TRI-NITRO-GLYCERIN,
AS APPLIED IN THE
Hoosac Tunnel, Submarine Blasting,
ETC., ETC., ETC.
BY
GEO. M. MOWBRAY,
NORTH ADAMS, MASS.
1872.
NORTH ADAMS:
JAMES T. ROBINSON & SON, PRINTERS AND BINDERS,
TRANSCRIPT OFFICE,
Transcript Building, Bank Street.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872,
by GEORGE M. MOWBRAY,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.
DEDICATION.
To Walter Shanly, M. P.
Indebted to you for the resources which have enabled me to investigatethe properties of Nitro-Glycerin, and render its manufacture acommercial success, permit me to dedicate the following pages in tokenof my appreciation of the indomitable energy, admirable organization,integrity of purpose, and engineering talent which have rescued theHoosac Tunnel from the mire of politics and rendered it an engineeringsuccess; notwithstanding extraordinary impediments of flood, waterfissures, strikes, jealousy and indifference on the part of thosechiefly interested, that must have been most disheartening to yourmind, and challenged a resolution and resources seldom combined withthe abilities you have shewn in this work. Our relations during thepast three years having been without a ripple, render this, my simpleduty, an agreeable task.
PREFACE.
A paper read by request at the Albany Institute, was the germ of thefollowing pages; its publication in this form, I considered wouldfurnish engineers, contractors and railroad directors, who occasionallyapply to me for particulars as to the use of Nitro-Glycerin in theHoosac Tunnel, with detailed information impossible to condense ina business letter. Hurriedly composed during the spare hours of amanufacture involving grave responsibility, the writer weighted withthe additional task of defeating an attempt to monopolize the use (notthe manufacture) of Nitro-Glycerin throughout the United States, whilstthe subject itself, “Explosives, and firing mines by Electricity,”constantly demanded experimental research, this work has not thearrangement nor the completeness I could desire; but the author hopesit will create a more favorable regard in the public mind, towards themost powerful blasting agent known, by correcting errors in respectto its properties, and the casualties attending its use; and assistminers and contractors to a more intelligent acquaintance with some ofthe materials the present advanced state of engineering progress hasbrought into practical use.
North Adams, Mass., June 1st, 1872.