US456508A - Alfred nobel - Google Patents

Description

OR 456.50? E UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED NOBEL, or PARIS, FRANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 456,508, dated Ju1y 21, 1891.

Application filed March 22,1889. SerialNo. 304,348. (No specimens.) Patented in France November 28, l887, No. 185,179: in Belgium January 27, 1888, No. 80,419; in England January 31, 1888, No. 1,471, and in Italy February 6, 1888, No. 22,994.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that .I, ALFRED NOBEL, of 53 Avenue Malakoff, Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented an Improved Celluloidal Explosive and Process of Making the Same, (for which I have obtained patents in Great Britain, dated January 31, 1888,- No. 1,471; in France, dated November 28, 1887, No. 185,179; in Italy, dated February 6,1888, No. 22,994, and in Belgium, dated January 27, 1888, No. 80,419,) of which the following is a specification. T

It is well known that the gelatinous compound commonly called blasting-gelatine, and for which I obtained Letters Patent, dated April 4, 1876, No. 175,735, is composed of nitro-glycerine and soluble nitro-ce llulose, the proportions adopted in practical use being from five to. seven parts, by weight, of the nitrocellulose to from ninety-three to ninetyseven parts of nitro-glycerine, to which is added a small portion of nitro-benzole or analogous matter when it is desirable to make said jelly less sensitive to concussion or'percussion. This gelatinous compoundfwhich, from possessing an eminently detonative character, has been extensively used fo'rbiasting rock, proved altogether too violent in its action for use as a propeller for projectiles.

Now the object of the present invention is so to modify the explosive character of this compound as to produce from the same materials an essentially new article of manufacture possessing the progressive explosiveness needed for propelling projectiles. This I effeet by employing a process whereby I am enable *to incorporate with nitro-glycerine a quantity of soluble nitrated cellulose ten to twenty times greater than that which is contained in the aforesaid blasting-gelatine, and thereby to produce a substance which in its physical aspect as well as in its intrinsic explosive properties difiers widely from the said blasting-gelatine, inasmuch as through the horny or celluloidal character which it assumes it is capable of being reduced to socalled grains akin to those of granulated gunpowder.

I will now proceed to describe-the manufacture and mode of using the celluloidal explosive which forms the subject of the present invention.

I dissolve in one hundred parts, by weight, 0 it'ro-gl *0 me, say, ten to fifteen parts, by weight, of cam her, and I add thereto, sa fifty to one lfififii' 'e'd'parts, by weight, of be izole as a diluent. To this mixture I a say, one hundred parts, by weight, of dried pulped carded soluble nitrated.

consistence of a somewhat soft celluloid. It

is then ready to be rolled out into sheets of any required thickness. The sheets thus obtained I convert into so-called grains by cutting them up'into cubes or small pieces of any desired shape, which reduction serves the same purpose as the process of granulation serves for gunpowder.

The addition of benzole, for which may be substituted any other volatile substance ha'ving the same property of mixing with nitro glycerince and rendering nitro-cellulose in? soluble therein, serves no other purpose thanf to faciliate by such insolubility the equal ab}. sorption and distribution'of the aforesaid? liquid into the fibers of the nitrocellulose; 7 -As soon as the said benzole has been evaporated the intro-cellulose 'Tbegins' to dissolve,

and when dissolved the compound is sub jected to the. treatment already described;

The proportions of the ingredients above given are by no means absolute, but can be varied in a wide measure. variation will be determined by the facility or resistance which the compound oflers to the operation of reducing it to grainsjor small pieces. Thus if the aforesaid celluloidal substance contains more than two parts of nitroglyceriue to one'part of hitro-cellulose it be comes almost too soft for a substance which has to be used in the form of grains or small cubes, and if, on the other hand, it contains as little as one part of nitro-glycerine to two 55 parts of nitro-cellulose the celluloid obtained is more stifi and hard than neededand is less easy to manufacture than such celluloid containing no more than half its weight of 'nitro-cellulose.

When ,the'aforesaid celluloidal substance is made to contain more than half its weight K of dissolved nitrated cotton fiber, its formation in manner heretofore describedbecomes somewhat troublesome, in so far as it ret quires a prolonged malaxation between steamheated rollers or similar treatment. I prefer in such case to substitute for the aforesaid benz'ole a volatile substance, such as ace- 1 tate of amyl 01' of ethyl or acetone, wherein i 0 the nitro-cellulose is soluble, and wherewith the nitro-glycerine is miscible, and I add ,of

such solvent the quantity needed for complete incorporation of the aforesaid ingredients. The proportion depends on the solv- 25, ents volatility and the temperature at which the malaxation is effected; but there is no mistaking, in practice, the proportion needed, xsince sufficientlof thesolvent must. .beladded to obtain a translucent celluloidal substance.

