=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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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