Gun cotton

“ The essential constituents of all the most powerful military smokeless, propulsive ammunition are gun-cotton (nitro-cellulose) and nitro-glycerine. [8] Hence cotton for making the one and oils and fats for the other are necessary to any country engaged in a modern war and unable to import the finished product. ”

“ The two explosives of these classes which are generally known are gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine, with special preparations made from them, such as dynamite, blasting gelatine, etc.
Gun-Cotton. Gun-cotton is made by treating suitably prepared cotton with a mixture of one part by weight of nitric acid and three parts sulphuric acid. The immersion lasts 48 hours, the temperature being maintained at 60 deg. F. The cotton is then subjected to a thorough and prolonged washing, after which it is carried through various processes to prepare it for use. ”

“ We were without armor-piercing shells and without a shop instructed and equipped for the construction of them. We are now making what is believed to be a projectile superior to any before in use. A smokeless powder has been developed and a slow-burning powder for guns of large caliber. A high explosive capable of use in shells fired from service guns has been found, and the manufacture of gun cotton has been developed so that the question of supply is no longer in doubt. ”

“ I have found that perfectly dry compressed gun cotton is detonated by 2.83 grains of mercury fulminate; but as a torpedo attack is necessarily in the nature of a forlorn hope and should be provided with every possible provision against failure, and since if the detonator fails the attack fails, the naval detonator is supplied with thirty-five grains, so as to give a large coefficient of assurance. A characteristic feature of gun cotton is that it may be detonated even when completely saturated with and immersed in water, if only some dry gun cotton be detonated in contact with it. ”

“ After the explosive preparation is ready for use, the smallest portion explodes when struck on an anvil with a hammer, like fulminating-powder; when kindled with a glowing body, it takes fire just like gunpowder; and, when used in a gun, its operation, though in a far greater proportion to its weight, is similar to that of gunpowder. Gun cotton is employed in the same manner as gunpowder: a piece of it is rammed down the barrel, then a bit of wadding, and after that a ball; a copper cap ignites and explodes the cotton. ”

“ It was described as a cotton prepared by a secret process; [pg 36] which, on the application of a spark, became at once converted into a gaseous state. In an experiment performed in the laboratory of Professor Schonbein, a certain weight of gunpowder, when fired, filled the apartment with smoke; whilst an equal weight of gun-cotton exploded without producing any smoke, leaving only a few atoms of carbonaceous matter behind. Cannon-balls and shells were then experimentally projected by this prepared cotton, with nearly double the projectile force of gunpowder. ”

“ In case the cotton is not intended to be spun, but is to serve for cotton wool or for the manufacture of gun cotton, more drastic treatment can be employed, and is, in fact, desirable. Thus, cotton waste is first extracted with petroleum spirit or some other suitable solvent, in order to remove any mineral oil or grease which may be present. It is then boiled with dilute caustic soda and resin soap, washed, bleached white with bleaching-powder, washed, soured and finally washed free from acid. ”

“ In mining, it is likely to be of great use. In the slate-quarries at Penrhyns it has been found far superior to gunpowder. A huge mass of sixty tons’ weight, for instance, was gently pushed from its firmly compacted bed by the explosion of only eight ounces of cotton, while the slate was not splintered. In other great works it will also be of service. In a cutting on the Syston and Peterborough railway, not far from Stamford, experiments showed the average powers of the gun-cotton to be in the proportion of one to six of gunpowder ”

“ I tell you, tons of gun-cotton.
Mrs Nutts. What is all this about gun-cotton? Cotton going off and blowing up! Well, as I was saying to Mrs Biggleswade over the way, it’s enough to frighten a woman from ever taking a needle-and-thread in her hand. I don’t know how it is; but now, somehow, I do dread to go near my cotton-box.
Slowgoe. That’s not a new complaint with Mrs Slowgoe, by any means.
Tickle. A very fine invention this gun-cotton, no doubt; but it gives a dreadful power to husbands: no woman’s safe. ”