3 mdreoverhfor practical use the proportions gabove given of equal parts of nitrocellulose .Yfand 'nitro-glycerine plus camphor give an excellent result, so that the addition herein referred to of an excess of nitro-cellulose,

. necessitating an extra addition of solvents,

i lisfwill'beresorted to only in exceptional cases.

Of course the nitrated ingredients used-- viz., nitro-glycerine and nitro-cellulose-are be be carefully deprived of adhering acids by -1 4o methods of washing, which need not be speci'ally described, sinc they are generally used fall dynamite and un-cotton factories.

r with ordinary elluloid, so with the ex- P1 81876. celluloid herein described solid powsubstances may be kneaded in by malaxation between steam-heated rollers or otherwise. Thus said explosive celluloid may be mixedwith pulverulent explosives, such afs'ili itrated starch, nitrated dextrine, mealed gunpowder, or pier-ates; but it may also be ixed, and this is of importance with powred'oxidizers, such as nitrates or chlorates,

f0 thle purpose of 'furnishing'the. oxygen wanting for'complete combustion and with a 55 View to reduce the cost price of the explosive TceIluIoid aforesaid.

i Thecelluloidalexplosiveheretofore named,

l-,'- composed of 'one hundred parts of nitroglyceriue, one hundredparts' ofnitro-cellu- 6 vl g fand fifteen parts of camphor, contains approximately the oxygen needed to convert,

b y exp losive combustion, all its constituent i lhydrogen into water vapor and. all its carbon into carbonic oxide; but in order to obtain complete combustion and thereby convert said carbonic oxide into carbonic acid it would be necessary to incorporate with each one hundred parts of theaforesaid compound about eighty-two parts ofcnitrate or chlorate of potash, or sixty-nine parts oi pitratc of soda, or one hundred parts of nip-ate of baryta, or one hundred and sixty thi'ee parts of m'tra te of ammonia, or ninety-six parts of perchlorate ammonia.

ear'ing mimnt that one part of hydrogen requires for its combustion eight parts of available oxygen and that each six parts of carbon require for transformation into carhonic oxide eight parts and for forming carbonic acid sixteen parts of available oxygen, it is easy by aid of chemical formulas to calculate the proportions of oxidizing nitrates or chlorates suitable for each particular case, it being understood that the quantity of oxidizers added should not exceed that needed for complete combustion. Of course, also, the

quantity of powdered oxidizers which can be added is limited by the capability of easypractical incorporation by means of malaxation. The more n1tro-glycerine and the less nitro-cellulose it contains the more soft and plastic the aforesaid explosive celluloid becomes, especially when heated, and the greater will be the proportion of powdered substances:

IOO

tion of cam phor or analogous inexplosive solvent .reduces the amount of carbon and hy drogen contained in the said explosive cellu- 'IIo loid, so that if oxidizing nitrates or chlorates be incorporated or mixed with the same their quantity should be proportionately reduced.-

The explosive celluloid herein described can also be used for blasting rock, inwhich V I case the so-called grains may be compressed in similar manner as now practiced for gunpowder, so as to form cylinders or pellets suited for miners use. Such compression may;

either be efiected at a temperature (60 to centigrade) at which the material becomes sticky or at the ordinary temperature by slightly moistening the grains witha solvent, 7

such as acetone or an acetic ether. Of course the grains should not be so much compressed as to leave no air-space, upon which the quick spreading of the flame depends. The aforesaidpowder can be fired Without a detona tor, thereby (littering completely from the socalled high explosives now in use.

Whether for blasting or propelling purposes the explosive celluloid herein described has always to be used in, a granulated state or in a state of such division as to present a suliiciently large surface for combustion. The

size of the grains or particles varies for each caliber of arms and other varied conditions, as is likewise the case with gunpowder; but otherwise the mode of using and firing does not materially differ from that explosive except as regards suiting the charge to the ratio of power:

Having now particularly described my invention, I claim 1. A process for forming hard celluloidal explosives for propelling orfilling projectiles or for blasting purposes, which consists in uniting nitro-cellulose and nitro-glycerine, in proportions substantially as set forth, by means of a volatile solvent, as acetone, eamphor, or the like, and subsequently removing the volatile solvent therefrom and mechanically treating the same, substantially as specified.

' 2o 3. The hard,horny,'o1'celluloidal explosive in granular form for propelling or filling projectiles or for blasting purposes, containing nitro-ecllulosc and nitro-glycerine, the same being so far solid at ordinary temperatures called grains.

3. The eelluloidal explosive above described, in dense, horny granular form, solid at ordinary temperatures,coinposed of nitro- Witnesses:

SIEGFRIED SINGER,

Engineer, it Rue La Bru yw, Pin-is.

MAURICE CASTEL,

Clerk, 17 Rue dA-zmmle, Paris.

as to be susceptible of being cut up intoso- 25 cellulose, nitro-glycgine, and suitable OXld jo