Sketch of the mode of manufacturing gunpowder at the Ishapore mills in Bengal. With a record of the experiments carried on to ascertain the value of charge, windage, vent and weigh by Anderson William 1805-1866 & Parlby Samuel ed

Author:Anderson, William, 1805-1866 & Parlby, Samuel, ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gunpowder
Publisher: London, J. Weale
Published: 1862-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The measurements of the cup and stand are as follows:—

Cup, interior dimenaions f^ei^ofUBe. . 3-5 inches.

*^' I Height . . . . 3*5

Pnimel . . . .(^f'»»»<>? • • ?*?6

(, Height . . . . 9*

Diameter of tube •••.... *05

Distance from the bottom of tube to the top of the cup . 2*5

One and a quarter pounds of ordnance powder, or oner and a half of musketry, is thrown mto the funnel descending bj the tube to the cup; the level of the grains at the top of the cup is struck off by a piece of copper, and the weight taken in dramsy say 262, which constitutes Ishapore density. This divided by 307'2 will give the specific gravity of the powder.

The size, height, and pressure must always be the same.

ON THE BARREL DEPARTMENT.

Powder barrels should be well made of perfectly dry well-seasoned wood—so close that no dust can escape, so strong that they should be secure against the common accidents of transport They should, indeed, be water and ah* tight. The barrels used in Bengal are serviceable, as is proved by the excellent state in which the agency powder is found after it has been carried from one end of India to the other; but the packing is very heavy and costly. Still, when the nature of gunpowder is taken into consideration—its cost, and the labour to produce it—^and the necessity that it should not deteriorate

in store, thus rendering the acquired skill and practice of the artillery useless, surely it is of the utmost importance to use every means of preserving it securely.

Mr. Walker's patent barrels have been introduced, lined with a thin case of copper, or rather, a copper cylinder is cased over and protected by an outward covering of wood.

These are,jio doubt, more protective of the powder, but they are expensive and heavy, and always occupy the same room, full or empty. Three common barrels, taken to pieces and packed up for store or carriage^ only occupy the same space as one of the patent barrels.

The native mode of packing gunpowder in dubbahs, or vessels of raw hide, is most excellent. These dubbahs are air and water tight, Viry elastic, and seldom break open as do the wooden barrels with a fall. Covered with a casing of wicker work, they would prove a most superior vessel for holding gunpowder or transporting it from one magazine to another. Perhaps-they would be liable to injury from atmosphere, or from l^ose destructive insects, the white ants. But if eadi magazine were supplied with a complement of patent barrels, the powder might be carried to them in these dubbahs, and exterior varnish or other chemical suitable composition might be applied to them to secure them from the evils above mentioned.

Several kinds of wood have been tried in India for powder barrels. Common reftise oak is soon destroyed by the ants and other insects. Gomer wood was for a long period the material used, but it proved heavy, hard to work up, and very brittle.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.