“ Gun-cotton alone and in its fibrous state has been found to be too quick, or violent, for propulsive purposes, such as use in firearms; as under such conditions of confinement it is very likely to detonate and burst the gun. However, if gun-cotton be dissolved in a suitable solvent, which is capable of being evaporated out, such as acetone, or acetate of ethyl, which are very volatile, it becomes, when thus dissolved and dried, a very hard, horn-like, amorphous substance, which may be used for a smokeless gunpowder. ”

“ Beyond a reference to our advertising columns, we cannot enter upon the subject of the prices of chemicals and their purity. In making gun cotton, the time of immersion in the acids must be the same for twenty grains as for any large quantity: when good, there is a peculiar crispness in the cotton, and it is quite soluble in the ether. ”

“ Artificial or imitation horsehair is made from cotton waste by two processes, the Fremery and the Chardonnet. By the first process, referred to in the opinion of the circuit court of appeals for the second circuit, in Hardt von Bernuth & Co. v. United States, 76 C. C. A. 638, 146 Fed. 61, the cotton waste is dissolved in a solution of cup-ammonium, a salt of copper and ammonia, and this solution is forced through fine openings, discharging into a bath of acetic acid, forming threads of cellulose. By the second process the cotton waste, or raw cotton, is at first turned into gun cotton. ”

“ If the bore be too short, the powder will not have room to be thoroughly burnt and perfectly expanded, and power will be wasted in that mode. If too long, power will be wasted in surplus friction between ball and barrel. And again the powder may be too quick or too slow in exploding. If too quick, it will need a heavier and stronger gun, and for this reason gun-cotton, the most explosive of all, is not used in guns, though experiments have been made to make it bum slower by mixing with saw-dust. ”

“ Gun-Cotton Factory. Dipping cotton in nitrating troughs. There is something about fire which fascinates every one, yet the action of explosives arouses even a livelier interest, since the accompanying fiery phenomena are more intense and are attended with a shocking report and a violent destruction of the surrounding material, while this train of events, with all its marked301 effects, is set in operation by what appears to be a very slight initial cause. ”

“ Much excitement has been produced in England by the explosion of gun-cotton at the well-known works of Prentice and Co., Stowmarket, resulting in the loss of nearly thirty lives and in a great destruction of property. ”

“ When the gun is to be used, a piece of cotton is wound around the end of an arrow and the other end or point inserted first in the barrel, the cotton acting as a piston by means of which the air forces the shaft through the tube.
The men always carry a small rubber-pouch containing a few drams of the poison; the pouch was worn strapped to the waist on the left side, when on their hunting excursions, and they were extremely careful in handling it and the arrows. The slightest scratch with the poison would cause a quick and sure death. ”

“ Under the rock wall, they found a man, dead on his knees, leaning against the wall; his gun, still cocked and deadly, was resting against his shoulder and needing only the movement of a finger to sweep with deadly hail the cotton-bales. ”

“ When he learned that you had been recommended for a captaincy, he said that he just knew that you had it in you, because you came from one of the best Southern families. Father has so much responsibility now, keeping the niggers at work. He says that his overseers are working day and night to keep up the production of cotton. Cotton is used in the soldiers’ uniforms and in making gun-cotton, so father really feels as though he’s doing his bit in fighting the Hun. ”

“ Next to white cotton materials firearms are a very favourite means of payment, and bring in a far larger proportional profit. For an ordinary double-barrelled gun of French or Belgian manufacture, a slave-dealer can purchase two or three sittahsi, and if the weapon has gilt facings he can sometimes obtain as many as five for it. ”

“ The diameter of the Fuze composition is ·2 of an inch, length 2·25 inches, and weight 3 drams.
[88]
Fuze Composition.
Saltpetre, 3 lb. 4 oz.; Sulphur, 1 lb.; Mealed powder, 2 lb. 12 oz.
On service the Grenades are charged with 11⁄2 oz. of powder.
GUN COTTON.
Although there appears no prospect of Gun cotton being used in the British service as a substitute for gunpowder, it is advisable that every Artillerist should be cognizant of its merits and demerits; for circumstances may arise when this new impulsive power may be advantageously employed. ”

