Combustible paper cartridges

Ordnance practices, the term combustible cartridge case is referred to cases fabricated from fibrous NC and a binder. Such cases produce no residue when fired in a conventional artillery weapon system. The term consumable cartridge case has been reserved for cases prepd from combustible materials other than NC, such as woodpulp or paper impregnated with a phenolformaldehyde resin In each type of case, fungicides, flash reducing agents and gun erosion inhibitors can be incorporated... 

It seems that no work on combustible and consumable cartridge cases was done in US until after the Korean War. Gen Ghormley states in his paper published in 1962(Ref 15,p 233), that atxmt 10 years ago (i.e. 1952), the Army Ordnance Corps began to support a resear ch program on combustible cartridge cases, which was carried out at Picatinny Arsenal, Dover,... 

Most of the work done in US on combustible and consumable cartridge cases has been published in classified reports(See Refs, 1,3,4, 6,7,8,9,10,11,14,16,17,18,21,22 26) and cannot be used here as sources of information. There are, however, some unclassified papers and reportsfSee Refs 5,12,13,15,19,20,23,24 25), which give some important info on the present status of research and development of combustible and consumable cartridge cases. Especially valuable info is contained in Refs 20,23 24... 

W.O. Seals J. Veltman of PicArsn Refs l)K.F.Beal, A Paper on Combustible Cartridge Cases , Armour Research Foundation Rept,21 Oct 1954, Project C067 (conf)... 

Continuous Methods for Manufacturing Nitrocellulose. Several methods are known, of which the Dietzsch process developed during WWII in Germany is briefly described here under Combustible and Consumable Cartridge Cases. This method combines vapor-phase and liquid-phase nitration processes. The Japanese used during WWII a continuous liquid-phase method of nitration of paper pulp, which was in the form of a sheet... 

Dynamite is not a single molecular compound but a mixture of explosive and nonexplosive materials formulated in cylindrical paper or cardboard cartridges for a number of different blasting applications. Originally Nobel simply absorbed NG into kieselguhr, an inert diatomaceous material, but later he replaced that with active ingredients—finely divided fuels and oxidizers called dopes. Thus, energy is derived not only from the NG, but also from the reaction of oxidizers such as sodium nitrate with the combustibles. 

Both Liq Air and Liq Oxygen expls contain porous combustible material as fuel. These fuels are generally contained in paper or cloth cartridges. Occasionally liq fuels such as petroleum are mixed with the porous solids eg, some of Linde s early compositions (Ref 1) contained kieselguhr mixed with petroleum. Carbonized cork was also used in early Liq Air Expls, although charcoal was the original absorbent. More recently, as liq air was replaced... 

Not long ago, a committee, composed of Prof P. Bedson, Drs Drummond and Hume, Mr T. Bell, one of H.M. Inspectors of Coal Mines, and others, in considering the problem whether Ihe fumes produced by the combustion of tonite were injurious to health, carried out a series of experiments in coal mines for this purpose. The air at the "intake" was analysed, also the air of the "return," and the smoky air in the vicinity of the shot holes. The cartridge was surroimded by the flame-extinguishing mixture, and packed in a brown paper bag. During the first experiment nineteen shots were fired (= 6.29 lbs. tonite). The "return" air showed only a trace of carbonic oxide gas (CO). At the second experiment thirteen shots were fired (= 4.40 lbs. tonite), and analysis of the air of the "return" showed that CO was present in traces only, whilst the fumes contained only 1.9 to 4.8 parts per 10,000. 

Some cartridge cases are made of combustible materials (e.g., paper, plastic) that leave no residue or spent case to be removed from the device, tool, or weapon. In transportation terms, however, true combustible cases are those made of nitrocellulose which, being an explosive, adds force to the overall power of the explosive charge as well as leaving no residue. 

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