GIANT POWDER.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1328, 31 October 1872, Page 2

GIANT POWDER.

A pamphlet containing directions for the application of giant powder has reached us. This powder, it appears, has been in use as a blasting agent in Europe for about four years, and in California for three years. The general properties and uses of this powder are fairly stated, and for those who may not be acquainted with these particulars wp. may say that the giant | powder is ungrained, of a greyish brown color, with a specific gravity of about 1. It is insoluble in water, is not affected by time, or exposure to air and moisture. In the open air, or in ordinary packing, it burns without explosion. Its combustion produces carbonic acid, oxide of carbon, i hyponitrous acid and water. Unlike gunptnvder its explosion is instantaneous ; j the entire mass explodes as if it were a single grain. This quality, in connection with its extraordinary evolution of gases, causes its explosive effect to be especially great m solid substances, so much so that the powder cannot be used in ordnance or fire-arms, the gun being blown to pieces instead of beiog discharged. This powder, we learn, is not only used in the States of America, where it has given general satisfaction, as a variety of testimonials sufficiently prove, but it bids fair

to become throughout Europe the universal blasting powder. The orders for giant powder, at Mr Nobel's factory in Germany, alone have reached 200,000 pounds in the course of one month, and in the Kingdom of Bavaria, black powder has been entirely abolished ; and the giant powder has been introducepVon: all railway works and in. ; all T the mines. The demand for giant powder in the United States has increased so much that the Giant powder Company have built extensive works there. English capitalists have purchased the patent right from the inventor, Mr Nobel, and large works have recently beeri erected in Glasgow. We need only reiterate ; facts speak for themselves. On. the 22nd of May, 1872, two thousand five hundred pounds of No. 2 giant gunpowder! were placed in the cemented gravel bank, on the Dutch Flat Water Company's ground at Dutch Flat, Placer County, owned by Bradley and Gardner. The blast was calculate! for 400 kegs of black powder ; with this result more ground, so far as visible, right after the blast, was moved and shatttered than 1000 kegs of black powder could have done. Practical experience has proved, as a number of testimonials show, that the giant powder is superior to anything ever used for coal mines,-. bank blasting, sulphur banks, and medium hard rock ; . it should, therefore, rjeceive practical consideration by the people of these provinces. • •■...-.'