A New Powder.

Manawatu Herald, 21 December 1893, Page 3

A New Powder.

" . . ■ : - — -, — #. While all the world is talking of cordite, yet another smokeless powder has been invented and put to the test. The inventor is M.l' Abbe tjchnobelin, who recently gave v trial of his new explosive at Nunhead, England. I:i the first pKce the Abbe made some of his powder in the presence of the crowd : for the simplicity of its manufacture and the rapidity with which it can be made without any special apparatus, are the first advantages which are claimed for the new powder. Taking some of the powder in its manufactured state, the Abbe placed it : on an anvil. He commenced by hitting the grains with a hammer, but the concussion did nothing but grind the powder finer. Friction, too, was proved to have no effect upon the substance, and then the Abbe applied a lighted match to a small heap of it. Not even a blade of grass was blown up. The powder burned with a bright light, but without the least deflagration. Nothing sort of a hermetically-sealed quantity is susceptible to concussion. The cartridges were made up with a Government bullet, the range was 100 yards, and the bullet went through an eight inch plate of Bessemer steel, and through four inches ot wood against which the plate rested. . This, too, was with the sporting powder, which is not nearly so strong as the concentrated ov war fare powder.