Part 14

*=ECONOMIC SMOKELESS SPORTING POWDER= is a 42-grain bulk powder for shot-guns, made by the E.C. Powder Company.

=ECRASITE= or =EKRASIT= is a high explosive used in Austria for filling shell and other military purposes. It is the ammonium salt of trinitro-cresol.

=ELECTRONITE.=--There have been several explosives of this name, but none of them have been used extensively, and all are dead now. There was a coal-mine explosive formerly on the Permitted List--

Ammonium nitrate 73 Barium nitrate 19 Starch and slightly-charred wood meal 8

It was made by Curtis’s and Harvey.

=ELEY SMOKELESS SPORTING POWDER= is a shot-gun powder similar to =E.C.=

Ammon-=ELSAGIT= is a German coal-mine explosive. It contains ammonium nitrate, vegetable meal, not more than 6 per cent. of trinitro-toluene or other nitro-body, not more than 4 per cent. of blasting gelatine, and may also contain fatty oils, alkali chlorides or oxalate, and sodium or potassium nitrate.

Gesteins-=ELSAGIT= has much the same composition, but the percentage of trinitro-toluene may be raised to 12, and it contains no sodium or potassium nitrate.

*=EMPIRE POWDER= is a smokeless shot-gun powder introduced in 1902 by Nobel’s Explosives Company. It is a fibrous 33-grain bulk powder, and, according to an analysis published in “Arms and Explosives,” 1917, p. 77, its composition is--

Nitrocotton, insoluble 48·0 ” soluble 34·0 Metallic nitrates 9·0 Vaseline 7·0 Moisture 2·0

=ERGITE.=--A blasting explosive which was made for a few years in a factory in North Wales. Other explosives were also made under the names of Granergite, Shattergite, etc.

=ERIN GELIGNITE.=--A Gelignite containing a small percentage of dinitro-toluene to prevent the nitroglycerine freezing.

=ESSEX POWDER.=--A coal-mine explosive made by the Explosives and Chemical Products, Ltd. It is on the Permitted List--

Date of Permit 1-9-13 Nitroglycerine 23 Nitrocotton 1 Potassium nitrate 34 Wheat flour 36 Ammonium chloride 6

Limit charge 38 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·17”

=EUREKA No. 2= is an American coal-mine explosive on the Permissible List. It contains nitroglycerine and a hydrated salt.

=EXCELLITE.=--A coal-mine explosive formerly on the Permitted List--

Nitroglycerine 8 Ammonium nitrate 82·5 Collodion cotton 1 Dinitro-toluene 3 Wood meal 4·5 Castor oil 1

=SUPER-EXCELLITE= is a modification of this, containing salts as cooling agents. Three formulæ passed the Rotherham Test--

No. 2. No. 3. Date of Permit 1-9-13 7-4-14 22-6-14 Nitroglycerine 4 5 9·5 Collodion cotton -- -- 0·5 Ammonium nitrate 75·5 50 59 Potassium nitrate 7 20 -- Starch 3·5 5 4·5 Castor oil -- -- 1 Ammonium chloride -- 5 -- Sodium chloride -- -- 15 Ammonium oxalate 10 15 10·5

Limit charge 10 14 36 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·74 2·72 2·73”

It will be seen that all three are about equal as regards power, but that No. 3, which contains the largest proportion of cooling agents and more nitroglycerine, can be used safely in much greater charges. In 1916 807,000 lbs. of No. 3 were used in mines and quarries, principally in coal mines. It is recommended by the makers, Curtis’s and Harvey, for hard coal and colliery work generally. The permits of the others have been repealed.

=EXPEDITE= is a coal-mine explosive on the Permitted List made by Explosives and Chemical Products, Ltd.--

Date of Permit 25-11-13 Ammonium nitrate 35 Potassium nitrate 33 Trinitro-toluene 12 Ammonium chloride 20

Limit charge more than 32 oz. Power (swing of ballistic pendulum) 2·62”

See also =XPDITE=.

=EXPLOSIFS N=, =O=, etc. See under respective letters.

=EXTRA DYNAMITE= is a variety of American dynamite containing ammonium nitrate.