A NEW EXPLOSIVE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 331, 19 October 1908, Page 7

A NEW EXPLOSIVE.

INVENTION BY A NEW ZEALANDER. (BY TELEGRAPH—rRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) Melbourne, October 17. A successful trial has been made, of a now explosive invented by Mr. Pommeroy, a New Zealander. ;. i:; ■ TEST AT WELLINGTON. Mr. J. Pommeroy, who is. a iesident of Invercargill, gave a trial of,his new explosive at the Polhill Gully, rifle range, Wellington, on July 10, before a number of gentlemen interested in defence, including a representative of .The Dominion. The experiments were mado with a Martini-Henry cartridge (fired from an ordinary Martini-Henry rifle), the bullet being bored inwards from the nose for about half an inch for the reception' of tho charge, which consisted of thirteen grains of red-coloured paste, the ingredients of which are, of course, a secret. To demonstrate its shattering force, a kerosene tin full of water,' placed about twenty yards away, was fired at by Mr. Pommeroy. An ordinary bullet would have passed clean through such an ; not so tho "faked" bullet. When struck, the water in the tin was thrown a height of twenty feet' in tho air, and, on examining the tin, it was found to be literally riddled with small ragged holes, and the whole tin was torn open at the seams. A strong galvanised bucket filled with water was, also torn about in the same fashion. To demonstrate tho little resistance required to bring about an explosion a zinc case closed in on one side with wire netting was set up as a target. The first bullet fired went through'the netting, without touching and exploded on piercing tho back of tho case, nicking pieces out of the rock-face behind. Then a piece of canvas wa stretched over the wire ana fire at, with the result that tho back of the case was riddled with holes. There, is no backward action about tho new explosive.. The bullet, when shattered, describes a circle into an expanding forward action. This was very clearly shown when Mr. Pommeroy fired at a long varnish tin laid endways on the ground. The bullet pierced the bottom oi tho tin. and its shattered particles almost cut tho tin in two nearly equal halves. Experiments wero also made on two pieces of 3-inch white-pine timber, nailed together (but the bullet only penetrated halfway through), a bag of sand (in which it tore big ugly holes), and an oil drum. When only thirteen grains (less than half a thimbleful) of the explosive can rend an ordinary leaden bullet into a hundred tiny messengers of death, one shudders to think what the effect would be when used with a 6ix-pounder or big naval guns. "I claim for my explosive shell," said Mr. Pommeroy to a Dominion reporter, "that in every effect it shows the now properties claimed bv the Japanese for their famous Shimose exploding shell. It is impossible to have a miss-fire, as my shell will explode on any object. If my shell wero to hit a ship's deck or rigging, or any obstacle, it would make the deck or othor places of observation untenable. A shell striking the armour plate would tear it open and the fumes would drive the men from the guns. A torpedo, with a full charge would throw a battleship on her beam ends. I claim that my preparation is more effective than gun cotton, ana 100 per cent, more powerful than lyddite, and that it has not the backward hit that occurs with the.latter explosive. One pound of my stuff is equal to ten pounds of black powder, and can be made just as cheaply at the latter.

"It will therefore be seen that a 6-inch shall charged with my' preparation 'would have as freat an effect as an ordinary 12-iuch shell. I ave fired a cartridgo after it has been charged for fivo years, and (jot the same result from one charged a fow minutes before a test, proving that there is no deterioration in the oxplosive, and, furthermore, that there is uo chemical notion set up to corrode steel or iron shells as is the case with other explosives."