schlatter, who had been chief chemist of the Naval Powder Factory and was then making guncotton for the Celluloid Zapon Co., was engaged

U N I O N P O W D E R C O R P O R A T I O N 913 as plant manager and expert adviser to the engineers. Ground was broken on May 13,1915, on a piece of land adjoining the duPont plant at Parlin, New Jersey, and the first cotton was nitrated on July 4. Various delays in the receipt of powder presses and mixers made it impossible to granulate powder until the middle of August. The original contract called for 1,600,000 pounds but this was increased to 3,100,000 pounds before the plant was completed. The plant was designed for a capacity of 25,000 pounds a day. As experienced men were scarce, the force was recruited from various parts of the country. Bermingham brought a number of men with him who had made smokeless powder in the nineties at Santa Cruz, among them Charlie Craighill, who became foreman of the powder line. Schlatter recruited a few pivotal men from the Naval Powder Factory. The superintendent of construction, W . C. Cram, Jr., came from the South and later went to Canada to build a powder plant at Renfrew. The chemist, C. A. Higgins, was an Englishman. The three shifts in the nitrating house were respectively Italian, Polish and colored, and the colored men, with the advantage of better comprehension of the language, turned out more work and with a better spirit than any of the others. The plant did not differ greatly from other powder plants, except that a water drying system somewhat similar to that in use at the Aetna plants was installed, in which the temperature was regulated by the admission of cold water to the pipes before they entered the powder tanks, thus also providing for a gradual change of the water. The blending tower was equipped with a bucket conveyor for carrying the powder to the top hopper, making it unnecessary for any men to work above the

914

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

ground floor of the building. Several million pounds of powder that met all stability requirements were made with a modified poacher treatment in which the number as well as the length of the boiling treatments was reduced. When the first powder was tested at the plant, an incident occurred that might have had serious consequences, but in the end provided a lot of amusement. The ballistic range pointed towards a low hill at the foot of which a butt had been constructed. The gunner had sighted his 3" field gun for this butt and was waiting for the signal to fire, which was delayed owing to some trouble with the electrical connections of the chronograph. While he was standing by, the superintendent of a neighboring shell loading plant appeared with his father, a Civil War veteran, who was very much interested in the gun and its workings. He started to tell of some of his own war experiences and suddenly asked the gunner, who was a member of the field artillery, National Guard of New York, what he would do if he saw the enemy coming over the hill. The gunner explained, but the veteran was not satisfied until the gunner actually elevated the gun to point at the imaginary enemy. Just then the signal to fire came from the chronograph house, and the gunner in the excitement of firing his first shot pulled the lanyard, forgetting that the gun pointed, not at the butt, but at the brow of the hill., As a result, the shot never struck anything but the first screen, much to the surprise of the chronograph operator, and sailed calmly over the hill, landing a few miles away, not far from a farm house, where it plowed a shallow furrow in the ground and scared the farmer's wife half to death. In October 1915 the entire capital stock of the

CANADIAN COMPANIES

915

Union Powder Corporation was sold to the Hercules Powder Company, which took over the plant with the manager and the entire working force and greatly enlarged its facilities. H u g o Schlatter remained in charge until February 1917 when he was transferred to the company's home office to supervise the manufacture of smokeless powder generally.1 The W E S T E R N CARTRIDGE C O M P A N Y of Springfield, Illinois, had secured a contract for Russian 7.62 mm. rifle ammunition, but was uncertain whether it could obtain the powder to load these cartridges. They therefore built a small plant for the production of small arms smokeless powder. CANADIAN COMPANIES

During the war a number of smokeless powder factories were also started in Canada. The Canadian Explosives, Limited, converted their dynamite plant at Nobel, Ontario, to the manufacture of cordite in 1915. A little later the British Government erected a cordite plant just across the river from the former. The British Chemical Company manufactured nitrocellulose powder at Trenton, Ontario. In 1915 also the O'Brien Munitions, Limited, started the erection of a similar plant at Renfrew, Ontario. W . C. Cram, Jr., who had been superintendent of construction of the Union Powder Corporation and had received his first training in smokeless powder at their plant, constructed and operated this plant. WAR

SURPLUS

The vast stores of smokeless powder left over after • John S. Shaw, who had been acid superintendent at Hercules works, succeeded Schlatter until June 1918 when he was made assistant manager of the Nitro plant and Joseph S. Marx, who had been assistant superintendent of this plant and was then superintendent at Bacchus,

916

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

the signing of the Armistice presented quite a problem, as they were much in excess of any quantity that could be utilized in target practice during years of peace. Since smokeless powder as such is not an explosive, it could not be diverted to commercial use, as could be done with T N T , picric acid or black powder. However, after it is ground to a fine powder and mixed with oxidizing substances and some nitroglycerine or T N T , it can be detonated with a commercial blasting cap. The duPont company placed on the market such an explosive under the name of Dumorite, and the Government has recently placed an order with the same company for 100,000,000 pounds1 of Pyrotol for which the Government will furnish excess smokeless powder. This explosive is to be used in the construction of public highways and for land clearing. Utah, assumed charge. i After the big Are at Old Hickory Plant (see p. 841) this order was reduced to 67,000,000 pounds.

CHAPTER

XII.

P I C R A T E AND C H L O R A T E GUNPOWDERS PICRATE GUNPOWDERS

T

H E first picrate powder in the United States, which was not, however, intended for a propellent, but for a bursting charge for spar and other torpedoes, was made experimentally about 1874 by Walter N. Hill, chemist at the Naval Torpedo Station. It was similar to Brugere's and Abel's consisting of ammonium picrate and saltpeter, to which was added, however, a small quantity of charcoal to give it the necessary cohesiveness so that it could be granulated in the same manner as black powder. Hill states that this powder had a good grain and was less hygroscopic than gunpowder. About the year 1 8 9 0 the U N I T E D S T A T E S S M O K E L E S S P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was organized by Samuel Rodgers, an English physician practicing in San Francisco. Rodgers had been experimenting with explosives for some years in a laboratory located near a quarry in Visitation Valley in South San Francisco. In 1892 he was granted U.S.Pat.No.478,366 for an explosive consisting of four parts of ammonium picrate, six parts of ammonium nitrate and six parts of nitroglycerine. This powder was intended more particularly for military uses. In 1891 Rodgers made overtures to the Safety Nitro Powder Company to manufacture his powder for blasting purposes, but was not successful, as it proved to be unsuitable for such use. When this company was merged with the Giant Powder Company ( 1 8 9 2 ) Rodger's company, which was composed of some of the wealthiest men in the state

918

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

of California, entered into an agreement with Eric A. Starke, the former superintendent of the Safety Nitro Powder Company, to manufacture explosives for both blasting and ordnance. In spite of Starke's objections, the directors decided to go ahead with military and sporting powders in preference to commercial powders, and a semi-commercial plant was erected near San Rafael, on the McAllister ranch. As Rodgers' powder had proved unsatisfactory on account of its hygroscopic character, the composition was changed according to patents (513,737 and 527,563 of 1894) granted to Eric A. Starke, which covered a mixture of 55% ammonium picrate, 25% sodium or potassium picrate and 20% ammonium bichromate. As it was found to be too difficult to pulverize potassium picrate, the highly pulverized ammonium picrate was mixed with a concentrated solution of potassium bichromate in the proper proportions. A transposition took place which resulted in the formation of potassium picrate and ammonium bichromate in microscopic crystals. The mixing was done in a chile mill with wheels weighing a ton each. This dope was then taken to a wooden graining barrel capable of holding several tons of powder. This was slowly revolved for about an hour with the addition of a small quantity of water to the powder and the charge was taken out, dried and screened to uniform size. Grains larger and smaller than desired were returned to the next charge in the chile mill. The sifted grains were then thoroughly dried and coated with a certain percentage of picric acid or dinitrotoluene. This coating with "tamers", as these compounds were called, was very necessary, as it made the grains smooth and hard, increased their stability, and made it possible to vary the ballistics. While the product of this company,

GOLD DUST POWDER

919

known as "Gold Dust Powder", was not very successful, the work done by Starke on these "tamers" had important results for the petroleum industry of California. While he was searching for aromatic hydrocarbons in California petroleum, he discovered a method for refining it to the Eastern standard, which up to that time had not been accomplished. H e isolated a number of such hydrocarbons, made aniline, various dyes, and trinitrotoluene, which latter he submitted to Frank Roller of the Giant Powder Company who turned it down as being too inert and too soluble in nitroglycerine. This work led to Starke's entering the employ of the Pacific Refining Company (later Standard Oil Company) and the installation of his process at their refinery at Richmond, California, although he retained his connection with the powder company as consulting chemist. Edward H . Ford, who had been foreman of the black powder mills of the California Powder Works at Santa Cruz, succeeded him as superintendent. For a time Gold Dust Powder enjoyed a fair market and was loaded by the principal ammunition companies but its competition seems to have caused the other powder companies little concern, as it was limited to the scope of a semi-smokeless powder, cheaper than smokeless. I t was a dense powder which made overloading possible, and this caused the bursting of several guns. Furthermore, it gave off a very disagreeable odor on firing, which did not increase its popularity. In 1898 the plant was destroyed by a disastrous explosion, and the company went out of business. I t could not have existed much longer anyway, as its only source of revenue came from such a limited production of a single powder. As it was a California corporation, its stock was assessable and it was as-

920

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

sessed many times. A former employee of the United States Smokeless Powder Company by the name of Francis A. Halsey, who had left a few years before the closing down of the plant, had experimented with various picrate mixtures with potassium permanganate as an additional ingredient and had taken out a number of patents.1 He interested ex-Congressman William Kent of California in his inventions, and the latter prevailed on Ford, after the explosion at San Rafael in 1898, to come East and organize with him the E C O N O M I C S M O K E L E S S P O W D E E C O M P A N Y of Illinois for the purpose of exploiting Halsey's patents. Ford became secretary of the new concern, built a plant at Hessville, Indiana, and remained as superintendent. He modified Halsey's formulas2 and placed "Velox" powder on the market, but it had the same limitations as "Gold Dust", and the company went out of business in 1901 after paying all its debts and with but a small loss to the investors. Halsey continued his experiments and later joined forces with Edward Dickson in the Robin Hood Powder Company of Swanton, Vermont. Dickson had patented in 18963 a powder consisting of barium nitrate, potassium chlorate, picric acid, "liquid ammonia", potassium ferrocyanide and flour, and had made some of this powder for the James H. Ashdown 1 Halsey patents

Nos. 568,902 570,705 596,824 625,499 1896 1896 1897 1899 Ammonium Picrate 50 68 50 47 Sr or Ba Nitrate 28 — 20 30 Potassium Bichromate 20 25 12 23 Potassium Permanganate 7 7 5 — K or Na Silicate — — 13 — 2 U. S. Patent No. 675,472, E. H. Ford, covers a mixture of ammonium picrate and barium nitrate in equal parts, to 100 parts of which mixture may be added 15 parts of picric acid. s U. S. Patent No. 567,536.

T H E ROBIN HOOD COMPANIES

921

Company, hardware merchants of Winnipeg, Canada. Sir William Van Horn and Sir George C. Stevens of Montreal and ex-Governor E . C. Smith and A. S. Richardson of St. Albans, Vermont, subsequently took over the Ashdown company's interests and formed the Robin Hood Powder Company. A factory was erected at S wanton, Vermont, to manufacture the powder under Dickson's direction as superintendent. N. P. Leach was made general manager, but was succeeded in a short time by A. S. Richardson. After operations at Swanton had started Dickson patented a similar powder1 in which he used ammonium picrate instead of picric acid and liquid ammonia. After graining, this powder was coated with petroleum which had been successively treated with nitric acid, sulphuric acid and ammonia. Owing to the limited demand for bulk sporting powder the company was forced into the manufacture of cartridges to secure a larger outlet, and about 1900 they employed Charles G. Worthen, formerly with the Creedmore Cartridge Company of Akron, Ohio, as superintendent of that department. About 1906 the company was reorganized under the name of T H E R O B I N H O O D A M M U N I T I O N C O M P A N Y by the larger interests owned by Sir Wm. Van Horn, E. C. Smith and W . B. Fonda. Charles E. Schoff, now president of the Franklin County Bank of St. Albans, was made general manager and treasurer; E. T. Bradley, secretary and sales manager; and H . J. Hurd, superintendent. H . M. Bell, formerly with the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, was the ballistic engineer. Hurd was succeeded in 1910 by Charles C. White, who had been plant superintendent of the Western Cartridge Company and is i U. S. Pat. No. 678,360 of July 16, 1901.

922

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

now general manager of the Illinois Powder Manufacturing Company (q.v.). In 1915 the Robin Hood Ammunition Company was sold to the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, and the manufacture of powder was discontinued. Halsey died a few years later at his home in Swanton. The "Peyton" powder of the California Powder Works, which was used by the United States Army in the nineties, contained small amounts of ammonium picrate, but consisted mainly of nitroglycerine and guncotton. Later the Army adopted ammonium picrate as a bursting charge for shells under the name of E x plosive " D " after Colonel W . B. Dunn, its proponent. As a constituent of rifle and shotgun powders, it has been entirely abandoned. CHLOEATE GUNPOWDER8

Chlorate gunpowders of various compositions have been proposed and patented from some time before the Civil W a r to the present. Besides potassium chlorate, they contained almost anything that might be found around the house or laboratory, such as charcoal, coal, sawdust, coffee grounds, sugar, alum, corn oil, linseed oil, ground bark, charred sea weed, etc. The socalled white gunpowder was a mixture of about 49 parts of potassium chlorate, 28 parts of yellow prussiate of potash, and 23 parts of sugar. Often these mixtures were made locally by the inventor in kitchen or woodshed until an explosion in making them or the bursting of a gun would put an end if not to the life of the maker, at least to the reputation and sale of the powder in the neighborhood. One of these formulas was sold by mail at a price ranging from $20 down to $1, depending on

CHLORATE GUNPOWDERS

923

how long one resisted the advertising appeal, by an inventor who explained the low price he was asking for his valuable invention and his insistence by saying that the powder companies had treated him badly and that he wanted to hurt them as much as he could by starting small powder companies all over the country. The process, he claimed, was very simple, and the ingredients, outside of the chlorate, could be found in any pantry. I t consisted of 256 parts sugar and 1 part alum dissolved in a liquid obtained by boiling 16 parts of coffee in 320 parts water. Into this solution he stirred 320 parts of potassium chlorate, and then added 8 parts alcohol and 1 part sulphur. In 1907 M. A. B. Himalaya of Washington patented (No. 853,085) a smokeless powder consisting principally of potassium chlorate, starch, and a drying oil, such as linseed oil, to which might be added manganese dioxide, nitroglycerine, xyloidine, pyroxyline, or a picrate for increasing its explosive strength. This powder found no commercial use. In this connection may also be mentioned a freak smokeless powder patented in 1889 (No. 418,552) which consisted of moist mercury fulminate, powdered soapstone (talc), and a gum solution or black powder as a binder.

CHAPTER

XIII.

BRAZILIAN AND MEXICAN FACTORIES SMOKELESS POWDER TRENDS

W

H I L E smokeless powder was made in considerable quantities in Canada during the war,1 the only American factories outside of the United States are a small plant at Piquete, State of San Paulo, Brazil, and one at Santa Fe, Mexico. The former was erected by the duPont company in 1907-8 for the Brazilian Government. The work was in charge of Leo J . Bierwirth as resident engineer8 and the first smokeless powder was produced in March 1909. This plant was built for a capacity of 500 kilograms of double base and 500 kilograms of single base smokeless powder per 24 hours, and was complete with auxiliary units for production of sulphuric and nitric acids, ether and acetone, as well as for purifying and refining or regaining, cotton, glycerine and alcohol. Less is known about the Mexican factory. The reported capacity was 500 kilograms per 24 hours and it is understood to have received some assistance from chemists trained in Germany. The degree of smokelessness of present powders is satisfactory, but the ordinary powders, both double and single base, produce a muzzle flash due to the ignition of the combustion gases as they come in con» See pp. 710,911,915. 2 Other assistants and advisors from the United States were H. E . Wright, assistant engineer 1907-9; G. M. Norman (acid factories) 1908; Theodore Baker (solvents and glycerine) 1909-11; C. F. Burnside (smokeless expert) 1910; A. S. O'Neill (chemist) 1909-10; Herbert Johnson (chemist) 1910-11; F. W. Bradway (chemist) 1911-12; W. B. Angle (chemist) 1912-16.

U. S. F L A S H L E S S C O M P A N Y

925

tact with air, and this is apt to betray the position of the battery at night. This flash must be eliminated, and experiments toward that end were started by the Ordnance Department in 1915. Further, the process of making smokeless powder takes too long a time, although it has been materially shortened—from months to weeks—by the adoption of water-drying, and still more by alcohol-drying; but the ideal is a powder that will be ready as soon as it leaves the cutters. Much development work has been done along these lines since the close of the war, particularly at the Army Powder Factory. Results have been very encouraging, and the Ordnance Department is also hopeful of being able to produce a smokeless powder that will be flashless and nonhygroscopic for all but the larger calibers of guns, and even for these the problem is not regarded as impossible. One such flashless and smokeless powder has recently been developed by Ernest duPont, and this powder has been adopted by the U. S. Navy for use in certain guns. A company known as the U . S . F L A S H L E S S P O W D E R C O M P A N Y of Delaware was organized in 1919 by Ernest duPont1 and his associates primarily to carry on experimental work along these lines. The company operates a small factory at Carrcroft, Delaware, a few miles from Wilmington, and the Atlas Powder Company now owns a controlling interest in it. ' Ernest duPont, a son of Francis G. duPont, formerly served in various departments of the duPont company for a period of ten years. In 1926 the officials of the U. S. Flashless Powder Company were: Ernest duPont, president; Francis I. duPont, vice-president; and C. A. Tripp, secretary and treasurer.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART V. MILITARY EXPLOSIVES

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA P A R T V. MILITARY EXPLOSIVES

C H A P T E R I. MILITARY EXPLOSIVES

N

E A R L Y every kind of commercial explosive has probably been used at one time or another for military purposes. The War Department especially has used large quantities of black powder, Rack-a-rock, dynamite, etc., for river and harbor improvements, in the construction of the Panama Canal, and for demolition work of various kinds. The military explosives to be treated in this section, however, are more particularly those that have been used or tried for shell, torpedo and mine charges. While a great variety of substances have been proposed for these purposes, only a few have been adopted for regular use. The earliest, of course, was black powder, which was also used as a propellent. We have seen1 that gunpowder was used as early as the first half of the 15th century for blowing up the walls of fortifications and for land mines generally. Even today considerable amounts are still used for shrapnel,2 where nothing more is required than the projecting of the shrapnel balls from the shell. A further use for black powder is found in the ignition elements of smokeless powder propellent charges, although a smokeless igniter was developed during the recent war.3 The 1 See p. 11. 2 Invented by Lieut, (late Lieut.-Gen.) Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842) s in 1784. See p. 901.

930

T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

black powder used for these purposes is made with potassium nitrate (India saltpeter) and is of very fine granulation. Most of the manufacturers of black powder have made powder of this kind at one time or another. But where the purpose of the projectile is to demolish fortifications or to destroy battleships, a shell filled with black powder is not sufficiently effective. An explosive, to be suitable for use in shells, must on the one hand be powerful and capable of uniform and complete detonation by the service detonating fuze and on the other hand, it must be safe to manufacture and sufficiently insensitive so that it will withstand the shock of discharge from the gun, of impact on the target and of penetration through armor plate, without detonating. Further, it should be simple and easy to load, and of such bulk that a high density of loading may be obtained. The first appearance of high explosives in a practical form for mining or engineering work dates from the time immediately following the Civil War, 1 but their adoption for military purposes did not come until much later, although guncotton had attracted immediate attention and had been tested by Captain Mordecai as a disruptive charge in 1846-7.2 H e reached the conclusion that "its explosive force is in high degree greater than that of gunpowder, it assimilates to fulminates, and is well adapted to mining purposes". During the Civil W a r it was used to some extent in spar torpedoes, the usual charge being 33 pounds. Beginning about 1870 General Henry Larcom Abbot (b. 1831) of the Engineer Corps, U.S.A., conducted a long series of tests on a great variety of explosives at the Engineers' garrison at Willet's Point, 1 See P a r t I I .

: See p. 822.

D Y N A M I T E No. 1 931 New York, including guncotton, tonite, dynamite, blasting gelatine, etc., of both foreign and domestic manufacture. Speaking before the "Essayons Club" of the Corps of Engineers in 1873 he mentions that the English Government had adopted guncotton as best suited for submarine warfare, i.e., for mines and torpedoes, and that Designolle's powder, consisting of potassium nitrate and picrate, had been used in France for similar purposes. H e also states that a mixture of sulphur and potassium chlorate made into a paste and dried to fit small lead cartridge cases had been found to be very effective as a charge for explosive bullets as they could be fired with safety from a musket, but exploded with great violence even in penetrating flesh.1 In his report 2 on the tests made at Willet's Point during a period of 13 years he gives full details of over 700 explosions with illustrations, diagrams and comments. As a result he came to the conclusion that dynamite No. 1 was the best explosive for submarine mines as regards "permanency, power, convenience and readiness of manufacture". 8 His work was carried out from the viewpoint of the military engineer, rather than from that of the artillerist. Writing later in the Forum * General Abbott says: "That they (high explosives) will play an important 1 In 1887 Mechanical Newt published a note from a Peter van Brock of Roslyn, N. Y., in which the latter claimed that dynamite was used "with perfect safety and success" as a shell charge in the years 1862, 63 and 65, for instance from a 4.5 in. Rodman rifle at Fort Powhatan about March 20, 1865, and that he himself had fired shells loaded with 100 grains of "C. C. dynamite" from an old .69 calibre musket. As Nobel did not bring out his dynamite until 1866, it may be that Van Brock had reference to the chlorate composition mentioned by General Abbot. 2 Report upon Experiment» and InvettigcUiont to Develop a Syttem of Submarine Minet for Defending the Harbort of the United Statet, published as Professional Paper No. 28 of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., 1883. * Dynamite was actually used to a limited extent for submarine mines about the time of the Spanish War. * The Use of High Explosives in War, Forum, Sept., 1888, p. 66.

932

T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

part in legitimate warfare no one doubts, although the lack heretofore of actual experience leaves the matter still somewhat in the region of speculation. . . Whether artillery will derive equal benefits (as the engineers) from these agents by their substitution for gunpowder in shells of small calibers used in campaigning is more doubtful; but it seems probable that larger calibers than are now used for field artillery are required to make the change one of practical importance." H e mentions that the French have adopted Melinite (largely picric acid) and the Germans wet guncotton for large caliber shells and that the other nations cannot afford to lag behind. The United States Navy had by this time definitely adopted guncotton for torpedoes and sea mines and was making small quantities at Newport, Rhode Island. EXPLOSIVE G E L A T I N E

In the early eighties a number of inventors tried to adapt dynamite or blasting gelatine for use in shell charges. The main difficulty was its high sensitiveness, and three general lines of attack were followed to solve the problem. The first was to render the gelatine less sensitive by the addition of camphor or a similar deterrent; the second was to design a special shell in which the charge would be cushioned by a system of springs or rubber pads; the third was to lessen the shock of discharge by the use of another propellent than powder. The use of a deterrent was generally adopted, no matter what the system of loading or propulsion. In 1884 Congress appropriated $15,000 for experiments with dynamite and other high explosive projectiles. Preliminary experiments had seemed to indicate that it was practicable to fire such high explo-

DYNAMITE

SHELLS

933

sive shells with ordinary gunpowder.1 In April 1883 a blasting gelatine made by Professor Hill of the Naval Torpedo Station in the previous December and consisting of 88.66% nitroglycerine, 7.34% soluble nitrocellulose and 4 % camphor was tested at Sandy Hook without accident to the gun. However, in a trial made in the following February with a gelatine made by Nobel (92% nitroglycerine, 8 % nitrocellulose) a 3.2" gun was broken up.2 Sooner or later this happened to all service cannon which fired dynamite shells, although in these trials the charge was placed in lubricated wooden cases that were cushioned with rubber within the shell. Somewhat later Hudson Maxim proposed an insensitive compound of this type made in the following way: First, he made a gelatine of 7 0 % to 80% nitroglycerine and 3 0 % to 20% very soluble nitrocellulose. After hardening, this gelatine was pulverized and mixed with finely pulped guncotton in the proportion of 3 or 4 to one. The mass was then saturated with water. ( U . S. Pat. No. 544,924 of 1895.) Among the inventors who worked along the sécond line were Snyder, Garrick, Hill, Stevens, Taylor. Brisben and Graydon. 3 A peculiar form of this type was the Fannon-Winslow shell4 in which glycerine and mixed acid were placed in the shell which then became a miniature nitrator. Actually the glycerine with part of the sulphuric acid was placed in a glass jar, and the nitric acid with the balance of the sulphuric acid in another bottle within the first. A time fuse exploded a charge of black powder which drove a plunger through the bottles so that the con1 Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, V. 8. A.. 188*, p. 18. 2 Ibid., p. 215. 3 Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, V. 8. A., 1885, pp. 57, 103. • Ibid., pp. 103-4.

934

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

tents mixed. The shock of impact was depended on to explode the nitroglycerine formed. According to the inventor's direction the proportions used were two parts each of sulphuric and nitric acid and one part of glycerine. This shell was reported to be safe enough, but the effects, due to the large amount of inert material carried along, were no greater than those of a shell filled with black powder. DYNAMITE GUNS

The third line of attack attracted considerable attention and both the Army and Navy spent large sums of money in its development.1 Instead of an explosive, compressed air was employed to start the projectile on its flight. This system required, in addition to the tube or cannon, a complicated arrangement of air compressors and reservoirs with the boilers and engines for driving them. The first gun of this type was designed in 1883 by a man named Mefford of Ohio and was of 2" caliber. A 4" gun was designed by Geo. F . Reynolds and an 8" gun by Nat. W . Pratt. H . D. Windsor of New York was the guiding spirit behind this development. Colonel John Hamilton and Lieutenant E . L. Zalinski represented the Army in the development and tests of these guns. They took a great deal of interest and helped the inventors by advising them of the requirements of the Army. The Scientific American of April 5, 1884, contains a picture and description of the 4" gun then being built at the Delamater Iron Works of New York. The tube or cannon was to be 40 feet long and thick, mounted on trunnions and pivoted on a cast iron base. The air passed through this base i Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance. V. S. A., 1887, 12; 1890, 865; 1892, 25; 1898, 48; 1894, 845; 1896, 44; 1898, 49; 1899, 14, 42; also Scientific American, April 5 and 26, 1884; October 1885.

DYNAMITE GUNS

935

and the hollow trunnions to a valve near the breech of the gun. The projectile consisted of a thin brass tube which held the dynamite. The head of the tube carried the firing pin, which acted through impact and was separated from the dynamite by some soft material. The rear end of the tube was closed by means of a wooden plug which flared out and provided the bearing surface for the projectile in the cannon. The 2" gun that had been previously tested had given a range of 1^4 miles with an air pressure of 420 lbs. per sq. in., and it was expected that the 4" and 6" guns with an air pressure of 2000 lbs. would give a range of three miles. The issue of October 1885 gives a picture of the 8" gun designed by Pratt. This threw a charge of 100 pounds of explosive gelatine nearly two miles. On January 26, 1886, a board was appointed to witness the trials of these guns at Fort Hamilton, but the Pneumatic Gun Company,1 owing to financial difficulties, was not ready. These difficulties continued until about 1893 when the company was reorganized. The installation of a battery of pneumatic guns at Fort Winfield Scott, California, was completed in October 1895.2 In the Journal of the Military Service Institution3 Lieutenant Zalinski describes the gun and sets out its good qualities. H e also mentions that a torpedo cruiser was being built for the Navy with two lO1/^" and one 1 2 ^ " guns for which the range would be "at least a mile". The smaller guns were to fire shells 1 Spencer D. Schuyler was president of the Pneumatic Gun Co. The money for the reorganization was largely furnished by Samuel and William Cramp, the shipbuilders of Philadelphia. The Maxim Powder & Torpedo Company (see p. 794) was formed in connection with the gun company to make the dynamite for the shell charges and to develop Maxim's ideas about a smokeless powder. 2 For description see Mining and Scientific Prett of Dec. 21, 1895. » V I I I , 1-35 (1887).

936

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

holding 200 pounds and the larger shells holding 400 pounds of gelatine. Zalinski became so enthusiastic about this gun that Lieutenant J. W. Graydon, formerly of the Navy, who had designed a dynamite shell and gun and a high explosive charge consisting of cotton or woolen cloth saturated with nitroglycerine, which were being exploited by the Rival Air-Gun Company, preferred charges against him before the Secretary of War and asked that he be court-martialed for conduct unbecoming an officer.' The Secretary, however, declined to act and referred Graydon to the civil courts, if he considered himself injured. However, other military authorities criticized the idea of pneumatic guns severely, particularly Lieutenant Finley and Generals Berdan and Abbot. The latter writing on "The Use of High Explosives in War" in the Forum of September 1888 says: "No reference need be made to the proposed mode of projecting charges of high explosives from pneumatic guns, because no official trials have yet been made with the pattern proposed by the inventors for service; because the ranges claimed are too short to meet the requirements of the problem; and because throwing the new agents from ordinary guns will do away with the supposed need of the invention. That larger charges may perhaps be thrown from the pneumatic tube than from a gun is not very important, because the destructive effect increases only with the square root of the weight, i. e., a 400-lb. charge is only twice as destructive as a 100-lb. charge, and in most cases four 100-lb. charges are more to be dreaded than one 400-lb. charge." Nevertheless, both Army and Navy went ahead. Pneumatic batteries were installed at a i Further details of this matter may be found by consulting the references in Munroe's "Notes on the Literature of Explosives", Journal of the Naval Inttitute, X V I I , 423.