“ Sometimes, when even a little iron was unattainable, bales of cotton were piled up around the sides, like breastworks, for the protection of men and engines. The vessel which captured the United States ship "Harriet Lane," at Galveston, was thus provided; and the defence proved very valuable. One great objection to the cotton-bale bulwarks was the very inflammable nature of the material, since a red-hot shot from the enemy, or a bit of blazing wadding from a gun, would set it smouldering with a dense black smoke that drove the men from their guns until the bales could be thrown overboard ”

“ It must be acknowledged that the defences were badly devised--little barbed wire, frail walls, large loopholes, and the outposts so near the trenches that the assailants could reach them as quickly as the supports. With the dawn Cotton's position was serious, if not desperate. He was not only surrounded, but was commanded from Gun Hill. Perhaps it would have been wiser if, after being wounded, he had handed over the command to Jones, his junior officer. A stricken man's judgement can never be so sound as that of the hale. ”

“ The trash-gang is usually composed of the younger children and the older women. The former gather and pile the stalks which the latter cut up. They particularly enjoy firing the heaps of dry trash.
It was on Saturday, the 13th of February, that our press-gang completed its labors. On the afternoon of that day, as we were hauling our cotton to the landing, the garrison at Waterproof, two miles distant, suddenly opened with its artillery upon a real or supposed enemy. A gun-boat joined in the affair, and for half an hour the cannonade was vigorous. ”

“ Cotton was ordered to take two machine-guns and dig them in in such a manner in the front line that they would enfilade the enemy's trenches on the left. If the Germans rushed his own position, he was to disable his guns and retire with his men. After fighting valiantly for a time, the enemy charged, whereupon Cotton, instead of retiring, coolly hauled both guns out of their emplacements and turned them on the advancing Germans. He and his men continued firing until all were slain, and lay a heap of mangled flesh about their guns. ”

“ It is well known that cotton has constituted the chief reliance of the rebels for means to purchase the munitions of war in Europe. It is matter of history, that rather than permit it to come into the possession of the national troops, the rebel government has everywhere devoted it, however owned, to destruction. The value of that destroyed at New Orleans, just before its capture, has been estimated at eighty millions of dollars. It is in the record before us, that on this very plantation of Mrs. Alexander, one year's crop was destroyed in apprehension of an advance of the Union forces. ”

“ Leather had to be of our own tanning; all munitions of war were to be manufactured inside the blockade. The huge bales of kerseys, osnaburgs, and boxes of heavy brogan-shoes, which had been shipped from the North to clothe and shoe the slaves, were things of the past. Up to the beginning of the war we had been dependent on the North for almost everything eaten and worn. Cotton was cultivated in the South almost universally before the war, it was marketed in the North, it was manufactured there, and then returned in various kinds of cloth-material to us. ”

“ The remaining negroes were set at work to shell the corn already gathered. As fast as shelled, it was taken to Waterproof for shipment to market. The plows were left rusting in the furrows, where they were standing at the moment the guerrillas appeared. The heaps of cotton-seed and the implements used by the planting-gang remained in statu quo. The cotton we planted was growing finely. To leave four hundred acres thus growing, and giving promise of a fine harvest, was to throw away much labor, but there was no alternative. ”

“ I have sent a detachment of troops with an officer of the Freedmen's Bureau into Clark, Washington, Choctaw, and Marengo counties to investigate the reports of harsh treatment of the negroes that had come into the Freedmen's Bureau.
Cotton-stealing is going on quite generally, and on a large scale, wherever there is any cotton, and the civil authorities have completely failed in stopping it. It has been reported to me by citizens that armed bands attack and drive away the watchmen, load the cotton upon wagons, and thus haul it away. ”