Detonator

“ In use it is fired with a detonator, a big copper cap charged with a fulminate of the highest power, and when lighted in this fashion the energies unloosed by the explosion, though limited in their area, are stupendous. The detonator is almost as dangerous, for a few grains of the fulminate contained in it are sufficient to reduce a man to his component gases. ”

“ By the employment of a detonator, the defect due to the porous character of sand is not removed, but its influence is greatly diminished. When detonation is produced in an explosive compound, the full force of the elastic gases is developed instantaneously; and it has already been shown that, under such conditions, the resistance occasioned by the presence of any substance in the bore-hole, even the air alone, in the case of nitro-glycerine, is sufficient to throw the chief portion of the force upon the sides of the hole. ”

“ Detonators are also of great service both in fine or bad weather, in cases of a wash away, a failure of works, or obstruction on the line, when a hand-signal may not be seen, but a detonator must be heard. ”

“ When handling detonators for grenades, it should be remembered that the detonator by itself is capable of blowing the hand off, so it must be carefully handled, and if an igniter is accidentally fired it should be thrown a few yards clear of any one in the neighborhood. ”

“ This device is what is known as the naval detonator. Mercury fulminate is so employed because it is the most violent of all explosives in common use, and exerts a pressure of forty-eight thousand atmospheres when fired in contact. ”

“ The noise accompanying an explosion is due to an air wave, and is markedly different in the case of a detonator from a real propellant. Some cases of ordinary combustion can be accelerated into explosions by increasing the area of contact between the combustible and the oxygen supplier, for instance, ordinary gas or dust explosions. Neither temperature nor quantity of heat energy necessarily gives an explosive action. ”

“ He enters the schoolroom; the chemical elements are seething in riot, books are being torn and thrown, ink spilt, etcetera. Before opening the door, the good man is a quiet piece of plastic dynamite, but the instant his eye is touched, the electric circuit is, as it were, completed; the mysterious current flashes through the brain, and fires his detonating heart. Instantly the gleaming flame shoots with lightning-speed to temples and toes. The entire man becomes a detonator, and he explodes in a violent hurricane of kicks, cuffs, and invective! ”

“ Any sort of fire will explode gunpowder, but any sort of fire will not explode dynamite; it will only cause it to burn. It requires a detonator to explode it with violence. Without its detonator, dynamite is a sleeping giant. ”

“ And now, the decisive sentence:
“A magnetic detonator will also have the great advantage that the crew will not be able to save themselves on account of the quick sinking of the torpedoed ship. This greater loss of men will no doubt cause difficulties in the assignment of crews for the great American construction program.” ”

“ Explosives such as dynamite cannot be fired by simple ignition, but require to be detonated. This is effected by a detonator consisting of a small cup-shaped tube, made of ebonite or other similar material. The wires conveying the current project into this tube, and are connected by a short piece of very fine wire having a high resistance. Round this wire is packed a small quantity of gun-cotton, and beyond, in a sort of continuation of the tube, is placed an extremely explosive substance called “fulminate of mercury,” the whole arrangement being surrounded by the dynamite to be fired. ”

“ Some companies have adopted mechanical appliances, whereby a man can place a detonator upon a line of rails or remove it while standing at a distance away from the track, thus enabling him to attend to more than one line without danger to himself. The cost of detonators often amounts to a considerable sum; and an apparatus called an economizer has been introduced, whereby the explosion of one detonator removes the second from the rails before the wheels reach it. ”

“ In order to make them instantly pass from a solid or liquid form to gas, they require a detonator or exploder, which applies a violent shock to them and breaks down the chemical structure of the explosive compound, and enables the flame to pass instantaneously throughout the mass of the compound. This explosive is known as detonation.
The composition of H.E. almost without exception is some organic substance, usually some form of carbon combined with nitrogen. Nitrogen, one of the most inert gases known, owes its explosive value to this very inertness ”

“ The safety-pin Z is also passed through the cap A in such a position that if by any mischance the detonator C was not properly secured after being placed in position, the act of placing the cap A on and turning it to the left into the firing position causes the pin Z to engage with the two lugs T.T. on the flange S of the detonator, and automatically locks the detonator under the heads of the holding studs R.R.
7. The hook t fixed to the body of the grenade is for attaching the latter to the soldier’s belt. The grenade 199 with the stick downward is hung on to the belt by the hook. ”

“ Pneumatic tools, worked by compressed air conveyed from the surface through flexible tubes, are great aids, particularly in rock removal work. With the rock drill the diver bores a number of holes to a given depth, inserts in these the charges of dynamite or other explosive used, attaches one end of a wire to a detonator which is inserted in the charge, and then comes to the surface. ”

“ Their manufacture is similar to that of those already described. Probably none of these nitro-bodies so pressed into use is as good as T.N.T.
Detonating Substances.—Though modern explosives are not easily exploded by a blow, they are sensitive to shock of given intensity, and lesser or different shocks will not suffice. The 'detonator' to produce the shock is set into the explosive. A complete shell carries two detonators. One, in the percussion cap, sets off the propellant charge which expels the projectile ”

“ The habit of placing the fore-finger alongside the stock, and not letting it touch the trigger, until the moment of firing, proves very valuable in these critical circumstances. Many a barrel has gone off, even in the hands of an old sportsman, before he properly covered some vital part of his first royal tiger. The certainty of ignition afforded by a detonator gives great confidence to the present generation of sportsmen. ”

“ This result, although not that intended, was most instructive as regards the danger of using explosives which are liable to freeze at such a moderate temperature, and the thawing of which is undoubtedly attended with great risk unless most carefully performed. Also, the small pieces of the gelatine or dynamite, when scattered by the explosion of the detonator, might cause serious accident if trodden upon.—Engineering. ”

