Chapter 2 of 7 · 3978 words · ~20 min read

Part 2

*=B.=--Poudre B is the French service propellant. It consists of nitrocotton gelatinised with ether-alcohol, in which it is partly soluble. A little diphenylamine is added to increase the stability. Formerly, various other additions have been made. A letter or letters are added to show the size of the powder and the purpose for which it is used--

Poudre BF for rifles (from _f_usil). BNF a later powder for rifles (from _n_ouveau). BC for field guns (from _c_ampagne). BSP for siege howitzers (from _s_iège et _p_lace). BGC for larger military guns (from _g_ros _c_alibre). BM for naval ordnance (from _m_arine); a figure is added to show the size.

Further letters and figures are added to show other particulars about the powder; D_2 means 2 per cent. of diphenylamine has been added as a stabiliser, or AM_8, 8 per cent. of amyl alcohol. The place and date of manufacture are similarly indicated.

=BAELENITE.=--A Belgian mining explosive--

I. II. Ammonium nitrate 85 95 Trinitro-toluene 15 5

Charge limite 0 75

It is authorised for manufacture in, or importation into the United Kingdom.

*=BALLISTITE.=--One of the first military smokeless powders, invented by Nobel. It consisted of about equal parts of nitroglycerine and soluble nitrocotton incorporated together under water, then passed repeatedly through rolls and cut into flakes. It was adopted by a number of Continental powers, but in consequence of the severe erosion of the guns which it caused, it has been modified or abandoned. The percentage of nitroglycerine is reduced, and consequently it is necessary to use a solvent such as acetone. A little mineral jelly or other stabiliser is sometimes added.

=BARATOL.=--A mixture of barium nitrate and trinitro-toluene.

=BARBARIT.=--A German chlorate explosive made at the Sprengstoff-fabriken Kriewald bei Gleinitz.

Potassium chlorate 90-92 High-boiling petroleum 8-10

The petroleum has a flash point not below 105° C., and commences to boil not below 242°.

Gelatine-Barbarit has the composition--

Potassium chlorate 80 Trinitro-toluene 10 Liquid mono- and dinitro-toluenes gelatinised } with 5 per cent. collodion cotton } 10

=BARKING POWDER.=--A mixture of ammonium perchlorate and nitrated naphthalene, formerly used in coal mines.

=BAUTZENER SICHERHEITSPULVER.=--A German coal-mine explosive containing not less than 70 per cent. of ammonium nitrate, barium nitrate, and not more than 15 per cent. of trinitro-toluene.

=BAVARIT.=--A German coal-mine explosive similar to Grisounite. It contains 90 per cent. of ammonium nitrate together with nitrated naphthalene; charcoal may be added.

=BELLITE= is essentially a mixture of ammonium nitrate and metadinitro-benzene. It has been used extensively as a coal-mine explosive, and was patented by C. Lamm of Stockholm in 1885. Two varieties passed the Woolwich Test and were on the old Permitted List--

No. 1. No. 3. Ammonium nitrate 83·5 93·5 Dinitro-benzene 16·5 6·5

No. 1 contains just enough oxygen for complete combustion, and No. 3 contains a large excess of oxygen. To enable the explosive to pass the Rotherham Test sodium chloride has been added. There were four varieties on the present Permitted List, but all except the following, No. 1, have been repealed--

No. 1. _Date of Permit_ 3-2-16 Ammonium nitrate 63·5 Dinitro-benzene 15 Sodium chloride 16·5 Starch 5

Limit charge 20 Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·74

=BENTAL COAL POWDER.=--An American coal-mine explosive on the Permissible List. It is an ammonium nitrate explosive.

=BITUMINITE.=--There are several coal-mine explosives of this name on the American Permissible List. Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 8 L.F. are nitroglycerine explosives. No. 5 is an ammonium nitrate explosive.

=BLACK DIAMOND.=--There are several coal-mine explosives of this name on the American Permissible List. Nos. 2A, 3A and 6 L.F. are nitroglycerine explosives, whereas Nos. 5, 7 and 8 are ammonium nitrate explosives.

=BLACK POWDER= is a name for ordinary gunpowder, a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal.

