CORDITE, a smokeless powder employed by the English government. It was invented in 1889 by Sir Frederick Abel and Prof. James Dewar, and originally consisted of a mixture of nitro-glycerine 58 parts, nitrocellulose 37, vaseline 5, but on account of the erosion of the bore caused by the high percentage.of nitro glycerine and the danger of exudation of the nitro-glycerine and consequent detonation, the present proportions are more nearly 15 parts of nitro-glycerine, 80 of nitrocellulose and 5 of vaseline. This demanded an increase in the capacity of the gun chambers. This was done gradually, so that guns of earlier design could be used till they wore out.
The nitrocellulose is a mixture of various cellulose nitrates, insoluble and soluble. At the Royal Gunpowder Works at Waltham Abbey it is required that the nitrocellulose used shall not contain more than 12 per cent of soluble cellu lose nitrate, or 0.6 per cent of mineral im purities, nor less than 12.5 per cent of nitrogen.
It is made by intimately mixing the ingredients in a mechanical kneading-machine with the aid of acetone, by which the whole is converted into a gelatinous mass which is then squirted into cords by means of a ((stuff press," a machine similar to those used in forming macaroni. The vary in diameter from 0.01 inch to 0.65 inch. The former are chopped into short lengths for use in pistols, the latter for use in 12-inch guns. The cords for small-arm car tridges are 0.0375 inch in diameter. The cords are heated in drying houses to drive off the acetone, leaving them in the form of an amber colored, translucent, flexible mass.
Cordite is made up into charges by re-ling the cords on bobbins, and then spinning these strands into larger cords, thus obtaining the desired length, volume and weight. See Ex