DYNAMITE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 January 1927, Page 11

DYNAMITE

WORK OF AL1 1 ItKl) NOBFL .recent aivi.lid of Nobel prices l ' u Uliainberkun, Uliana, Sir&fimaJm and Shaw recalls the inventive genius of the famous Swedish scientist whose colossal fortune was devoted to the a» instance oi laboratory, literary and pacifist endeavour, ifoin at Stockholm in 1833, his earliest years were nulneuced by die scientific atmosphere in which u'ie elder Nobel moved. When Alfred was still in. his teens he was despatched to America ior training in mechanical engineering under the direction of a famous compatriot, .John Ericsson, whose achievements in marine conscruction and invention earned him the admiration of the world. But the boy did not find coiigema.l this branch of scientific investigation, I and returned to Sweden, there to devote his life to the study of explosives. I 'flhere is an erroneous, hut common, impression that Nobel was the inventor of liitrcs-glyceiine, but the discovery of this deadly substance is attributed to Sobrero, an Italian professor at the University of Tuns. He poured ordinary glycerine drop by drop into a mixture of strong nitric and sulphuric acids, kept at a. low temperature. Upon pouring the product into water dregs of mi ‘ oily nature immediately commenced t<* form in the bottom of the vessel. Sobrero .separated tli-i-s .substance unaware of the explosive nature of the new compound, but he was not long left in ignorance of its potentialties" One day lie was evaporating a minute quantity of it in .a. glass 'dish over a lamp when a terrific explosion followed, and the dish, was blown to atoms. On another occasion, while engaged in heating a. single drop in a glass tube, the substance exploded, injuring his hands and face. But until Nobel began the manufacture of nitro-glycerine it was regarded merely as a. curiosity, and a particularly ‘ abhorrent and dangerous curi-n-ity at that. H'e was prohibited from building factories in the vicinity of towns, and for a time he was constrained to carry on research aboard a barge -anchored in Lake Valaren. A comnany was organised, but the frequency of explosions seemed curtain to render futile -any attempt to manufacture on a large scale. A fortunate accident solved the apparently insoluble problem of discovering a method to render the liquid explosive comparatively innocuous for transport or storage. Nobel was unloading cans of nitrogen from his van when he noticed that one of the containers had leaked its treacherous contents into the porous sand in .which the cans were packed. The mixture had hardened into a -solid mass, and at once the inventor recognised the value of the apparent- mishap. The carriage of the liquid explosive bad become almost impossible. A steamer laden with a cargo had been, scattered to the heavens while en route to Chili, air 7 1 mad freights had suffered a similar fate. No one would agree to handle the perilous consignments, and verumen ts forbade the use of nit-ro-gly-eerine. But the (accident to the container gave Nobel his opportunity to develop the discovery that ultimately produced dvrmmite. Many times he endangered his life, hut the conversion of the liquid into a sol'd absorption in porous earth saved the day for hi' 1 ’ 1 explosives. This invention made him wealth'-, and la ; d the foundations of 'he riches that later immortalised h : name. Within five years of the tv*f«otion of dynamite he had edahfsW "'ants in nractieallv every country in me. and in the United States. When he came to New York with of hi® “safe exploe-'ye’’ he f«nnd ilia! his fame had preceded him. The proprietor of the hotel at which be stopped. nunli learning what a, nosI sihlv dangerous rrue-st he might he hat. bon ring, asked him to leave. But minor embarrassments did not hinder his widespread and immediate success. Orders for the a mazing material simnlv inundated hi« works and ’/astories. Tl’e oonstruc+ion of the Pt. Oothard• funnel was cops-iderahl V facilitated hv the 11-/1 at dynamite. Tt "'RS a rnicele.es boon •o engineering roin-’tmnt’o’i of all vanities.