U. S. S.

VESUVIUS

937

number of points. Such a battery at Sandy Hook had two 15-in. guns, firing 600-pound charges of explosive gelatine with an initial velocity of about 600 feet per second. The Navy built the U. S. S. Vesuvius, a dynamite gun ship, which carried 30 shells or torpedoes each loaded with 500 pounds of this explosive. Its pneumatic tubes were rigidly mounted on deck so that the ship had to be pointed at the target. The Vesuvius had its first trial on April 2, 1889, and it was considered successful; three weeks later a dummy shell broke up in the tube and wrecked the breech mechanism. However, this was repaired and great things were expected of this "dynamite ship" in the Spanish War. It did drop a few shells on the lawn in front of Morro Castle and, to use Hudson Maxim's words, succeeded in damaging somewhat that green grassy effect. Owing to the short range of these guns, they were really more dangerous to their own crews than to the enemy, as they were outranged even by the black powder guns then in use. The advent of smokeless powder with the longer ranges possible with it, and the adoption of other high explosives for shell charges led to the scrapping of all pneumatic equipment (excepting of course that used in starting the automotive torpedo), although such batteries were installed at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fishers Island, New York, as late as 1900. Another variant of the pneumatic gun was that of Hiram Maxim, in which the shell was started with compressed air and brought up to the desired velocity by exploding a charge of a volatile hydrocarbon after the shell had started in the tube.1 It was also proposed to throw dynamite shells by centrifugal force (U. S. Pat. No. 393,107 by W. E. Hicks). The search i Munroe, op. eit., p. 752.

938

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

for a milder and more progressive propellent than black or brown powder started Hudson Maxim on his work on smokeless powder (see p. 793). Dynamite guns for field use were built by the Sims-Dudley Dynamite Gun Company and the Crescent Shipyards, but proved unsatisfactory, as the range of the former was only 1950 yards and their weight was impracticable. A M M O N I U M NITBATE EXPLOSIVES

About the time of the Spanish W a r the search for a suitable high explosives shell charge was resumed with vigor. Experiments were carried out with wet guncotton, joveite, thorite, cerberite, ammonite and lyddite. I t was found that wet guncotton packed with paraffine could be fired with safety. Joveite was made by the Joveite Powder Company of Ditchley, Virginia, according to U. S. Pat. No. 530,063 issued to Jonas E . Blomén. I t consisted of ammonium or sodium nitrate, picric acid and mononitronaphthalene. The Navy carried on a series of tests with this explosive as a charge for armor-piercing projectiles in the years 1896-97. I n the early trials some failures were experienced due to an insufficient amount of black powder in the fuze. When this defect had been corrected, six-inch shells were fired through 1.5" and 4" case-hardened nickel-steel plates "with most excellent results". A similar 6" shell fired at a cofferdam having a 5.5" case-hardened nickel-steel plate on the outside, broke up after passing through the cofferdam, but did not explode due to the failure of the fuze. The fuze was recovered, and portions of the Joveite were found scattered about. 10" armorpiercing projectile loaded with 8.75 pounds of Joveite was fired through a 4" plate and exploded imme-

JOVEITE

939 diately behind it. The break-up was excellent and the largest fragment found did not weigh over three pounds.1 In a test made later in 1897 under the direction of Captain (later Admiral) W. T. Sampson, an armor-piercing projectile with 8.25 pounds of this explosive was fired through a 14.5" thick plate of the harveyized armor of the U. S. S. Kentucky, the shell bursting on the far side.2 This was the first time that such a feat had been accomplished, and Captain Sampson requested that the high explosive shells in the fleet be loaded with Joveite, but nothing had been done when his ships went into battle the next year. The Army also reported promising results with this material,5 provided a suitable detonator was used. An 8" shell charged with 24 pounds of Joveite burst in the gun with a low order of explosion, but this was ascribed to the fact that the shell, which had been loaded with fused material at 11 a.m. and fired at 2 p.m., had not been properly cooled. Before any further tests could be carried on, the kettle in which the Joveite was being melted, took fire and destroyed the building in which the work was being done. Nevertheless, the report concludes that "it is proposed to renew the tests, as soon as the plant can be repaired, in view of the cheapness of this substance and of its promising qualities as a shell filler, when used with a detonator, and also of the fact that an accident, such as the one above described, is attended with no danger other than that produced by the inflammation of a quick-burning material". But apparently little more 1 From Annual Report of Naval Proving Ground, Sept. 10, 1897, printed as Appendix P of the Annual Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, U. S. N., for 1897. 2 See Charles E. Munroe on "Explosives", The Encyclopedia Americana, X, 656. » Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, V. B. A.. 1898, 147-150.

940

T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

was done, for the only reference to Joveite found in later reports of the Chief of Ordnance is in that of 1900 where it is listed with a number of other explosives then under investigation, but no data as to any other tests are given. Thorite, Ammonite and Cerberite1 likewise were ammonium nitrate explosives,—the first being the invention of Dr. H. P. Tuttle of Tacoma, Washington. Thorite was at first highly commended2 but a later report criticized it adversely, as well as other explosives of this class, due to the failure to obtain a uniform degree of detonation or explosion, "which appears to be inherent in this class of explosives".* More likely the defect lay in the strength of the fuze, ammonium nitrate explosives requiring an exceptionally heavy detonator. In spite of the adverse opinion of the Bureau of Ordnance, the Congress appropriated a sum of money for the purchase of Thorite4 and shells filled with this material were used in the Philippine Islands. Later nitrate of ammonia was successfully adopted for mixing with T N T and it became known as military nitrate of ammonia (q.v.). PICRIC ACID A N D PICKATES

In 1901 the Chief of Ordnance reported that two explosives, Maximite and Explosive "D" had been found "superior to any known to the War Department". Both of them had a picric acid base. 1 Cerberite was manufactured from about 1897 to 1900 by the Cerberite Powder Manufacturing Company which had a plant itear Annapolis Junction, about 15 miles south of Baltimore, Maryland. The plant was wrecked by an explosion in 1900 which killed Richard K. Martin, the superintendent, who had but recently come from the Columbia Powder Company (see p. 622). 2 Annual report of the Chief of Ordnance, U. 8. A,, 1899, 22. 3 Annual report of the Chief of Ordnance, V. 8. A., 1900, 40. •» Annual report of the Chief of Ordnance, U. 8. An 1901, 16. .

PICRIC ACID E X P L O S I V E S

941

This substance had been in use abroad since the eighties as a shell explosive under various names, such as Lyddite (England), Melinite (France), Granatfiiliung 88 (Germany) and Shimose (Japan). Designolle, Brugere and Abel had previously proposed picrate mixtures for rifle powders, and such mixtures had actually been used in the Chassepot rifle in France.' Its discovery, however, occurred much earlier, and it was undoubtedly the earliest high explosive discovered.2 Peter Woulfe in 1771 gave a brief description of the preparation of a yellow dye (i.e. picric acid) by the action of strong spirits of nitre on indigo and other coloring matter.® It appears, however, that potassium picrate was known and used in medicine at least as early as 1647 under the name of Tincturia nitri Glauberi, being prepared by dissolving wool in nitric acid and neutralizing with potash.4 The fact that potassium picrate explodes when heated was discovered in 1799 by Welter, who obtained the acid by treating silk with nitric acid.5 Hudson Maxim's "Maximite", which was first submitted to the U. S. Army in 1900, consisted of about 88 parts of picric acid and 12 parts of mononitronaphthalene. According to his claims, the nitronaphthalene formed a picrate with part of the acid and dissolved and lowered the melting point of the balance. It was said to be highly insensitive, while having an explosive power equal to that of pure picric acid. As a result of preliminary trials by the Army, 75,000 1 See p. 917. 2 For a History of Picric Acid, see A. Marshall, Chem. lnd, XLIV, 4 (1925). s Phil. Trans., LXI, 114 (1T71). * M. Nierenstein (Chem. & lnd., X L I V , 117) quotes from Sala's Opera medieo-ehymiea, 1647, p. 9, but states that J. R. Glauber (16041668) does not mention this tincture in his Pharmacopoeia published in 16S4. 6 Ann. Chim. Phyt., 1799 (1), X X I X , 301.

942

T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

pounds of the compound were bought from the inventor for further tests; this purchase carried with it the right to make it for Government use.1 A premature explosion, however, of a torpedo shell containing about 140 pounds of Maximite, when being fired from a 12" mortar, caused complete d e s t r u c t i o n of gun and mount, but fortunately did not cause any loss of life. After this the provisional adoption of Maximite was withdrawn and work with it discontinued. A M M O N I U M PI CRATE

A t the time that this search for a suitable shell explosives was going on, Major (later Colonel) Beverly W . Dunn succeeded Major Pitman in charge of the chemical laboratory at Frankford Arsenal. His duties required him to participate in the tests of these explosives at Sandy Hook Proving Ground. As most of them failed sooner or later on account of their inability to stand either the shock of discharge or the shock of impact on armor, it occured to him to test their sensitiveness in some form of laboratory apparatus before risking the destruction of a gun by firing them in projectiles. After considerable experimenting a fairly satisfactory form of impact-testing machine was constructed and it was used to test out all available samples of explosives, both old and new.2 As a result of these tests Major Dunn picked out ammonium picrate as the explosive which seemed to possess sufficient power and at the same time to be least sensitive. These tests formed the basis of his official recommendation that this explosive be tested at the proving ground. The results were uniformly favorable and led to its adoption for service.4 To keep 1 Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, 1901, 17, 301. 2 Col. B. W. Dunn to H. S. > Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A., 1901, 17.

AMMONIUM PICRATE

943

its composition secret, it was officially designated as "Explosive D," the letter " D " being the initial letter of the name of its proposer, while it was unofficially known as Dunnite. A t the same time Major Dunn, building on the work of Captain W . S. Pierce and assisted by the staff of Frankford Arsenal, perfected a detonating fuze that was sufficiently insensitive to stand the shock of impact on armor and at the same time was powerful enough to detonate such an insensitive material as ammonium picrate. With this combination the first real, consistent success with a high explosives shell was obtained at Sandy Hook in 1901, when a 12" armor-piercing Gathman shell was fired through a 12" armor plate and detonated on the far side. At the beginning of the World W a r Explosive " D " was the service charge for armor-piercing shells and wet guncotton for torpedoes and mines. I n 1916 the Navy built a small experimental unit at Indian Head to check some features in connection with the manufacture of Explosive "D". This unit has since been dismantled, after it had served its purpose. During the World War, however, much picric acid was used. The Aetna Explosives Company built a large plant adjacent to its smokeless powder plant at Emporium, Pennsylvania, for its production. Here a large scale brick-lined nitrator was developed, capable of making about 2,000 pounds a charge and this resulted in a large reduction of cost. The contract with the Russian Government called for dry picric acid. The drying was done in tubs of 2,500 pounds capacity, equipped with perforated aluminum bottoms through which a current of warm dry air was blown. I n spite of the danger of this operation, 35,000,000 pounds of picric acid were dried without accident and with only one fire.

944

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

At the time of the Armistice, the Aetna company had also practically completed a picric acid plant of a capacity of 2,000,000 pounds a month at Drummondsville, P. Q., which was to manufacture 10,000,000 pounds for the United States Government. The duPont company also produced picric acid and ammonium picrate to the extent of 250,000 and 125,000 pounds a month respectively, though they had made none before the war. Other producers of picric acid were the SemetSolvay Company, Butterworth & Judson Company, E. M. Davis, Goodrick-Lockhart, Hooker ElectroChemical Company, L a n s i n g Chemical Company, O'Brien Sun Dye Company, Nitro-Chemical Company, Union Dye & Chemical Company, and the Lloyd Company. TRINITROTOLUENE

Trinitrotoluene ( T N T ) is a comparative newcomer in the field of military explosives. Weaver (Military Explosives, London, 1906) does not mention it at all, and the British Manual of Service Explosives (London, 1907) dismisses it with a word. News of its use in Germany reached the United States about 1908.1 About this time small samples were tested at Frankford Arsenal laboratory, and in January 1908 Major T. C. Dickson, commanding officer at Sandy Hook Proving Ground, recommended the purchase of 200 pounds for test in high explosive shells. Apparently his recommendation was not followed. The duPont company started work on this explosive at the Eastern Laboratory in 1909. The Semet-Solvay Company i Germany adopted it in 1902 in place of picric acid under the designation Fp. 02 (Fiillpulver 1902). In 1908 it was being made by Leach in Huddersfield, England, although that country did not adopt it for service until 1914. In France it is known as "Tolite".

TRINITROTOLUENE

945

submitted samples of cast T N T and mixtures with strontium nitrate and with ammonium picrate for carton loading in 1910 without meeting a very favorable reception. Nevertheless the duPont company continued its work and developed a system of threestage nitration and refining of the crude T N T . A semi-works scale plant was built early in 1910. Dr. Charles L. Reese of the duPont company finally succeeded in interesting the Chief of the Coast Defense in this material, with the result that after some experiments it was adopted for submarine mines in that department. The first order was for 500,000 pounds for such mines, to be delivered in one year; and a commercial scale plant was started at the Repauno plant in May 1911. Besides refined T N T for Coast Defense mines, the Repauno plant produced mostly crude T N T for low-freezing dynamites (see p. 352). The total production up to the time of the World War amounted only to about 1,000,000 pounds a year, although the plant at Repauno and another at Barksdale, Wisconsin, had a combined capacity of about eight times that amount; but this small production was sufficient to provide the country with knowledge and experience to meet the requirements of the war in the manufacture of this explosive. During the war the Barksdale plant was enlarged to a final capacity of 6,000,000 pounds a month; production at Repauno ceased after an explosion in 1916.1 From 1912 to 1915 both the Army and the Navy carried on experimental work with T N T in various forms and mixtures. In November 1912 the Chief of Ordnance of the Army approved the use of crystalline T N T for the bursting charges of all high exploi During the war two notable explosions occurred in transporting T N T and other munitions, viz.—the "Black Tom" explosion at Jersey City, July 30, 1916, and the one at Halifax, N. S., December 6, 1917.

946

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

sives shells of future manufacture for mobile artillery.1 The change to the cast form came after April 1917. The Navy adopted it late in 1915 as a service explosive for the main charge of torpedo warheads and mines, as a booster charge for fuzes, and as burster charge for some minor calibre shells. After 1915 no guncotton warheads were loaded. Due to the shortage and the high price of toluene, work was started at the Eastern Laboratory in February 1915 looking towards the development of additional sources of this material. Commercial processes for the production of toluene by cracking coal and water gas tar and by the action of aluminum chloride on xylene and its homologues were developed, and a large plant was built at Deepwater Point, New Jersey, which started operating on November 2,1915. This is now the location of the duPont dye works. Other manufacturers took up the production of T N T during the war, notably the Hercules Powder Company, the Aetna Explosives Company, the SemetSolvay Company, the Nitro Powder Company, the American High Explosives Company, the Tennessee Copper Company and the Giant Powder Company. The first started with a plant of a capacity of 20,000 pounds a day at its Hercules works in California in 1915. This plant was highly successful and its capacity was increased to 80,000 pounds before the United States entered the war. In the fall of 1917 two lines, each of a capacity of 20,000 pounds a day, were started at Kenvil, New Jersey, and shortly the construction of another line was begun at Hercules. This brought the capacity of the company to 3,500,000 pounds a month. However, this was not sufficient, and the Government asked for the building of i Letter to Frankford Arsenal of Nov. 26, 1912.

HERCULES PLANT

947

The largest TNT plant in America during the World War was located at Hercules, California.

seven additional lines at Hercules which were started early in 1918 and which were in partial operation a few months later. In September all of them were running, producing a total of 7,000,000 a month, making it the largest TNT plant in America. These additional facilities required the erection of enormous acid plants and an entirely new system for the supply of water. The Aetna Explosives Company built plants for the manufacture of TNT at Carnegie and Oakdale, Pennsylvania. The former also had equipment for the recovery of toluene from gas oils and a plant for the synthesis of phenol for the company's picric acid program. Here work was also carried on in connection with the practical application of the Rittman process for the cracking of oils under a contract with the United States Bureau of Mines. As the Carnegie plant was in a congested district, the manufacture of TNT at this place was discontinued, as was also the refining operation at Oakdale. The latter was transferred to the Mount Union plant where smokeless powder was also made. In May 1918 a serious explo-

948

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

sion occurred at Oakdale which wrecked the plant completely and killed the superintendent and a large number of men. Work was immediately started to erect a plant capable of producing 3,000,000 pounds of T N T a month on a lot of 500 additional acres of land at Mount Union; this plant was practically ready to begin operations when the Armistice was signed. The Semet-Solvay Company's plant was located near Syracuse and made use of the toluene recovered in this company's by-product coke oven operations nearby. The American High Explosives Company.1 which had been started by Job Burton, began to make T N T at New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1916. About 1,500,000 pounds were made during this year for the French, British and Russian armies. Later the entire production went to the United States Government. A total of 9,000,000 was produced during the war, and at the time of the Armistice a larger T N T plant was under construction. The Giant Powder Company (now owned and managed by the Atlas Powder Company) received a contract from the War Department for a plant capable of producing 2,000,000 pounds of T N T a month to be built at Giant. California. This and another of 4.000,000 pounds capacity, which was being built by the duPont Engineering Company as agents for the Ordnance Department at Racine, Wisconsin, were under construction at the time of the Armistice. A t the end of the war, T N T production in the United States amounted to a total of 16,025,000 pounds a month. During the search for other shell explosives it occurred to Dr. Reese of the duPont company that it i See p. 627.

TRINITROXYLENE

949

should be possible to make use of trinitroxylene ( T N X ) in connection with trinitrotoluene.1 Alone trinitroxylene is unsuitable on account of its high melting point (182° C.), but it was thought that a eutectic mixture of these two substances could be made that would melt low enough to be cast, i. e., around or below the boiling point of water. However, trinitroxylene proved to be only very slightly soluble in trinitrotoluene, but it was found that a mixture of 40% of the former and 60% of the latter could be brought into a sufficiently fluid state below 100° C.to be readily cast into shells2 and form a compact filling without the attendant difficulties which were met with in loading that highly important mixture of ammonium nitrate and T N T known as "Amatol" which was developed in England during the war. The castings of the T N T - T N X mixture when cooled, were completely amorphous, showing no segregation of ingredients. They were free from airholes, had high and uniform density, were non-hygroscopic, and showed no tendency to become oily or leaky, even when stored at high temperatures. They also showed certain advantages over T N T ; they could be completely detonated with smaller tetryl primers, and were in fact, almost an ideal shell explosive. Some work had been done along this line in 1913, but it had been put aside on account of the press of other work, and was not taken up again until the summer of 1917, when a shortage of toluene was threatened. The development of factory processes of nitration presented many difficulties so that it was not until the summer of 19181 that a plant could be built 1 Twenty-flve Years' Progress in Explosives, uddress delivered by Dr. Charles L. Reese at the Franklin Institute Centennial Philadelphia, Sept. 17-19, 1924. 2 U. S. Patent No. 1,309,588, July 8, 1919, to Charles L. Reese.

950

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

for the production of 30,000,000 pounds of trinitroxylene to fill an order for the United States Navy. A t the time of the Armistice, two of the five units of the plant were completed and operating satisfactorily, the first having started operations on August 1, 1918, while the others were nearing completion or were in partial operation. Comparatively little T N T has been made since the war anywhere in America, as it took a number of years to absorb the excess war supply 2 and the price of glycerine immediately after the war made nitroglycerine a better and cheaper material for the manufacture of commercial or blasting explosives. Canadian production of military explosives during the war was centered principally in the Nobel plant of the Canadian Explosives Limited. A T N T plant was erected there in 1917, adjoining the cordite plant of the same company. The British Chemical Company at Trenton, Ontario, also manufactured this explosive. Near Rigaud, P . Q., at a place now called Dragon, 5 Curtis's & Harvey (Canada),Limited, undertook the manufacture of large contracts for the manufacture of guncotton for the British Admiralty and of T N T for the British, Russian, and Italian governments. Under Arthur Hough, the superintendent and technical director, the existing dynamite plant (which had recently been rebuilt) was enlarged and changed over to the new use. The company was one of the first and most successful to attempt large scale production of recrystallized or high grade T N T . In 1917 they obtained a large contract from the United States Government but, just as they were ready to start, a 1 For details see John Marshall, The Manufacture of Trinitroxylene for Use as a Substitute for T N T in Bursting Charges for High E x plosive Shells, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., X I I , 248 (1920). 2 See sodatol note p. 856. s See pp. 711-18.

CANADIAN PLANTS

951

TNT Crystallizing Plant of the Northern Explosives Company, Limited, showing part of No. 1 crystallizing unit.

TNT Crystallizer using the toluene process, showing the vacuum separator bed at the left.

952

THE E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

fire destroyed the entire plant, fortunately with the loss of only one life. After the war the company was liquidated. As to Mexico and South American countries, reference has been made to a small guncotton factory in Chile.1 About 1924-6, the Brazilian Government, with the assistance of a French commission, was reported to be erecting a TNT factory near its smokeless powder plant. TRINITROPHENYLMETHYLNITRAMINE

Another explosive that came into prominence with the war, principally for use as a "booster" in high explosives shells, was tetryl or tetranitromethylaniline (more p r o p e r l y , trinitrophenylmethylnitramine). None of this was being produced in July 1914. The duPont company started work on it at the Eastern Laboratory in May 1915 and constructed a semiworks scale plant which was operated on a production basis until November when a large tetryl plant at Deepwater Point was completed and put in operation. This plant started with an initial capacity of 60,000 pounds a month which was increased to 150,000 pounds before the end of the war. The Bethlehem Steel Company had large contracts for completed rounds of ammunition in which tetryl was a necessary element. Being unable to purchase sufficient amounts, they started experiments as a result of which a large plant was built in the latter part of 1915 near New Castle, Delaware, by the Bethlehem Loading Company, a subsidiary. This plant had a capacity of 25,000 pounds a month, sufficient to meet the company's own requirements. In March 1918. i See p. 768.

TETRANITROANILINE

953

when the company had fulfilled its contract obligations to the allied governments, the plant was rented to the Ordnance Department and operated by the Bethlehem Loading Company as the latter's agents. The capacity was increased first to 50,000 pounds and later to 100,000 pounds a month, which output was reached in September 1918. TETRANITROANILINE

Another explosive used as a booster in Russian ammunition and advocated by its inventor as an explosive in mixture with dinitrobenzene and similar materials was tetranitroaniline or T N A . This was the invention of Dr. Flurscheim of Belgium and was manufactured under his direction by the Aetna Chemical Company, a subsidiary of the Aetna Explosives Company, at a small plant at Noblestown, Pennsylvania, and by the Verona Chemical Company. It was investigated by the U. S. Army and Navy and approved as a substitute booster. When the Armistice was signed the Calco Chemical Company, as agents for the Ordnance Department, had just completed a large plant to make this material near Bound Brook, New Jersey. NITROST ABC H

Nitrostarch had been developed in this country by the duPont company as an ingredient of non-freezing ("Arctic") powders beginning in 1903. Later other interests had formed the Trojan Powder Company (q.v.) to manufacture nitrostarch powders for commercial purposes. During the war the latter company offered a similar explosive for loading hand grenades and trench mortar shells, to conserve T N T or T N T mixtures which had previously been used. After con-

954

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

siderable work a composition was found that was the equal, if not the superior of T N T , as regards power, brisance, and fragmentation. The company's plants in Pennsylvania and California were enlarged until at the time of the Armistice their capacity was more than 50 000,000 pounds of this explosive a year. M I L I T A R Y N I T R A T E OF A M M O N I A

Ammonium nitrate had been used to a considerable extent in commercial explosives, especially of the permissible type, and to some extent in military explosives (see pp. 938-40). Later it was found that for certain purposes mixtures of T N T and ammonium nitrate in the proportions of 4 to 1 and 1 to 1 (known as 80-20 and 50-50 "amatol") were about as satisfactory for shell charges as pure T N T ; were considerably cheaper; and, what was more important, made the available supply of T N T go further. Contracts were therefore made with all the explosives companies to turn their excess weak nitric acid into ammonium nitrate, but this was not sufficient. Ammonia also comes from gas works and coke ovens, where it is produced as a by-product, largely in the form of ammonium sulphate, and nitric acid has to be made from sodium nitrate. To obtain ammonia and nitric acid, these primary substances have to be distilled, the one with lime, the other with sulphuric acid. In England ammonium nitrate was being made directly from the primary materials by direct transposition, sodium sulphate being the other product formed. 1 The Ordnance Department requested the Atlas Powder Company 2 to investigate this process on the spot. In November i This process is based on Francis A. Freeth and Herbert E. Cocksedge's patent (U. S. Pat. 1,051,097) owned by Brunner, Mond & Co. - W. B. Williams, Hiitory of the Manufacture of Explosivet for the World War, 1917-1918, p. 39.

PERRYVILLE PLANT

The Perryville, Md., operated by the Atlas duced 500,000 pounds ment

955

Military Nitrate of Ammonia Plant was Powder Company during the war. It proa day. After the war it became a GovernRehabilitation Hospital.

1917 James T. Power, G. C. Given, W. D. Craig, and P. W. Parvis of this company, accompanied by Major C. T. Harris of the Ordnance Department, went to England and returned late the following month. As a result of their report, an enormous plant was built at Perryville, Maryland, to produce 100,000 tons of ammonium nitrate yearly by this process. After some experimental work, construction was started on March 3, 1918, and manufacture was begun on July 3. Since the success of the method depended on the maintenance of exact temperature and humidity conditions, which were an impossibility in the climatic conditions of this country without artificial help, a huge air conditioning plant had to be installed which made it possible to keep not only the temperature but the humidity of the air in the manu-

956

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

facturing buildings at any pre-determined point. In fact, it made "artificial weather" inside of the buildings. The plant rapidly reached its intended capacity of 300 tons a day. After the war the plant was dismantled. Some of the buildings and the village, which was built for the accommodation of the workmen, are now used as a rehabilitation hospital. SUMMARY

The enormous scale of the manufacture of military explosives during the war is shown by the production figures for the nineteen months from April 1917 to November 1918 during which the United States was a belligerent.1 Pounds T N T (11 plants) 101,796,000 1,249,000 Tetryl 38,244,000 Picric Acid (15 plants) 12,408,000 Ammonium Picrate . . . Ammonium Nitrate (28 plants) . . . 95,451,000 or a total of 375,656,000 pounds for all military explosives. i Annual Report

of the Chief of Ordnance,

V. 8. A., 19X9.

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART VI. EXPLOSIVES IN T H E MAKING OF AMERICA

HISTORY OF THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PART VI. EXPI.08IVES I N T H E M A K I N G OF AMEBICA

C H A P T E R I. INTRODUCTORY Over 1,000,000,000 tons of rock, ore, and other material are moved annually in the United States by the aid of modern explosives. Industrial life is today absolutely dependent on explosives and many necessities and luxuries are equally dependent on them. It is true that natural resources and good government have had much to do with the astonishing material development in America in the past fifty years but, if it had not been for modern high explosives, this great development could not have taken place for centuries and some of it would never have taken place. Practically all of this has occurred since the introduction of dynamite in 1868. Before the Civil War, all the explosives made in America amounted to about 25,000,000 pounds per annum of black blasting and sporting powder, and all of the coal, metals, and hard rock mined in the United States could hardly have exceeded 30,000,000 tons,—three per cent of what it is today. In "Dynamite the New Aladdin's Lamp",1 T. W. Bacchus points out "this continent had been discovered since 1492. Yet after a span of over three hundred and fifty years we find that the means of transportation were exceedingly crude, that a journey i A pamphlet published by the Hercules Powder Company in 1922.

