THE " FUSEE" SATAN.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3229, 19 June 1871, Page 3

THE " FUSEE" SATAN.

The following description is given by the London scientific correspondent of the " Australasian" : — It is doubtless as well for the Prussian army that a few judicious and humane French officers firmly protested against the employment of the " Fusee Satan," on the grounds of humanity. The following account of this formidable engine invented by M. Laurent, the celebrated chemist, was written shortly before tho armistice was concluded : — To the end of an ordinary rocket is attached a very slight receptacle of tin, having exactly the shape of a conical bullet. In this receptacle is arranged a chamber filled with a composition based we believe upon sulphurate of carbon, which composition, once lighted, gives out considerable heat. A fusee communicates from this chamber with the top of the rocket. The tin bullet is filled, just before being used, with petroleum oil. The lighted rocket rises in the air and tra\erses the space necessary to arrive over a certain spot. Arrived above its object, the rockets set lire to the fusee, the composition in the chamber of the bullet takes light, burst its envelope, and at the same time fires the petroi leum, which falls like a sheet of flame and continues burning. This sheet of flame fills a space of sixteen to twentyfour square metres, according to the size of the rocket. No 1 throws one liter of petroleum, No. 2 two liters, and No. 3 three liters. They can be thrown a distance of six kilometres, and aimed with great precision, being balanced by means of a long stick attached to each rocket, which maintains the elevation given to it at the time of discharge Some interesting experiments were made recently with (his weapon at St. Cloud. In less than ten minutes a considerable space of ground was covered with a sea of fire. The committee, in its report, says the journal " La France," has declared in its opinion no civilised nation could make use of these rockets expect for reprisals; and it would be only in the case of the Prussians firing Hpon us with petroleum bombs, such as they used at Strasburg, that we should be allowed to retaliate with the new rocket. However this may be, the Committee of National Defence has given the inventor a largo building on the Batigonolle (formerly a girl's school) and has ordered the immediate manufacture, on a large scale, of Satan rockets. Some heavy cannon having been recently shattered by means of " Lithofracteur," I give the following description of this little-known, substance extracted from two letters addressed by Gebruder Krebs and Co", of Cologne, to the " Times." In their first letter th-^y observe that the " Litho-fracteur," or, literally, " stonebreaker," is an improvement on dynamite, inasmuch as it possesses, among other great advantages, a greatly increased explosive power, combined with a far less amount of danger. In its normal state it is quite free from danger, as it is only when compressed and then ignited by its suitable fuse that its tremendous explosive power is shown. In fact, the greater the compression the greater are the effects On the other hand, when loose it burns slowly away like wellwetted gunpowder. To give nn instance of this — During some trials this winter at Berlin a quantity, about 5 cwt (centner) of litho-fracteur in its natural semi-plastic state, had become frozen and hard in the cellar. The military engineers, in order to thaw it before commencing their experiments, placed it on a red hot stove, not thinking of the possible consequences. Of course, the gases began to be generated, and an explosion seemed imminent. On the soldiers hurling the smoking mass from its seemingly dangerous position, to the joy and amazement of ull it burnt itself, or rather smouldered, quietly away.