Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/425

* EXPLOSIVES. 377 EXPLOSIVES. guncutton, in many forms, pressed and mixed with other substances, but with resulting high pressures and detonations, until, about lssi. dis solved guncotton gave after evapo- ra1 ion of the sol- v e n I a li O r n y in ass, w li i C h burned regularly without detona- tion. Similar treatment of com- binations of gun- cotton and nitro- glycerin gave sim- ilar results. It bad been known that these explo- BROWN OR COCOA POWDER. Hexagonal pierced prism grain. sives gave no smoke, their products being gas- eous, hut it was the desire for more power which brought them into use. The French quick- ly recognized the value of smokelessness as well as of power, and soon extended the use of the only. For some years experiments in firing re- cent improved high explosives from common guns have been in progress. Lyddite (used by the English), melinite (used by the French since L887), thorite, joveite, etc., have been tried by the United States, but none with complete satis faction. Special shells have been devised with nu- merous separated compartments. The intent was to keep the charge from explosion from the shock pro- duced by the setting down of a long column of A B SMOKELESS POWDER. Pierced cylinder grains for large guns. A— Original grain. B— Partly burned grain. 'poudre B' of this class to all their cannon. The Germans used 'Wetteren,' and later 'ballistite.' The English later adopted cordite. Of these four powders the first two are of nitrocellulose (guncotton) and the others of this and nitroglycerin. In the United States it was not until well into the nineties that smoke- less powders were adopted; for. although their advan- tages were recognized and many kinds experimented with, a later and more ad- vanced stage of development Hexagonal prism with was awaited. The navy one hole. Partly burned adopted smokeless powder earlier than did the army. ta^form.) S ''°"' S °"*' Nitrocellulose powders are most generally used in the I nited States. The forms of grain are many — long cords, spaghetti-like tubes, thin flakes, cubes, pierced prisms (generally for large guns), and others. I mil very recently the bursting charges of shell consisted of a fine-grain olaek powder. Seek- ing a more destructive effect, experiments were made in Germany and in Italy between 1880 and 1890 with shell loaded with guncotton and other high explosives fired from common guns. These trials met with partial success, but the solution at that time seemed to lie in the pneumatic gun. which could throw projectiles carrying 500 pounds of high explosives instead of a few pounds SMOKELESS POWDER. A B CORDITE. A — Original grains. B — Partly burned grains. (The illustrations are approximately two-thirds aetu&i size of grains). powder upon discharge, without interfering with complete detonation upon impact. The Gathman system, of which much was at one time heard, com- prised a large shell carrying wet and dry guncot- ton carefully packed and fired with a special fuse. The charge was expected to explode against the side of a vessel, with such force as to burst in ber armored sides. Tests made in 1901-02, how- ever, failed to demonstrate the success of the system, and it was officially decided to discon- tinue further experiments. Meanwhile, however. two explosives, maximite (Hudson Maxim's) and explosive D (proposed by Captain Dunn. Ord- nance Department. United States Army), had been developed which could be fired safely in armor-piercing projectiles through an 11%-inch plate of best modern Krupp face-hardened armor and detonated on the inside with most destructive effect by a delay-action fuse.