960

T H E EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

of a hundred miles was an event and required more exertion and expense than a journey of a thousand miles does today. Why was this? Merely because the development of the country had not provided the means of travel up to that time. Transportation conditions were backward to a degree that can scarcely be appreciated today. In 1860, for instance, there were only thirty thousand miles of railways in the United States (12% of the present mileage)—this, notwithstanding the fact that successful operation of railroads had been conceded both here and in Europe for some time previous. These railroads were scattered over the level portions of Eastern and Middle Western States and were not in continuous lines. There was no railroad to Pittsburgh in the forties. If one wished to travel from Philadelphia he took a boat from there down the Delaware River and into the Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the Susquehanna River; thence by smaller craft on this river he reached Harrisburg, and from there he traveled by canal to the foot of the mountains. He was then transported over the mountains on an incline railroad operated by cable. His journey was finally completed by canal boat. This was but one of many arduous routes. New England, over two hundred and twenty-five years after the arrival of the Pilgrims, was just as bad in regard to travel conditions as were Pennsylvania and Ohio. Boats could be taken from Boston but a tedious outside passage was involved with time an unknown factor depending largely upon the wind and the weather. Travelers generally preferred the singletrack railroad to Springfield, thence they proceeded, if not prevented by ice, to Hartford, by way of the Connecticut River. If ice conditions were bad, they took a coach which, in wet weather, often required

INTRODUCTORY

961

twelve hours to cover the twenty-six miles. From Hartford they went by rail to Bridgeport, where they took a steam packet for New York. Such a journey must have been excessively tiresome and was not conducive of much travel. The only long trips anyone in those days would undertake were for business, never for pleasure. "There is only one conclusion which can be drawn from this and that is that the country was backward in material advancement and this backwardness was more or less common all over the world—Why? Was it that we lacked skill? We can hardly say that, because some of the greatest philosophers, scientists, engineers, statesmen, musicians, painters, explorers, orators, and authors, the world has ever known lived during these years of suspended physical growth. "Ask many people to what we largely owe our great progress; they will probably enumerate a number of things; the steam engine; the telegraph, and what not. Few indeed will ever mention dynamite, which is the most important of all. "The art of mining gold, silver, iron and copper, was known as far back as the days of Job and King Solomon. These metals are among the most important elements of our material success today, yet how does it happen that we had to wait thousands of years for their full development?" The answer can perhaps best be given by reviewing our progress in some of the industries that have helped make America famous, industries where modem explosives have materially assisted and where in most cases they have been of vital importance.1 First the mineral industry and then the engineering projects will be discussed. i See Story of America—Romance

of Explosive»,

Institute, (1924).

CHAPTER THE MINERAL

T

II.

INDUSTRY

H E mineral industry includes mines, quarries, and wells and is more extensively developed in America than elsewhere in the world. It consists essentially in wresting useful minerals from the earth with the aid of explosives and other suitable labor-saving devices. Considerable similarity exists among the methods used in different kinds of mines, but since the various minerals and metals obtained have varied connections with our daily lives and with the civilization of today, the subject will be classified in order to show the wide and intimate connection between explosives and modern life. COAL mining is the largest mining industry in the world and America supplies nearly half the world production. Explosives are not a strict necessity for mining all coal as, where the outcrop is near the surface, small quantities can and have been cut by hand. But for large production the mines today must dig deep into the bowels of the earth, or strip thousands of tons of over-burden to reach the coal measures, and then modern blasting methods are needed for safety and efficiency in the actual production of the coal. Coal is mined largely with black powder but the present tonnage output could hardly have been attained if it had not been for the advance in general industry that has come about through the introduction of high explosives. Dynamite was introduced in the coal mining industry about 1870 but was not extensively used, because it had a tendency to produce too much fine coal. With the introduction of good

COAL MINING (Left) An early type of anthracite coal breaker and a culm dump.

(Right) This colliery produces about 1,500,000 tons of a n thracite coal per annum.

(Left) A modern coal mine entry in Utah.

(Right) Interior of a bituminous coal mine showing the lump coal produced by good blasting practice.

964

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

A vertical section of a characteristic anthracite coal measure suitable for "stripping" with explosives.

Many pits and ponds and, near the screening plants, many mountains of refuse rock can be seen about Pittsburg, Kansas.

I n 1924 the Central Stripping Quarry and Construction Company were conducting the largest anthracite stripping operation at the Hazel Brook Mine.

COAL M I N I N G

965

permissible coal mining explosives in 1908 there came a rapidly increasing demand for this type of explosive so that by 1924 about 50,000,000 pounds were consumed annually in the coal mines of the United States. Coal production in this country since 1860 has been as follows: 1860, 14,610,042 short tons. 1870, 33,035,580 " " 126% gain in decade. 1880, 71,481,570 " " 116% " " 1890, 157,770,963 " " 121% " " 1900, 269,684,027 " " 171% " " 1910, 501,596,378 " " 86% " " 1920, 658,000,000 " " 30% " " It would take forty-five years on the 1860 basis to produce the quantity actually mined in 1920. Now in America as much coal is mined in one year as was mined in all time prior to the invention of dynamite. Coal for modern household heating systems, iron furnaces by which this heat is distributed, electrical devices and many other comforts of the home are enjoyed largely because explosives made quantity production of coal, iron, copper, etc., possible. In 1923 the coal mines of America consumed 140,000,000 pounds of black powder and nearly 50,000,000 pounds of permissible dynamite, and in addition nearly 37,000,000 pounds of ordinary dynamite were used in stripping, shaft sinking, and similar operations about these mines.1 Since Pennsylvania is the largest producer of coal in America, it is likewise the largest consumer of both black powder and dynamite. For the same reason West Virginia is the second largest consumer of black powder in the United i Explosives—the Basis of Industry by George G. King, President of the Institute of Makers of Explosives (1924) and Production of Explosives in the United States by W. W. Adams of the U . S. Bureau of Mines (1924).

966

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The iron mines of northern New Jersey were the first iron mines, as well as the first eastern consumers, to use dynamite. Thii is a picture of the Mount Hope Mine near Dover, N. J., * mine that has been in continuous operation about 230 years. The Dickerson mine on Mine Hill and the Hibernia Mines near Rockaway, N. J., are also among the oldest American iron minei and were pioneer users of dynamite.

States. The Anthracite district was the first to mine coal in America. The earliest mines were largely underground, but a few coal deposits were found near the surface and these are now generally mined by removing the surface material with the aid of dynamite and then removing the coal. This method is called stripping. Modern engineering methods have made the removal of overburden so cheap that the coal operators of today remove millions of tons of top rock to reach coal measures which are sometimes located at a depth of 150 feet or more below the surface— feats considered incredible a few years ago. Next to coal mining the IRON and STEEL industry owes much of its wonderful development in the last fifty years to modern high explosives. From 1810 to 1860 the production of pig iron in the United States

IRON MINING

967

The Mahoning-Hull-Rusk mine at Hibbing, Minnesota, is the largest single producer of iron ore in America. The ore is soft but still it pays well in time and labor to use explosives to loosen it up in front of the steam shovels. In 1923 this mine produced 8,823,879 tons of ore.

>,

Removing the overburden from the Albany Iron Mine on the Mesabi Range. Nearly 20,000,000 pounds of explosives are used every year in the states of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin where 8 0 % of all the iron ore that is mined in the United States is produced.

968

T H E EXPLOSIVES I N D U S T R Y (Left) T h e Cliffs S h a f t Mine of the Clevel a n d - Cliffs I r o n Company, showing the district office and head shafts.

(Right) A mining scene in the largest unci e r g r o u n d mine in the Lake Superior District.

(Left) An iron mine in Cuba, a l a r g e producer of iron o r e . Explosives are used to break down the ore so that it can be h a n d l e d by s t e a m shovels.

IRON MINING

969

increased fifteen fold or from 53,908 1 long tons to 821,223 long tons. D u r i n g this period conditions were favorable, as black powder was available, there was ample supply of ore, and immigration was so heavy that the country increased six fold in population. Compare this with the fifty years from 1870, about the date dynamite began to be used in iron mining, to 1920 and the gain in production is noted to exceed twentytwo fold. 2 W h y was the increase only fifteen fold in the first period and over twenty-two fold in the second period? 3 The price inducement in the first period was greater, the population and demand was increasing more rapidly but dynamite, the key to the mining progress, was lacking. America might have had some great steel works, in time, without high explosives, or might have had some great steel buildings, great steel ships to sail the seas, iron horses to cross the continent in four days, and great air ships to cross it in two days, but all this amazing development would probably have been delayed many years and much of it would have been either impossible or impracticable of achievement had it not been for the new force of high explosives. The United States now produces approximately half of the world output of pig iron. T o produce a ton of iron requires the mining of over two tons of iron ore, and much coal and limestone. The peak tonnage of iron ore was mined in the United States in Induttry 1 In 1820 this was reduced to 20,000 long tons; Mineral (New York: McGraw Hill, 1923). 2 The production of pig iron has varied greatly in the United States recently from 80,054,644 tons in 1918 to 16,688,126 tons in 1921 and 40,361,146 in 1923 but 1920 is used because it appears to be the most normal year to compare over the 50 year period under consideration. 3 If the figures for removal of all the ore and overburden were available the comparison of modern practice with that of half a century ago would be even more impressive as then only the best and most easily accessible ores were mined while today with modern methods much more material can be economically handled to pfroduce a ton of pig iron.

970

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

1916 when over 87,000,000 short tons were produced. Several of the largest iron mines in the world are located in this country and there are vast deposits in Cuba and South America. Even in the Philippines "the iron ore deposits are among the largest in Asia". 1 The electrical development during the past few decades has been dependent on COPPER and has astounded the world. Electricity has made possible automobiles and electric lights; the telephone and the radio are now household necessities. I t is difficult for the present generation to visualize the change from the days, before modern explosives were available, when homes were lighted with tallow candles. Copper, either as a metal or an alloy, is so extensively used in dwellings and office buildings, and in utensils, that all one has to do is to observe what is about him to note the wide distribution and utility of this metal. Copper has been used since the time of the ancients, yet it has been available in such abundance only since the discovery of modern explosives. A few specific examples will illustrate the necessity of this abundance: a single large transatlantic liner requires about a million pounds of copper and brass for its construction and equipment; a battleship requires two million pounds; the new Equitable Building in New York City contains nearly two million pounds and the Grand Central Station nearly three million pounds of copper. Among the metals, copper stands second in importance—especially from the standpoint of the tonnage of rock mined. The Utah Copper Company alone mines some 11,000,000 tons of ore each year. I n 1923 this was the largest copper mine in the world and yet it is only one of a very long list of large i Time—May

18, 1925, page 2.

COPPER MINING

971

( R i g h t ) The Calumet and Hecla mines are 5,624 feet deep and 4,386 feet below sea level, o n e of t h e d e e p e s t working leve1s in t h e world.

( L e f t ) The Anac onda is one of the world's largest c o p p e r m i n e s and t h e largest producer of silver in the U. S. In 30 years it prod u c e d 70,000,000 tons.

(Right) T h e Utah copper mine ( 1 9 1 1 ) . The daily p roduction (1926) exceeds 40,000 tons.

972

T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY ( L e f t ) General view of the Nevada Consolidated open cut mine. Since this method of mining has been perfected it has surpassed underground mining in tonnage production, especially in copper mining.

(Right) The Kennecott copper mine in Alaska is located almost 200 miles from the s e a c o a s t and about 7,000 feet above sea level and is one of the richest copper mines in America, wealth unlocked with the explosives key. ( L e f t ) Blasting copper ore at the Chile mine. This blast was fired on March 23, 1925, and was the largest industrial blast on record up to that date. I t consumed a total of 877,228 pounds of explosives. T h e only blast larger than this was the one at Messines Ridge in France on J u n e 7, 1917, w h e n o v e r 1,000,000 pounds of d y n a m i t e (amonal) were used.t (Right) The Braden copper m i n e s in S o u t h America. Metallurgy, * For complete description of this blast see Mining and December, 1925, pages 605-8, "Blasting Operations in Chile" by D. M. Dunbar and C. H. Schultz, Chile Exploration Company, Chuquicamata, Chile. -f-(Times' History of the War, X V , pp. 89-93).

COPPER MINING

973

American copper mines. In fact, the mines of North and South America produce about 85 per cent1 of the nearly three billion pounds of metallic copper now produced annually in the world. This enormous production has developed almost entirely since America assumed the leadership in the production of dynamite and introduced modern mining methods. In 1890 the production of copper in the world was about one fifth of what it is today and most of the copper came from the older and richer copper mines such as the Calumet and Hecla mines in Michigan, the Anaconda mine in Montana, and the Copper Queen mine in Arizona. Modern explosives paved the way for the enormous development in mining machinery and methods which was to follow and the result has been the economic mining of such low grade ores that there are now approximately 60,000,000 tons of ore mined annually as compared to about 5,000,000 tons some forty years ago. The value of explosives to the G O L D mining industry in America is more difficult to visualize than is the case in many mining enterprises for the reason that so many large gold mining camps have been placer mines, requiring but little dynamite and frequently none at all. The United States produced about 2,500,000 ounces of gold in 1860 before the days of dynamite but at that time very little gold came from mine rock. However, by 1915 the production had risen to 4,887,602 ounces and, while no statistics are available, i Other American copper mines producing more than a million tons of ore a year (192ft) were: (Short tons treated or mined)—Chile, 7,058,000; Inspiration, 6,140,000; Braden, 3,858,000; Chino, 2,786,000; Anaconda, 2,736,000*; Ray Consolidated, 2,690,000; Nevada Consolidated, 2,576,000; Miami, 2,880,000; New Cornelia, 1,895,000; Greene Cananea, 1,112,000. 'Approximately double this quantity was mined in 1916 during the heavy war demand. This company is also developing a large porphyry mine in South America known as the Andes Copper Company.

974

T H E EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

it is apparent that most of this came from mine rock1 representing a gold value uncovered by modern explosives of approximately $50,000,000 a year. California has been and still is the largest gold-mining State in the Union but today its production of gold is exceeded by Mexico and Canada. The value of explosives to this industry is perhaps best shown in the gold mines of South Africa, the world's largest producing center. Here all the mining is in very deep2 deposits of metalliferous rock. These mines were opened in the middle eighties and created such a demand for explosives that Cecil Rhodes, the great British mine owner of the district, sent to California in 1899 to secure one of America's leading explosives experts 8 to build a dynamite factory large enough to insure an ample supply of explosives for them. The tonnage of rock removed annually from these mines has increased from nothing in 1883 to about 40,000,000 tons in 1925. This quantity is sufficient to consume the entire production of a very large dynamite factory and yet these great mines produce only a little over one-tenth of the world output of gold which, since the days of dynamite, has grown in value from a total of $119,300,000 in 1860 to $470,466,200 at the peak in 1915. Among the notable large-tonnage American gold mines other than those shown in the illustrations, might be mentioned the Alaska-Treadwell gold mine on Douglas Island, Alaska. This was a low grade free milling ore and quantity production with the aid of 1 Deep mines are all in this class and among the important ones in America are the St. John Del Ray in Brazil, the deepest mine in the world (6726 f e e t ) ; the Kennedy Mining & Smelting Co. in California, the deepest gold mine in the United States (4200 feet), and the Argonaut Mine in California which is nearly as deep. 2 These mines are the second deepest mines in the world being 6263 feet in vertical depth. 3 See page 613.

GOLD M I N I N G

975

The Homestake Mine is the largest individual producer of gold in America. I t is located in the Whitewood mining district of the Black Hills near Lead, South Dakota. The mine rock is hard and dynamite has been the exclusive blasting explosive used since the mine started in 1877, except at first when black powder was used in a large open cut. This mine contains a very large body of low grade gold ore that it would not now pay to work unless high explosives were available. Through the agency of dynamite over $200,000,000 worth of bullion has been removed from this mine. For several years over 1,500,000 tons of rock a year have been blasted and treated for their precious metal contents, yielding about $6,000,000 in bullion annually.

modern explosives was essential to its success. It was opened in 1882 and production increased so rapidly that by 1888 it was rated as one of the world's greatest gold mines. Over a million tons of ore were mined from it annually until a few years ago when the sea broke through and closed the mine. Other important producing centers in the United States at present are Cripple Creek and other places in Colorado, the gold-bearing copper mines of Arizona, and the Tonopah and other parts of Nevada.

976

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

The Alaska-Juneau is the largest mine in America operating on ores yielding less than seventy cents per ton of rock mined— a marvelous example of the efficiency of the work of modern mining and explosives engineers. More tons of ore are removed from this mine annually than from any other gold mine in America, the quantity in 1924 being over 8,000,000 tons, yielding nearly $2,000,000 in bullion.

Some of the large gold-dredging operations in Yuba County, California, use explosives to loosen up the hard gravel and they are also used in some of the large placer deposits in Alaska. It is difficult to say just how many tons of gold and silver ores are mined annually with explosives in America. The U. S. Geological Survey1 gives the tonnage in 1923 as more than 55,000,000 tons, but over 75% of this ore is claimed as copper ore. More than 9,000,000 tons of ore are, however, mined primarily for their gold and silver contents and these ores contained about 63% of the United States production of gold. If Canadian, Mexican, and South American i Gold and Silver

in 1923, p. 570.

SILVER MINING

977

ores were included the tonnage would be even more impressive. Since dynamite has been used, the gold obtained from all the American mines far exceeds three billion dollars in value and the American silver mines have undoubtedly produced another three billions in value. Most of the large SILVEB mines of the world are located in America and nearly all are hard rock mines and therefore dependent on explosives for their economic development. In 1860 the United States produced only 116,000 ounces of silver or less than one per cent of the world's output. During the next few years some rich ores were mined with the aid of black powder and the output increased rapidly to 10,441,400 ounces in 1867, after which the output declined until the early seventies when mining with dynamite ushered in an era of rapid expansion. The production of silver then again rose rapidly, continuing until today the American mines produce approximately 86% of all the silver produced in the world. Much of this silver comes from mines whose tonnage and prominence, if not value, is greater in other metals,—such as the copper mines of Utah, Montana, Arizona, Mexico, and South America, and the lead and zinc mines of Idaho and Colorado. Many of the American silver mining camps have had very picturesque and historic settings. Of these the Leadville, Colorado, mines are perhaps the oldest and best known, but there are numerous others which are steeped in the romance of silver mining in America. The Comstock Lode was one of the world's richest silver deposits. It was discovered by Henry Comstock in the late fifties. In the early seventies it was operated by over forty separate companies, some of which appeared to have been operated more for the sale of

978

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

mining stock than as legitimate metal mines. In 1860 the district output had a value of $1,000,000 and during the last two years of the Civil War the coin value of the bullion exceeded $15,000,000 per annum. By 1875 the output had reached a value of $26,000,000 notwithstanding the fact that mining was becoming more difficult every year as greater depths were reached. In sixteen years, ending in 1875, the district produced bullion to the coin value of approximately $200,000,000, of which $120,000,000 was silver and $80,000,000 gold. The celebrated Sutro Tunnel to drain these mines was proposed by Adolph Sutro as early as 1860. A special Act of Congress was put through in 1866 to legalize its construction but operations were not started on it until 1869. Professor Drinker in his Tunneling (N. Y., 1878) says that the "rate of advance was vastly accelerated by the substitution of high explosives about 1870" and that various difficulties greatly retarded progress but nevertheless in 1878 American records for speed in driving tunnels were made in this tunnel. In the year 1875 the tunneling operations consumed 25,945 pounds of Giant and Hercules powder and 11,241 electric exploders. The tunnel that year was driven 3728 feet to a size of 8x10 feet. The temperature was 100° F . at the face. In 1877 they were using Giant #1, a kieselguhr dynamite containing 75% nitroglycerine, and the tunnel was finished a few years later. Its length was over four miles. It is interesting to note that, in 1878, ore in these mines with less than $30 per ton in metal value could not be mined with profit, whereas today with modern mining methods and improved high explosives much ore is profitably mined with values running less than $1.00 per ton. The Pachuca, Mexico, mine of the United States

SILVER MINING

979 (Left) L eadv i lie, Colorado, i s o n e of t h e b e s t known silver-lead zinc ore mining camps in America. I t is a heavy consumer of explosives.

(Right) U. S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, P a c h u c a, Mexico, has t h e world's richest a n d largest silver mines.

(Left) N e w Shaft ( 1 9 2 1 ) of the Chief Consolidated Mining Comp a n y. I n 1 9 23 t h i s mine was the second largest producer of silv e r in t h e U. S. A.

980

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

Smelting and Refining Company is the world's largest producer of the white metal, the annual output being approximately 18,000,000 ounces of silver. To obtain this over a million and a quarter tons of ore are released by the use of explosives and treated for their precious metal contents. A force of about 10,000 men at the mines and refineries, and others engaged in refining and transporting the product to the four quarters of the globe, are dependent on explosives for the economical production and distribution of silver from this rich mine. Gelatine dynamite is the principal explosive used although some rock is mined with liquid oxygen explosives.1 The use of dynamite in silver mining has been a boon to the users of silver, as it has so increased the efficiency of mining that shortly after its introduction the price of silver began to fall. This continued until the value of silver was less than half its value prior to the introduction of mining with dynamite. Many people living today will recall the scarcity of silver spoons and other articles forty or fifty years ago, whereas today one can go to the five and ten cent store and acquire a fair set of silver plate for a fraction of a day's wages. For these economies modern explosives and mining methods are largely responsible. In spite of the lower prices received, the owners of the silver mines, taken as a whole, have made more profit under these conditions than under the old conditions, as the consumption of silver has so largely increased. In 1924 Missouri was the principal L E A D mining state in the United States and the St. Joseph Lead Company, operating in the Flat River district, was the largest individual producer. In 1924 this company mined 4,498,727 tons of ore.2 The Coeur d'Alene disi See p. 355.

- Moody's Industrie$

1926.

L E A D MINING

981

A lead mine in the F l a t River district of Missouri. This district contains the largest lead mines in America and the above picture shows one of the largest tailing piles in the world. All of these mines attained their prominence a f t e r the introduction of dynamite as a blasting agent.

Wallace, Idaho, in the heart of the Coeur d'Alene district. The Coeur d'Alene lead-silver-zinc mining district is one of the picturesque and important mining districts of the northwest. I t is located in the center of Shoshone County, Idaho, and explosives have been a prominent factor in the development of the mines, railroads, public utility projects, and its beautiful highways. The lead alone produced in this district in 1924 had a value of more than $20,000,000.

982

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

trict of Idaho at this time was the second largest producing center in this country and a group of mines in Utah brought the production of that state to third place and Oklahoma has also become a large producer of this metal.1 The corresponding production of the Mexican mines as a whole approximated the annual production of the state of Missouri and that of Canada was somewhat less than that of Oklahoma. Over 7,000,000 tons2 of lead ores are mined with explosives in the United States every year which added to the other sources of lead yield nearly 600,000 short tons of metallic lead or nearly half of the production of the entire world. If the production of Canada and Mexico is added the total American production would amount to about sixty-one per cent of the world output. Although lead is another metal of the ancients and although it was mined in America more than two hundred years ago still all of these mining districts and most of the prominent mines have come into prominence since the introduction of nitroglycerine and dynamite in American m i n i n g practice. As late as 1820 only about 1,500 tons of metallic lead were mined in the United States. After the introduction of modern mining methods and the discovery of larger ore bodies the production of lead increased so rapidly that the price of lead declined to a fraction of the former price. Fortunately however for the mine owners the demand for lead has recently been greatly stimulated by the growth of the automobile, radio and general chemical and electrical industries so that lead mining is now carried on to a greater extent than ever in the history of the world. Zinc is one of the more modern metals but still it 1 In 1925 Oklahoma became the leading producer (Ind. & Eng. April 20, 1926, p. 3). 2 See also Zinc-Lead Ores, p. 984.

Ckem.

ZINC M I N I N G

983

Joplin, Missouri, the metropolis of the Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma (Tri-state) zinc-lead mining district. Joplin is known as the city that J a c k * built but it would be equally appropriate to give the credit to dynamite. Some lead was mined in the district before the days of dynamite but the production in ten years prior to 1870 did not have a value of $1,000,000. By 1890, when the cost of dynamite decreased, the value of the ore mined was over $3,000,000 per annum and since then nearly half a billion dollars worth of ore has been released there with explosives. It has built up a great modern city, provided a market for agricultural products, and brought other industries into the districts so that today the annual value of the products of this section exceed $120,000,000. Explosives claim a share in " J a c k ' s " great upbuilding ability!

has been known for several centuries. The rapidity with which it has become a prominent and common metal since mining with dynamite was introduced is striking. Most of the zinc now comes from the zinclead ores of the Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma district, which mined 21,813,000 tons of ore in 1917. The peak production in the United States of zinc ores proper1 '"Jack" is the nickname of the principal zinc mineral found in the district. 1 This is exclusive of the zinc-lead ores of the Tri-State district or the lead-silver ores of the Cocur d'Alene district.

984

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

U n d e r g r o u n d in a zinc mine of the Tri-state district.

was reached in 1923 with a production of 3,981,635 tons of ore,1 with the New Jersey Zinc Company as the leading individual producer. The next largest producing center is the Butte district in Montana. At present America produces about two-thirds of the world output of zinc. Although the quantities used are less, still zinc is now almost as widely distributed as copper. Not only is it a constituent of brass and other alloys but it is used extensively as sheet zinc, as zinc oxide in paints and automobile tires, and in medicine. The United States alone produces nearly half of the world output of metallic zinc which in 1925 amounted to 1,246,500 tons.2 Explosives are primarily responsible for its commercial abundance. Approximately a million tons of N I C K E L ore are mined annually in the Sudbury district of Ontario, 1 The figures were the latest available when this was written, but no doubt higher production was reached in 1924, 1925 and 1926. 2 Estimate of the American Bureau of Metal Statistics in the Wall Street Journal 1-25-26.

NICKEL

MINING

985

A Picher, Oklahoma, zinc mine. Canada, and this is the only important source of nickel in the world. These Canadian ores only contain about three per cent of metallic nickel but they carry important values in platinum and other metals which help to carry the cost of producing nickel. T h e mines are about 2,000 feet deep and the rock is hard, requiring modern explosives and modern mining methods for economical production. N i c k e l has been known for 200 years as an elemental metal but o n l y since modern explosives have been available has it been regularly mined and used. I t is a beautiful metal, resembling silver when polished and, in fact, before it became cheap enough to use for other purposes than for electroplating and j e w e l r y novelties, it was commonly known as G e r m a n Silver. 1 I t is now largely used in ordnance and in automobiles to g i v e tensile strength to the steel and m a n y valuable and useful alloys are made of nickel: for example, non-rusting 1 German silver is really an alloy of nickel, c o p p e r and zinc in which the nickel content is a l w a y s less than SO per cent.

986

THE E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y

The Creighton Mine of the International Nickel Company of Creighton, Canada.

light-colored fly screens are generally made of coppernickel alloy. Its use in the electrical specialty field is extensive. Chemical factory utensils made of nickel are now in common use. In fact, nickel is another of the long list of the rare metals of a few years ago which are now considered necessities. S A L T is essential to all animal life. Formerly practically all of this material was obtained by evaporation of sea water or from salt lakes or wells but in recent years the mining of salt with explosives has become an industry of enormous proportions. The production of salt has increased very rapidly since suitable low grade dynamites have been available. In 1881 the production in the United States amounted to 868,000 short tons, most of which was obtained from salt wells. By 1891 when salt mining with dynamite was in its infancy the tonnage produced was 1,396,000 tons. As salt mining with explosives began to assume lead-

SALT MINING

987

T h e Retsof Salt Mine.

The Retsof Salt Mine, underground. This is the largest salt mine in the world. I t has a capacity of 3,000 tons per eight-hour day. The salt is mined with the aid of dynamite, then crushed and screened into various sizes or grades to meet requirements of the trade.

988

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

A Louisiana Salt Mine. After shooting the rock salt, in the mine of the Myles Salt Company on Weeks Island, the salt is loaded with electric shovels and hauled in trams to the hoist shaft.

ership, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Kansas, and Louisiana became the principal producing states. The tonnage increased rapidly to 3,630,000 tons in 1905, 4,870,000 tons in 1914 and 7,033,000 tons in 1923. The consumption of dynamite in this industry is so large that "special salt" dynamites have frequently been devised to meet the demands of the trade for an economical blasting explosive. The world's largest salt mine is located in Livingston County, New York, and is operated by a subsidiary of the International Salt Company. This mine was first opened about 1885 when dynamite was beginning to be produced in large quantities so that the cost of shaft sinking became sufficiently reduced to make the venture look attractive. In 1922 a fine new concrete-lined shaft was sunk to the salt beds, which are 1100 feet below the surface.

P H O S P H A T E HOCK M I N I N G

989

Not all the P H O S P H A T E R O C K obtained requires the aid of explosives for its production but the quantity produced would be materially reduced if it were not for this direct aid to the mining engineer. Florida is the leading producing state with an annual output which has exceeded 3,255,700 long tons. Tunis in Africa is the next largest production center for phosphate. Its annual output is approximately 1,000,000 tons and the world output is about 7,000,000 tons. In Florida mining is carried on largely by the hydraulic mining method or by drag line excavators. The phosphate deposits usually occur from twelve to twenty feet below the surface. Occasionally the overburden amounts to as much as forty feet, in which case the phosphate deposits must be large enough and valuable enough to make it pay to remove so much top material. Dynamite is used for the purpose of breaking up the sand rock in the overburden, and also for blasting the large lumps or boulders so that they can be handled, especially where the hydraulic system of mining requires a great amount of pumping. Every agricultural country is benefitted by the use of phosphates as fertilizer. Even our daily bread is thus seen to be indirectly dependent on explosives for its ingredients and it is frequently raised by phosphate baking powders. Building stone has been known and used for ages but it is only since the introduction of high explosives, and the great industrial development that has followed, that the C R U S H E D S T O N E business has become an industry of importance. The amount of explosives used per ton of rock blasted is almost insignificant, especially at the larger quarries where the most efficient blasting methods are used, but the total tonnage produced is so vast that it vitally affects the explo-

990

T H E EXPLOSIVES I N D U S T R Y T h r e e pictures showing the cycle of operations in the B 1 u f f t o nL e wisburg c ompany's q u a r r y at A r 1 ington, Ohio.

( T o p ) Shows how t r e e s and soil have been removed and how the churn drill has prepared the place for the dynamite; (Center) s h o w s the b l a s t and (Bottom) shows the s t e a m shovel loading the rock into cars to be conveyed to the central breaker and s i z i n g screen before shipment to the building contractor.