=BLASTINE= is a high explosive having approximately the composition--

Ammonium perchlorate 60 Sodium nitrate 23 Dinitro-toluene 11 Paraffin wax 6

As the sodium nitrate in the above is not equivalent to the ammonium perchlorate, part of the chlorine is given off in the form of the poisonous gas, hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid).

=BLASTING GELATINE.=--Nitroglycerine, stiffened by having collodion cotton dissolved in it. Discovered by Nobel in 1875. It contains about--

Nitroglycerine 93 Collodion cotton 7

and also often a fraction of a percentage of calcium or magnesium carbonate to increase its stability. This is the most powerful of all the explosives in common use.

=BOBBINITE.=--The only explosive of the gunpowder class the use of which is permitted in coal mines in England. In most foreign countries explosives of this class are not allowed to be used in them at all. The permission is only temporary, but has been extended to the end of 1920, and is restricted to mines that are not gassy or dangerous from coal dust. There are two definitions, but the second is the one that is generally manufactured apparently--

First. Second. Potassium nitrate 63·5 65 Charcoal 18·5 20 Sulphur 2 2 Sulphates of ammonium and copper 15 -- Rice or maize starch -- 9 Paraffin wax -- 3 Moisture 1 1

More than a million pounds of this explosive are used in coal mines every year. It shatters the coal less than high explosives do.

=BOMLIT.=--A German potassium perchlorate blasting explosive made by Wolff et Cie. at Walsrode. It contains also ammonium nitrate, trinitro-toluene and guncotton. Other ingredients that may be present are potassium and sodium nitrates, starch meal, vaseline, naphthalene and other hydrocarbons, charcoal and castor oil.

=BRITONITE.=--A coal-mine explosive of the Carbonite type, made by the British Explosives Syndicate, Ltd., Pitsea. The original composition passed the Woolwich Test and was on the list of Permitted Explosives, but on the introduction of the Rotherham Test it became necessary to add ammonium oxalate or sodium chloride. Nos. 2 and 3 were on the Permitted List, but have now been repealed.

No. 2. No. 3. _Date of Permit_ 1-9-13 28-1-15 Nitroglycerine 26 24 24·5 Sodium nitrate -- -- 28 Potassium nitrate 32·7 30 -- Wood meal 41 38 35·5 Sodium carbonate 0·3 -- -- Ammonium oxalate -- 8 -- Sodium chloride -- -- 12

Limit charge -- 24 24 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) -- 2·26 2·17”

=BROWN POWDER.= See =COCOA POWDER=.

=BRUGÈRE’S POWDER= consisted of--

Ammonium picrate 54 Potassium nitrate 46

It was stated to give good results in the Chassepôt rifle, but picrate mixtures are liable to detonate, and are therefore dangerous to use as propellants.

=BULL DOG= Gunpowder Pellets were used in coal mines. They contained the same constituents as Bobbinite, which superseded them, but in different proportions.

Explosifs =C= were mixtures of ammonium cresylate with ammonium or sodium nitrate. They were made in France at one time, but their manufacture was dropped, as they were more expensive to make than Grisounite, and no more powerful.

=CAHUECIT.=--This was invented in the ’seventies of the last century by R. Cahuc, and was manufactured at Dartford in Kent under the name of Safety Blasting Powder or Carboazotine. It is still made in Germany. The ingredients are--

English. German. Potassium nitrate 64 70 Sulphur flowers 12 12 Lampblack or soot 7 8 Bark or wood pulp 17 10

to which are added a few per cent. of sulphate of iron. The incorporation is carried out with the assistance of a considerable quantity of water, which is afterwards evaporated off. The mixing is not very thorough. The explosive is a comparatively mild one, but is used sometimes for blasting basalt. In the German explosive the potassium nitrate may be replaced by the corresponding sodium salt.

=AMMONCAHUECIT.=--In this explosive the potassium nitrate is replaced mainly or wholly by ammonium nitrate, and it contains not more than 15 per cent. of trinitro-toluene or trinitro-naphthalene or other nitro-body.

The brand labelled “Fram” contains ammonium nitrate, not more than 25 per cent. of trinitro-toluene gelatinised with 4 per cent. collodion cotton, wood meal or other vegetable meal and neutral stable salts. The brand “Indra” is similar, except that it contains also not more than 10 per cent. potassium nitrate, and the percentage of trinitro-toluene may be raised to 20.

