ond.

The internal pressure not to exceed 3.5 tons.

This Company also manufactures a new form of powder, known as Imperial
Schultze. It is a powder somewhat lighter in gravity; 33 grains occupies
the bulk charge, as compared with the 42 grains of the old. It follows in
its composition much the lines of the older powder, but it is quite free
from smoke, and leaves no residue whatever.

~The E.G. Powder.~--This is one of the oldest of the nitro powders. It was
invented by Reid and Johnson in 1882. It is now manufactured by the E.G.
Powder Company Limited, at their factory near Dartford, Kent, and in
America by the Anglo-American E.G. Powder Company, at New Jersey. The
basis of this powder is a fine form of cellulose, derived from cotton,
carefully purified, and freed from all foreign substances, and carefully
nitrated. Its manufacture is somewhat as follows:--Pure nitro-cotton, in
the form of a fine powder, is rotated in a drum, sprinkled with water, and
the drum rotated until the nitro-cotton has taken the form of grains. The
grains are then dried and moistened with ether-alcohol, whereby the
moisture is gelatinised, and afterwards coloured with aurine, which gives
them an orange colour. They are then dried and put through a sieve, in
order to separate the grains which may have stuck together during the
gelatinising process.

Since its introduction soon after 1881, E.G. powder has undergone
considerable modifications, and is now a distinctly different product from
a practical point of view. It is now and has been since 1897 what is known
as a 33-grain powder, that is to say, the old standard charge of 3 drams
by measure for a 12-bore gun weighs 33 grains, as compared with 42 grains
for the original E.G. and other nitro powders. This improvement was
effected by a reduction of the barium nitrate and the use of nitro-
cellulose of a higher degree of nitration, and also more gelatinisation in
manufacture. The granules are very hard, and resist moisture to an extent
hitherto unattainable by any "bulk" powder.

Irregularities of pressure in loading have also a minimum effect by reason
of the hardness of the grains. The colouring matter used is aurine, and
the small quantity of nitrate used is the barium salt. The powder is
standardised for pressure velocity with Boulenge chronograph,[A] pattern
and gravimetric density by elaborate daily tests, and is continually
subjected to severe trials for stability under various condi