Gunpowder

GUNPOWDER. Albert Manucy explains that black powder was used in all firearms until smokeless and other type propellants were invented in the latter 1800's. "Black" powder (which was sometimes brown) is a mixture of about 75 parts saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 15 parts charcoal, and 10 parts sulfur by weight. It will explode because the mixture contains the necessary amount of oxygen for its own combustion. When it burns, it liberates smoky gases (mainly nitrogen and carbon dioxide) that occupy some 300 times as much space as the powder itself…. About 1450, powder makers began to "corn" the powder. That is, they formed it into larger grains, with a resulting increase in the velocity of the shot. It was "corned" in fine grains for small arms and coarse for cannon. Making corned powder was fairly simple. The three ingredients were pulverized and mixed, then compressed into cakes which were cut into "corns" or grains…. It has always been difficult to make powder twice alike and keep it in condition…. Black powder was, and is, both dangerous and unstable. Not only is it sensitive to flame or spark, but it absorbs moisture from the air. (Manucy, pp. 23-25)

Moreover, the components can settle out in storage, with the saltpeter, the heaviest ingredient, settling to the bottom of the cask. Powder casks had to be rolled periodically to ensure that the ingredients remained evenly distributed in the mixture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manucy, Albert. Artillery Through the Ages: A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America. National Park Service Interpretative Series, History No. 3. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office for the National Park Service, 1949.