US1386439A - Method of treating undried organic nitrates and the like - Google Patents

Description

UNITED sTAras' TENT cer cal WALTER OLSNELLINGQOF Annnnrown, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIenon rot'rnoaiin POWDER CQMZBANY, on NEW xonx, n. Y., A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

METHOD OF TREATING UNDRIED ORGANIC nr'rnarns AND THE LIKE. 1

No Drawing, Application filed March 16, 1920," Serial No. 366,390. Renewed January 21,1921. r-Serial No. 439,054. a

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, WALTER O.- SNnLmNe, a citizen of the United States, and resldent of Allentown, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, 7

5 have invented certain Improvements inthe Method of Treating Undried Organic Nitrates and the like, of which the following is a specification." w V 'My invention relates to the manufacture v10 of explosives and similar materials which,

owing .to the manufacturing processes employed, are obtained in wet condition, and the object of the invention is to provide a method for reducing the water content of such materials without drying. .While my invention may be utilized in the manufacture of a number of materials, I have found it particularly useful as applied to the manufacture of explosives, and for purposes of specific illustration will describe it in connection with such manufacture.

In the manufacture of nitrocellulose, nitrostarchrand other solid organic nitrates, said materials, following the nitration and washing processes, are in wet condition, and it has hitherto been the practice to dry them before mixing with other ingredients toproduce commercial or military explosives.

Even where it has been desired .to produce a wet finished explosive, the preliminary:

drying process has been deemed necessary because of the undue amount of water'present with the organic nitrate following the washing process. While it is manifestly desirable to avoid the drying operation-by utilizing the nitrostarch or nitrocellulose in wet condition, as inthis way an important item of expense and danger is avoided, experiments have shown that explosives of '40 proper sensitiveness cannot be made by the mere mixing of salts with undried nitro starch or nitrocellulose. For example, ni-

trostarch after coming from the centrifuge andhaving its water content reduced there- 7 '45 in tothe lowest obtainable amount, still contains an average of about 20% of moisture. If now such wet nitrostarch is mixed in equal parts with nitrate of'soda or with nitrate of ammonia the completed mix will still contain 10% of moisture, and this is higher than the amount which such a mix' can contain and still detonate 'with such detonating caps as are commercially used. It is true that by using a smaller amount'of the wet .nitrosta r ch, and a greater amount of the nitrate, mixtures having a lower wa- Patented A g. 2 1921.

ter content can be obtained. One part of wet nitrostarch may for example be mixed w1tl1' three parts of sodium nitrate, and-in this case if the initial nitrostarch contained 20% of water the final mix will'contain but 5% of water. Such a mix is, however, quite as insensitive as the mixture'previously described, and which contained 10% of water, for the reason that the amount of nitrostarch has bee-n reducedvin proportion" as the waterhas been reduced, thefirst mix-V ture containing 40% of nitrostarch on a dry an explosive susceptible to detonation with,

the No. 6 or No- 7 detonators commonly used incommercial work.

I have discovered an inexpensive and convenient method by which sensitive explosives may be obtained from organic nitrates without recourse to thenormal drying op-,

eration. As an example of my invention, I will describe the method by which I make basis, and 10% of water, and the second mixa g a nitrostarch explosive from nitrostarch icontaining 25% of water.

'I first prepare a concentrated solution ammonium nitrate and water, preferably usmg a solution contalnlng about 65% of dissolved ammoniumnitrate. I thoroughly mix my wet nltrostarch with such a solution, either bv mixing the wet nitrostarch with the solution and then applying ce'ntrifugal force to remove the excess, or by,

an operation ofdisplacement. In any case I substitute a solution of ammonium nitrate for the water which is normally present in the wet material.

As the result of this firststage of mypro-,

cedure, I obtain instead of nitrostarch wet l with 25% of'water. nitrostarch which contains 25% of a concentrated solution of ammonium nitrate. present in the nitrostarch tends to dilute my original ammonium nitrate solution, in or As the'water originally V ammonium nitrate, and my nitrostarch con-v dinary procedure I obtain an absorbed solution containing about 50% by we1ght of after moderate wringing.

If I now mix equal weights of the nltrostarch so prepared with ammonium nitrate,

tains about 25% by weight of this solution,

I obtain a mixturewhich contains 87.5% of nitrostarch, 56257 of ammonium nitrate,

and 6.25% of water. This mixture is sensitive to commercial detonators, and forms a highly desirableexplosiver I mayemploy 70% of my wet nitrostarch and 30% of ammonium nitrate, and in this case my finished explosive contains 52.5%- of mtrostarch,

38.7 5% of ammonium nitrate, and 8.7 5% of water, this explosive also being sensitive to a commercial detonating cap.

Through treatment as described, my ammo-' nium nitrate solution becomes diluted through the water taken up from the nitrostarch, and becomes impoverished through the giving up to the nitrostarc'h of part of its dissolvedammonium nitrate. Accordingly I may from time to time add more ammonium' nitrate,

and I may if necessary remove portions of the liquid from time to time and concentrate same. Preferably I so adjust the moisture in my nitrated product that the amount of dis solved inorganic nitrate taken up by the nitrostarch or the nitrocellulose balances as nearly as possible the amount of Water given up to the bath. I

From theforegoing illustration it will be seen that while the liquid content of the explosive material is not reduced, the water content has beenreduced, a portion of the latter being replaced by. an ingredient hav ing a function in the finishing explosive. Obviously other inorganic oxidizing salts having a high solubility in water may be substituted for ammonium nitrate, such, forexample, as calcium nitrate, or. ammonium or sodium chlorate or perchlorate. In the manufacture of some explosives, or other material, the displacing solution need not necessarily be that of a salt performing any function in the finished product other than the displacing function the method in its broader aspect contemplating the reduction of the water or other liquid content of a wet material by replacement by a concentrated solution of an inorganic salt. V

The solid salt which is admixed with the wet organic nitrate prepared as described in organic nitrate.

originally present.in ;undr1ed nitrated starch thisapplication may or may not be the same material of which a solution is used for displacing the .water originally present in the For example, the water may be displaced by means of a concentrated solution of; ammonium nitrate, and the wet nitrostarch so prepared may then be mixed with dry ammonium nitrate or the nitrated starch prepared as described may be mixed with dry sodium nitrate, or with dry ammonium perchlorate'or with any other suitable dry salt or mixture of dry salts. Instead of a solution of ammonium nitrate or other inorganic salt I mayuse a concentrated solution of any solid body havinghigh solubility inwater. v

Iclaim:

1. The method of treating .wet materials to reduce the water content withoutdrying which comprises the step of replacing a portion of said Water by a concentrated solution of a solid body having high solubility in water. V

2. In the method of manufacturing explosives and the like containing asolid organic nitrate, the stepwhich comprises displacing water present in theundried organic nitrate by a concentratedsolution of 1 an inorganic nitrate.

3. Themethod of manufacturing Wet explosives containing an organic nitrate and an inorganic salt which comprises the step of displacing water originally associated with said organic nitrate by a solutionlof said inorganic salt. i

V 4. The processof making a wet explosive WALrE o. SNELLING.