"USP 757, 693
April 19, 1904
Jocob Tollner. of New York, N.Y.,
Assignor to F.G. Dokken Wadel and H.M. Grant
of New York, N.Y.
Be it known that I, Jacob Tollner, a citizen of Austria-Hungary, residing at New
York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new
and useful Improvements in Blasting compounds, of which the following is a
specification.
This invention relates to blasting compounds.
The object of the invention is to produce a blasting compound which shall be
practically non-explosive except under pressure which shall not readily ignite, and
which when burned in confinement produces large volumes of gas which are
developed slowly and which act with great pressure to rupture masses of rock, coal,
&c., when properly placed and ignited in a blast.
My invention consists in the compound which I shall now describe.
I take nitrate of potash, approximately fifteen per centum by weight, nitrate of soda,
say, thirty per centum; sulfur; fifteen per centum; spent tanbark, twenty per centum.
These ingredients are pulverized while in a dry state, I take of horse-manure,
preferably fresh, (or if dry then moistened to a pasty consistency,) twenty per cent.,
and thoroughly incorporate, mix, or grind together all these ingredients. The
moisture of the horse-manure produces with the other ingredients a pasty compound
which will not explode under ordinary conditions while mixing, and the whole may
be safely ground in a mill or mortar. When the compound is thoroughly mixed, it
should be dried, when it may be broken into lumps or may be crumbled or
pulverized. It is generally inadvisable to granulate the compound, as the granulation
would ad to the expense without increasing the efficiency.
The compound may be stored in barrel or other receptacles. It is not very
combustible and requires a strong steady fuse for its ignition.
The tanbark in the above compound is a woody substance which is thought to be
more slowly combustible than charcoal as commonly used in gunpowder. The
mixture of nitrates of soda and potash is believed to give a better result than would
either nitrate separately. The admixture of the various ingredients without dissolution
of soluble material, but in a slightly-moistened condition avoids danger in
compounding. Horse-manure in its natural state generally contains a considerable
volume of gas, as may be fond by chemical analysis, and when the ingredients are
united as above described a blasting compound is produce which burns slowly. but
with great and relatively long-continued pressure, so that by actual trial in quarries
the effective work of this blasting powder is found to be much greater than that of
dynamite as commonly used.
What I claim is —
1. The blasting compound described, consisting of nitrate of potash, nitrate of soda,
sulfur, tanbark, and horse-manure combined in about the proportions specified.
2. A composition of matter consisting of nitrate of potash, approximately fifteen per
centum, nitrate or soda, approximately thirty per cent., sulfur, approximately twenty
per cent., and horse-manure, approximately twenty per cent., mixed and
incorporated substantially as described.
In testimony whereof I affix my signature in response of two witnesses.
Jacob Tollner"