CRUSHED STONE QUARRIES

991

(Right) A s p h a l t Rock quarry. Most of the asphalt for our roads formerly came from the island of Trinidad but it is now extensively quarried with the aid of explosives at Kyrock in Edmonson County, Kentucky, and at Uvalde, Texas.

(Left) A l a r g e crushed stone quarry. The Tompkins C o v e S t o n e Company of New York is one of several prominent companies operating along the Hudson River. Over a million tons of stone are blasted out of this quarry annually. (Right) T h e largest industrial blast ever shot in the United States was fired at the crushed stone quarry of the Blue Diamond Company near C o r o n a in Southern California in 1924. This blast consumed 328,000 pounds of dynamite.

992

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

sives industry. The present-day efficiency in these quarries is largely because of the cooperative work of the explosives engineers employed by these industries. Approximately 100,000,000 tons1 of crushed stone are now produced annually in the United States, most of which is consumed in concrete2 although a large tonnage is used without cement in certain highway construction and repairs. Limestone, trap-rock, granite, and sand-stone represent the leading types of rock used for the production of crushed stone. Every large city or manufacturing center is now surrounded by crushed stone quarries which supply the raw material for foundations, buildings, highways, and adjacent railroads. In addition to ordinary building operations, all the great engineering projects require large quantities of stone for concrete and other structures. The L I M E S T O N E industry taken as a whole is second to the coal industry in respect to tonnage production. The total output in the U n i t e d S t a t e s in 1923 amounted to nearly 120,000,000 tons, but on account of the diversified uses of this material 44,000,000 tons of this total have been placed with the crushed stone industry and 35,000,000 tons with the cement industry, thus leaving but 41,000,000 tons which is mined or quarried for metallurgical, building, and chemical uses. The iron and steel industry uses the greater portion of this as a flux and a certain amount is used in other smelting furnaces; the producers of quick lime and hydrated lime consume more than 8,000.000 tons; the alkali factories more than 3,000,000 tons; and i This figure is an estimate. The quantity of crushed stone required for road surfacing and to use up the annual output of cement would figure about 180,000,000 tons but the Government figures (see Stone in 1923 by the U. S. Geological Survey) total about 70,000,000 tons. The difference is undoubtedly accounted for by the substitution of gravel, cinder, waste mine rock, etc., for p a r t of the crushed stone and also by quite a large number of small local producers from whom reports are 2 not available. See also Cement Limestone, p. 994.

LIMESTONE

993

A limestone mine. Most limes tope formerly came from quarries, but underground limestone mining is now economically possible with modern explosives and mining methods. This is the Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, mine of the American Lime and Stone Company. Its output in 1924 was about 1,000 tons a day.

more than 1,000,000 tons are sold to the farmers in the shape of pulverized limestone. Other interesting uses are in sugar refineries, glass factories, paper mills, and calcium carbide factories. Before the days of modern explosives, the production of lime in America and in the world was a minute fraction of what it is today. In no other country is the production of limestone so extensively developed as in the United States. Lime is not only closely allied to our daily lives in the large uses above mentioned but we are dependent on it for even the minute details of life; even the egg shells we crack at breakfast may have been derived in part from limestone grits (produced by explosives), which are now regularly fed to chickens to insure their having a proper supply of this important material!

994

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The Portland Cement Industry is one of the large American industries that is vitally interested in and dependent on the explosives industry. The large tonnage of rock removed by modern explosives is well illustrated in the blast of the Crestmore, California, quarry of the Riverside Portland Cement Company on July 28, 1923, when 130,000 pounds of Judson type dynamite brought down 390,000 tons of broken cement rock.

The manufacture of Portland Cement started in England about a century ago but only since inexpensive modern explosives have been available1 has the industry reached its present extensive development. In the United States its growth has been astonishing and the quarrymen in this industry must blast down annually approximately 3 5 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 tons of C E M E N T LIMESTONE to supply the cement manufacturer with his raw material. Houses, barns, factories and other structures on cement foundations indirectly require cement limestone, and some of the best public highways are now quite extensively built with the aid of i The first Portland Cement mill in America was erected in 1872 (Portland Cement Association Pamphlet). See also Hittory of the Portland Cement Induttry in the United Btatei by Robert W. Lesley, Chapter V, published by International Trade Press, Inc.

996

THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

The Alabaster, Michigan, quarry of the United States Gypsum Company is the largest individual gypsum quarry in America. It was opened in 1864 and each day about 1,200 tons of gypsum are blasted out to make wall finishes, cement, and other useful and ornamental articles.

this modern building material. As the forests become depleted cement is also replacing wood for many purposes. G Y P S U M is another mineral that is more widely mined and used in the United States than in all the rest of the world combined. The combined production of the United States and Canada is over 5,000,000 tons1 annually and this production is growing rapidly. It is largely used in the building trades and in the manufacture of cement. It is the material from which most of the wall plaster used in the United States is made. Gypsum tile and wall boards are used in very large quantities and, in localities where pulverized gypsum can be obtained cheaply, it is also largely used for agriculture. New York state is the largest producer but several other states also produce large quantities. i The United States alone produced 4,853,448 tons in 1923.

CHILE SALTPETER

997

Drilling Boulders. Nearly 26,000,000 tons of caliche has to be blasted annually to produce the average annual output of about 2,500,000 short tons of Chile saltpeter. C H I L E SALTPETER is t h e

name given to a soda saltpeter f o u n d in South America. The crude mineral is called c a l i c h e ; some of it is very hard, and practically all of it has to be blasted out. As saltpeter is the principal basic material used in the explosives industry, the | owners of the nitrate ore | beds generally manufac- 1 ture their own black pow- | der. The Chile saltpeter I H -¥ v " deposits played an imporA Desert Blast, tant role in the development of the American explosives and fertilizer industries.

998

THE EXPLOSIVES

INDUSTRY

A Canadian Asbestos Mine. This peak of asbestos-bearing rock in the Thetford District of Quebec was blasted down in 1922.

A number of minerals and metals with smaller tonnage output, which are of special interest to American mining, explosives and chemical engineers, will now be discussed. Canada is the principal mining center of the world for ASBESTOS minerals but the entire American output at present does not require the blasting of more than 400,000 tons of rock. Broadly speaking the explosives engineer is interested in this material chiefly because it well illustrates the diversified uses in which explosives are made to serve modern industry. Asbestos is essential to automobile brake linings, for fireproof theater curtains, and for many kinds of fibre packings and gaskets; and is extensively used in pipe coverings, wall-board, boiler coverings, and roofing. The American market is the largest consumer of asbestos in the world. The production of B A R Y T E S in the United States

BARYTES, BAUXITE, ETC.

999

amounts to about 200,000 tons annually. I t comes mostly from the states of Georgia and Missouri and the quantity is about twice the total production of the rest of the world. One does not think of explosives in connection with the paint industry and yet this mineral produced with the aid of explosives is absolutely essential for the production of lithopone—one of the prominent white pigments used in interior painting. It is also an important ingredient in weighted paper, linoleum, oilcloth, and other household goods. B A U X I T E , the natural hydrated oxide of aluminum, is the mineral from which the comparatively new metal aluminum is manufactured. Somewhat over a million tons of bauxite are mined with explosives every year and the Americas produce more than half of this tonnage, mostly from mines at Bauxite, Saline County, Arkansas. Bauxite is mined principally by stripping and quarry methods and rather heavy shots are used to break up the ore which is then loaded by hand or by steam shovels and sent to the treating plant. A recent development is an underground mine. The American Bauxite Company mines nearly 400,000 tons annually at Bauxite, Arkansas. British Guiana is also coming into fairly large production. Numerous other minerals, mined with explosives, are used in the production of aluminum, notably cryolite, fluorspar, coal, limestone, and common salt. These materials have to be collected from widely separated parts of the world, requiring metal ships, metal rails, and other transportation equipment for which explosives are also partly responsible. Thus is the claim of explosives to recognition in this industry established. The explosives engineer, the mining engineer, and the electrical engineer all claim a share in the credit for the rapid increase in the pro-

1000 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

duction of this metal. Its production at low cost has been one of the factors in the recent rapid development of the luxurious enclosed automobiles as well as the widespread distribution of this beautiful light and strong metal of household and general utility. Although aluminum has only been produced commercially for about 35 years the annual production today is approximately 250,000,000 pounds. The United States is the largest producer of B O B A X minerals and Chile the second largest, but the combined American production does not reach 200,000 tons per annum. Explosives are used to produce most of this borax and it is interesting to know that in this way the explosives industry is closely allied to the fancy enamel and pottery trade which consumes fully half of the borax minerals produced. Other important consumers of borax are glass makers, laundry soap manufacturers, tanners, food packers, and manufacturers of surgical dressings and medicine. Many other uses might be mentioned but this will suffice to illustrate again how explosives are needed in our everyday life. C O B A L T is a minor metal, of importance to American mining and explosive engineers as most of the world production comes from the vicinity of Cobalt, Ontario. Its principal use is in the ceramic industry to give some of the beautiful tints produced. A smaller quantity is used in certain steel products. The total tonnage of refined cobalt produced annually, however, probably does not greatly exceed 10,000 tons. The United States produces about two-thirds of the world production of F E L D S P A R and Canada is the second largest producer. This is another mineral which links the explosives trade with the ceramic industry. The total American production is approximately 200,-

M A N G A N E S E , P Y R I T E S , T A L C 1001 000 tons each year, consumed chiefly in ceramics. The mines of Brazil produce about 250,000 tons of M A N G A N E S E ore annually and this is about half of the world tonnage. Some of the explosives used in its production come from American and some from European sources, but they are essential. The product is used in the steel industry, for which it is now considered to be a necessity. Montana is the largest producing state in the United States. The United States is a small producer of P Y B I T E S compared to Spain but the combined American production has at times reached nearly 1,000,000 tons. It is mined with explosives and its principal use (outside of any metal contents) is in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, which in turn is used to produce more explosives. In recent years the tendency in America is to use more native sulphur and less pyrites in sulphuric acid making. The American sulphur mines are located in Texas and Louisiana. The sulphur is mined by forcing steam underground to bring molten sulphur to the surface but explosives are used to break up the huge solidified blocks of sulphur that result from the process. The United States produces about two-thirds of the T A L C and S O A P S T O N E mined in the world and New York and Vermont, with a combined annual production of about 150,000 tons, are the heaviest producers. I t is all obtained with the aid of explosives and it is widely used in paint, paper, roofings, rubber goods, and in all grades of baby and face powders. Besides the metal ores and minerals specifically mentioned there are many others merely classed as STONE which collectively use large quantities of explosives. Included in this classification are dimension and building stone and several special stones such as sand-

1002 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

A Vermont Granite Quarry. About 2,500,000 tons of dimension stone are quarried annually in the United States for the building trades and for monuments. Besides the stone used, considerable quantities of waste stone and overburden have to be removed with the aid of explosives so that the total consumption of black powder and dynamite is about as great per ton of product in these quarries as in those where smaller stone is prepared. Next to limestone, granite is the largest dimension stone industry. Georgia, Wisconsin, Colorado and other mountain states contain some of the largest and finest granite quarries in America.

stone, etc. The glass industry for example is thus found to be interested in explosives, for more than two million tons of glass sand are produced annually in the United States and a considerable percentage of this is so hard that it pays to blast it first with dynamite. The shooting of O I L W E L L S with black blasting powder to revive or increase the flow of oil was introduced in Titusville, Pennsylvania, about 1864 by E . A. L . Roberts. A year or two later he started to use nitroglycerine1 for this purpose. The practice of shooting oil wells with nitroglycerine to shatter the underi F o r further details of shooting oil wells with nitroglycerine see N. G. torpedoes, p. 396.

OIL W E L L SHOOTING

1003

ground formation and thus open up fissures in the rock for the oil to reach the well is now generally accepted as standard in the eastern oil field. The Bradford district of Pennsylvania b e c a m e the first center of the oil well shooting industry and from there the practice spread through southwestern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and adjacent states until today it is used in every important American oil field in which the wells have attained any age, except those of the W e s t C o a s t , which have never needed the assistance that is necessary in the more settled geologic formations of the East. The total oil production of North and South America amounts to nearly a billion barrels of petroleum so it is easy to see how important explosives are to the in(Left) The shooting of oil wells to increase the flow of oil is as spectacular today as ever. Nitroglycerine (or occasionally a high grade blasting gelatine) is generally used- The use of explosives is a factor of considerable economic importance in the production of gas and oil.

1004 THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

An oil shale claim in Colorado. I f oil becomes scarce enough to warrant the active development of these mountains of oil shale, dynamite will be of use in removing these extensive deposits for their oil contents.

dustry if they increase the total flow of the wells by even a very small percentage.

CHAPTER AMERICAN

III.

ENGINEERING

PROJECTS

M

A N Y other mining enterprises requiring explosives might be cited but consideration must now be directed to some of the prominent American engineering projects which have been built with the aid of modern explosives. Supplemental to this list, some smaller uses of explosives will be mentioned, or illustrated, which may be classed as agricultural or general engineering uses. T h e ancients built many wonderful AQUEDUCTS in China, Mesopotamia, Rome, and elsewhere long before explosives were available, but the labor and time consumed in constructing them made them very costly. F o r a time, however, they brought wealth and luxury to the community, but as economic and political conditions changed, many of them became damaged and were allowed to become merely historic ruins. W i t h the advent of modern explosives and mining methods there came a great revival in the building of aqueducts not only to supply drinking water but also in many cases to supply water to irrigate crops and orchards. T h e great reclamation projects (q.v.) were a direct outcome of this revival of aqueduct building. Most of the inhabitants of the United States west of the R o c k y Mountains are more or less dependent on the engineering works and mining enterprises that have been built with the aid of these explosives, yet but few realize the extent of this dependence. E x p l o sives work in many unseen places; they bore through mountains, under river and lakes, and thus make available a supply of water, that great vital necessity of animal and vegetable life. A few examples of notable

1006 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

American aqueducts will illustrate the trend and extent of these vast projects. The various aqueducts which have been built for New York City undoubtedly represent the most stupendous undertaking of this kind in the world. The first prominent one was the old Croton Aqueduct which was in itself a wonderful undertaking. I t was built with the aid of black powder. In the middle eighties the new Croton Aqueduct was built largely by means of gelatine dynamite, and recently the most extensive and comprehensive system of them all has been built in the Catskill Mountains with the aid of modern explosives and mining machinery. The new (2d) Croton Aqueduct to supply New York City was started about 1884 and completed in 1890. It carries over 300,000,000 gallons of water a day from a series of 30 lakes draining a water shed of 360 square miles. The total length of the aqueduct is about 33 miles, most of which is in rock tunnel, the finished diameter of which is 12% feet. The depth underground ranges from 18 to 402 feet. This was the first of the large American aqueducts to be built with the aid of dynamite.1 I t is estimated that over 7,000,000 pounds of explosives, mostly dynamite, were required for its construction, including the explosives consumed in the production of the cement and metals used. Between 1895 and 1906 the Jerome Park reservoir was added to the Croton system. I t consumed an additional 2,500,000 pounds of dynamite. The Catskill Aqueduct was the third large aqueduct to be built for New York City. The first part of i Gelatine dynamite was used extensively for the first time on this job. Forcite gelatine was used on half of the sections, Giant dynamite on five sections of the twelve sections, and nitroglycerine and other dynamites on a section or two.

AQUEDUCTS

1007

The Kensico Dam in the Berkshire Hills. The Kensico Dam is one of the largest masonry structures in the world. Its greatest height above bed rock is 307 feet and it contains nearly a million yards of masonry. More than a million pounds of dynamite were required to prepare the foundation and supply the materials. This is now a part of the consolidated Catskill-Croton aqueduct.

this, the Esopus Creek development, including the Ashokan dam, was started in 1907 and was practically finished in 1913, although it was not dedicated until 1917. It was designed to supply an additional 500,000,000 gallons of water a day to the city. It is now 159 miles long and has, in addition, 34 miles of special distributory tunnels and pipe lines extending into Long Island and Staten Island. One of these tunnels has a length of 18 miles through solid rock. It is 200 to 750 feet below the street level, has a diameter of 14 feet, and is the longest concrete-lined water pressure tunnel in the world.1 Many of the supply tunnels pass far below the river valleys, the one below i Catilcill Water Supply ber, 1923, p. 24.

(New York Board of Water Supply), Octo-

1008 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

The Catskill Aqueduct is the largest in the world. Its construction required over 17,000,000 pounds of dynamite and 700,000 pounds of black blasting powder, and at least a million pounds more were required to make the cement and metals used in this project. More than 22,000,000 cubic yards of material had to be excavated, over 3,00,000 yards of which were tunnel rock work. Thus has the luxury of pure mountain drinking water been brought to the homes of the millions in New York City.

the Hudson River being more than 1100 feet below tide water. The second part of the Catskill Aqueduct or the Schoharie Creek development involved the building of the Gilboa dam, 160 feet high, which, when completed in 19261 made a reservoir of 20,000,000,000 gallons capacity. The great Shandakan Tunnel with a maximum capacity of 600,000,000 gallons a day connects this reservoir with the Esopus Creek above the Ashokan Reservoir. It was started in 1919 and completed in 1923. It was driven through solid rock for a distance of over eighteen miles and is the longest tunnel in the world. Its completion in so short a time 1

This reservoir was placed in partial operation on February 9, 1924.

AQUEDUCTS

1009

is a marvelous tribute to the skill of explosives and mining engineers. The efficiency of explosives for this work is still further emphasized when it is considered that no more than 1,600 workmen were required at any time to do all of the work on this tunnel, and the total cost was only a little in excess of $12,000,000. Approximately 12,000 shots were fired and 2,500,000 pounds of gelatine dynamite were required to blast out over a million tons of solid rock to build it. The combined Catskill Aqueduct collects its water supply from 571 square miles in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. Although this undoubtedly is already the largest aqueduct in the world, it is estimated that by 1935 it will have to be supplemented by further supplies of water to meet the growing demands of New York City and vicinity. The Los Angeles Aqueduct was started in 1907 and completed in 1913. I t has a capacity of 259.000,000 gallons a day. I t brings the water from Owen's River in the high Sierra Nevada mountains at an elevation of 3812 feet at the intake. The aqueduct is brought down over a rugged and desolate country for a distance of 235 miles to the city, and part of the fall is utilized to develop 120,000 hydro-electric horsepower en route. I t is one of the longest aqueducts in the world 1 and has about 43 miles of concrete-lined tunnels, 37 miles of cement-lined canals, 92 miles of cement-covered conduits and 12 miles of siphons, besides other notable features. The Elizabeth Tunnel of the Los Angeles Aqueduct is 26,870 feet long and was driven in 1244 days or at an average rate of 10.8 feet a day in each of the two headings. In this tunnel American records for > Comparable distances would be from Lake Ontario to New York City or from Lake Michigan to St. Louis ( L o t Angelei Aqueduct— Final Report 1916, p. 26).

1010 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

Mammoth Creek on the upper waters of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Between 1908 and 1913 more than six million pounds of dynamite were used directly in the construction of this aqueduct and probably nearly another million pounds were used in mining the cement rock, iron ore, copper ore and coal, required in the work before the city of Los Angeles enjoyed the benefits of this great enterprise.

rapid hard rock work were repeatedly established.1 The entire cost of explosives2 for all of this work, however, including the production of cement, was less than a million dollars, yet without high explosives the total cost of the work and its time of completion would have been multiplied many times. Sixty per cent gelatine dynamite was largely used in the hard headings and 40% gelatine and ammonia dynamite for the balance of the work. In Chicago, over three million people receive the benefit of good drinking water supplied at reasonable cost through the aid of dynamite. The great intake tunnels under the city and extending far out into 1 Los Angeles Aqueduct—Final Report 1916, pp. 22 and 151. 2 Estimated from quantity reported used ( R e p o r t p. 25).

AQUEDUCTS

1011

Lake Michigan are in some cases several miles long and 12'xl4' in cross section—all through solid rock. The city of Cleveland, Ohio, secures its water supply from Lake Erie through a tunnel 26,000 feet long which extends out under the lake for a distance of four miles. This tunnel is nine feet in diameter and is supplemented by other older and smaller tunnels. It was built with the aid of gelatine dynamite. The Buffalo Water Works intake tunnel was started in May 1908 and the excavation was completed in May 1910. The tunnel under Lake Erie extends 6580 feet to an intake crib. The shore tunnel is 4300 feet long, excavated in part by the open cut method. Approximately 200,000 pounds of explosives were used.1 St. Louis, Missouri, has driven a tunnel for its water supply. I t is 95 feet underground and is 2,766 feet long (with a 60 ft. riser at the end) extending out under the Mississippi River. I t was blasted out of solid limestone in 1914 with the aid of approximately 45,000 pounds of dynamite2 and then was cementlined. It would be quite impossible to describe here all of even the largest aqueducts which have been built in recent years in America. Most of the large cities in the far west have these modern water supply systems. The Metropolitan Water Supply System of Boston and neighboring cities is a prominent example of these aqueducts in the East. San Francisco is now building the Hetch-Hetchy Aqueduct, a splendid and representative system. The Coast Range tunnel for this aqueduct is planned to be about 31.5 miles long, which will make it the longest tunnel ever driven for any purpose. The total length of all tunnels in this project will be 69 miles, i DuPont letter 12-31-24 N. Y. * DuPont Magazine p. 108, Jan., 1914.

1012 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

an equal number of miles of highways, many miles of canals, and several large dams are also being built with the aid of dynamite in order to supply 400,000,000 gallons of pure mountain water to the residents of this and adjacent cities and also to supply some 200,000 hydro-electric h o r s e power. T h e HetchHetchy dam is about 150 miles distant from the city and large quantities of dynamite and blasting powder are required to build the dams, drive the tunnels, build the roads, and excavate the canals. Tulsa is so new that many people have never heard of it in spite of the wide publicity which has been given to this progressive city of the southwest. At first its citizens used the Arkansas River water which, at seasons, was almost brown from a non-filtering tufa which it carried in suspension. There were too many progressive citizens in Tulsa to stand that situation very long and soon they found that with the aid of a few hundred thousand pounds of explosives and $7,000,000 in cash they could obtain pure water from the Spaninaw River some 56 miles distant in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Compared to some of the great aqueducts this is a small one but it is very characteristic of what modern explosives can do for a progressive modern community. The work was started in 1922 and completed in 1924. I t involved the construction of 56 miles of railroad, 7,000 feet of mountain tunnel, heavy excavations for reservoirs, pipe lines and foundations, all of which would have been quite impracticable without the employment of the most advanced engineering methods. Many other examples might be cited but these show how explosives help to bring blessings of the country to the residents of large cities. D R A I N A G E of land to improve agricultural and sanitary conditions has been extensively carried on in

D R A I N A G E PROJECTS

1013

Holland, in China, and elsewhere for centuries before blasting explosives became available but extension of this work has been greatly accelerated, especially in America, since modern explosives have come into general use. This acceleration is particularly noticeable where the drainage problem involves the removal of much rock and hard pan as was the case with the Chicago Drainage Canal and with some of the extensive canals which have been and are now being built for the drainage of the Everglades in Florida. In the Dismal Swamp in Virginia explosives have been used, although to a much smaller extent, and in thousands of other more or less important drainage projects in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and all along the South Atlantic seaboard as well as many other places in North and South America. Of the great drainage projects, that of the City of Mexico is one of the most interesting although far from the most important as a consumer of explosives. The City of Mexico of the early days was a most unhealthy city because of the poor drainage. It was situated only six feet above the normal level of a lake three miles distant and, in the rainy season, the streets of the city were frequently under water. In 1607 there had been a serious flood and a drainage system 13 miles long and involving a deep cut was started, but it was not until 1789 that the drainage canal was finished. A great flood in 1629 converted the streets into ditches filled with three feet of water, which did not entirely recede for five years and typhus and other fevers were very prevalent. During the one hundred and eighty-two years taken for its construction over 70,000 lives were lost. This first system did not entirely accomplish the desired result so in 1856 another drainage project was started. This covered a distance

1014 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

T h e Chicago Drainage Canal was the first of a long list of modern engineering projects which have consumed enormous quantities of explosives and which economically would not have been possible without explosives. Between 1892 and 1896 this work consumed over 11,000,000 pounds of dynamite and about 1912 some 2,000,000 pounds additional were used in the construction of the Calumet-Sag addition to this canal. If we include all the explosives required to build the minor additions, to make the metals and the concrete, the total quantity of explosives consumed for the work would no doubt be close to 15,000,000 pounds. The experience gained by the contractors and engineers on this canal and the publicity which resulted from this great public improvement, served to advertise widely what could be done by modern explosives in the hands of trained engineers supplied with ample capital and modern equipment. While this canal was built primarily to take the city sewerage away from Lake Michigan, the source of the city water supply, it also provided the nucleus for a system of water navigation from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

of 43 miles and required the construction of a tunnel 6 miles in length to take the drainage water to the Panuco River near Tegnixquiac. Finally the aid of dynamite was obtained and the drainage project was speedily brought to a completion in 1900. To this

D R A I N A G E PROJECTS

1015

(Left) Many picturesque golf links in America have used dynamite to clear off stumps and boulders or to dig the drainage ditches as at this Bradford, Pa., club.

(Right) C h u r n drills were used in this 100,000 acre farm drainage project in Jasper County, Indiana, to prepare for blasting the rock and hard pan.

( L e f t ) A section of the finished Indiana drainage ditch. Dynamite is also extensively used in the drainage of soft and wet swamp lands.

1016 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

A drainage and irrigation canal in a Louisiana rice field. Most of our rice comes from Louisiana and Texas, and a considerable portion of it is grown on fields that have been drained and irrigated with the aid of explosives.

work, as well as to modern sanitary science, the residents of the city owe the present healthy condition of the City of Mexico, which is today one of the fine historic capital cities of America. The illustrations here shown will give a general idea of some of the more important uses of explosives for drainage. Many of the drainage projects are connected with the food supply. For example: most of our rice comes from Louisiana and Texas, and a considerable portion of it is grown on fields that have been drained and irrigated with the aid of explosives.1 In Southern Florida between Miami, Palm Beach, and Fort Myers there exists an area of some 4,000 i An odd and interesting use of explosives in connection with our supply of rice is its extensive employment by gunners in the Sandwich Islands. Hiey use shot guns loaded only with black powder, the noise and smoke from which keeps the large flocks of birds off the fields during the harvest season. (Herculei Mixer Feb. 1922 p. 40).

D R A I N A G E PROJECTS

1017

An Everglades drainage canal showing the rock removed from the bottom with the aid of explosives and of the dredges of the Arandel Corporation. This company has dredged most of these canals and consequently is one of the largest consumers of explosives in Florida.

square miles containing some of the most fertile tropical land in America but, until touched by the magic hand of the explosives and modern dredging engineers, it was of little value except as a home for the wild animal, bird, and reptile life of South Florida and as the residence of a few Seminole Indians. The overflow from Lake Okeechobee caused the trouble and in order to remove this a total of more than 500 miles of canals are proposed, many of which have already been built. The entire estimated cost of the finished project is less than $22,000,000 and of this the funds required for dynamite, the most essential material for the economic success of the work, is a very small percentage of the total cost. Improved land in this vast section readily sells for from $100 to $1000 an acre and it is safe to say that, largely because modern explosives have been available, the land values in the Everglades have increased in value in recent years to the extent of more than $200,000,000.

1018 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

C A N A L B U I L D I N G was an active occupation in the eastern United States until 1837, after which attention was shifted to railway building until comparatively recently when the availability of modern explosives and steam shovels has again stimulated canal building. The early canals were built largely by manual labor, with the assistance of black powder where rock breaking was necessary. Several of these were quite successful for a while but later most of them were abandoned in favor of the railroads. The most notable of the recent canals is the Panama (ship) Canal. Other prominent canals are the New York State Barge Canal (successor of the Erie Canal), the Welland (ship) Canal, the Sault St. Marie (ship) Canal, the Cape Cod (ship) Canal, the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, and the Illinois and Michigan (or Hennepin) Canal. All of these required explosives for their construction although the Cape Cod Canal required explosives more for the production of jetty rock and concrete than for the actual dredging of the sandy isthmus connecting Buzzards Bay with Cape Cod Bay. Besides these, quite a large number of smaller canals have been built or planned in recent years, notably the inland waterways canals extending in general from Mexico along the Gulf of Mexico, across Florida, and up the Atlantic Coast almost to the Canadian border. Most of these are dredging propositions although whenever hard pan or rock is encountered the explosives engineer is called upon to break the ground ahead of the dredge. Since the advent of high explosives, mankind has had one thrill after another. So rapid has the march of human progress been that it is difficult to sense the significance of such enterprises as these. The Panama Canal is one of the world's greatest

CANALS

1019

engineering achievements and its value to world commerce and development is almost beyond comprehension, yet few people realize that dynamite was one of the important and essential materials required for its construction. The canal is a little over 47 miles long and cost about $875,000,000. The old French company had excavated over 78,000,000 cubic yards prior to May 4,1904, the date when the United States Government started its work on the canal. During the next ten years about 200,000,000 cubic yards additional were excavated. Explosives were also necessary for the economical production of over 5,208,800 cubic yards of concrete for the construction of the canal. A t times a force of nearly 50,000 men was employed directly on the canal while many more were employed in the States to manufacture the explosives and other materials used. As the canal force was constantly changing it is probable that over a million individuals received the benefit of employment on some part of this great construction job. Literally billions of individuals will receive the benefit of inexpensive transportation afforded as a result of it. The Culebra (now called the Gaillard) Cut represented the heaviest piece of explosives engineering work done on the canal. The largest individual blast was fired in this cut on October 10, 1913, when President Wilson closed the current which exploded 80,000 pounds of dynamite and blew up the great Gamboa dyke. The cut is about 8 miles long and 300 feet deep and had to be excavated to a bottom width of 1,000 feet. Over 152,000,000 cu. yds. of material have been excavated from this cut and nearly 23,000,000 cu. yds. of material were required to fill the great Gatun Dam. Explosives were not required for all of this work but nevertheless they were essential for the

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CANALS

1021

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1062 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

The World's highest (270 ft.) rock-filled dam (1925). This picture shows the completed Dix River dam of the Kentucky Hydro-Electric Company. In the Southern Appalachian Mountains during the past decade many vast hydro-electric power systems have been built with the aid of dynamite. Approximately three million tons of rock were blasted and three-quarters of a million pounds of dynamite were consumed in its construction.1

through the production of household utensils, chemicals, etc., so cheaply that luxuries are in reach of everyone. A few of these projects are briefly described under the illustrations following. The Niagara Falls hydro-electric project was the first and is perhaps the best known as well as the largest of the now numerous hydro-electric power projects of America. The first water power development at Niagara was comparatively small and was built with the aid of black powder. About 1891 the old Niagara Falls Power Company built a tunnel 16 feet in diameter, 7,000 feet long, and 170 feet below the upper surface. This was put through solid limestone with the aid of dynamite. From that time dyna• The largest single blast consumed 8400 pounds of explosives.