=CAMBRITE= is a coal-mine explosive of the Carbonite type made by Nobels at Ardeer. It consists practically of Nobel Carbonite, to which 8 per cent. of a cooling agent has been added. Unlike most of the explosives on the old Permitted List, it passed the Rotherham Test with practically no alteration--

Cambrite. No. 2. _Date of Permit_ 1-9-13 1-4-15

Nitroglycerine 23 23 Barium nitrate 4 4 Potassium nitrate 27·5 27·5 Wood meal 37·2 37 Calcium carbonate 0·3 0·5 Ammonium oxalate 8 -- Potassium chloride -- 8

Limit charge 30 24 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 1·98 2·00”

Only No. 2 is now on the Permitted List.

=CAMERON MINE POWDER.=--There are a number of coal-mine explosives of this name on the American Permissible List. Nos. 1A, 2A and 2A LF are ammonium nitrate explosives, whereas Nos. 3A and 5A are nitroglycerine explosives.

=*CANNONITE= was a smokeless powder made by a firm called the War and Sporting Smokeless Powder Syndicate, Ltd. It consisted of about 86 per cent. of nitrocellulose mostly insoluble in ether-alcohol, and a few per cent. of barium nitrate, together with small quantities of some of the following: potassium nitrate, charcoal, lampblack, vaseline, rosin, stearine, dinitro-benzene, trinitro-toluene, potassium ferro-cyanide, graphite. For shot-guns the powder was of the forty-two grain type, dense and gelatinised. The rifle powder was colloidal. These powders were made in the ’nineties of the last century.

=CARBITE D’ABLON= is a sort of Carbonite made in France--

Nitroglycerine 26 Potassium nitrate 33 Wood meal or flour 41

=CARBOAZOTINE.= See =CAHUECIT=.

=CARBO-DYNAMITE= was an explosive patented by W. D. Borland. It differed from ordinary dynamite in that the nitroglycerine was absorbed in cork charcoal instead of kieselguhr. One part of the charcoal sufficed to absorb nine parts of nitroglycerine.

=CARBONITE= (or Karbonit) was one of the earliest and one of the most successful coal-mine explosives. It was first made by Bichel and Schmidt at Schlebusch in Germany in 1885, and after some modifications gave satisfactory results at the Neunkirchen testing station in 1887. It contains about 26 per cent. of nitroglycerine, 33 per cent. of a nitrate, and 40 per cent. of wood meal or starch flour, and small quantities of other substances. Nobel Carbonite passed the Woolwich Test and had the composition--

Nitroglycerine 26 Barium nitrate 4 Potassium nitrate 29 Wood meal 40·5 “Sulphuretted benzol” 0·25 Sodium and calcium carbonates 0·25

The Carbonite made at the works of the Carbonite Syndicate at Schlebusch, and imported into Great Britain, was practically the same as this, but they also made another explosive which passed the Woolwich Test, and contained 35 per cent. of nitroglycerine gelatinised with nitrocotton, and smaller proportions of nitrates and wood meal than are given above: this was called Extra-Carbonite. They have also made explosives to numerous modifications of this formula for use on the Continent. The essential feature of all of them is that they contain so much of the combustible constituents, such as wood meal, that most of the carbon appears in the products of explosion as carbon monoxide, and the temperature of the gases is consequently low.

Nobels at Ardeer also made a low freezing explosive in which part of the nitroglycerine was replaced by a nitro-compound. This was called Arctic Carbonite--

Nitroglycerine 15·5 Nitro-hydrocarbon 10·5 Potassium nitrate 42 Wood meal 31·7 Calcium carbonate 0·3

Various manufacturers have made explosives of the type of Carbonite and placed them on the market under different names, such as Tutol, Kolax, Kohlen-Carbonite, Minite and Colinite. These, however, do not pass the Rotherham Test for Permitted Explosives, unless ammonium oxalate or other cooling agent be added, as in the case of Cambrite, Super-Kolax and Britonite No. 2.

On the Continent, explosives similar to Arctic Carbonite have been produced under the names Antigel de Sûreté and Ingélite.

There are several Carbonites on the American Permissible List. Of these Nos. 1 to 4 are in order of diminishing violence: Nos. 5 and 6 are low freezing varieties. There are also a number of other explosives of the Carbonite type on the List.