“ The manufacture of detonators is a very dangerous and delicate operation. Some substances (the copper acetylides) explode by a scratch, some (nitrogen iodide) by the touch of a feather or the tread of a fly, some explode even in solution when poured from one vessel into another (diazobenzeneperchlorates) . Mercury fulminate is more often employed in the detonator, and is prepared from mercury, alcohol, and nitric acid. It is expensive, and most modern detonators consist of lead azide or salts of styphnic acid, with a layer of T.N.T. in a narrow aluminium cylinder. ”

“ When liquid air, enriched by the evaporation of a large part of the nitrogen, was mixed with powdered charcoal, it formed an explosive comparable in power to dynamite, and which, like dynamic, could be made to go off violently by using a detonator. The chief advantage of the explosive was its cheapness, the cost being only that of liquefying the air. ”

“ He got to the position carefully, took his torpedo, and adjusting the small exhaust fan so that its blades would interfere the least with an open passage for the missile, he took his chance, against striking the blades, flinging with a quick jerk of his wrist that sent the detonator straight through past the fan.
Hurriedly he climbed down and got the chair back in place as he heard, muffled by the drop, a sharp explosion on the pavement in front of the laboratory.
He was certain that the noise would draw everybody. ”

“ A similar explosion will frequently follow the breaking in the same way of a cylinder charged with hydrogen at a high pressure. Continuing these experiments, they found that in acetylene gas under ordinary pressures the decomposition brought about in one portion of the gas, either by heat or the firing in it of a small detonator, did not spread far beyond the point at which the decomposition started, while if the acetylene was compressed to a pressure of more than 30 ℔ on the square inch, the decomposition travelled throughout the mass and became in reality detonation. ”

“ The object of tying in the cap is to prevent its being pulled out. The primer thus attached to the fuse is then pushed gently down upon the charge in the shot-hole. It should be constantly borne in mind that no ramming may take place after the detonator is inserted.
Gun-cotton and tonite require a light tamping. This should consist of plastic clay; or sand may be used in downward holes. The tamping should be merely pushed in, blows being dangerous. A better effect is obtained from dynamite when tamped in this way than when no tamping is used. ”

“ Its force is markedly shown by firing one in a stout iron cylinder filled with water and closed tightly, when the cylinder is blown into a shredded sphere. When used to detonate gun cotton, either when confined or in the open, the detonator is placed in the hole which has been molded in the center of the gun cotton disk or block, so that it shall be in close contact with the gun cotton. I have found that perfectly dry compressed gun cotton is detonated by 2.83 grains of mercury fulminate ”

“ Sports and Pastimes.—THE FOWLING-PIECE. THE LOCK—THE PERCUSSION SYSTEM—TRIGGERS—WADDING—AMMUNITION, ETC. The flint and steel lock, like the matchlock, has had its day; and the one is as likely as the other to supersede the detonator. There were some sportsmen who long retained the flint in preference to the copper-cap. Their partiality for the old system arose from their inability to depart from the manner of taking aim to which they had been accustomed—they fired too forward! It was said, too, that a barrel fired by a detonating lock, did not throw shot so efficiently as the other. ”

“ In molding the gun cotton at the torpedo station, as stated above, a vertical hole was formed in each cylinder or block in which to insert the detonator, and in the final press a steel die was laid upon the cake so that an inscription in letters and figures was forced upon it. ”

“ In many cases these mixtures are not only fired or exploded by heating to a certain temperature, but also by quite moderate friction or percussion. Consequently there is much danger in manufacture and storage, and however these mixtures have been made up, they are quite out of the question as propellants on account of their great tendency to explode in the manner of a detonator. In addition they are not smokeless, and leave a considerable residue which in a gun would produce serious fouling. ”

“ This bomb is smoke-filled only, and the marking is the same as on the 111⁄2 lb. type. The following bombs are also used for practice purposes:—250 lb. G.P., 500 lb. G.P. and 1000 lb. G.P. (either inert or H.E. filling) . Normally they will be painted black and have a yellow band around the greatest diameter.
All the bombs contain an extremely powerful detonator-burster. ”

“ Firing by electricity is generally safer and more satisfactory than by the use of ordinary caps and powder fuses. The explosion is more certain and its exact time is under the control of the operator. Fig. 121 shows a section through an electric blasting cap or 300detonator, commonly called an electric fuse. Delayed action electric detonators are made by inserting a slow-burning substance between the platinum bridge and the detonating substance. The time of delay is controlled by the depth of the slow-burning substance. ”

“ In this type the inner core burns quite slowly at the rate of two or three feet to the minute. This is the fuze which is used in the preparation of the jam-tin bomb: an instrument of destruction which has caused much amusement to the [275] frivolous. A jam tin is taken and is filled with gun cotton, nails, and scraps of iron. Into the gun cotton is inserted a detonator; and into the detonator is inserted two inches of safety-fuze. The end of the safety-fuze is then lit, and the jam tin is presented to the Hun. ”

“ Safety Device:
1. Safety pin. 2. Striker lever.
Body. Serrated oval cast-iron.
Striker. Steel rim firing. [Pg 9]
Igniter. Special, consisting of a separate unit. Special N.g. cap holder, N.G. rim firing percussion cap, 13⁄4 in. safety fuse and detonator.
To prepare for use:
1. Unscrew base plug. 2. Examine detonator and striker well for faults. 3. Insert special igniter. 4. Screw on base plug tightly by means of special key.
Grenade Hand No. 5, Mark I (or Mills Grenade) . ”