{{short description|Smokeless propellant made from two high explosives}}[[file:Stokes mortar cartridge diagram.jpg|thumb|Ballistite as seen in a cross-sectional diagram of a British WW1 Stokes trench mortar cartridge]]
'''Ballistite''' is a smokeless propellant made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel in the late 19th century.
== History ==
=== Invention ===
Alfred Nobel patented Ballistite in 1887 while living in Paris.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/list-of-alfred-nobels-patents/ | title=Alfred Nobel's patents | date=27 October 2015 }}</ref> His formulation was composed of 10% camphor and equal parts nitroglycerine and collodion.<ref name=ss-136>{{Harvnb|Schűck|Sohlman|1929|page=136}}</ref> The camphor reacted with any acidic products of the chemical breakdown of the two explosives. This both stabilized the explosive against further decomposition and prevented spontaneous explosions. However, camphor tends to evaporate over time, leaving a potentially unstable mixture.<ref name=ss-140-141>{{Harvnb|Schűck|Sohlman|1929|pp=140–141}}</ref>
Nobel's patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind".{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} He offered to sell the rights of the new explosive to the French government, but was declined. Modern research<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |date=2009 |title=Paul Vieille, Cordite & Ballistite |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23787093 |journal=Icon |volume=15 |pages=40–60 |jstor=23787093 |issn=1361-8113}}</ref> shows that Vieille already discovered it in 1884-1885, about the same time as his Poudre B, and noted its high flame temperatures leading to bore erosion.<ref name=":0" /> This led the French military to conclude it was unsuitable for military use (indeed, it was a problem for all the militaries which tried to use double- base propellants later).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/66012948 | title=Paul Vieille, Cordite & Ballistite | date=January 2009 | last1=Bergman | first1=Yoel }}</ref> Nobel subsequently licensed the rights to the Italian government, which entered into a contract on 1 August 1889 to obtain {{convert|300,000|kg|abbr=on}} of Ballistite; and Nobel opened a factory at Avigliana, Turin.<ref name=ss-138-139>{{Harvnb|Schűck|Sohlman|1929|pp=138–9}}</ref>
=== Military adoption ===
The Italian Army swiftly replaced their M1870 and M1870/87 rifles, which used black powder cartridges, by the new M1890 Vetterli, which used ballistite cartridges. As Italy was a competing great power, this was not received well by the French press and public. Newspapers accused Nobel of industrial espionage by spying on Paul Vieille (the inventor of Poudre B), and "high treason against France".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography of Alfred Nobel, Inventor of Dynamite |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/alfred-nobel-biography-4176433 |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref> Following a police investigation, he was refused permission to conduct any more research, or to manufacture explosives in France. He therefore moved to San Remo in Italy, in 1891, where he spent the last five years of his life.<ref name=ss-139-140>{{Harvnb|Schűck|Sohlman|1929|pp=139–140}}</ref>
=== Cordite and legal issues ===
Meanwhile, a government committee in Great Britain, called the "Explosives Committee" and chaired by Sir Frederick Abel, monitored foreign developments in explosives. Abel and Sir James Dewar, who was also on the committee, jointly patented a modified form of ballistite in 1889.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |date=2022-11-20 |title=The Technological Need: Abel & Dewar's Primary Motive for Inventing Cordite in 1889 |url=https://journals.gold.ac.uk/index.php/bjmh//article/view/1651 |journal=British Journal for Military History |language=en |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=202–219 |doi=10.25602/GOLD.bjmh.v8i3.1651 |issn=2057-0422}}</ref> This consisted of 58% nitroglycerin by weight, 37% guncotton and 5% petroleum jelly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |date=28 November 2022 |title=The Technological Need: Abel & Dewar's Primary Motive for Inventing Cordite in 1889 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365797403 |journal=British Journal for Military History |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=204 |doi=10.25602/GOLD.bjmh.v8i3.1651 |issn=2057-0422}}</ref> Using acetone as a solvent, it was extruded as spaghetti-like rods initially called "cord powder" or "the committee's modification of ballistite", but this was soon abbreviated to cordite.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-11 |title=Nitroglycerin {{!}} Description, Properties, & Uses {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/nitroglycerin#ref38676 |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
After unsuccessful negotiations, in 1893, Nobel sued Abel and Dewar over patent infringement and lost the case.<ref name=Schuck&Sohlman-142>Schück & Sohlman, page 142</ref> It then went to the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords in 1895, where he also lost the two appeals and the Nobel's Explosives Company had to pay the costs.<ref name=Schuck&Sohlman-142/> The claim was lost because the words "of the well-known soluble kind" in his patent were taken to mean soluble collodion, and to specifically exclude the ether-alcohol-insoluble guncotton.<ref name=Schuck&Sohlman-142/>
== Uses ==
Rifle grenades such as the ENERGA<ref>{{Cite web |title=www.canadiansoldiers.com |url=https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/weapons/lightweapons/lightantitank/piat.htm |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=www.canadiansoldiers.com}}</ref> and Spigot mortar rounds used in the PIAT<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian Military Forces, Army headquarters, formation and unit diaries, 1939-1945, November 1943 part 2 |url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1018976/document/4310118.PDF |access-date=January 4, 2025}}</ref> used Ballistite.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 2018 |title=Organization of the British Infantry Battalion 1939-1945 |url=https://www.bayonetstrength.uk/BritishArmy/BritInfBn/Org%20of%20the%20British%20Inf%20Bn%201938-45.pdf |access-date=January 4, 2025 |website=www.bayonetstrength.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 1946 |title=Ammunition Bulletin no.51 |url=https://stephentaylorhistorian.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/ammunition-bulletin-no-51.pdf |access-date=January 4, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ammunition and Package Markings |url=https://www.bulletpicker.com/pdf/57%20Amm%204068,%20Ammunition%20and%20Package%20Markings.pdf |url-status=dead |access-date=January 4, 2025 |website=www.bulletpicker.com |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607063047/https://www.bulletpicker.com/pdf/57%20Amm%204068,%20Ammunition%20and%20Package%20Markings.pdf }}</ref>
Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=High Explosives And Propellants (download) |url=http://chemistry-chemists.com/chemister/Warning/Explosives/High-Explosives-And-Propellants.pdf |access-date=January 4, 2025 |website=chemistry-chemists.com}}</ref>
== References ==
{{refs}}
== Bibliography == {{commonscat}}
{{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Davis |first=Tenney L |title=The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives |volume=II |location=New York |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |year=1943 |isbn=978-1559180436}} * {{cite book |last1=Schűck |first1=H |last2=Sohlman |first2=R |year=1929 |isbn=0-444-00117-4 |title=The Life of Alfred Nobel |location=London |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd}} {{refend}}
Category:Alfred Nobel Category:Explosives Category:Firearm propellants Category:Swedish inventions