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REFRIGERATOR CAR FOR EXPLOSIVES.MR. MOWBRAY, of North Adams, Massachusetts, recently shipped in a refrigerator car ten tons of mica powder to Fort Francis, 200 miles east of Winnipeg, a part to be used on the Francis Canal and a portion on the Northern Pacific Railroad of Canada, at Keewatin. The rock is so hard at both these points as to require an explosive of greater disruptive power than gunpowder, and this mica powder appears to answer the purpose exactly. The car used has been built for this particular purpose, it being necessary to maintain a temperature below 50 or 60 degrees. The thermometer in this car has registered from 39 to 41 degrees on the whole trip. This mica powder consists of tri-nitro glycerine and scales of mica, or Muscovy talc, in nearly equal proportions, and the object of a low temperatuie is to congeal the tri-nitro glycerine, which in this condition is absolutely non-explosive, and may be transported as safely as a box of soap. Two messengers, necessarily experienced in handling this powder, always accompany the car, in which a comfortable apartment has been provided for them. Their duty is simply to watch the temperature. In case of a smash-up, even, the cellular construction 6f the car renders explosion impossible, and if thrown on the fire of a locomotive there could be nothing more serious than a rapid burning of the powder. For eight years past this powder has been teamed to distant points, and although accidents have happened to the waggons, absolutely destroying them, neither explosion nor fire has ever resulted. The quantity carried has exceeded 3,000,000 pounds.
Newspaper Details
Iron
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Nov 24, 1877
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 17 Jun 2023
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