P U B L I C U T I L I T Y PROJECTS

1063

The Wilson Dam at Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River. The composite structure of the lock, spillway, and power house will consume 1,291,000 cubic yards 1 of concrete which will make it one of the largest concrete structures in the world. The power house will contain 18 hydro-electric generators capable of developing 600,000 horse-power, although this full quantity is not expected to be produced the year around until the flow is equalized by the construction of additional storage dams further u p the river. Over a million pounds of dynamite were consumed directly and indirectly in its construction. The dam is 95 feet high from the river bed to the crest and it has a composite length of 4,500 feet.

mite has been extensively used to build canals and tunnels for the enormous hydro-electric development that has taken place on both sides of the river. Altogether several million tons of rock have been removed with the aid of explosives. One of the largest tunnels was built in 1921-3. It was the shape of a horseshoe and was blasted out 36 feet by 36 feet but some of the rock was put back in the shape of a concrete lining which reduced the measurements to 32 feet each way. i Concrete (Chicago: Concrete-Cement Age Pub. Co.), October, 1924, p. 141. See also Kensico Dam, p. 1007.

1064 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

In l a r g e engineering projects of this kind a magazine is one of the first necessities.

P r e p a r i n g to blast a roadway into the mountains in a large California hydroelectric project.

The regular work of the Explosives E n g i neer in s h a f t sinking and tunnel driving.

P U B L I C U T I L I T Y PROJECTS

1065

The Big Creek development of the Southern California Edison Company on the San Joaquin River is one of the world's largest construction projects, its estimated cost being $375,000,000, or $15,000,000 more than the cost of the Panama Canal. The total project will have about eighty-seven miles of tunnels, besides many miles of concrete canals and other concrete and metal structures primarily dependent on the explosives industry. I n the summer of 1924 the direct consumption of explosives in the work was a t the rate of over 2,000,000 pounds of gelatine dynamite a month. The project will t a p the water resources of 1266 square miles of San Joaquin River watershed, of which Several hundred square miles lie above an eleVation of 10,000 feet. Construction of the first unit was started in 1911. By 1924 the project was developing about 350,000 horse-power out of a proposed ultimate total of 1,428,000 horse-power. The transmission lines are of 220,000 volts and 270 miles long. They carry hydro-electric power to ten of the largest counties in Southern California, serving an area which is practically the same as the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware, or an area of about 44,000 out of the 158,000 square miles in the State of California.

This tunnel is a water-way from the upper river to a basin above the cliffs. From this basin, the water is carried to three 70,000 horsepower hydro-electric generators, the largest in the world. These developments

1066 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

Power mucker removing the blasted rock in the Florence Tunnel.

have stimulated enormously the electro-chemical development at Niagara Falls, and the electric power and light companies supply all of the great industrial cities of western New York, which state has the largest installed water power development in U. S. A.— being in excess of 1,500,000 horsepower. On the Canadian side there has recently been completed a project involving 22,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock excavation to develop a 552,000 horsepower unit.1 Further north the Duke-Price Power Company of Quebec is building a single hydro-electric station with a capacity of 540,000 horsepower and starting another which will develop 1,080,000 horsepower.2 That modern explosives and engineering practice combined with good government and a fair supply of natural resources is sure to bring great material prosperity is further illustrated in the RECLAMATION 1 For complete illustrated description of this project see Engineer, April 1926, pp. 133-9. 2 Manufacturer»' Record June 10, 1926, p. 82.

Explotivet

RECLAMATION PROJECTS

1067

The Florence Lake Tunnel of the Southern California Edison Company is the longest tunnel of its bore in the world. Its length is 131/2 miles through granite and it is 15 feet in width by 15 feet in height, with a flat arched roof. Construction was started in 1920, and the tunnel was completed February 18, 1925, with the aid of 5,200,000 pounds of explosives and at a cost of approximately $17,000,000.* The Spillway on the Arrowrock Dam of the Boise reclamation project showing how explosives are necessary for the construction of these wonderful irrigation projects. Over a million tons of concrete were required to build this dam, which is of the rubble concrete arch type. I t is 1100 feet long on the crest, which is 15.5 feet wide. The base is 238.0 feet wide and the maximum height above bed rock is 349 feet. I t is thus one of the highest masonry dams in the world. T h e Arrowrock Dam is located near Boise, Idaho. * The Shandaken Tunnel (see p. 1008) is longer but not as large.

1068 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

A remarkable picture showing the work done by explosives on Fort Laramie canal across the prairie, on the North Platte Reclamation Project. PROJECTS of our western states. On June 1 7 , 1 9 0 2 , the United States Reclamation Act was approved and since that time about 1 , 7 0 0 , 0 0 0 acres of arid or semi-arid land have been furnished with a complete water supply and about 1,000,000 additional acres with a partial supply; and the reclamation of about 1,000,000 more acres is contemplated. Included in the latter are some private or district projects. On the government projects proper, up to 1 9 2 4 over 3 5 , 0 0 0 farmers were operating irrigated farms and orchards, averaging some 53 acres each. Some of these have been very successful and in many places a barren desert has been converted into a veritable paradise where people may toil in ideal health conditions under the sunlit skies and amid the abundant verdure of flowering plants and growing fruits and vegetables. Some idea of the amount of explosives required to wrest this

RECLAMATION PROJECTS

1069

The Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River, Arizona, project. This is one of the most successful and picturesque of all of the reclamation projects. I t is also one which obviously had to have modern explosives to make it economically possible to build it. The Roosevelt dam reservoir is the largest artificial body of water in the world built prior to 1926.1 Since its construction the city of Phoenix, Arizona, has become one of the wonders of the West.

abundance from nature may be gained by considering the fact that to build these projects required, prior to 1925, the removal of over 250,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock; the building of 15,700 miles of canals, ditches, and drains; 29 miles of tunnels; and 150 miles of flumes. The construction of the dams and other structures consumed 2,400,000 cubic yards of riprap, 1

See-also note p. 1059.

1070 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

8,760,000 cubic yards of concrete, and required 3,530,000 barrels of cement. The Gunnison tunnel, 30,645 feet long, on the Uncompahgre project in Colorado was one of the large tunnels driven with dynamite on these projects. The values of the crops raised on reclaimed land prior to the establishment of these projects is unknown but undoubtedly did not exceed $1,000,000 in annual value. After the touch of the explosives and other engineers, this land produced crops that for five years from 1917 to 1921 inclusive, averaged over $64,000,000 a year. The following is a list of some of the larger projects, giving the ultimate area reclaimed: Boise, Idaho, 354,000 acres; Yakima, Washington, 340,000 acres; Rio Grande, New Mexico-Texas. 150,000 acres; North Platte, Nebraska-Wyoming, 239,000 acres; Shoshone, Wyoming, 218,000 acres; Minidoka, Idaho, 236,000 acres; Salt River, Arizona, 213,000 acres; Sun River, Montana, 114,000 acres; Milk River, Montana, 146,000 acres; Newlands, Nevada, 159,000 acres; Yuma, Arizona-California, 110,000 acres; Uncompahgre, Colorado, 97,000 acres. A few of the largest dams constructed with the aid of explosives for these projects are: Roosevelt dam in Arizona, 280 feet high, Arrowrock dam in Idaho, 349 feet high, Elephant Butte dam in New Mexico, 306 feet high, Pathfinder and Shoshone dams in Wyoming, 218 and 328 feet high respectively. When dynamite was first introduced in America most of the farmers were greatly handicapped by the stumps of the virgin forests, which the pioneers had been unable to remove, and by many smaller stumps which existed in cleared fields. Some of these had been taken out but the process of land clearing was such a costly one that most farmers plowed around the

AGRICULTURAL USES

1071

stumps and boulders. However soon after low strength graded dynamites made their appearance it became apparent that a cheap and practical method of land clearing had arrived. A rapidly increasing demand sprang up and although hundreds of thousands of acres have been permanently freed of stumps and boulders still the quantity of D Y N A M I T E U S E D F O R A G R I C U L T U R A L P U R P O S E S seems to be increasing year by year. It is estimated that not less than twenty million pounds 1 are used for this purpose annually in the United States of America. This is not all required for blasting out stumps, since many new agricultural uses have been introduced such as tree planting, subsoil blasting, ditching, draining, post-hole digging, removal of boulders, etc. Some of the finest agricultural land in the country will not yield its best until blasted with dynamite to improve its drainage and water supply. A n example of this type of soil was found in the Willamette Valley in Oregon where the growing of loganberries is a prominent industry. Yet outside of the few who have had experience, who would even think of the connection between loganberries and explosives? In addition to the more or less large or prominent uses of explosives already mentioned there are a large number of M I S C E L L A N E O U S U S E S , many of which are small in themselves but which in the aggregate are important and which sometimes play an essential part in our complicated modern life. The Philippine and Sandwich Islands 2 are an example: one would scarcely suspect that these distant and tropical countries would require explosives and yet they consume more than a million pounds per year. It is used principally for 1 S t a t e m e n t of George K i n g , President of the Institute of Makers of Explosives, A u g . 1924. 2 See Hereulet Mixer F e b . 1922, p p . 39-42.

1072 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y

( L e f t ) A settler's home in the northern states.

( R i g h t ) Sheep in burned-over woodland.

(Below) Primitive f a r m i n g among the stumps.

Altogether more than 400,000,000 acres have been cleared with explosives to make the United States the world leader in agriculture.

AGRICULTURAL USES

1073

( L e f t ) A boulder b l a s t e d by the mud c a p method. Not only d o e s dynamite clear the stumps but it is efficient in breaking boulders into oneman pieces so the farmer can remove them from the f i e l d s . One broken plow point costs more than it costs to blast out several b o u l d e r s or stumps.

(Above) Preparing to blast an old stump. ( L e f t ) The blast. (Below) L a n d clearing demonstration.

The pictures on this page show bow d y n a m i t e clears and shakes up land to make it available for modern farming methods.

1074 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y mining, road building, harbor improvements, drainage and irrigation projects. When we eat Hawaiian pineapples, and sugar our coffee or tea, we are frequently consuming foods as a direct result of the use of explosives in these distant lands. Even on the high seas commercial explosives are quite extensively used for such purposes as harpoon throwing and for killing sharks and other large fish or sea animals that have been hooked or harpooned. Reference has been made to the blasting of sulphur 1 but there are many other other chemicals which can be most economically handled with the aid of explosives : Many chemical works store nitre cake, which is extensively used in the pickling or cleaning of iron or steel and if it becomes "set" in storage, it is easily and economically blasted with dynamite. Saltpeter is extensively used in fertilizers and in explosives and acid factories, and if it "sets" it is as easily blasted. Some chemicals, however, should not be blasted, as for example nitrate of ammonia. The Oppau disaster in Germany a few years ago demonstrated this. Blasting large masses of iron or other metals is frequently resorted to especially in the metal smelting industry where furnace bottoms frequently have to be removed with the least possible injury to surrounding apparatus and buildings. Occasionally some new use for explosives is found. One of these is a process, which is said to be more or less successful, for locating salt domes in oil fields2 by firing surface charges of dynamite and making seismic wave observations with suitable recording instruments. Another is splitting logs with explosives.8 Explos1 See page 1001. 2 Wall Street Journal 4-3-25. 3 DvPont Magazine June 1926, p. 20.

MISCELLANEOUS U S E S

1075

"Topping" a spar tree with dynamite.

ives have been used for this purpose for some time, the latest device being the Webber splitting gun by which it is claimed that a man can increase his daily output of cord wood threefold. In Texas and other places experiments have been made with exploding dynamite at intervals in the open, or suspended from balloons. Rain followed in several cases but this method has since been superseded by aeroplane and electrified sand showers. Dynamite has also been used for the painless slaughter of animals although as an economical method this may not be desirable. In medicine nitroglycerine is used to a small extent as a heart stimulant. Several odd and interesting uses for explosives are

Blasting banana land in the tropics.

1076 T H E E X P L O S I V E S

INDUSTRY

shown in illustrations, the last two of which show hunting and trap-shooting scenes. America was a hunter's paradise a century ago but the rapid increase

MISCELLANEOUS USES

1077

Breaking up an ice jam with dynamite on the St. Lawrence River, to improve winter navigation. Many northern rivers and harbors receive similar treatment to release icebound steamships or other vessels. (Left) Preparing a "Torpedo" to be placed nnder the ice. Similar torpedoes are used for breaking up log jams and o t h e r river jams.

1078 T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY

Since the Titanic disaster in 1912, the U. S. Navy has blasted many icebergs which menace navigation. Within twenty-four hours after this shot split the iceberg, it entirely disintegrated. F o r a detailed description of this interesting work see Time, April 5, 1926, p. 26.

The world's greatest lumber mill at Bogalusa, Louisiana. From Maine to Oregon and Michigan to Mississippi the American lumber industry is a constant consumer of explosives, although few persons may realize this.

MISCELLANEOUS USES

1079

One of the novel uses to which explosives have been placed has been to assist the sculptor in removing some of the larger pieces of granite from Stone Mountain near Atlanta to facilitate the completion of the heroic statues that are being carved on its face as a Confederate Memorial.

in population and improvement in firearms and transportation have reduced the game resources until today

Another novel and interesting use o£ modern explosives is illustrated above showing how the Palos Verdes E s t a t e , a 16,000 acre tract facing the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles and south of Santa Monica, California, was converted from a mountain into ocean f r o n t city lots, consuming over 100,000 pounds of powder.

1080 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY

Quail shooting. H u n t i n g started as a necessity in America when food was scarce and game was plentiful. I t provided the first incentive for the manufacture of explosives. Today we obtain our food from more reliable domestic sources but still some 6,000,000 citizens of the United States take out hunting licenses annually. Game is being conserved by closed seasons during the breeding period and by artificial propagation in game sanctuaries, so that the citizens still enjoy a day's outing in the fall hunting season.

W h a t blasting explosives do for industrial prosperity smokeless powder does for the human system by providing an incentive to outdoor sports at the t r a p s or in the field to build up or renew bodily vigor. Trapshooting is increasing in popularity and t h e Grand American Handicap is one of the country's great annual sporting events.

MISCELLANEOUS USES

1081

the supply is so limited that sportsmen must restrain their ardor if enough game is to be preserved to supply the incentive for a few days' outing in season. Trap or clay bird shooting now provides the all year out-of-door allurement that every city dweller needs, and improved transportation supplies the means of reaching the grounds. Without doubt some of the suggested uses of explosives are of little practical value. They are the result of that over-enthusiasm which is brought forward for many valuable undertakings whose limitations are for the moment forgotten. Modern explosives, however, can and regularly do perform feats far more wonderful than most people realize.

T H E END

APPENDICES A P P E N D I X I. HISTORY OF T H E I N S T I T U T E OF MAKERS OF EXPLOSIVES By

W.

J.

MATTHEWS

The manufacture, distribution and use of explosives involves many problems, not only technical in character, but of vital interest to those directly connected with the industry and to the public. This is evidenced by the fact that the States and Federal Government have passed numerous laws affecting and regulating the manufacturing, handling and using of explosives. Also, many governmental bureaus have been established whose activities have to do with the making, transporting, storing and using of such commodities. The Federal Government has a Bureau of Mines, and in many states there are similar administrative bodies, which constantly carry on extensive investigations and experiments a f fecting the explosives industry. These bureaus and the Bureau for the Safe Transportation of Explosives and Other Dangerous Articles, as well as the various municipalities, are continually proposing and adopting recommendations, rules, laws and ordinances relating to this industry. Many other organizations of a quasi-public nature carry on numerous activities relating to these commodities which they are wont to characterize as inherently dangerous, but which, in reality, become dangerous only when improperly handled, or because of the intervention of a foreign agency. These bureaus and agencies could not conduct their research work, make intelligent investigations or economically and efficiently perform their functions, without detailed statistics concerning the various phases of the explosive industry. Dependable facts can be obtained only from and with the assistance of the manufacturers of explosives in a systematic manner. Furthermore, the manufacturers need such information in order to properly run their plants, and carry on research and experimental work similar to that of such bureaus and in co-operation with them. Consequently, in J u l y 1913, representatives of the manufacturers of explosives in the United States held a meeting in Chicago, Illinois, at which time the late Arthur J . Eddy, an attorney of that city, outlined a plan for the organization of a trade association. As a result of that conference, the Institute of

1084 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y Makers of Explosives came into being. Since that time the Institute has operated continuously, originally with its offices in Chicago, but later it moved to New York City, where it has been located since J u n e , 1916. As a result of the labors of its members and officers and the conservative and constructive principles adopted and enforced, the Institute has become generally recognized as a substantial and leading trade organization. While rendering service to its members, it has performed an equal, if not greater, service to the public. In all matters f r a u g h t with public interest, including the proper and safe handling of explosives, the principles of the Institute always have been to give paramount consideration to the safety and welfare of the public. E d d y acted as counsel for the Institute from its inception until his untimely death in J u l y , 1920. H i s special knowledge of laws pertaining to trade organizations, supplemented with his fund of learning regarding economic and industrial problems, peculiarly fitted him for his position as counsel. Since E d d y ' s demise, William J . Matthews, attorney, of Chicago, Illinois, has been counsel for the Institute. The first officers of the Institute were: president, Addison G r a n t F a y , of the Aetna and Miami companies; vice-president, Charles L. Patterson of the duPont company; treasurer, A. Lent of the Austin company; and secretary, C. C. Quincy, of Chicago. The first Executive Committee, in addition to the officials of the powder companies above mentioned, consisted of the following persons: George G. King, T h e King Powder Company; Adolphus C. Blum, Keystone National Powder Company; Russell H . Dunham, Hercules Powder Company, and A. G. Cummings of the United States Powder Company. I n 1916 Quincy died and was succeeded by C. Stewart Comeaux, the present secretary. From time to time, generally at the annual meetings of the Institute, changes in the personnel of the officers and executive committee have taken place. T h e present officers of the Institute a r e : president, George G. King; vice-president, James T. Skelly; treasurer, J . Kendrick, who, as officers, with J . Thompson Brown, J . W. Mathews, J . S. Burton and F. W . Olin, comprise the full membership of the present Executive Committee. For signal and distinguished services rendered to the industry, the Institute has elected certain persons to honorary membership in the organization. Those who have had this honor j u s t l y bestowed upon them a r e : Addison G r a n t F a y , J o b Burton (18681924), Charles L. Patterson and Col. B. W. Dunn. In the carrying on of educational and other activities, the

A P P E N D I X I.

1085

Institute has published considerable literature which has been h i g h l y c o m m e n d e d b y g o v e r n m e n t officials a n d o t h e r s . A m o n g the p a m p h l e t s which have been published are the following: Standard Storage Magazine; American Table of Distances; Suggested State Laws; Suggested Ordinance for Cities; Safety First Rules for Handling, Storing, Delivering and Shipping Explosives; Organisation and Purposes of the Institute of Makers of Explosives; Conservation of Glycerine and Ammonia/ Conservation of Railway Equipment;1 Reasons Why Caps of Less Than No. 6 Strength Should Not Be Used; The Use of Explosives for Agricultural and Other Purposes; Map Showing Ownership, Location and Types of Magazines for Storage of Explosives; Map Showing Ownership, Location and Capacity of Dynamite Mills; Map Showing Ownership, Location and Capacity of Powder Mills; Standardization of Sizes of Cartridges and Strengths of High Explosives. I n t h e p a m p h l e t e n t i t l e d " O r g a n i z a t i o n a n d P u r p o s e s of t h e I n s t i t u t e of M a k e r s of E x p l o s i v e s " a r e s e t f o r t h t h e p u r p o s e s a n d a c t i v i t i e s of t h e I n s t i t u t e , a n d i n it a r e t h e f o l l o w i n g p a r a graphs : The Institute was organized to promote publicity in the transaction of the explosives business; to gather and distribute accurate information regarding the i n d u s t r y ; to maintain high and uniform standards in the manufacture of explosives; to devise ways and means f o r promoting the use of explosives, and informing the public regarding the proper use of same; t o take u p and discuss all traffic questions arising with public carriers; to deal intelligently and fairly with the many conflicting laws affecting the m a n u f a c t u r e and transportation of explosives; to co-operate with the Bureau f o r the S a f e Transportation of Explosives and other Dangerous Articles, in devising rules and regulations t h a t will adequately protect the public; to co-operate with the public authorities in solving the problem of safe storage of explosives; to deal intelligently and scientifically with insurance problems; to consider and adopt sanitary, hygienic and safety measures and appliances and to consider the insuring and pensioning of employees; to compile and exchange accident and near accident d a t a in the experience of each member f o r the purpose of reducing explosives accidents thereby reducing personal injury and loss of life; and to distribute accurate credit information. Meetings of the Institute are held at such times and places as designated by the Executive Committee. Competitors who are not members of the Institute and customers are invited t o attend the meetings. I t will add interest to the meetings and aid in the development of the Institute's usefulness. Government officials have frequently attended meetings to get information and to make valuable suggestions regarding ways and means of making the work of the Institute more effective. A t one of its meetings the Institute was addressed by the Chairman of the Federal i Obsolete, issued to meet war-time emergencies.

1086 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY Trade Commission regarding the benefits of trade associations, and the development of the more scientific cost systems. The Institute is at all times in close co-operation with the Bureau for the Safe Transportation of Explosives and with various departments and agencies of the Government, including the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, and the Department of Commerce, dealing with technical problems with reference to the manufacture, use and transportation of explosives. The Institute endeavors to collect production statistics, all of which are on file in the office of the Secretary and the office of the Bureau of Mines, the latter making use thereof in the public interest, dissemination to the general public being made monthly. Manufacturers, buyers and users of explosives are invited to make use of this information.

APPENDIX II. REPORT TO COMMITTEE OF SAFETY (See text p. 65). Philadelphia, J u n e 3rd, 1776. S i n -

Agreeable to your directions of, I have been round to the Powder Mills as mentioned in the list delivered to me, and find them in the following State, viz.: Doctor Robert Harris's on Cromb Creek, about three miles from Chester, began to Work about the 23rd ult. The Dimensions of the Mill House, 30 ft. by 20 ft., Head of Water about 2 % ft., Fall about 6 ft., Water Wheel 12 ft. The Shaft that Works (eighty Stampers of 2 % by 3 % Inches, & eleven ft. Length) is thirty-two ft. Long, five Mortars made of Two Inch Plank, about five foot each, one Stamper and Mortar for preparing Sulphur. Drying House 20 ft. by 15 f t . neither floor'd nor plastered. H e has received one Ton of Salt Petre and five Hundred wt. of Sulphur, or thereabouts, expected to deliver one Ton of Powder on the first Inst., & the same Quantity Weekly. The Sides of the Mill House, and the Gable E n d s of that & the Drying House being enclosed with Boards not sufficiently seasoned, are very open and must have a bad effect on the Powder, yet the Doctor is of a different opinion. The Dimensions of the Powder Mill erecting by Messrs. Cowperswaite & Biddle on French Creek, about four miles above Moore Hall, 1 102 ft. by 31 ft. 8 Inches. Two Water Wheels in the Centre of the House, 18 ft. Diami Moore Hall is located on the road between Phoenixville and Valley Forge. It is now the property of Mrs. Henry C. Pennvpacker. This was the "Continental Powder Mill."

APPENDIX II.

1087

eter, four Ft. Head and 9 f t . Fall, each Wheel to work three S h a f t s 321/2 it. Length, Six Mortar Trees 28 f t . Length, 12 Mortars, each Tree 22 Inches Length, 12 do. Br'dth 17 do. D ' p t h ; Two Stampers, each Mortar 4> Inches Square and 12 f t . Length. T h e Graining Mill, 37y 2 by 27y 2 ft., built of Stone, not yet covered in. Water Wheel 1 0 f t . Diameter, to work seventytwo Stampers for preparing Sulphur, 12 seives for Graining Powder, & One Bolting Cloth. One Salt Petre House for refining, ready to set twelve Kettles, each Kettle capable of refining 150 wt. Four Drying Houses, 27 by 21 ft. each. One end of the Powder Mill being near finished, can make thirty Hundred Powder per Week, or perhaps Two Tons; will be ready to work about the 25th Inst., the very extraordinary Fresh on the 26th May having filled the Race, carried away the Dam (as it has most in this p a r t of the Count r y ) besides other Damage in the Loss of Boards, Scantling, &ca., has put them back at least Two Weeks. Thomas Heinberger's Powder Mill on a Creek which empties into French Creek, about five miles above the aforesaid Mill & Two miles from Young's Forge, 36 ft. by 30 ft. Water Wheel 16 f t . Diameter, over Shot. Two Shafts, 22 ft. Length to work 18 Stampers, each 9 f t . Long, 41/* Inches Square. Two Mortar Trees, 20 ft. Long, 9 Mortars, each of 12 Inches by 9, and 16 Inches Depth. One Drying House, 18 ft. by 20 ft., the Mill not floored nor the Drying House plastered, expects to begin to Work in Ten Days. His Dwelling House not being yet in hand, I cannot think he will begin so soon; he has received one Ton of Salt Petre but no Sulphur; has not began to build a refining House, what Salt Petre he had rec'd he refines in this City; he expects to make half a Ton of Powder per Week. H e n r y Huber is erecting a Mill in Lower Milford Township, Bucks County, about four miles from Great Swamp Meeting, on Swamp Creek; he was not at home, which prevented my receiving any particular Information respecting what Materials he had rec'd for making Powder, or the Works he intended to erect; the following I got from the Workmen then there: T h e House to be 23 ft. by 15 ft., very little done to it, the Dam nor Race near finished, & unless he has more Hands employed than I observed, I cannot think he will begin to work before the first of July. I made use of every argument in my Power at every Place to

1088 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY push them on to deligence, and forward the making and Delivering the Powder when made to the Commissary here; one circumstance I beg leave to mention, that is Huber's erecting a Saw Mill under the same roof with the Powder Mill. I am, Sir, Your humble Servt. Directed, J n . Ladd Howell. To Owen Biddle, Esqr., Philadelphia. (From Penna. Archives,

1st series, IV, 765)

French Creek, March 10, 1777. Sir:— I am Sorry to inform you of the unhappy Explotion of Blowing u p the Continel Powder Mill this Morning About 10 A clock, Which Wee are very supspities has been Don by Mr. Peck or his Men, as they have yoused Several odd Expressions, and they had Gon Sum Distants from it at the Time it Hapned and Runn to the next neighbors house and Did not Come back till Wee Sent a Gard for them. Mr. Beck Seem to Say at first, that all his Men Where Killed; Secondly he Said that he had Seen the Men Going to the Graining House; that & Sum other Resons Give me Som Reson to think have Sum Knowledg of it. T h e first Day of the instand, Col. Peter Grubb W a s at the Powder Mill, Sumwhat in D r i n k ; he Damned the Powder Mill, and told Col. Dewese Let us Blow it to hell, Which I thought Was a very odd Exprestion when Col. Dewesse told M e ; and Several others heard him use the Exprestion; Wee have Got the Men & Mr. Peck under Gard, till firther orders from the Counsvl. So I remain Your Friend & Humble Servant Peter De Haven. To Col. J o h n Bull or the Hon'ble Council of S a f e t y , Philadelphia by favour Capt. Bodly. (From Penna. Archives,

1st series, V. 255.) APPENDIX

III.

F A I R M O N T P O W D E R COMPANY (See text p. 148). This company was organized in 1901 by C. E. Bedient and certain large consumers of powder near Fairmont, W. Va. T h e

A P P E N D I X IV.

1089

mill w a s m a n a g e d b y B e d i e n t f o r a b o u t a y e a r b u t t h e c o m p a n y d i d n o t p r o s p e r . I n 1902 some of t h e s t o c k h o l d e r s sold a t o t a l of 6 0 % of t h e stock ( 4 5 0 out of 750 s h a r e s ) t o t h e d u P o n t s , as t h e y w e r e d i s c o u r a g e d w i t h t h e r e s u l t s t h a t h a d been o b t a i n e d . T h e p l a n t was operated for a short time a f t e r the sale but various explosions a n d t h e u n s u i t a b l e d e s i g n of t h e p l a n t led to its a b a n d o n m e n t in t h e f o l l o w i n g y e a r . APPENDIX

IV.

