Existing comment:
Gunpowder:
Throughout the nineteenth century, DuPont primarily produced gunpowder, a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), charcoal, and sulfur. Careful attention to the purification of the ingredients and to the separate steps of its manufacture gave DuPont a product with acknowledged superiority over its competitors' gunpowder. They produced cannon, mortar, musket, and rifle powder for the army and navy as well as sporting, blasting, mining, and fuse powders.
The product remained largely unchanged until 1857 when Lammot de Pont (1831-1884), a grandson of E.I. with a degree in chemistry, patented a "B" blasting or soda powder, which used the more readily available sodium nitrate in place of potassium nitrate. By varying the composition of the powder and its processing, Lammot succeeded in making a blasting powder that became heavily used in the mining industry. At this point, the older product, traditional gunpowder, became known as black powder.
Upon request of the government, DuPont began exploring a new type of gunpowder -- one based on nitrocellulose that had been developed in Europe. DuPont began producing smokeless powder in 1894 using an improved manufacturing process that Francis G. and Pierre S. du Pont patented in 1893. Smokeless powder was primarily made for military use but it also became popular for hunting and trapshooting. |