Nitration Thomsons’ method

Finishing wood cellulose Other sources of cellulose Drying cellulose before nitration Industrial nitration of cellulose Mixed acids Nitration m pots Centrifugal nitration Thomsons method Nitration with mechanical stirring German method Continuous methods of nitration Literature... 

The principle features of Thomsons method are (7) immersing the cotton in the acid, and (2) after nitration washing out the acid with water. 

The nitration of cotton by the Thomsons method, as applied in francs [14]... 

Unstable esters formed during nitrating also undergo decomposition, when water is added. Nitrocotton prepared by Thomsons method is therefore more stable than the product obtained by other methods. Due to partial denitration, the solubility of the guncotton in an ether-alcohol solution is increased. 

Thomsons process is advantageous for many reasons the actual operation is simple and the atmosphere in the nitration shops is free from health hazards. The nitrocotton removed from the nitrators contains only a small quantities of acid, and is easier to stabilize than nitrocellulose produced by other methods. The loss of acid is negligible indeed, and this is the chief advantage of the process. 

PP 378-80 Ref 8, pp 100-02). Method of stabilisation of NC by boiling in w is described in Ref 2, p 183- The yield on dry cotton waste, at Dart-ford Works, was only 160.0% when centrifuges were used w/o acid circulation D. Displacement Process of Thomson, called also Nathan and Thomson s Displacement Process, It has been used since 1905 at Waltham Abbey, England, Most of the British plants manufg NC for use tn Cordite are still using this method. For example, the Cordite plant of Canadian Industries Ltd at Beloeil, near Montreal used this process during WWII. Thomson s nitrators were installed in 1908 at Picatinny Arsenal, but were later re-... 

The process of manufacture now about to be described is the outcome of a long series of improvements which have been made at intervals upon the methods originally adopted by Alfred Nobel, the pioneer in the commercial production of this substance. The nitrator-separator in its present form was first used at Waltham Abbey in the Royal Gunpowder Factory, and is the subject of the British Patent 15,983 of 1901, taken out by Colonel Sir Frederic L. Nathan, R.A., Mr J. M. Thomson, F.I.C., and Mr Wm. Rintoul, F.I.C. 

Abel s method of nitrating cotton was not elegant. The plant was a series of water-cooled cast-iron pots containing mixed acid into which cotton hanks were dipped. J. M. Thomson from Ardeer and his brother came to work at Waltham Abbey and in 1905 devised the displacement process. William MacNab describes the operation ... 

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