SMALL PENNSYLVANIA MILLS ( S e e t e x t p p . 121, 132, 160) A s m a l l mill w a s b u i l t a t K r e b s S t a t i o n e a s t of R i n g t o w n b y T h o m a s J . Reese and Daniel Bedow. T h i s was operated for a n u m b e r of y e a r s u n d e r t h e n a m e of S H E N A N D O A H P O W D E R C O M P A N Y ; b u t it s u f f e r e d f r o m s e v e r a l serious e x p l o s i o n s a n d w a s sold to t h e d u P o n t c o m p a n y a b o u t 1902. T h e c o m p a n y w a s o p e r a t e d f o r a f e w y e a r s u n d e r t h e s a m e n a m e . W . A . S u l l i v a n , who w a s a P h i l a d e l p h i a a g e n t of t h e d u P o n t c o m p a n y , w a s p r e s i d e n t f r o m 1902 to 1904. T h e c o m p a n y w a s dissolved in t h e l a t t e r y e a r a n d in 1912 t h e mill w a s a s s i g n e d to t h e A t l a s P o w d e r C o m p a n y , w h o p r o m p t l y d i s m a n t l e d it. A f t e r selling the Shenandoah company Reese built another mill n e a r B r a n d o n v i l l e , a f e w miles e a s t of t h e first location b u t t h i s mill w a s close to t h e s m a l l t o w n , a n d b e f o r e he could s t a r t u p , h e w a s s e r v e d w i t h a n i n j u n c t i o n p r e v e n t i n g its o p e r a t i o n . H e t h e n moved his m a c h i n e r y to t h e t o p of a m o u n t a i n south of K r e b s S t a t i o n w h e r e h e o p e r a t e d f o r t h r e e y e a r s as t h e P E N N SYLVANIA P O W D E R , D Y N A M I T E & F U S E C O M P A N Y . This plant had n u m e r o u s e x p l o s i o n s , a n d R e e s e d i s m a n t l e d it a f t e r t h e l a s t one of A u g u s t 8, 1907. S o m e t i m e b e f o r e t h i s d a t e h e h a d b o u g h t a s m a l l mill t h a t h a d b e e n b u i l t e a s t of K r e b s S t a t i o n a b o u t 1898 b y a m a n n a m e d O ' H a r e . 1 A s s o c i a t e d w i t h R e e s e in t h i s b u s i n e s s w e r e his t w o b r o t h e r s , D r . D a n i e l R e e s e , a d e n t i s t , a n d J a m e s L . Reese, a colliery s u p e r i n t e n d e n t of M a h a n o y C i t y . 2 T h e n e w b l a c k p o w d e r c o m p a n y f o r o p e r a t i n g O ' H a r e ' s mill 1 O'Hare's first mill was located west of Raricks, Pa., but had been dismantled and moved to Krebs a few years before the sale to Reese. 2 These men with a fourth brother, Dr. George W. Reese, a physician, were also interested in the Shenandoah Dynamite Company, through which Thomas Reese was selling Keystone dynamite. The Shenandoah Dynamite Company, which never was anything but a selling concern, was wound up some years earlier than the end of the Locust Mountain company.

1090 T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1905 under the name of LOCUST

MOUNTAIN

POWDER

&

DYNAMITE

COMPANY, b u t

it

was

not very successful. Reese became financially involved with the Keystone Powder Company and the latter sent E . L. Good to straighten out his affairs. These financial troubles brought Reese to a nervous breakdown and he died in December, 1908. I n the meantime, O. N. Miller, who had been his assistant, took over the management of the plant while £ . L. Good handled the financial end practically as a receiver. Of the three brothers, only James retained his interest. Miller bought the stock held by the estate of Thomas Reese and Good bought that of Dr. Daniel Reese. I n the course of five or six years the indebtedness to the Keystone Powder Company was paid back with the interest but the introduction of permissibles into the coal fields made it inadvisable for the company to remain in business and in 1914 they sold their property of about 66 acres to the Roberts Powder Company which had a plant nearby. Another concern operating in this section was the L A K E S I D E C O M P A N Y which had a mill at East Mahanoy Junction. I t was owned by H . W. Waters and Samuel Davies of Shenandoah. About 1907 the powder trade in the Schuylkill County region became somewhat slack and the owners made plans to move their mill to the upper Anthracite region. In fact they went so f a r as to lease land near Laflin, Pa., not f a r from the site of the old Laflin Powder Manufacturing Company, tore down their Mahanoy mill and started work on the Laflin site in April, 1909. Before this had progressed very f a r , they sold their interest and the operation was abandoned.

POWDER

The R O B E R T S P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was started by two brother», J o h n , who owned most of the concern, and Sam Roberts, who acted as foreman of the mill. I t was located near Krebs Station, not f a r from the Reese and Bedow mill which had been bought by the duPont company. Its principal customer was the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company which practically kept Roberts in business. Roberts prospered and in 1918 he retired, as he was getting along in years and as his mill was too close to a school and railroad station to be entirely safe. When his plant was dismantled, the Hercules Powder Company bought his one mill and moved it to Ferndale. A little north of this district, j u s t across the county line, the P O W D E R C O M P A N Y , owned by a man named Stump who also made a low-grade black dynamite or, as it was popuTOMHICKEN

A P P E N D I X IV.

1091

larly called, "Black J a c k , " had a small black powder mill built in the early nineties. In 1903 this mill was bought by Ell wood M. Brumm, £ . J . Jacoby and F r a n k Wharmby, who changed its name to N U R E M B E R G P O W D E R C O M P A N Y . The plant was operated for about sixteen years and then abandoned, as the demand for the soft powder made by it proved too small. Although the plant had 14 explosions and fires during this period, there were no injuries or deaths. The M A H A N O Y P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was started in the early nineties by J . H . Reichenderfer as president and Elmer E. Ball as secretary with a mill near Mahanoy City, Pa. I t was sold to the duPont company in 1905, and the mill was dismantled shortly thereafter. The S H A M O K I N P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was incorporated in 1 8 8 7 by TIios. Gillespie, E. J . Mullin, George Robertson, George W. Robertson and Thos. J . Mullin. I t had two small mills near Shamokin, Pa., and made a soft grain powder. J o h n Mullin was the first president, being succeeded later by his son, William Mullin. The company ceased operating in 1920 and was dissolved in 1921. The J . S. M I L L E R P O W D E R C O M P A N Y operated at about the same time near White Haven, Luzerne County, Pa. The mill was erected by George S. Miller, father of J . S. Miller, and ceased running about 1912. In 1922 the property was sold to the Peerless Explosives Company (q.v.). Another concern was the C O N N E L L P O W D E R C O M P A N Y which had a 480 keg blasting powder mill located on 22 acres of land near Trevorton in Northumberland County, Pa. This company was incorporated in J u l y 1899 with a capital of $55,000 which was increased to $110,000 in 1904. T h e active men were W. L. Connell, president, H. A. Connell, secretary, and A. J . Connell, treasurer. The mill was shut down in October 1910 and the machinery and equipment sold. The R A N D P O W D E R C O M P A N Y of Tennessee was started in J a n u a r y 1905, by the persons interested in the Rand Powder Company of Pennsylvania, in order to supply powder to the coal mines of the southern states that could not advantageously be reached from the Pennsylvania plant. Operations started at Marlow, Tenn., in September of the same year, j u s t about the time that an explosion wrecked the Fairchance, Pa., plant. The original capacity was 400 kegs, which was later doubled. Sam Rand

1092 THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY was treasurer and general manager until 1907 when he l e f t to go to the Jefferson plant. The demand for powder in the district was large, but prices were so low that operations were unprofitable and eventually the company went into receiver's hands and was sold at auction to the Hercules Powder Company in 191-1. This company sent J . J . Geer to the plant to supervise its reconstruction. A f t e r a number of improvements had been made, operations were resumed and have been going on continuously under A. L. Reynolds as superintendent. Reynolds had been a millwright under the Rand Powder Company. The mill supplies important coal fields in eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and southern West Virginia. The Pennsylvania company of the same name had been started in 1900 by Sam Rand 1 and officials of the Queen Coal Company of Pittsburgh to supply black powder to their coal mines. C. £ . Bedient was also connected with it for a few months. Sam Wilson was president and Rand secretary and general manager. The plant (a barrel mill) was built to produce 400 kegs a day and was increased to 1000 kegs in the second year. A f t e r the disastrous explosion in September 1905 it was not rebuilt. Rand had operated a small barrel mill at Pittsford, N. Y., before this venture (see p. 99). The S T A N D A R D P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was organized in 1903 by George R. McAbee and built a plant at Horrell, Pa. I n 1920 this plant with other McAbee properties was acquired by the Atlas Powder Company who enlarged and improved the plant until it now has a capacity of 420,000 kegs a year. Another black powder company of which little is known, was the H O W E P O W D E R C O M P A N Y . I t made black powder for a time at Baychester (before 1890) on the site near where Dittmar had his dynamite plant (see p. 621). The T E N N E S S E E P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was a small concern organized by local interests at Jellico, Tennessee. I t first produced powder in 1907 and lasted only for a few years. A P P E N D I X V. W E S T COAST M I L L S — S M A L L COMPANIES (See text p. 293) The 1

GRANITE

POWDER

COMPANY

CALIFORNIA

was chartered on J u l y 1,

Samuel Rand was born at Pittsford, Monroe County, N. Y., in 1873. Both his father and mother had been active in the powder busi-

A P P E N D I X V.

1093

1881, by R. O. Hume of Fruit vale, J as. L. Barker of Berkeley, George B. Flint and B. F. Stone of Oakland, and Texas Angel of Alameda. Their first plant was located between North and South Vallejo, but suffered an explosion in 1882, a f t e r which it was moved to the old Kearney ranch a t Sobranto, about a mile east of the Safety Nitro Powder Company's dynamite plant. I t was in operation for three or four years, but was then shut down. According to the records of the State Department of California, the company still retains its charter. The M E T R O P O L I T A N P O W D E R C O M P A N Y was organized about 1900 by William Leggee, F r a n k Severio, Charles Baumann and others, who were also interested in the Metropolitan Match Company and had a license from a German firm, primarily to make fuse powder. They first attempted to locate their mill on a 27acre tract belonging to Charles Brandt at Pinole, Cal., but abandoned this site, a f t e r drilling four wells without finding water, and built their plant at Stege near the match company. A former master mechanic at Santa Cruz by the name of Bartlett installed the machinery, but they only made a small quantity of fuse powder and sold out to the duPonts in 1904. The plant was then dismantled. Stege, California, had been the location of another black powder mill about 1884, which had been built by Baum and Hardy. Orlando B. H a r d y , while living at Akron, Ohio, had taken out a patent ( U . S. Patent No. 220,584, 1879) for a black powder consisting of 75 parts of nitrate of soda, 20 parts of sulphur, 20 parts of charcoal, 10 parts of common salt, 5 parts of sugar and 3 parts of paraffine. About a year later he went to California and interested Julius Baum, president of the Vulcan Powder Company, who advanced him $1,000 for further experiments. Hardy built a small plant on the end of that company's levee on the mainland and secured a contract from the Southern Pacific Railway through his friend J . H . Strobridge. His product was a black powder coated with about 5 % of nitroglycerine, i.e., it was ness in Connecticut and in New York State (see p. 99). Sam Rand was manager and part owner of Rand & Company of Pittsford, N. Y., from 1895 to 1900, secretary and general manager of the Rand Powder Company of Pennsylvania from 1900 to 1907, and of the Rand Powder Company of Tennessee from 1904 to 1907, treasurer and general manager of the Jefferson Powder Company 1907 to 1915, assistant general superintendent of the Aetna Explosives Company 1905 to 1917 and general superintendent 1917 to 1921. A year after the absorption of the last named company by the Hercules Powder Company he retired and is now living at Pittsford, N. Y.

1094 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y similar to the later Judson or R R P powder and was intended as a free-running blasting powder for bank blasting. T h e first plant blew u p a f t e r about a year, and then a strip of land was purchased at Stege, near the Tonite works. This also blew up a f t e r a short time, killing all the employees, including Dale, the superintendent. A new plant was then built on the site of the Eureka Powder Company's plant and this ran for two years. H a r d y ' s contract with the Southern Pacific specified that the powder should be made by H a r d y , and he also had a contract with Baum which guaranteed him a royalty of one cent per pound. A f t e r two years, when the royalty contract ran out, Baum tried to make a new one with one-half the royalty, but H a r d y would not agree to this and sold his patent to the Giant Powder Company. H a r d y ' s patent No. 306,920 (1884) covered a combination of endless belts for drying the ingredients, a sieving drum and a cooled mixing machine. This was evidently used for making up a powder dust and mixing it with nitroglycerine. This mixture was then added to the larger granulated powder. A f t e r this H a r d y either returned to Ohio or went to British Columbia, where he is said to have built a black powder mill near Vancouver, concerning which nothing f u r t h e r is known. Although its mill was not located in California, the U T A H C O M P A N Y had its home offices in San Francisco. I t was organized in the early eighties by H e n r y P. Sonntag, who later was identified with the Eureka Powder Company (see p. 678) and the S a f e t y Nitro Powder Company, and its plant was located in Ogden Canyon, Utah. This mill was in operation only a short time. POWDER

A P P E N D I X VI. DYNAMITE MACHINERY

DEVELOPMENTS

I n addition to those developments mentioned in the text, reference should be made to the Machinery Commission which was organized by the duPont company, along with the Nitroglycerine Commission and S a f e t y Commission, shortly a f t e r the 1903 consolidation. These commissions were especially active between 1906 and 1911. During this period a wonderful advance was made in the art of explosives manufacture. The improvements in chemical yields have been discussed and those in the mechanical field mentioned. I n the latter development, Repauno Plant led the field under the guidance of T. W. Bacchus, himself an inventor of note and a leader in this work. J u s t prior to this date

A P P E N D I X VII.

1095

the company had secured the services of H. A. Stillwell, a mechanical engineer (Columbia 1903) who developed a genius for machine design of major importance. The following of his patents were notable improvements in this line: No. 918,606, a shuttle for holding shells; No. 941,823, a shell feeding machine; No. 952,477, a machine for assembling shells in a shell holder; No. 978,409, an improved mechanism for printing boxes; No. 992,922, a machine for assembling caps in a holder; and No. 983,655, a machine for packing nitroglycerine compounds into shells. APPENDIX

VII.

D O N N E R LAKE NITROGLYCERINE

FACTORY

On pages 391, 408 and 498 reference is made to the pioneer high explosives factory of California which was established by James Howden at Donner Lake, California. As this factory is of considerable historical interest, one of the authors (Van Gelder), in the summer of 1926 visited Donner Lake to obtain further information concerning it. At the time his search was unsuccessful but as a result of this visit the authors have been referred to two articles, one in Motor Land 1 and the other, on "Tunnels of the Pacific Railroad" by John Robert Gilliss 2 which was read before the American Society of Civil Engineers 3 in New York on January 5, 1870—in part as follows: "Between Omaha and Sacramento there are nineteen tunnels. Four of these are on the Union Pacific, and fifteen on the Central. The latter — (were)—completed before those on the Union Pacific were commenced—. "The tunnels of the Central Pacific are nearly all near the summit— of the Sierra Nevada. "Tunnel No. 6—the longest of the road—is 1,659 feet (long)—material—granite. "Nitro-Qlycerine—was introduced on the work early in 1867, to expedite progress of the summit tunnel. It was made on the spot by Mr. James Howden, and used in the four headings of tunnel No. 6 from Feb. 9th, and to some extent in tunnel No. 8, but not enough to give data for comparison. After the headings of these tunnels were through, it was used in the bottoms. 1 March, 1927, p. 36. See also Southern Pacific Bulletin, June 1927, pp. 11-13. 2 John R. Gilliss (1842-1870) was assistant (or field office) engineer, under L. M. Clements, division engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad in charge of construction between Cisco and Truckee, from August 1866 to 1868 when the work was finished (about June). S. S. Montague (d. 1883) was the chief engineer at this time. Later in 1868 Gilliss was the assistant engineer in charge of construction of the Union Pacific end of the railroad between Wahsatch and Castle Rock until its completion in 1869. s Trantaetions, Vol. 1, p. 153.

1096 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY "In the headings of summit tunnel the average daily progress with powder was 1.18 feet per day, with nitro-glycerine, 1.82 feet, or over 54 per cent, additional progress. "In bottom of summit tunnel, average daily progress with powder, full gangs, was 2.51 f e e t ; with nitro-glycerine, 4.38, or over T4 per cent, in favor of nitro-glycerine. The same number of men were used with both explosives. "The additional progress in heading was due, principally, to the use of one and a quarter inch drills instead of two and a half inch, as required by powder. "In the bottoms the difference was principally due t o fewer holes being required, and to the granite being broken into small pieces that seldom needed new holes to split them on. In both headings and bottoms less time was found to be required to clear the tunnels of smoke with nitro-glycerine than powder. "The cost of nitro-glycerine made at Donner Pass, according to Mr. Howden, was about 75 cents per lb.—per cubic yard the cost (was) about $14.80, gold, with powder, and $10 with nitro-glycerine—. I t required two pounds powder and two and seven-tenths feet fuze per cubic yard. " I t was considered there to be about eight times as powerful as the same weight of powder, which would make it the cheapest, viewed simply as to expense of producing a given effect. "Whenever practicable, I have no doubt that it is safest to manufacture nitro-glycerine on the site where it is to be used, and from day to day as required. A t Donner Pass I only recollect two accidents, and those would have happened with powder. "The conclusion we may safely come to, from the Central Pacific work, is, that in hard rock tunnels, with the same number of men, over fifty per cent, additional progress can be made by using nitro-glycerine in place of powder, and the expense will be reduced proportionately. "Since papers have been read before this Society on the subject by Messrs. North and Chester, it is unnecessary to speak of the details of manufacture and use of this agent. "Tunnel» of the Union Pacific Railroad—(were) commenced (No. 3) September 1, 1868, and met April 4, 1869. "Nitro-glycerine was fairly introduced into the tunnel by F e b r u a r y 23d. About twenty per cent, of the tunnel men struck on account of its use, and were not replaced as two shifts on the bottoms were found enough t o keep them u p with the headings, notwithstanding the additional progress they too were making; three shifts had been required with powder. The progress of this tunnel, under various circumstances, is given in Appendix E. I t will be seen that, a f t e r allowing for the smaller force employed, about twice as much work was done per man, with nitro-glycerine as with powder. The use of nitro-glycerine in tunnel No. 3 saved the Company nearly $10,000. "Tunnel No. 4—Length two hundred and ninety-seven feet—material, quartzite, similar to that in tunnel No. 3. Headings were commenced about September 10, 1868, and tunnel finished J a n u a r y 29th; nitroglycerine was used to take u p the last one hundred and eighty feet of bottom, which it did in eleven days; making the remarkable progress of 8.18 feet per day from each end. In tunnel No. 4, one thousand nine hundred and sixty cubic yards were taken out with powder, requiring two hundred and eighty-nine kegs and seven thousand feet of fuze, or three seven-tenths pounds powder and three six-tenths feet fuze per cubic yard."

A P P E N D I X VII.

1097

Fred W. Wallace of the San Francisco office of the dnPont company, who has taken a great interest in the early history of the industry in California, has recently submitted some interesting data obtained through first hand interviews with two of the assistant engineers on this work, namely, Henry Root (b. 1845) of Oakland, and Joseph M. Graham (b. 1842) of Berkeley, California. The former advised that during the construction of the Summit Tunnel (near Donner Lake) in 1867, Charles Crocker, one of the owners of the railroad, was instrumental in securing James Howden to manufacture nitroglycerine to expedite the work under the supervision of J . H . Strobridge, general superintendent of construction.

Joseph M. Graham

John Robert Gilliss

Henry Root

Three assistant engineers on the Sierra Nevada mountain division of the Central Pacific Railroad where nitroglycerine was first used as a blasting agent in California railroad tunnel work.

Howden had the glycerine, nitric and sulphuric acids shipped by train to Cisco and from there these materials were hauled fifteen miles by wagon to the vicinity of the central air shaft which was then being sunk. Howden's " f a c t o r y " consisted simply of a shed roof supported by four posts, which was erected over an old kettle which was used as a nitrator. T h e liquid nitroglycerine was carried by Chinamen to the headings at the east and west portals of the tunnel and down the central shaft to the two inside headings. I t was poured into hand-drilled holes through iron pipes and black powder was used as a primer, the powder being fired in the usual manner with a fuse and cap. The shed was surrounded by red flags and no one but Howden was allowed in there when the nitroglycerine was being made. Graham confirmed the statement of Root, advising further that the length of the tunnel then was about 1600 feet through solid granite on which black powder had but little effect.

1098 T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY T h e following additional data was supplied by William Hood (1846-1926), one of the engineers (later chief engineer) of the Central Pacific Railway. T h e railroad was extended through Dutch Flat to Cisco by October, 1866, at which time the engineers were having much difficulty in driving the tunnels through the summit of the Sierras with hand drills and black powder. Many charges shot out of the bore holes as out of a gun, without disturbing the surrounding rock. Later nitroglycerine was used on the Summit Tunnel and on the next two tunnels to the east, where the rock was particularly hard. This explosive was greatly feared by the workers, although the Chinamen became skillful in using it. I t was considered too dangerous for general use and, except in mountain tunnels, was not used nor was any dynamite used on this work, but large amounts of black powder were used for general construction on this railroad.

APPENDIX VIII. PIONEER SAN FRANCISCO DYNAMITE FACTORIES

Rock House Cañón or Gulch, now Glen Park playground in San Francisco where the first dynamite factory in America was located (center of picture—photographed 1927).

On page 407 there is a map showing the location of these factories. This map was revised last summer as a result of trips made by F. W. Wallace and A. P. Van Gelder with George W. Greene, an early resident of San Francisco still living at 19th Avenue and Sloan Boulevard, who was familiar with the location of the San Francisco factories. A recent letter from Wallace (May 7, 1927) advises that the location of the first Hercules plant should have been slightly further west than shown on this m a p ; namely, j u s t south of Golden Gate Park between 11th and 12th Avenues, Lincoln W a y and Irving Street. Other locations shown on the map are the San Francisco Chemical Works west of Valencia Street between 14th Avenue and Park Street extending west nearly to Guerrero S t r e e t ; first Giant plant (1868), in the Park Terrace section west of Burnside Avenue

A P P E N D I X IX.

1099

between Chenery Street and Bosworth Street; second Giant plant (1868-79), buildings located principally between Kirkham and Ortega Streets from 19th to 22nd Avenues. APPENDIX

IX.

S U P P L E M E N T TO CALIFORNIA POWDER WORKS

Ebenezer Scott, superintendent of the Hercules plant, on San Pablo Bay near Pinole, California, from 1882 to 1883.

A P P E N D I X X. E. I. D u P O N T D E N E M O U R S & C O M P A N Y Since writing the history of the duPont dynamite factories, the duPont company has established, on a 1280 acre tract near Birmingham, Alabama, a new modern plant with an annual capacity of 15,000,000 pounds of all commercial grades of dynamite. I t was placed in operation on M a y 16, 1927, in charge of E . B. Yancey as superintendent. 1 i J. H. Huger succeeded Yancey as superintendent at the Carl Junction plant.

INDEX Covering name» of American» and prominent European» connected with the explotivet trade; firm» and corporation»; location» of factorie»; and a few namet of explotive» or procette» which may not be readily located in the Contenti. Italicized number» indicate principal reference. L. (Gen.), 383,647, 741,930 Abbot, J . J . C., 762 Abel, F. A. ( S i r ) , 342,771,772,779 Aberdeen, Md., 839 Acadia Powder Co., 294,296,299, 302, 704, 705, 751 Ackart, E. G., 594 Ackerson, A. S., 570 Acme Powder Co., 529,595,693,697 Acme Powder Mfg. Co., 28,636 Adams, Charles Francis, 118 Adams, Elijah, 95 Adams, John, 62 Adams, Levi, 91 Adams, Parson, 39 Adams, W. B., 550 Adams, W. W., 965 Adirondack Powder Co., 697 Aetna Chemical Co., 953 Aetna Chemical Co., Ltd., 911 A e t n a Explosives Co., 308,430,450, 537, 541,552,670, 753, 761,909, 943,946,947 Aetna Gunpowder Co., 79 Aetna, Ind., 542,543,546,911 Aetna Powder Co., 274,423,426,430, 542,545,550,664,700 Agar, William, 421,619 Agricultural Uses, 1070-1073 A j a x Dynamite Works, 672 A j a x Powder Works, 164 Akeley, L. D., 701 Akron, Ohio, 266 Albany, N. Y., 38 Albright, Joseph J., 242 Albro, George W., 821 Alexander, J . E., 671 Alexander, John D , 268 Alford, B., 678 Allen, Emery, 105 Allen, James (Rev.), 32,33 Allen, Will R . Explosives C o , 700 Allen, William P., 603, 886, 890 Allentown Non-Freering Powder Co., 429,687 Allentown, Pa., 652 ABBOT, H E N B Y

Allison, J . Walter, 299 Almon, J . L , 275,557 Alters, Frank C., 830 Alters Powder, 830 Alward, Charles C., 165 Amark, Carl E. F., 435 Amatol, 949 American Cap Co., 310,474, 761 American Dynamite Co., 635 American E . C. & Schultie Gunpowder Co., Ltd., 272,801,803, 865 American Forcite Powder Mfg. Co., 424,426,453,595 American Glycerine Co., 401 American High Explosives Co., 429,627,907,946, 948 American Mfg. & Supply Co., 463, 754 American Ordnance Co., 835 American Powder Co., 116,128,129, 130,271,272,274 American Powder Mills, 271,426, 802 American Powder Packing Co., 506 "American Rifle" Powder, 250 American Safety Powder Co., 636 American Smokeless Powder Co., 239,272, 796,838,860 American Supply Co., 462 American Table of Distances, 372 American Wood Powder, 827 American Wood Powder Co., 555, 789, 798,827 American Zylonite Co., 790 Ames, 858 Ames' Almanack, 47,48 Amherst, Ohio, 635 Ammonite, 842,940 Ammonium Nitrate, 840-341,938, 954 Ammonium Picrate, 942 Andover, Mass., 46 Andrews, A. F., 729 Andrews, R., 729 Andrews, Seth, 106 Angel, Texas, 1093

1102 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY Angle, W. B., 821,924 Anglo-American E. C. Gunpowder C o , Ltd., 795,798,801 Annapolis Junction, M d , 702, 940 Annette, William Magee, 541 Anthony Powder Co., L t d , 692 Anthracite Powder C o , 158 Apache Powder C o , 634 Appollonio, Samuel T , 566,665, 675,679 Aqueducts, 1005-1012 Archibald, W. B , 148 Ardeer, Scotland, 329, 778 Ardmore, P a , 84 Ardsley, N. Y , 6 9 8 Armsby, J . M. C , 128 Armstrong, E d w a r d Doe, 468,514, 583,690 Armv Smokeless Powder Factory, 912 Artie Nitrostarch, 586 "Artie" Powders, 355 Arundel, M d , 636 Asbestos Mining, 998 Ashburn, M o , 523,556-587,598,616 Ashburner, William, 654 Ashcraft, H. G , 634 Ashdown, James H , 920 Ashfteld, Pa., 696 Ashley, W i l l i a m H . (Gen.), 101,102 AspinwalL, Henry Churchill (Capt.), 815, 832,860,864,866 Aspinwall, Panama, 326 Assheton, Ralph, vii Aston, I. D , 143,241,311 Atkinson, J . B , 150 Atkinson, W. B , 150 Atlantic Dynamite C o , 490-491,575 Atlantic Giant Powder C o , 386, 388, 409,410, 479,490,625, 647 Atlantic Mfg. C o , 490 Atlas Globe, ix. Atlas Plant, 466, 469 Atlas Powder, 465 Atlas Powder C o , 143,211,241,309310,429,450, 465,542,646, 711, 713, 717, 756, 761, 905, 907,925, 948,954,1092 Atwater, Jeremiah, 51 Auchu, Henry, 542, 553,554,556, 631 Augusta, Colo, 211, 304,305 Augusta, G a , 110 Austin, Alvin, 265,272 Austin, Cvrus, 265 Austin, Daniel H , 265,268 Austin, David, 51

Austin, Goodwin & Steire, 104 Austin & King, 272 Austin, Linus, 130,265,268 Austin, Lorenzo B , 265,272 Austin Powder C o , 103,128,129, 130,265-268,426,518,522,630 Austin, W. J , 538 Avigliana, Italy, 316 Avon, Conn, 725,726,729 Axtell, F. C , 830 Axtell Powder, 830 Ayer, W. T , 534 Azote Powder C o , 637 " B " BLASTINO POWDEE, 1 2 3

