DONALD DUCK
DON'T WORRY, BOYS
I'LL TURN ON THE RADIO AND FOLLOW THE RADIO BEAM TO THE AIRPORTĮ.
GEE, IT
SURE IS
GETTIN AWFUL
FOGGY!
Wachd Raben Roserved
GEE HOW'S
THAT WORK,
UNCA DONALD'S
Tuesday,
CHILD'S PLAY BOYS1
IF Y GO OFF THE
COURSE...
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
THE SIGNALS GET WEAKI IF Y...
· MAGAZINE WHAT
E
MUCH-BOMBED citizens
may gain small consola- tion in learning, that their troubles are caused by waves of high-pressure air, lasting about 1-10,000th of a second and created by the combustion of trinitrotoluene and ammoni- um nitrate. But a knowledge of high-explosives is certainly topical nowadays and may be useful.
There are hundreds of ex- plosives, with varying powers and qualities, but "work" roughly the same way. A mixture, or compound, of chemicals which is stable en- ough in the ordinary way is either ignited by fire or "shocked" by a blow or minor
„„KEEP ON IT? THEY OET STRONGER AND ST..or
December 3, 1940
By Walt Disney
PAGE
MAKES AN
SA
POST
By A. P. Luscombe Whyte
perts. They wanted vastly more power. And they want- ed different types of explosives -for filling bombs and shells they wanted fast-burning ones which developed all their force in an instantaneous, shattering
-explosion-The-result-is-a-blast; for propelling shells
violent reaction, producing great quantities of gas which burst the container and com- press the surrounding air into an expanding steel-hard wall moving at a speed of miles a second which pushes buildings and people before it.
Following this wave of pres- aure comes one of low pressure
virtual vacuum. Walls and windows damaged by the first blast aro dragged out- wards into the street. It has saved many in basements: killed some on the pavements. *
com-
The first explosive really dates back to the thirteenth century when Roger Bacon's experiments produced the first pure nitre which, mixed with charcoal and sulphur, makes gunpowder (The earlier Chin- eso "explosives" were parative toys.) The first guns arrived early in the next cen- could tury and for years
stone throw only iron or cannon-balls. The first ex- plosive. "shells-metal balls filled with gunpowder and ex- ploded by a fuse consisting of a tube filled with powder were used in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They were not successful and did not supersede cannon-balls.
The perfection of percussion dovices, which would explode on contact and set off the main charge, camo only in the early nineteenth century. They made possible the modern rifle, sholl and bomb, but it was mid century before the time fuse was ready for barrage war-
or hundreds of years gun- powder was virtually the only explosive. This did not suit nineteenthcenture": "war" ex-
out of their guns they needed slow-burning explosives, which would not shatter the barrels but would exert a steady growing pressure on the shells,
In 1846 nitro-glycerine was produced. By spraying gly. cerine into a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, the scien- tists found that a thick, oily with dangerous substance habits was produced. If drop- ped, hit, shaken violently, it vast force. exploded with
Some kinda went off if a fly was rash enough to alight on the surface.
.1.
No us as a commercial or explosive, this. Until war Nobel in 1867 mixed the tem- peramental nitro-glycerino with wood flour and produced a fairly stable, easily handled plastic mass which he called few years dynamite. A
earlier other experimenters had treated cotton and wood- pulp with nitric acid and pro- duced another fairly safe (if absolutely puro) explosive-- ideal for filling torpedoes when they arrived Inter on-which was called gun-cotton. Other explosives followed. Modern warfare was about to quicken its tempo.
Named trinitrotoluene, T.N.T. for short, it had a tremendous blasting effect as a filler for shells and bombs. It is still being used as such to-day-- despite the rumours of hewer and more devastating agents..
It was not hard to make. Toluene, a liquid derived from coal, was mixed with hitric and sulphuric acids, and after a process of agitation and tem- perature regulation, an oil which solidified when poured into water, was produced. One of the safest-except for the enemy-of explosives.
Bombs and shells to-day are filled with T.N.T. or with an explosive called Amatol, which as a mixture of T.N.T, and am- monium nitrate, and nearly smokeless. Amatol does not
Bar-
important. There have been rumours of a "now" liquid-air bomb, tried out with "unexam- pled devastation" on celona This explosive is not new and probably unsuitable for warfare. For long miners have used a cartridge of car- bon, which is soaked in cold new and probably unsuitable liquid air or oxygen immedi- ately before it is needed, and explodes violently when deton- uted. No dangerous fumes are caused, but the liquid air evaporates rapidly at ordinary temperatures, and the cartri- dge soon goes dead.
. Bombs filled with this explo- sive would be difficult to handle and, experts say, no more devastating than T.N.T. Most possible or Amatol. explosive mixtures and com- already been pounds have tried out and a new "super- super" filing for bombs is not likely.
explode on slight provocation FUNNY SIDE UP
so the modern bomb contains a "booster" charge of ordinary powder, which is set off by a small "percussion" charge of fulminate of mercury as the bomb hits the ground, and in turn starts off the main explo- sive charge,
A bomb loaded into a plane will not go off however much you belabour It. But, as it falls through the air, a tiny propoller-spinner twists off in the rush of wind, and rendera the bomb "alive." The weight of steel casing, nose-cap, fins, fuses and "booster" 'charge is such that the actual explosive is not more than half the total weight of the bomb and-in armour-piercing bombs is only about one-tenth.
Form combinations of oily nitro-glycerine and solid gun- cotton came the first cordites -slow-burning, safe pxplo- sives, suitable for propelling bullets and sholls. Improved cordites are used. to-day (it takes an 80 lb. charge to fling a medium-sized shell). Uncompressed and lit, they just burnt flercely. But com- pressed and sent off by a per- cussion cap's small burst, they developed great explosivo force: all
Much later but in time for the Inst var cam
The time-bomb, intended to crash through buildings and pavements, is stronger but molds less explosive than the contact bomb which goes, off directly it hits and causes a little crater. Acid, eating slowly through a metal con- tainer of any desired thickness, provides the "time fuso, actuates the detonator.
about the
Killed By Disease He Fought
SIR HENRY HEAD, one of the world's greatest neuro- logists, devoted most of his life to finding out more about paralysis.
..
He risked getting the dis- case by experimenting on him-
self.
He even cut the nerves of his legs, arm, near the elbow, to study "deep sensibility," and recorded his reactions day by day.
Eventually he fell a victim to Parkinson's disease, the form of paralysis which had occupied most of his studies.
Recently his death, at the age of 79, was announced.
Cutting through the nerves of his left arm 31 years ago led to the development of new forms of surgery being de- veloped in the treatment of nervous diseases.
Specialists learned from this experiment how messages are transmitted from the nerves to the brain.
Nobody knew more than Sir Henry about Parkinson's dis- case, which is also known as trembling palsy. Trembling movements in certain parts tend to become widely diffused throughout the body.
Sir Henry became afflicted years With the development of the disease he became a cripple.
100.
As he gradually lost the use of his hands, Lady Head undertook all his correspond- ence and she handled his reference books for him until her death a year ago.
BLOOD TRANSFUSION GOES AHEAD.
on
The large scale air raids on London
big calls have necessitated the blood transfusion services. Re- now of blood are Hular deliveries being made to the hospitals, often during raids and hundreds of lives have been saved. On one day alone some 300 pints of blood were given by donors, while S.0.S. calls have met with a magnificent response.
By Abner Dean
from him in the
roundi
WALT
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PROPERTS POLO
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IN
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75c. per jar
LANE, CRAWFORD, LTD.
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GIFT STATIONERY
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Kod
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