Ammonkarbonit is a German coal-mine explosive, containing about 80 per cent. of ammonium nitrate and 4 per cent. of blasting gelatine, together with 5 or 10 per cent. of potassium nitrate, and a combustible such as flour, starch or coal dust. Sodium or potassium chloride may be added as a cooling agent. It has been used for blasting clay.

Gelatine-Karbonit is a Carbonite containing ammonium nitrate, and a considerable proportion of nitroglycerine gelatinised with collodion cotton.

Halokarbonit is similar to Ammonkarbonit, except that a considerable proportion of the ammonium nitrate is replaced by other nitrates.

=CARLSONITE= was the first ammonium perchlorate explosive submitted to H.M. Inspectors of Explosives. It was proposed in 1898 by Carlson of Stockholm, and some of the mixtures were reported on favourably, but no licence was ever taken out in the United Kingdom for this explosive.

=C.E.= (Composition Exploding) is the same as Tetryl.

=CELTITE= was a coal-mine explosive made by Dr. R. Nahnsen & Co., Hamburg, and formerly permitted for use in British coal mines, having passed the Woolwich Test.

Nitroglycerine 57 Nitrocotton 3 Potassium nitrate 19 Wood meal 9 Ammonium oxalate 12

It was also called Zeltit.

=*CENTRALITE= is not an explosive, but is a name given to a substance which has been used to modify the surface of smokeless powder, and make it burn progressively. The substance is dimethyl-diphenyl-urea. (See Brit. Pat. 29,882 of 1909.) It acts also as a stabiliser.

=CHEDDITE= is a chlorate explosive which has been rendered less sensitive by having the particles of chlorate coated with castor oil or paraffin wax. It is manufactured by the French Government at the Vonges Powder Works, and has also been made in other countries. The two types that have been most used in France are--

O2 or No. 4. O5 or No. 1. Potassium chlorate 79 -- Sodium chlorate -- 79 Castor oil 5 5 Mononitro-naphthalene 1 -- Dinitro-toluene 15 16

=*CHEESA STICKS= are sticks of cordite coated with powdered ammonium oxalate and shellac. They are used in South Africa as fuses for blasting charges. They are authorised in England only for manufacture and immediate export.

=*CHILWORTH SMOKELESS POWDER.= See =C.S.P.=

=*CHILWORTH SPECIAL POWDER.= See =AMIDE POWDER=.

=CHLORATIT= is an Austrian explosive, which was permitted for use in coal mines during the War.

=CHLORATZIT.=--A German explosive containing potassium chlorate or perchlorate, aromatic nitro-bodies, resins and carbohydrates. For use in coal mines neutral salts are added as cooling agents, and the name then has =WETTER= or =KOHLEN= prefixed to it.

=CHROMAMONIT= was a coal-mine explosive formerly made in Germany--

Ammonium nitrate 63·25 Potassium nitrate 17·5 Collodion cotton 9·25 Chromium ammonium alum 9·5 Vaseline 0·5

=*CLERMONITE.=--A Belgian shot-gun powder made by the Cooppal Co. It is a 40-grain fibrous powder of the bulk type and coloured green.

=CLIFFITE= was a coal-mine explosive made by Curtis’s and Harvey, and formerly on the Permitted List--

Nitroglycerine 47 Collodion cotton 3 Starch 50

=SUPER-CLIFFITE= differs considerably from this. There are two formulæ which have passed the Rotherham Test, but only No. 2 is still on the Permitted List--

No. 1. No. 2. _Date of Permit_ 21-9-16 21-9-16

Nitroglycerine 9·5 9·5 Collodion cotton 0·5 0·5 Ammonium nitrate 59 59·5 Wood meal 6 6 Sodium chloride 15 19·5 Ammonium oxalate 10 5

Limit charge 26 30 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·53 2·53”

=CLYDITE= was a coal-mine explosive formerly made by Nobels at Ardeer. It was similar to Nobel Carbonite, but the potassium nitrate was replaced by the barium salt, and it might contain up to 8 per cent. of ammonium oxalate.