Babbitt, E. B , 845 Babbitt, H. K , 760 Babcock, Adam, 51 Babcock, George, 388 Bacchus, Thomas Wally, vii, x , 522,524,526, 533,536,573,582, 612,895, 903,1094 Bacchus, Utah, 307, 308,526-528 Bachert, William, 156,199 Back, Deacon, 54 Backhaus, A. A, 898 Bacon, Bickford & C o , 724 Bacon, Daniel C , 219 Bacon, Richard, 2nd, 723 Bacon, Roger, 8 Badger, Fred, 690 Baelensur-Ntthe, 424 Bailey, Daniel, 503 Bailey, Eugene R , 227, 627 Bain, H. Foster, 350 Baird, John H. (Capt.), 282,287. 499,505 Baker, John A , 701 Baker, Theodore, 799,800, 924 Baldwin, Charles, 700 Baldwin, Henry F , 173,175,881 Ball, Elmer E , 1091 Ball Grain Explosives C o , 125 Ballistite, 778,862, 863,865,885 Ballou, Murray, 272 Baltimore Gunpowder Mfg. C o , 79 Baltimore, M d , 43,77,78,220,234, 420 Bandmann, Charles E. (Dr.),324, 327,332,385,403 Bandmann, Juls, 327,385,403,404, 432,448, 481 Bandmann, Nielson & C o , 432,448, 655 Bankes, James A , 156,157 Bankes, John William, 157

INDEX B a n k e r , J . W., 308 B a n k e r , W a l t e r , 156 B a n k s , E d w a r d , 799 Banks, George W., 473 Banks, Lewis G., 492 B a r c l a y , C. F . , 629 B a r c l a y , J . A., 629 B a r d e n , F r a n c i s , 792,859 B a r k e r , 560 B a r k e r , J a m e s L., 1093 B a r k s d a l e , H a m i l t o n M., 160,175, 206,242,364, 426, 450, 512,577, 582, 597, 602, 670 B a r k s d a l e , Wis., 490,574,584,597, 945 B a r n a r d , J o h n F., 549 B a r n e r , O. B., 700 B a r n e s , J . L., 308 B a r r e Center, Mass., 93,116,269, 270 B a r r o n , J o h n T., 272,547 B a r r y , J a m e s ( M a j o r ) , 102 B a r s t o w , F r a n k B., 907 B a r t e y , William, 41 B a r t l e P o w d e r Co., 629 B a r t o n , G. A., 148 B a r y t e s Mining, 998-999 B a s h f o r d , R . I., 634 Basin Falls, Maine, 105 B a t t l e Mill, 78, 234 B a u d u y , A l e x a n d r e , 182 B a u d u y , P e t e r , 85, 88,187,204 B a u d u y , P i e r r e , 181,182 B a u m , J u l i u s , 647, 654,1093 B a u m a n n , Charles, 1093 B a u x i t e Mining. 999-1000 B a y c h e s t e r , N. Y., 619,620,621, 624, 796, 860,1092 Beach, T r e a t S., 331, 418,420, 624, 625 B e a m a n , H a r r y Orville, 504,506 B e a r P o w d e r , 894 B e a r d s l e y , F r e d E . ( C a p t . ) , 742 B e a t t y , Charles W., 78,234 B e a t t y , J a m e s , 77 B e a u m o n t P o w d e r Co., 597, 700 B e a u m o n t , Texiis, 700 B e a v e r , G. W., 446 Beck, W . H., 165 B e d f o r d , T . E . , 463 B e d i e n t , C. E., 162,1088,1092 B e d o w , Daniel, 1089 B e d r e r , V i c t o r L., 636 Beecher, W a l t e r A., 137 Beeklev, A. M„ 281 B e e r s , F r a n k T., 599,602,690

1103

Beistle, Charles P r e s t o n , 839 Belgian F o r c i t e W o r k s , 424 Belin, Charles A., 542 Belin, F e r d i n a n d L., 542 Belin, G. d ' A n d e l o t , 214 Belin, H e n r y , J r . , 175, m , 218,247, 248, 610 Bell, H . M., 921 Bell, J e r o m e B., 704 Bell, J o h n Donald, 688 Bell, Thomas, 654, 682 Belleville, 111., 142,309 Belleville, N . J . , 97 Bellona P o w d e r Mills, 77,79 Belmont P o w d e r W o r k s , 155 Beloeil, P . Q., 296,300,302, 704-105, 706 Belshaw, M o r t i m e r W., 682 Bemis, Charles, 93,269, 448 Bemis, F r e d A., 94 Bemis, J o s h u a , 95 Bemis, Lewis, 93,269 Bemis, Silas, 93,269 Bemis, Silas & Co., 269 Bendall, F r e e g r a c e , 3 2 , 3 3 Benêt, S. V., 823 B e n n e t t , C. A., 491 Bennington P o w d e r Co., 104,116, 135 Bennington, V t . , 103,116 Benson, Ariz.,540, 634 Benson's L a n d i n g , Calif., 651 Bent, L e a v i t t N., 531, 840, 902 Bergen T u n n e l , 884 B e r m i n g h a m , J o h n ( C a p t . ) , 506, 512,842 B e r m i n g h a m , J o h n , J r . , 506,513, 516, 848,912 Bernadou-Converse P a t e n t s , 870 Bernadou, John Baptiste (Lieut.), 811,812,813 B e r n a r d , J o h n , 715 Bessemer, Ala., 558,679 Bessemer, Mich., 700 B e t h a y r e s , P a . , 759 Bethlehem L o a d i n g Co., 952 Bichel, Schmidt & M i t t e g a n g , 345 B i c k f o r d , J o h n , 116 B i c k f o r d , J o h n S., 723 B i c k f o r d , Smith & Davev, 724 B i c k f o r d , Smith & Co., Ltd., 722 B i c k f o r d , William, 721 Biddle, 62 Biddle, Charles (Col.), 65 Biddle, Clement, 65 Biddle, Owen, 1088

1104 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y Biderman, Antoine, 175,188,189, 190,204 Biderman, Jacques, 178,180,181, 188 Bidwell, D. W. C., 616 Bierbauer, Carl P., 534 Bierry, S. T., 652 Bierwirth, Leo J., 866,924 Big Chief Powder, 338,692 Bigelow, C. A., 542,544,660, 912 Bilbao, Spain, 829 Billard, J . D., 686, 689 Binghampton, N. Y., 619,787 Birmingham, Ala., 163,308,537, 542,1099 Birmingham Powder Co., 141,148 Bisbee, D. H., 105,106 Bishop, Samuel C., 746 Bixby, William, 94 B jorkmann, Carl Gustav, 640 B jorkmann, E. A., 830,340 Black Diamond Powder, 631 Black Diamond Powder Co., 158, 160 Black Hawk, Colo., 391 "Black J a c k " , 694,696,1091 Black's R u n , Pa., 698 Bladensburg, Md., 74 Blaine, W . A., 680 Blakeley, J . J., 752 Blakey, William Bowcock, 474,477 Blasting Caps, 721,756 Blasting Gelatine, 338 Blasting Machines, 721,751 Blasting Oil, 324 Blight, Joseph, 731 Blight, Joseph, J r . , 731 Blight, Richard, 731 Blight, Roscoe L., 731 Blight's Son & Co., 731 Bliss, Greeley & Marston, 116 Bliss, William P., 250,251 Blom&i, J o n a s E . ( D r . ) , 463,701, 813,861,864, 870,938 Blue Ridge Powder Co., 696 Bluet, John, 648 Blum, Adolphus C., 164,555,556, 630, 632,1084 B N , 827 B N A , 827 Bock, Heinrich, 84 Bodman, Lyman, 613 Boies, Albert H., 243 Boies, H e n r y Martyn, 214,217,223, 241, 243, 246,248,296 Boies, Joseph Milton, 128,130,219,

223,227,231,243,296 Borax Mining, 1000 Borland, C. R., 272,800,802 "Boston Gunpowder", 91 Boston, Mass., 748 Botsford, M. P., 541 Boucher, M„ 128 Boughner & Fredericks Mill, 199 Bound Brook, N. J M 755,958 Bowen Island, B . C., 297,704,707, 710 Bower, Richard LeBaron, 906 Boyce Station, Ala., 680 Boyle, W . M . , 607 Boyle's Gap, Ala., 148,680 "Brackett's Sporting Powder," 790 Braconnot, Professor, 767 B r a d f o r d Glycerine Co., 401 B r a d f o r d High Explosives Co., 678 B r a d f o r d , Pa., 357,400 Bradley, E . T „ 921 Bradley, M a j o r , 109 Bradway, F. W., 924 B r a d y Brothers, 672 Brady, Thomas F., 201 Brain, W. B.,331 Brainerd, Dwight, 223,295,704 Brainerd, H e n r y Boies, 228,295, 704 Brainerd, H e r b e r t Whiting Boies, 223,295 Brainerd, Thomas C., 128,129,133, 219,223,235,237,295, 705,762 Brainerd, Winthrop, 223,295,704 Brandon, J . K., 726 B r a n d t , Charles, 1093 Brandywine Laboratory, 877 Brandywine Mills, 195,198,304 Brazil, 952 Breckinridge, W . C., 101 Brenchand, Jules, 673 Brenchand, Thomas, 673 Brenham, C. J., 287 Brent, 706 Brewster, B., 287 Brewster, F. K., Inc., 542,761 Brewster, F r a n k Kendall, 759 Brewster, Rouse Kendall, 761 Brickwedel, Henry, 432,480,490 Bridge, John, 255 Briese, 384 Briggs, Samuel, 45 Brimijoin, W . S., 531,557 Brinsmaid, Abraham, 52 British Chemical Co., 915,950 British Nobel Co., 675

INDEX Broberg, F r a n z Gustav A., 352,673 Brockville, Canada, 703 Brode, Elmer, 694 Broe, George, 286 Bromley, 502 Bromley, C. V.,211,311 Bronstein, J . B., 637,639 Brooklyn Glycerine Mfg. & R e f . Co,. 583, 689 Brooklyn Station, Ohio, 267 Broom, Jacob, 183 Brophy, Patrick, 397 Brown, Allen, 275 Brown, E d m u n d L., 137 Brown, H a r r y Fletcher, 810, 812, 814, 817, 820,821,871,874,881, 885,889 Brown, J . Thompson, 606,1084 Brown, J o h n Hamilton, 860,861 Brown, L. L., 790 Brown, N., 696 Brown, P a g e & Co., 88 Brown Prismatic Powder, 123 Brown, U. G., 245,306 Browne, Charles A., 746 Browne, Charles A., & Bro., 745, 746 Browne, Isaac S., 746,748 Brownsburg, P . Q., 302, 762, 763 Bruceton, Pa., 348 B r u m m , Ellwood M., 157,1091 B r u m m , R a l p h , 158 B r u m s t e a d , Dale, 613 B r y a n , Leon O., 589, 590, 606 B r y a n t , F r a n k L., 528 Buckeye Powder Co., 168 Buckfield P o w d e r Mills, 105,115 Buckner, E d m u n d G. (Col.), 615, 878,874,882 Buffalo, N . Y., 138 Building & Demolition, 1039-1041 Bulkeley, C. A., 886 Bull, J o h n (Col.), 1088 Bull's Eye, 894 B u n k e r Hill, 39 B u r b a n k , A b i j a h , 47 B u r e a u f o r the S a f e T r a n s p o r t a t i o n of Explosives and O t h e r D a n g e r ous Articles, 1083 B u r e a u of Explosives, 372,1083 B u r n e t t , J . L., 551,553,557 B u r n h a m , Guy J . , 706 B u r n s , Thomas, 508 Burnside, Charles F r e m o n t , 291, 794, 858, 866,870, 872, 874,885, 924 Burrill, 106

1105

Burroughs, Stephen, 52 Bürstenbinder, O t t o (Col.),324, 352,388,392 B u r t , M. C. ( D r . ) , 472 B u r t o n , Daniel, 690 B u r t o n , J o b , 160,161,627, 628,686, 690,948,1084 B u r t o n , J o s e p h S., 161,627,628, 1084 B u r t o n P o w d e r Co., 160,161,165, 626,627 Bussell, 104 B u t l e r , E g b e r t J . , 219,220,234 B u t t e r w o r t h & J u d s o n Co., 907,944 C. C. CHEMICAL Co., 755

Cadwallader, 62 Cahalan, W . J., 201, 211,237,305 Calama, Chile, 303, 717 Calco Chemical Co., 953 Calderon, J . G., 617 Caldwell, Seth, 269 California C a p Co., 654,655,758 California City, Calif., 642 California F u s e Co., 7H9,730 California Investment Co., 685 California P o w d e r Works, 120,131, 145,159,200, 283,287,292,807, 832,402,426, 428,431,449,497, 504,518,540, 561,646, 684, 795, 816,842,846,849,857,1099 California T r o j a n Powder Co., 638 California Vigorite Powder Co., 422,506,511,513, 597,642, 652 Call, C. H . , 657 Callery, Pa., 731 Cambria Powder Co. 218 Camden, Maine, 105,106,115 Cameron P o w d e r M f g . Co., 626, 628 Campbell, Alex, 468 Campbell, Roderick, 394,468,656 Canadian C a r & F o u n d r y Co., 912 Canadian Explosives, Lt., 297,300, 705-704, 707, 709, 711,712, 763, 915,950 Canadian Giant, Ltd., 703,711 Canals, 1018-1024 Cann, R i c h a r d T., 587,599,600 Cannon P o w d e r Mills, 83 Canton, Conn., 99,259 Canton, Mass., 36,45,46 Cap Crimpers, 721 Carbonite, 343 Carl J u n c t i o n , Mo., 608 Carlson, Oscar, 437

1106 T H E EXPLOSIVES I N D U S T R Y Carlton, 272 Carnegie, Pa., 543,947 Carney's Point, N . J . , 795,802,820, 878,879,886,892 Carpenter, Colvill, 64 C a r p e n t e r , G r a n t , 688 C a r p e n t e r , J e a n , 688 C a r p e n t e r , J o h n , 54 C a r p e n t e r , R o b e r t Ruliph M., 175,207 C a r r , F. H., 756 C a r r c r o f t , Del., 925 Carroll, P e t e r , 294 Carthage, Mo., 529 Casterline, C. L., 400 Casterline & O ' H a r a Glyc. Co., 401 Casterline & Young, 357,400 Catoire, Duquesnoy & Cie, 181 Catskill, N. Y., 220,225 Cauffiel, Daniel, 600 Cavanaugh, J . B., 162 Cazenovia, N. Y.. 155 Celluloid Zapon Co., 786,904 Cement Limestone, 9.94-996 Centralia, Wash., 636 Cerberite, 342 Cerberite Powder Mfg. Co., 165, 622,702,940 Chamberlain, Rollin T., 345 Chamberlain, William B., 527, 593, 600,680 Chamberlin & F a r n a m , 267 Chambers, A r t h u r D. ( D r . ) , 587, 599 Chambersburg, Pa., 132,201 Champion Powder, 338,507 Champney, H . H., 901 Chapman, G. C.,201 Chapman, H . S., 729, 759 Chapman, H a r r y , 211 Charleston, N. C., 39 Charleston, W . Va., 839,840,902 Charlotte, N. C., 115,357 Chase, G. E . ( M r s . ) , 535 Chase, H a r r y V., 557 Chase, H e r b e r t Gav, 563,566, 568, 585 Chattanooga P o w d e r Co., 140,143 Chattanooga, Tenn., 311 Cheatham, E d w a r d , 134 Cheatham, R. R o b e r t , 134 Cheatham, Watson & Co., 134 Chesney, John, 575 Chester, Charles T., 393 Chester, Stephen, 392 Chickering, H . G., 590

Chile, A. J . , 672 Chile, S. A., F a c t o r y , 962 Chile S a l t p e t e r Mining, 997-998 Chilean National Ammunition C o , Ltd., 303 Chilworth P o w d e r Co., 781 Chorlton, J a m e s , 153,305 Church R u n , Pa., 396 Church, Timothy, 327 Cilley, Samuel, 269 City Point, Va., 383, 602 Claffy, J o h n , 141 Clark, Charles E., 657, 680,695 Clark, H . A., 697 Clark, J a c o b , 382 Clark, Quimby, 517 Clark, W a l t e r G., 477 Clarksburg, Mass., 96 Clarksburg, Mich., 393,656 Clarksburg, W . Va., 674 Clayton, Lerov, 477 Clavton, W . H., 557 Clement Point, Calif., 437 Cleveland, Ohio, 423,504,523, 686, 626,658 Cleveland P o w d e r Co., 103,267,268 Clift, William ( C a p t . ) , 729 Climax Fuse Co., 726, 729 Climax Powder M f g . Co., 597,686691 Clinton Dynamite Co., 595,666, 667,672 Clinton, Ind., 167 Clippergap, Calif., 292,473 Cloud, W . T . , 211,305 Clowes, D. E . , 294 Coad, J a m e s , 393 Coal Mining, 962-966 Coalmont, Ind., 166 Coast Mfg. & Supply Co., 726,731 Cobalt Mining, 1000 Cobbs Creek, Pa., 81 "Cocoa Powder," 123 Code, Billv, 393,656 Cohn, David, 654 Cohu, H e n r y M., 219 Cold S t r e a m Chemical Works, 652 Cole, Cassius, 636 Coleman, E . G., 686,689 Coleman, J o h n B., 264,522 Coleman, J o h n W „ 264 Coleman, R o b e r t T., 264,268 Collier, J . C., 237 Collier, R . H., 228 Collins, George H., 447 Collinson, P e t e r , 737

INDEX Colma, Calif., 729 Cologne, Germany, 329 Cologne-Rottweil Powder Works, 290 Colt, Samuel (Col.), 740 Columbia Powder Co., 622 Columbia, S. C., 115 Columbian Powder Co., 595,697 Columbus, Kan., 239,306,307,308 Colvin, Arthur E., 255, 262 Colvin, William, 255 Colvin, William Samuel, S55,262 Comeaux, C. Stewart, ix, 1084 Coroey, Arthur M. ( D r . ) , 589 Compartía Mexicana de Explosivos, S. A., 715 Compañía Nacional Mexicana de Dinamita y Explosivos, 714 Compañía Sud-Americana de Explosives, 717 Conemaugh Powder Co., 218 Confederate Powder Works, 74,134 Congdon, W. R., 308 Congreve, William ( S i r ) , 15 Connable, Ala., 148,304,305,680 Connable, E. M., 144 Connable, Frank Lee, 144 Connable, John Lee, 143 Connable, Matthew, 144 Connecticut Mills, 49,67,99 Connecting Wire, 721 Connell, A. J., 1091 Connell, H. A., 1091 Connell Powder Co., 1091 Connell, W. L., 1091 Connelly, Mike, 677 Constable, John G., 593 Consumers Mill, 218 Consumers Powder Co., 213, 277 Continental Powder Mill, 65,1088 Converse, George A., 811, 813 Cook, William, 504 Cooke, M. Clifford, 211,305 Coopal et Cie., 875,876 Cooper, Fairman & Sons, 394 Cooper, H. B., 632, 634 Cope, W. C., 350 Copeland, Charles, 207 Coppedge, William, 102 Cooper Mining, 970-973 "Cordeau," 728 Cordie, C. H., 909,910, 912 Cordite Powder, 779,894 Corless, E. B., 713 Cornell, Peter, 261,262 Corthell, C. S., 401

1107

Cotrell, 517 Cotton, Fred R., 648 Cotton Powder Co., 654 Cottrell, F. G., (Dr.), 350 Couden, A. R., 817 Cowperswaite, Joseph, 65 Cowpland, C. C., 560 Cox, H. A , 553 Cox, Irving J., 470,574,602,690 Coy, Edmund B., 466,523 Coyne, William, 614, 615 Cradock, C. S., 478 Craig, W . D., 955 Craighill, Charlie, 913 Craigsville, N. Y., 54 Cram, W. C., Jr., 913,915 Crane, Thomas ( M a j o r ) , 45 Crawshaw, J. E., 350 "Creedmore Rifle" Powder, 250 Crerar, John, 136 Crescent Powder Co., 475 Cressona, Pa., 220 Cressona Powder Works, 164,234 Crispin, S. (Col.), 825 Cromb Creek, Pa., 1086 Cross Lake, Manitoba, 394,52? Cruikshank, Alexander, 817 Crum, Walter, 771 Crushed Stone, 989-992 Culpepper, O. H., 212 Cummings, Alfred G., 151,166,168, 529,530, 531,1084 Cummingsville, Ontario, 294, 704 Cunningham, Thomas, 275 Cunningham, W. W , 639 Curtiss, Charles Edson, 725,726 Curtis's & Harvey, 712 Curtis's& Harvey (Canada), Ltd., 712, 950

DAKIM, Chables F., 217,218

Dakin, Elmer E., 218,306 Dales, W. E., 650 Dalmas, Charles, 73,74,179 Dana & Adams, 401 Daniels, John (Capt.),662 Darling, Robert, 726 "Dart Powder", 671 Dast, Jacob, 84 Davey, John ( D r . ) , 743 Davidson, P. (Col.), 396 Davie, Humphrey, 83 Davies, Samuel, 1090 Davis, E. M., 944 Davis, F. B., 890 Day, E. R., 634

1108 T H E E X P L O S I V E S I N D U S T R Y Day, R. M., 274 "Deadshot" Powder, 271,802 Deal, Sam, 557 Dean, Gilbert S. ( D r . ) , 446 De Beers Explosives, Ltd., 848 DeBow, C. R., 866 deCastro, Alfred, 453,460 deCastro Chemical Works, 365,460 deCastro, Hector, 453 deCastro, Julius, 424,453 Decatur, Stephen, 80,97 Decker, Peter, 287 Deepwater Point, N. J., 592,946, 952 Deeths, George W., 247 de Guigue, Christian, 646 DeHaven, Peter, 65,1088 deLacy, Charles, 641,642 DeLaveaga, J . V., 287 Delaware Mills, 66,85 Delta Laboratory, 591 Demeritt, John, 39 Dennett, George H., 286 Dennett, John, 286 Dennison, P. N., 616 Denslow, Allen A., 253,262 Denver, Colo., 731 dePusy, Jean-Xavier Bureaux, 178 Desborough, Arthur, 847 deShon, Henry S., 661,662 Detonating Fuse, 728 Detonating Materials, 732 Detonating Principal, 736 "Detonite", 644 Detonite Explosives, Ltd., 712 Detwiller, Street & Co., 746 Deveau, J ames, 827,382 Dewar, James (Sir), 779 Dewese, (Col.), 1088 Dibblee, Albert, 436,448,480,490 Dickerson, E . N., 383 Dickey, Courtlandt M., 272 Dickey, E. A., 241 Dickey, James H., 272 Dickinson, John, 44 Dickson, Charies E., 697 Dickson, Edward, 920 Dickson, Joseph B., 219 Dickson, T. C. (Ma.j.), 944 Dickson, Thomas, 219,242 Dinamita, Mexico, 715 Dinitrochlorhydrine, 352 Dinitroglycerine, 852 Dinitrotoluene, 583 Diphenylamine, 836 Ditchley, Va., 701,938

Dittmar, Arthur Carl, 621 Dittmar, Arthur Carl, 2nd, 624 Dittmar, Carl H., 622,623,624 Dittmar, Charles Frederick William Ernest (Carl), 330,414,418,423, 618,620,637, 786,798 Dittmar, Maria W., 621,623 "Dittmar Powder", 623 Dittmar Powder & Chemical Co., 623 Dittmar Powder Co., 623, 794, 795, 816,860,881 Dittmar Powder Mfg. Co., 619 Dittmar Powder Works, 621,624 Divine, Silas R., 354 Doe, George I., 494,619 Doe, John S., 682 Dominion Cartridge Co., 762 Dominion Electrical Works, Ltd., 762,763 Donaldson, William, 370, 582 Donner Lake, Calif., 391, 408, 498, 1095 Donzell, A. J., 447 Donzell, David, 447 Doolittle, Isaac, 51 Dope, 332 Dorchester, Mass., 35 Doremus Cartridges, 784 Doremus, Robert Ogden (Dr.), 25 Doremus, Thomas E., 250 Doremus, Thomas L., 250,251 Dornbach, L. M., 784 Dorner, Ind., 153 Douglass, A. E., 128,130,261 Dover, N. J., 754 Dowse, Jabez B., 743,745 Drackett, H. A., 707 Dragon, P. Q., 712, 950 Drainage Projects, 1012-1017 Drake, E. B., 272 Draper, William F., 701 Drebble, Cornelius, 732 Drexler, L. P., 448 Drinker, Henry S., 483, 485 Drummondsville, P. Q., 543,911 Dualin, 382,414,623, 705 "Dualin Stumping Powder", 706 Dubois, P. J., 242 Dubuque, E . D , 700 Dudley, Charles E., ( D r . ) , 373 Dumorite, 355,916 Dunbar, Oliver E., 558,559,560 Dunbar & Sullivan, 699 Dundee, Mo., 101 Dunham, Russell H., 524,1084

INDEX Danlop, C. J-, 294 Dunn, Beverly Wyly (Coi.), 373, 837, 838,839, 922,942,943,1084 Dunsmore, Governor, 39 Dunstan, Thomas, 781 duPont, A . Felix, 175,879,839 duPont, Alexis Irénée, 176,190,192, 198,202,204 duPont, Alexis Irénée, 2nd, 17S, 202, 204,206 duPont, Alexis Irénée, 3rd, 175,204, 220

duPont, Alfred Irénée, 122,124,125, 175,202,203,204,205,208,209, 213,428, 782,875,876 duPont, Alfred Victor, 175,189, 190,204 duPont, Alfred Victor, 2nd, 175 duPont, Charles Irénée, 2nd, 175, 202,204,205,209, 876 duPont, Coleman, 155,159,168,175, 205,206, 207,208,218,214,219, 262,427, 428,874 DuPont de Nemours Pere et Fils et Cie, 181 duPont, E. I. & Co., 116 duPont, E. I., Company, 172 duPont, E. I., de Nemours Company, 205,209,865,873 duPont, E. I., de Nemours & Co., vii., 128,129,130,171,172,174, 203,204,205,209,210,212,401, 426,490,502, 513,519, 715, 717, 794-796,833, 839,846, 849,885, 902,904, 916,944-946 duPont, E. I., de Nemours & Co. (of Pa.), 213,214 duPont, E. I., de Nemours Powder Co., 160,170,172,205,210,242, 304,429,595, 685,801,802,881, 884 duPont, Eleuthère Irénée, 73,74, 80,85,100,174,17«. 181,182,183, 184,188,204 duPont, Eleuthère Irénée, 2nd, 175, 192,204 DuPont Engineering Co., 887,948 duPont, Ernest, 175,925 duPont, Eugene, 124,175,192,194, 202,208,204,246,426,875,877 duPont, Eugene, 2nd, 175,204,615 duPont, Francis G., 175,192,201, 202,204,206,815,816,877,878, 879,880,885 duPont, Francis I., 175,815,848, 879,880,925

1109

DuPont Fute Works, 755,756 "DuPont Gelatin", 583 duPont, Henry (Gen.), 118,119, 120,130,175,190,191,194,202, 204,287,402,561, 564 duPont, Henry A . (Col.), 138,173, 175,192,202,208,204,207 duPont, Henry Belin, 175,207 duPont, Henry F., 175 DuPont International Powder Co., 873,874 duPont, Ir£n£e, 175,205,207,208 duPont, Lammot, 26,117,118,122, 123,130,175,192,193-194,204, 246, 296,366,368, 423,490,519, 520,524, 561,562, 563, 564,565, 567, 568,570, 584, 658, 659 duPont, Lammot, 2nd, 175,205,207 DuPont Magazine, ix. duPont, Pierre Samuel, 174,175, 176,188 duPont, Pierre Samuel, 2nd, 175, 205,206,208,209,213,214, 219, 242* 428,542,604,828, 877,878, 879,885 DuPont Powder, 595,827,830,878 DuPont Powder Co., 816 DuPont Powder Mills, 116 duPont, Samuel F., 175 duPont Smokeless Shotgun Powder, 795,878 duPont, Victor, de Nemours & Cie., 183 duPont, Victor, Jr., 175 duPont, Victor-Marie, 175,176,178, 202 DuPont, Wash., 211,305, 600-602 duPont, William, 175,192,204, 368,423, 490,520,524,562,564, 571,659,675 duPont, William K., 175,207,879 Duprl, ( D r . ) , 779 Durham, N . H., 39 Dynamite Guns, 934 Dynamite in America, 405 Dynamite Mixing Machines, 368 Dynamite Cartridge Packing Machines, 577 E. C. POWDER, 774,799,800-802,894 E. C. Powder Co., Ltd., 798,875 Eagle Powder Mills, 96,102 Eagle River, Mich., 781 Earl, J. 0..287 East Alton, 111., 142,146 East Chelmsford, Mass.. 90

1110 T H E EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY E a s t H a r t f o r d , Conn., 49,74,259 E a s t Weatogue, Conn., 724 E a s t e r n Dynamite Co., 425,428, 512,520, 550,575,576,587,588, 589,593,594, 695,596,623,661, 664,670,672, 680,692,693, 695, 696,697,698, 699,700,754, 755, 795,881 E a s t e r n Laboratory, 583,588,589, 591,637, 946 E a s t e r n Torpedo Co., 401 E a s t m a n , C. A., 283 E a s t m a n , H e n r y H., 534, 536, 646 Eaton, Lorenzo, 269 E b n e r , Baron von, 741, 742 Economic Smokeless Powder Co., 154,920 E d d y , A r t h u r J., 1083 E d d y , William Clifton, 469,477 E d e n Park, Del., 85,187 Edson, John, 790 E d w a r d s , H . F., 287 E d w a r d s , John H., 663 E d w a r d s , Walter Wallace, 542, 547,608,634 Edwardsvllle, 111., 169 E g e r t o n , Henry G., 641 E g g , Joseph, 733 E g y p t i a n Powder Co., 146,160,162 E i c h . J . S . , 241,291 Eissler, Manuel, 424,453, 455,457 E l Cerrito Hill, Calif., 683, 730 Electric Blasting Caps, 736 Electric Exploder Co., 755 Electric Exploders, 721 Elkerkin, Jedediah, 51 E l d r e d Powder Co., 165, 678 "Eleutherian Mills", 183 Ellgar, A. D „ 631 Ellingwood, Lynan Haskell, 148, 623 Ellis, Moses, 283 Ellsworth, H. E , 726 Ellsworth, Lemuel Stoughton, 725,726 Ellsworth, William Ledyard ( C a p t . ) , 824, 825 Elmira, N. Y., 702 Elms, J . M., 874 E l y , H . Allen, 395 Emanuel, Morgan, 132 Emerick, Charles, 275 E m e r y , Sidney S., 364,589 Emmen's Gilbite Powder, 827 E m p i r e Powder Corp., 632

E m p i r e Powder Mills, 99,104,116, 232,306 Emporium, Pa., 537,542,551,687, 909,943 Emporium Powder Mfg. Co., 164, 429, 552, 554,559,629 Enfield Powder Co., 249,260 Ensign-Bickford Co., 721,726-787, 728,729, 731 Ensign, Bickford & Co., 726 Ensign, Joseph Ralph, 726 Ensign, Ralph H a r t , 725,726 E n t e r p r i s e High Explosives Co., 595,694 E n t e r p r i s e Powder Mfg. Co., 213, 247 Epstein, Henry, 448 Equitable Powder Mfg. Co., 142, 145-147,162 Ericson, A. D., 631 Ericsson, John, 320 Erskine, R. G., 617, 715 Escales Richard ( D r . ) , 827 Eschbach, Abraham, 84 Esopus, N. Y., 220,673 E u r e k a Powder Co., 423, 447, 650, 1094 European Agreement, 159,684 Eva, James, 729 Evans, E. D., 701 Eve, John ( C a p t . ) , 64 Eve, Oswell, 44,63, 80 Everenden, Abijah, 36 Everenden, Benjamin, 35 Everenden, W a l t e r , 33,35 Everett, Douglas, 679 Everett, Pa., 666 Everett, Wash., 635 Everitt, E d w a r d A n c r u m Whistler, 859,860,893,895 Ewell, Thomas, 73, 74 Excelsior Powder Co., 562 Excelsior Powder Mfg. Co., 141, 160,162,165 Excelsior Powder Works, 650 Exeter, N. H , 44 Explosions: S. S. E u r o p e a n , 3 2 6 ; Wells F a r g o Express, 326; Wyoming Hotel, N . Y., 325; Black Tom, 945; H a l i f a x , N. S., 945 Explosive "D", 922, 940, 94.I Explosive Gelatine, 338, 932 Explosives Company of E n g l a n d , 774 Explosives Engineer, ix.

