Ballistite - Revision history

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Admin: Created page with "Ballistite is a Smokeless powder made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel i..."

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Created page with "Ballistite is a Smokeless powder made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel i..."

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Ballistite is a [[smokeless propellant|Smokeless powder]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:38, 1 February 2021
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	Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.		Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
−

	== Development of Smokeless Powder ==		== Development of Smokeless Powder ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:37, 1 February 2021
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	Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.		Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
		+

	== Development of Smokeless Powder ==		== Development of Smokeless Powder ==

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 Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
-== Development ==
+For about a thousand years, black powder (Poudre N, Poudre Noire) was the only practical propellant. However, there were many tactical disadvantages in the use of black powder. First, a squad of soldiers firing volleys would be completely unable to see their targets after just a few shots. Second, their location would quickly be obvious because of the cloud of smoke generated by the propellant. Also, black powder severely fouled barrels. This required constant cleaning, sometimes even in the heat of battle. Such fouling also limited the introduction of [[Rifling|rifled]] firearms with tighter-fitting bullets.
-Alfred Nobel patented[citation needed] Ballistite in 1887 while he was living in Paris. His formulation was composed of 10% camphor and equal parts nitroglycerine and collodion.[1] The camphor reacted with any acidic products of the chemical breakdown of the two explosives. This both stabilized the explosive against further decomposition and prevented spontaneous explosions. However, camphor tends to evaporate over time, leaving a potentially unstable mixture.
+For rifles, this problem was partially overcome with the introduction of the [[Minie ball]] and the resulting rifled musket. Black powder fouling also meant that early revolvers were often built for a loose fit to prevent jamming. Autoloading firearms quickly become inoperable due to fouling. Worse still, black powder is corrosive.
 Nobel's patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind".

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:24, 1 February 2021
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		+
	Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.		Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:24, 1 February 2021
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	Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.		Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
		+

	== Development ==		== Development ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:16, 1 February 2021
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	Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.		Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.
		+
		+	== See Also ==
		+
		+	* [[Black Powder]]
		+	* [[Smokeless Powder]]
		+	* [[Cordite]]
		+	* [[Poudre B]]

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 Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
 == Development ==
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 Nobel's patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind".
 == Military Adoption ==
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 As Italy was a competing great power to France, this was not received well by the French press and the public. The newspapers accused Nobel of industrial espionage, by spying on [[Paul Vieille]] (the inventor of [[Poudre B]]), and "high treason against France". After a police investigation, Nobel was refused permission to conduct any more research, or to manufacture explosives in France. As a result, he moved to San Remo, Italy in 1891 where he spent the last five years of his life.
 == Modern Use ==
 Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:03, 1 February 2021
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−	Ballistite is a [[smokeless propellant~~\|Smokeless powder~~]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.	+	Ballistite is a [[Smokeless powder\|smokeless propellant]] made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by [[Alfred Nobel]] in the late 19th century.
		+
		+
		+	== Development ==
		+
		+	Alfred Nobel patented[citation needed] Ballistite in 1887 while he was living in Paris. His formulation was composed of 10% camphor and equal parts nitroglycerine and collodion.[1] The camphor reacted with any acidic products of the chemical breakdown of the two explosives. This both stabilized the explosive against further decomposition and prevented spontaneous explosions. However, camphor tends to evaporate over time, leaving a potentially unstable mixture.
		+
		+	Nobel's patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind".
		+
		+
		+	== Military Adoption ==
		+
		+	Nobel offered to sell the rights of his new explosive to the French government. They declined, mainly because they had recently adopted [[Poudre B]] for military use. He subsequently licensed Ballistite to the Italian government. They entered into a contract with Nobel on 1 August 1889 to obtain 300,000 kilograms of Ballistite. As a result, Nobel opened a factory at Avigliana, Turin.
		+
		+	The Italian Army swiftly replaced their [[Vetterli M1870]] and [[Vetterli M1870/87]] rifles, which used [[Black powder\|black powder]] cartridges, to a new model, the [[Vetterli M1890]], which used a cartridge loaded with ballistite.
		+
		+	As Italy was a competing great power to France, this was not received well by the French press and the public. The newspapers accused Nobel of industrial espionage, by spying on [[Paul Vieille]] (the inventor of [[Poudre B]]), and "high treason against France". After a police investigation, Nobel was refused permission to conduct any more research, or to manufacture explosives in France. As a result, he moved to San Remo, Italy in 1891 where he spent the last five years of his life.
		+
		+
		+	== Modern Use ==
		+
		+	Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.