=COALITE.=--There is a series of coal-mine explosives of this name on the American Permissible List. Varieties X, 3X, and 3XC are ammonium nitrate explosives; whereas 1, 2D, 2DL and 2MLF are nitroglycerine explosives.

=COAL SPECIAL= are American coal-mine explosives on the Permissible List. They are all nitroglycerine explosives.

=COCOA POWDER= or Brown Powder was a variety of gunpowder made with a brown charcoal prepared from straw--

Potassium nitrate 79 Sulphur 3 Straw charcoal 18

It was compressed to a density of 1·8 into prisms or grains of considerable size, and was used in guns of large calibre. E.X.E. and S.B.C. were special varieties of this.

=COLINIT ANTIGRISOUTEUSE.=--A Belgian coal-mine explosive of the Carbonite type. The ordinary formula is practically the same as that of Kohlencarbonite and Minerite. Type B consists of--

Blasting gelatine 26 Potassium perchlorate 6 Ammonium nitrate 20 Trinitro-toluene 12 Rye flour and cellulose 29 Magnesium sulphate 7

=COLLIER POWDER.=--There are a number of coal-mine explosives of this name on the American Permissible List. Varieties BNF, KN, X, XLF, 5, 5LF, 5 Special, 9, 11, and 11LF are ammonium nitrate explosives whereas 2 and 6LF are nitroglycerine explosives.

=COLLODION COTTON= is a variety of nitrocotton of low nitration, almost completely soluble in a mixture of ether and alcohol. It contains not more than 12·3 per cent. of nitrogen. It also dissolves in nitroglycerine and liquid nitro-compounds, rendering them gelatinous and so preventing their exudation.

=*COOPPAL’S POWDER.=--A Belgian smokeless shot-gun powder. Formerly it was much the same as Schultze Powder, consisting of nitrolignin carefully purified, and mixed with nitrates with or without the addition of starch. The following analyses were published in “Arms and Explosives” for July 1917--

No. 1. No. 2. 1892. 1900. Fibrous Gelatinised 42-grain 30-grain bulk. dense.

Nitrocellulose, insoluble 13·0 71·1 ” soluble 60·5 20·1 Metallic nitrates 21·3 2·0 Shellac 3·2 -- Nitro-hydrocarbons -- 5·5 Moisture 2·0 1·3

=CORDITE= is the principal smokeless powder of the British Services. It was originally adopted in 1888, and is made by mixing nitroglycerine with guncotton and mineral jelly (a sort of crude vaseline), and incorporating them together with the aid of acetone, which gelatinises the guncotton. In consequence of the severe erosion of the guns experienced during the South African War the proportions were altered, some of the nitroglycerine being replaced by guncotton. The propellant thus “modified” is called Cordite M.D., whereas that of the original composition is Cordite Mk.I. Both are still in use, especially M.D.--

Mk. I. M.D.

Guncotton 37 65 Nitroglycerine 58 30 Mineral jelly 5 5

During the great European War a further variety was introduced to extend the basis of supply of solvents. This is called Cordite R.D.B. (Research Department B), and contains a nitrocotton of comparatively low nitration that can be gelatinised by means of a mixture of ether and alcohol--

Nitrocotton 52 Nitroglycerine 42 Mineral jelly 6

It is designed to give about the same ballistics as Cordite M.D. A further letter is sometimes added to show the form of the powder. Thus Cordite M.D.T. is M.D. pressed into tubes; S. stands for strip. The size is indicated by a numeral, which shows the diameter in hundredths of an inch of the die through which it has been pressed. In the case of tubular powder both the external and internal diameters are given approximately: _e. g._ Cordite M.D.T. 5-2.

Poudre blanche =CORNIL=.--A Belgian coal-mine explosive containing ammonium nitrate, potassium or sodium nitrate, dinitro-naphthalene and lead chromate, with or without the addition of ammonium chloride.

=CORNISH POWDER.=--A coal-mine explosive which passed the Woolwich Test and was formerly on the Permitted List, made by the National Explosives Co., Ltd.--

Nitroglycerine 55 Nitrocotton 3 Potassium nitrate 18 Wood meal 7 Magnesium sulphate 17

=CORONITE= was a coal-mine explosive of the Carbonite type, which was on the Permitted List at one time. It had also been called Permittite.

Picric acid has been called by this name in Sweden.