INDEX Explosives Supply Co. ( o f M o . ) , 616,617 Explosivos Tronador, 717 Exiim, Culpepper, 566, 557 F A B H A V E N , V T . , 104,116

Fairbanks, Frances ( M i s s ) , 535 Fairchance, Pa., 265,30*, 305,1091 Fairchild, Robert, 52 Fairmont Powder Co., 148,1086 Fairport Harbor, Ohio, 392 Falls of the Schuylkill, Pa., 69,81 Fannon-Winslow Shell, 933 Farmer, Moses G., 749 Farmingdale, N . J , 141, 622, 623, 794, 881 Farnum, W . W., 821 Fasken, Alexander, 714 Faust, Alexander S., 234 Fay, A . G., Potter tc Cilley, 270 Fav, A . G., Potter & Toi man, 116, 270 Fay, Addison Grant, 128,130,269, 270,272, 273, 274,275, 550,1084 Fay, Addison Orville, 129,271,272, 274, 275, 423,426, 545,546, 550, 752 Fay, Frank B., 269 Fav, Potter & Tolman, 116,270 Fay, Ralph M., 274,550 Fay, William C-, 272 Fayville, 111, 274,537, 542,549 Federal Cartridge C o , 762 Felder, Henry, 41 Feldspar Mining, 1000 Felixdorf Powder, 827 Fennie, William, 211 Ferguson, H . M , 168 Ferguson, William P , 453, 755 Ferndale, P a , 157,307,308, 693, 1090 Ferndale Powder C o , 693 Fernstermacher, E. R , 308 Ferriday, E. C , 615 Ferrier, George D „ 299 Ferrier, James, 299 Fieldner, A . C , 350 Figgins, Charles E , 275 Figgins, Uriah Francis, 143,275 Findlav, William, 305 Finland, 329 " F i r e Damp" Commissions, 342 Fischer, E. J , 756 Fish, Charles H , 641 Fitchburg, C a l i f , 730 Fitiinger, 84

1111

Flack, John, 64 Flameless Dynamite, 344 Fleeter, Freeborn J , 648, 757, 758 Fleming Point, C a l i f , 437 Fleming, S. H , 352 Fletcher, W . E „ 470,473 Flint, Edward P , 283,447 Flint, George B , 1093 Flurscheim, ( D r . ) , 953 Fogg, D. E , 909 Folsom, Nathaniel, 44 Folsom, Samuel, 44 Fonda, W . B , 921 Fontanet, I n d , 150,153 Forcite Plant, 455,466,493 Ford, Edward Henry, 153,154, .10//, 606,919,920 Ford, Jacob, Jr. (Col.), 59,60 Ford, R. R , 212,237 Forsythe, Alexander, 732 Fort Pitt Powder C o , 310,472, 474, 629, 761 Fort Smith, A r k , 146 Foss, Wilson P , S95,544,609, 660, 665,668 "Fossano" Powder, 25 Foster, Elnathan, 231 Foster, H . P , Jr., 241,477 Foster, William B , 593 Fountain, Andrew, 186 Fowler, Edmund, 99 Fox, A . Stanley, 911 Frankford Arsenal, 838, 839,942 Frankford, P a , 69,80,81,182 Franklin, Benjamin, 737 Franklin Forge, P a , 475 Franks, Henry, 211 Frederickstown, M d , 43 Freeden, Richard von, 878 Freeman, Job, 166,168 Freeman, W . J , 168 Freligh, B. M , 246 French Creek, P a , 65,66 Frome, W . G , 470, 477 Frontier Mills, 116 Frost, Eugene, 634 Fuchs, J. ( D r . ) , 405,433 Fulford, James, 673 "Fulgurite," 357 Fullam, F. L , 874 Fullam, W . F , 821 Fulminate ( g o l d ) , 732 Fulminate (mercury), 732, 735, 760 Fulminate (silver), 732 Fulton, Gardiner, 78 "Fundamental Agreement," 139

1112 THE EXPLOSIVES INDUSTRY Fuse, 721-724, 736 "Fuze," 736 GAFFETT, W A X T E * HORATIO, 163, S9S

Gage, General, 39 Gal lazier, Francis E , 644,685 Gallatin, Albert, 72 Gambo Falls, Maine, 105 Gardiner, Warren D., 487 Gardner Mill, 148 Gardner, Perry, 748 Garesche, John Alexander, 2S3,262 Garesche, John Peter, 87,88 Garfield, James R., 347 Garfield, L. M., 276 Garfield, Lyman G., 274 Garrett, Amos, 43 Gaskill, E. W., 631 Gaston & Koontz, 698 Gates, Herbert, 310 G a y , J a m e s E „ 236,247

Gay, William A., 236 G e b h a r d t , A . F „ 243,245 G e b h a r d t , W . P . , 243,246 G e e r , A . C., 104,116 G e e r , J . J . , 211, 239,241,308,1092

Gelatine Dynamite, 338 Gelatine Mixing Machine, 370 Gelatine Packing Machine, 370-371 General Explosives Co., 608,617 Genin, don Augusto, 71S Gentieu, G. W., 169 Gentieu, F. A., 879 "Gentleman's Power Mill," 97 Georgetown, Pa., 214,706 G e o r g i a , 41,100

Georgian's Seizure, 39 German Oxyhydric & Stock Co., 716 Germantown, Pa., 69 Gerow, C. C., 638 Giant Explosives, Ltd., 711 Giant Plant, 292,311,948 Giant Powder, 332 Giant Powder Co., 287,292,337,388, 406, 4 0 8 , 4 2 8 , 4 3 1 , 4 3 7 , 4 7 9 , 491, 602, 606, SLL, 642,643, 711,746

Giant Powder Co., Cons., 426,446, 447,946,948,542,816,832 Giant Powder Co. of Canada, Ltd., 703 713 "Giant Powder No. 2" 331,441 Gibbs, W . W „ 869 Gildersleeve, David H., 234 Gill, John, 32 Gill, Moses, 62 Gillespie, N. J., 899 Gillespie, T. A Co., 842,912

Gillespie, Thomas, 1091 Gillet, Edward B.,220 Gilliss, John Robert, 1095,1097 Gilpin, Joseph, 87 Given, G. C., 955 Glastonbury, Conn., 52 Glenwillow, Ohio, 267 Godchaux, Sylvester, 453 Goddard, N . C., 550 Goes, Ohio, 103,123, S66,272,308, 537,542 Goethals, George W . (Gen.), 1021 Goetz, Sebastian, 84 Gogebic Powder Co., 700 "Gold Dust Powder," 919,920 "Gold Foil" Fuze, 749 Gold Medal Dynamite, 631 Gold Mining, 973-977 Golden Gate Chemical Works, 500 Good, E. L., 1090 Goodell, R. R „ 662 Goodrick-Lockhart, 944 Goodyear, George A., 421, 647,745 Gordon, William, 296 Gorham, Maine, 263 Gorham Powder Co., 105 Gorman, Frank P., 163 Gorman, John J., 151 Goshen, N. Y „ 53 Gould M. L., 166 Government Standard Powder Co., 636 Gowdy, Frank, 260 Gowdy, Tudor, 260 Graecus, Marcus, 7 Graffe, Albert T., 485 Grafton, 111., 631 Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, 840 Graham, Joseph M., 1097 "Grainlet" Powder, 338 Granatfullung 88,941 Granby, Conn., 724 Granite Powder Co., 1092 Grant, General, 383 Grasselli, Caesar A., 627 Grasselli Chemical Co., 401,518 520,626 Grasselli, Eugene Ramiro, 503,518, 626, 627 Grasselli Powder Co., 161, 626-6S8 Grasselli, Thomas S., 627 Grav, Andrew, 87 Gray, C. W . ( D r . ) , 554 Graydon, J. W . (Lieut.), 936 Grayson, George W., 6VI

INDEX G r e a t F a l l s , P a . , 198 G r e a t N o r t h e r n S u p p l y Co., 152 G r e b l e , E d w a r d St. J o h n ( G e n . ) , 859 Greeley, P a u l , 249, 260 G r e e n , 451 G r e e n , B . W., 555 G r e e n e , Alonzo, 144,148 G r e e n e , E d w a r d , 130,219,235, 520 Greenfield, N. H . , 103 G r e e n w o o d P o w d e r Co., 595, 698 G r e g o r y , H a r r y K., 634 Griffin, Daniel, 52 Griffin, P . G., 680 G r i m e s , J . J . , 541 Grinnell, R o b e r t , 907 G r i s c o m , J o s e p h , 341 G r i s w o l d , D a n i e l W . , 99 G r i s w o l d , F . E . , 473 G r i s w o l d , J o h n D., 155 G r o t t a , B e n n e t t , 764 G r u b b , C h a r l e s , 731 G r u b b , H u n t e r , 680, 697, 890 G r u b b , P e t e r ( C o l . ) , 1088 G r u b b , R e g i n a l d , 704 Gue, T h e r o n R., 296, 299, 751, 755,763 G u e n t h e r , P h i l i p , 199 G u i o n , W i l l i a m H . , 220, 234 G u n c o t t o n , 355, 930 G u n d e r s o n , Charles, 549 G u n n e l l , R o b e r t , 560 G u n p o w d e r , D e v e l o p m e n t , 11-28 G u n p o w d e r , D i s c o v e r y , 3-11 G u n p o w d e r E x p o r t Co., L t d . , 237, 294 G u n p o w d e r T r a d e Assn., 126,129, 159, 237, 238, 274, 276, 289, 294, 296, 425, 491 G u r n e y , F r a n c i s , 80 G u t t m a n n , O s c a r , 775 G w i n n ' s Falls, Md., 69, 77 G y p s u m Mining, 996 HAFENEGGER, JOSEPH, 758

H a g l e y Mills, 187,196 H a i r e , N o r m a n E . , 664 H a l e , Moses, 90 H a l e y , J a m e s , 553 H a l l , C. I . D., 642 H a l l , Clarence, 345, 349, 350, 553 H a l l D y n a m i t e P a c k i n g Machine, 582 H a l l , E d w a r d , 93 H a l l , E d w a r d H e n r y , 93 H a l l , H . P., 369, 547, 577,679

1113

H a l l , I s r a e l , 327, 382,388, 404 H a l l , J . H . , 706,710 H a l l , J o h n & Sons, 770 H a l l , W . A . ( D r . ) , 642 H a l l , W . E . , 639 H a l l a d a y , G e o r g e K., 273, 274 H a l l s t e a d , J o h n F., 216 H a l l s t e a d , W . F., 214 H a l s e y , F r a n c i s A., 920 H a m i l t o n , A l e x a n d e r , 68 H a m i l t o n , J o h n , 446, 762, 934 H a m i l t o n P o w d e r Co., 294,296, 297, 394, 522, 703, 704, 705, 762 H a m l i n , G e o r g e A., 586, 587 H a m l i n , G e o r g e F r a n c i s ( C o l . ) , 148, 477, 613,616, 622, 677 H a m o n , William, 183 H a n c o c k Chemical Co., 428, 662664 H a n c o c k , J o h n , 44 H a n c o c k , Mich., 466 H a n e r , C a r l , 898 H a n s o n , J a m e s William, 452 H a n s o n , J a m e s W i l l i a m , J r . , 452 H a r d y , O r l a n d o B., 338, 441,451, 489, 649, 650, 681, 1093 H a r e , R o b e r t ( D r . ) , 738, 739 H a r p e r , G. V., 657 H a r p e r , H . E., & Co., 401 H a r r i e , P e t e r , 468 H a r r i n g t o n , E . M., 547, 752 Harrington, William Goddard, 752, 753 H a r r i n g t o n , Willis F., 601, 602, 879 890 H a r r i s , C. T . ( M a j o r ) , 955 H a r r i s , Caleb, 49 H a r r i s , E d w i n , 641 H a r r i s , R o b e r t ( D r . ) , 64,1086 H a r r o p , J o h n A n d r e w , 661 H a r t Condensers, 510 H a r t s h o r n , B . M., 287 H a s k e l l , H a r r y G a r d n e r , 364,582, 600 H a s k e l l , J . A m o r y , 214, 219, 239, 242, 248, 425, 450, 512, 524,576, 615, 660, 862, 882 H a s k e l l , N . J . , 796, 861, 881, 886 H a s k i n g , D e W i t t Clinton, 1051 H a s s e l m e i r , Chris, 842, 843 H a s s i n g e r , W . H . , 556 H a s t e , J . H . , 490 H a s t i n g s , N . Y., 672 H a s t i n g s , S. C., 287 H a t h a w a y , B e n o n i ( G e n . ) , 61 H a t t , J o h n E . , 613

1114 T H E E X P L O S I V E S INDUSTRY H a u c k s , P a . , 157,158 H a u t o , P a . , 694 H a v e r s t r a w , N. Y., 670,671 H a v e r s t r a w T u n n e l , 395 H a v r e - d e - G r a c e , Md., 420 H a w k i n s , H e n r v , 801 H a w l e y , E . W . , 608 H a w l e y , W . E „ 530 H a w t h o r n , N . G., 527 H a y e s , T h o m a s R . , 447 H a z a r d , A . G., & Co., 116 H a z a r d , A u f r u s t u s G . ( C o l . ) , 255256,258,260,262 H a z a r d , H o r a c e H a m i l t o n , 261 H a z a r d P o w d e r Co., 9 9 , 1 1 6 , 1 2 8 , 129,130,159, 200,256-261,307, 519, 529 " H a z a r d S m o k e l e s s , " 262 H a z a r d v i l l e , Conn., 2 5 3 , 2 5 9 , 3 0 6 , 307 H e c l a D y n a m i t e Co., 660 H e c l a P o w d e r Co., 424, 595, 659 H e d b e r g , C a r l , 817 H e i g h t , C. A., 617 H e i m b e r g e r , J o h n , 66 H e i m b e r g e r , T h o m a s , 65,1087 Hell G a t e B l a s t , 625, 660, 661 H e l e n e b o r g , S w e d e n , 320 H e n r y , E d g a r , 530 H e n r y , G . J . , 799,801 H e n s o n , P e t e r , 301 H e r c u l e s , Calif , 2 9 1 , 3 0 7 , 3 0 8 , 505-516,845, 946 H e r c u l e s C l u b , 516 H e r c u l e s M i x e r , ix H e r c u l e s P o w d e r , 332 H e r c u l e s P o w d e r Co., 157,230,252, 262,306, 423, 4 2 9 , 4 3 0 , 4 9 3 , 513, 519, 5 2 0 , 5 2 3 , 5 3 4 , « 3 2 , 6 3 7 , 544, 557, 575, 587, 596,626, 715, 753, 761,802,840,884,887,893,903, 908,915,1092 H e r c u l e s P o w d e r Co. (of C l e v e l a n d , O h i o ) , 518 H e r c u l e s T o r p e d o Co., 401 H e r t z m a n n , C a r l E r i k , 322 Hessville, I n d . , 920 H e t t i n g e r , F . C., 898 H e y w o o d , G e o r g e , 272 H i b b e r t , H a r o l d , 350 H i c k o x . G e o r g e C., 436, 448 H i c k s , W . E . , 937 Higgins, Albion W., 219,251 H i g g i n s , C. A., 7 6 8 , 9 1 3 H i g g i n s , J . J . , 166,168 H i g h E x p l o s i v e s Co., L t d . , 401

H i g h w a y C o n s t r u c t i o n , 1041-1059 H i l l , R . L-, 472 Hill, W a l t e r N. ( P r o f . ) , 366,670, 746, 752, 7 9 0 , 8 0 4 , 9 1 7 , 9 3 3 H i m a l a y a , M. A . B., 923 Hincklev, Henry,392 H i - V e l P o w d e r , 894 H o b b s , C. H . , 680 H o b b s , N a t h a n , 92 Hobbs, Samuel, 92,269 H o b s o n , H . W . , 615 H o f f m a n s v i l l e , Md., 79 H o f m a n n , L o u i s N.. 685 H o l b r o o k , E . A., 350 H o l c o m b , B . T., 237 H o l m e s , F . B., 637 H o l m e s , J o s e p h A u s t i n ( D r . ) , 312, 345,348,350 H o l m e s P a r k , M o , 163 H o l t , G e o r g e C., 544 H o m e P o w d e r Co. of Colo., 400 H o m e P o w d e r Co. of Mo., 608 H o o d , J o h n W i l l i a m ( D r . ) , 61,0,642 H o o d , W i l l i a m , 1098 H o o k e r E l e c t r o - C h e m i c a l Co., 944 H o o p e s , C h a r l e s C., 5 3 4 , 8 4 0 H o o s a c T u n n e l , 9 6 , 3 7 6 , 3 8 4 , 484, 741, 748,1042 H o o v e r , H . C., 158 H o p e w e l l , V a . , 602-604,886-887 H o p k i n s , J e r e m i a h , 49 H o r n e y , O d u s C. ( C o l . ) , 837,838, 912 H o r r e l l , P a . , 310,311,472, 474, 1092 H o r s l e y , J o h n , 331 H o r t o n , N . W . , 625 H o s m e r , H e n r y J . , 272 H o u g h , A r t h u r , 712, 950 H o u g h t o n , W . B., 696, 792, 829 H o w , G e o r g e P., 272 H o w a r d , E d w a r d C h a r l e s , 732 H o w a r d , G e o r g e L., 646 H o w a r d , J o h n L., 652 H o w a r d , J o s i a h , 542, 544,551, 553, 555,556. 630 H o w a r d P l a n t , 909,910 H o w a r d , W i l l i a m C a r r , 523, 612, 613 H o w d e n , J a m e s , 391, 408, 418, 497, 498. 499,1095 H o w d e n , W i l l i a m , 499 H o w e , I s r a e l , 35 H o w e , J a m e s , 232,678 H o w e , M o n t g o m e r y , 678 H o w e P o w d e r Co., 678,1092

INDEX Howell, Daniel, 216 Howell, John Ladd, 65,1088 Howell, S. P., 380 Howson, H., 333 Hoynesite Powder Co., 635 Hoj-t, George A., 219 Huback, Henry, 61 Hubbard, 106 Huber & Co., 420 Huber, Henry, 1087 Hudson River Powder Co., 697 Huff, W. J., 350 Huger, J. H „ 1099 Huhn, Harry, 199 Hull, John, 32 Hulmes, Marcus, 458 Humbolt, Mich., 393 Hume, R. D., 1093 Humphreys, Solon, 219,234 Hungary, 329 Hunt, William C., 527, 531, 534 Hunter, David ( D r . ) , 199 Hunter, George E., 697 Hunter, J. H., 821 Hunter, John, 199 Huntley, George W „ 628,629,633 Huntley, George W., Jr., 633 Hurd, H. J., 921 Hutching«, William S., 243, ¡ ¡ U Hutton, Charles, 21 Hyatt, John Wesley, 775, 785 Hyde, Archibald L., 347 Hyde, William A., 272 Hygh, W. H., 706 Hygrade Powder Co., 629 IGLAUEB, CHARLES, 165

Illinois Powder M f g . Co., 429,630 Illinois Torpedo Co., 401 Imperial Munitions Board, 910 Imperial Powder C o , 636 Improved Military Rifle Powder, 781,884 Independent Non-Freezing Powder Co., 637 Independent Powder Co. (of Ind.), 529 Independent Powder Co. (of Mo.), 165,429,519,540 Independent Powder Co. (of N. J . ) , 595,671 Independent Torpedo C o , 401 Hutchinson, J. S , 490 Indian Head, M d , 795,817,818, 820,821,871 Indian Run, P a , 199

1115

Indiana Mills, 100,101 Indiana Powder C o , 148,149,529 Indurite, 810,877 Infallible, 863, 885,894 Ingle, David, 150 Institute of Makers of Explosives, vii, ix, 1083,1085 International Smokeless Powder & Dynamite C o , 796,816,868,871 International Smokeless Powder & Chemical C o , 873,874,881 Iron Mining, 968-970 Ishpeming, Mich, 537,540, 542, 559,692. Israel, George L , 636 Italy, 329 Ivarson, Torstan, 622 J . B . POWDER, 774

Jackling, D. C , 840 Jackson, Andrew Graham, 496 Jackson, G. F. R „ 156 Jackson, J. Brook, 890 Jackson Laboratory, 591,592 Jackson, Oscar R , 364,571,581,582, 584, 585, 588 Jackson, U. H , 116 Jacobs, Julius, 652 Jacoby, E. J , 158,1091 Jacoby, Lorentz, 84 Jamaica, L. I , 754 James Island, B. C , 297,453, 709, 711 Jamesburg Agreement, 426 Jatnesburg, N. J , 426 Jamison, Joseph, 79 Jeandell, Joseph J , 212 Jefferson Plant, 557 Jefferson Powder C o , 160,163, 429, 542,555 Jellico, Tenn, 1092 Jenkintown, P a , 341 Jensen ( D r . ) , 366,424,440 Jermyn, P a , 243,304,306 Jersey City, N. J , 789 "Jersey Mud," 694 Johnson, Dulle & CuIIen, 102 Johnson & Borland, 774 Johnson, E . F , 840,889,890 Johnson, E. N , 216 Johnson, F. H , 248 Johnson, Frederick, 482 Johnson, Herbert, 924 Johnson, J. B , 558,554 Johnson, Thomas H , 661, 662,672, 698

1116 T H E E X P L O S I V E S Johnston, C. C., 707 Johnstown, Pa., 2X8 J o l l y , J o s e p h , 101 J o n e s , E . B . , 464 Jones, Edward S., 247 J o n e s Falls, Md., 77, 79 Jones, George P., 551, 553, 628, 629, 633 J o n e s , H. R . , 283 J o n e s , J a m e s F., 168 Jones, Thomas, 148 Joplin, Mo., 540, 699 Joplin Powder Co., 573, 597, 699 Joslin, William A., 617 Joveite, 342, 701, 938-940 J o v e i t e Powder Co., 701 J o y c e , F., 735 J o y e s , John W., (Col.), 838 J u d d , Norris A., 504 Judson, Charles G., 684 Judson Dynamite & Powder Co., 427, 442, 449, 681 Judson, E g b e r t P., 331,338, 404, 418, 432, 449, 450, 460, 480, 485, 486, 490, 681 Judson, Henry Clay, 684 Judson Powder, 441, 486, 582, 681 Judson Powder Co., 428, 513, 582, 681-685 Judson & Sheppard Chemical Works, 365, 444, 682 Jules burg, Colo., 391 J u l i a n , Fred, 410, 495,, 610,678, 689 J u p i t e r Powder, 420, 523 KALM, P e i i r , 38 Kalmbach, Charles L., 357 K a m p f , Ferdinand, 435, 438 K a m p f , Louis, 435 Karicher, Samuel, 234 K a r k e l t , J o h n , 550 Kaye, Joseph, 553, 556, 631 Kearns, George T., 541 Kee, R o b e r t M., 73, 74 Keeland, F . L., 128,129,130 Keil, Frederick C.C., 636 Keiper, S. M., 401, 652,695 Kellar, Theodore C., 150, 153, 154 Kellogg, Fordyce Laflin, 141,155, 223, 239, 463 Kellogg, Luther Laflin, 141, 223 Kellogg, W . Va., 142 Kemphiel, F r a n k , 644 Kendrick, George Thomas, 268 Kendrick, Joseph, 268,1084 Kennedy, Charles D. ( L i e u t . ) , 685

INDUSTRY

K e n t , William, 920 Kentucky Mills, 96 Kenvil, N. J . , 409, 481-495,526, 802, 893, 895, 908, 946 Keokuk, Iowa, 201 Kermode, W . A., 165 K e r r , George H., 615 Kessler, A., 675 Kettle, N. G., 506 Keyes, George N., 541, 550 Keyport, N. J . , 867, 868 Keyser, Henry, 73 Keystone National Powder Co , 531, 542, 554 Keystone Powder Mfg. Co., 132, 164, 551, 554, 630 Kico, Ky., 281 Kieselguhr, 328 Kimber Packing Machine, 370, 680 King, Ahimaaz, 272, 275, 276, 279, 280 King, George G., 279,280, 632,1084 King, H . L., 280 King, J . H., 391 King, John ( C a p t . ) , 2 6 0 King, Joseph Warring, 116,144, 266, 272, 275, 278, 280 King Mercantile Co., 155,159 King Powder Co. ( T h e ) , 144, 145, 155,276,279, 789 King, R . A., 280 King, R . E . , 280, 281 King, William, 690 King's Great Western Powder Co., 137, 273, 276 King's Mills, Ohio, 276, 278, 789 " K i n g ' s Semi-Smokeless," 789 Kingsbury, E . P., 247, 248 Kingsland, N. J . , 674 Kingston, N. Y . , 98,116, 232, 674 Kingston, Ont., 394 Kinsolving, E . L., 700 Kirk, Arthur, 689 Kirk, A r t h u r & Sons, 155, 583, 679, 686, 689 Kirk, Arthur & Sons Co., 686 Kirk, D. M., 155 Kiskatom, N. Y., 225, 227 Kittle, J . G., 287 Kittle, N. G., 287, 519 K jelman, Martin, 464 Kline, Henry S., 694 Kloeckner, Daniel, 698 Klotz, Leitz Edmund, 539 Klotz, Robert, Sr., 220, 496, 539 Klotz, R o b e r t L., J r . , 539

INDEX K n a k e , Max Charles, 587 K n a p p , H e n r y A., 216 K n i c k e r b a c k e r , J o h n , 52 K n i f f e n , F r e d e r i c k , 812,817,821 Koehler, A u g u s t , 378,394,624 Koehler, George, 624 Koehler, G u s , 378,394 Koehler, W . I-, 79 Kolb, J . P., 518 Kollock, Lemuel, 46 Kooch, Gottlieb, 650 K r a n t z , A u g u s t , 530 K r e b s S t a t i o n , Pa., 1089 K r ü m m e l , G e r m a n y , 322 K u l k a , J a c o b , 468 K u l k a , Louis, 468 L . & R . SMOKELESS, 8 6 3

L a f f e y , J . P., 524 Laflin, Addison H., 223,226 Iennig, Charles, 784 I>ent, Almon, 170,268,630,1084 I^entz, H . M., 717 I.eonard and Kinsley, 46 I^eonard, Mason E.,*792,859 I^eonard R u b y P o w d e r , 830, 833 L e o n a r d Smokeless P o w d e r Co., 793, 795,832,833,845,859,860 I>eonard, William, 786 I