Editing Cordite (section)

== Adoption of smokeless powder by the British government ==

=== Replacements for gunpowder (black powder)===
[[Gunpowder]], an explosive mixture of [[sulfur]], [[charcoal]] and [[potassium nitrate]] (also known as [[saltpetre]]), was the original propellant employed in [[firearm]]s  and [[fireworks]]. It was used from about the 10th or 11th century onward, but it had disadvantages, including the large amount of smoke it produced. With the 19th-century development of various "nitro explosives", based on the reaction of [[nitric acid]] mixtures on materials such as [[cellulose]] and [[glycerin]], a search began for a replacement for gunpowder.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |author-link=Spencer C. Tucker |title=Almanac of American Military History |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9781598845303 |page=1170}}</ref>

=== Early European smokeless powders ===
The first smokeless powder was developed in 1865 by [[Johann Edward Schultze]]. At the time of this breakthrough, Schultze was a captain of Prussian artillery. Schultze eventually rose to the rank of colonel. His formulation (dubbed ''Schultze Powder'') was composed of [[nitrolignose]] derived from nitrated wood grains, impregnated with [[saltpetre]] or [[barium nitrate]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Schultz White Gunpowder |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-schultz-white-gunpowder/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=Scientific American|date=22 May 1869}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Schultze powder – Big Chemical Encyclopedia |url=https://chempedia.info/info/schultze_powder/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=chempedia.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=No text – Big Chemical Encyclopedia |url=https://chempedia.info/page/211093075100072185201130029045085251003094141219/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=chempedia.info}}</ref>

In 1882, the [[Explosive Company of Stowmarket]] introduced ''EC Powder'', which contained nitro-cotton and nitrates of potassium and barium in a grain gelatinised by ether alcohol. It had coarser grains than other nitrocellulose powders. It proved unsuitable for rifles, but it remained in long use for shotguns<ref name="artillery">Hogg OFG, 'Artillery: Its Origin, Heyday and Decline', Hurst & Company, London, 1989</ref> and was later used for grenades and fragmentation bombs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Æ Aeragon Redirect |url=https://www.aeragon.com/o/me/ni.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126001449/https://www.aeragon.com/military-technology-transfer/1865-1914/nitrocellulose-smokeless-powder.html#ecpowder |archive-date=November 26, 2022 |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.aeragon.com}}</ref>

In 1884, the French chemist [[Paul Vieille]] produced a smokeless propellant that had some success. It was made out of [[collodion]] ([[nitrocellulose]] dissolved in [[ethanol]] and [[Diethyl ether|ether]]), resulting in a plastic colloidal substance which was rolled into very thin sheets, then dried and cut up into small flakes. It was immediately adopted by the French military for their Mle 1886 infantry rifle and called ''[[Poudre B]]'' (for ''poudre blanche'', or ''white powder'') to distinguish it from ''black powder'' (gunpowder). The rifle and the cartridge developed to use this powder were known generically as the [[8mm Lebel]], after the officer who developed its 8&nbsp;mm [[full metal jacket bullet]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |title=Paul Vieille, Cordite & Ballistite |date=2009 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23787093 |journal=Icon |volume=15 |pages=40–60 |jstor=23787093 |issn=1361-8113}}</ref>

The following year, 1887, [[Alfred Nobel]] invented and [[patent]]ed a smokeless propellant he called ''[[Ballistite]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |date=2017-10-20 |title=Fair Chance and not a Blunt Refusal: New Understandings on Nobel, France, and Ballistite in 1889 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/vulc/5/1/article-p29_29.xml |journal=Vulcan |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=29–41 |doi=10.1163/22134603-00501003 |issn=2213-4603|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was composed of 10% [[camphor]], 45% [[nitroglycerin]]e and 45% collodion (nitrocellulose). Over time the camphor tended to evaporate, leaving an unstable explosive.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bergman |first=Yoel |date=2011 |title=Alfred Nobel, Aniline and Diphenylamine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23789960 |journal=Icon |volume=17 |pages=57–67 |jstor=23789960 |issn=1361-8113}}</ref>

=== Development ===
[[File:Heike Kamerlingh Onnes - 33 - James Dewar in the Royal Institution in London, around 1900.png|thumb|upright|Sir James Dewar at work]]
A United Kingdom government committee, known as the "Explosives Committee", chaired by Sir [[Frederick Augustus Abel|Frederick Abel]], monitored foreign developments in explosives and obtained samples of Poudre B and Ballistite; neither of these smokeless powders was recommended for adoption by the Explosives Committee.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Abel, Sir [[James Dewar]] and W Kellner, who was also on the committee, developed and jointly patented (Nos 5,614 and 11,664 in the names of Abel and Dewar) in 1889 a new ballistite-like propellant in 1889. It consists of (by weight) 58% [[nitroglycerin]], 37% [[guncotton]] (nitrocellulose) and 5% [[petroleum jelly]]. 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 swiftly abbreviated to "Cordite".{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Cordite began as a ''double-base'' propellant. In the 1930s, ''triple-base'' was developed by including a substantial proportion of [[nitroguanidine]]. Triple-base propellant reduced the disadvantages of double-base propellant – its relatively high temperature and significant flash. [[Imperial Chemical Industries]]'s (ICI) World War II double-base ''AN'' formulation also had a much lower temperature, but it lacked the flash reduction properties of N and NQ triple-base propellants.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Whilst cordite is classified as an [[explosive]], it is not employed as a high explosive. It is designed to [[deflagration|deflagrate]], or burn, to produce high pressure gases.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

=== Nobel and Abel patent dispute ===
{{See also|1895 vote of no confidence in the Rosebery ministry}}
Alfred Nobel sued Abel and Dewar over an alleged [[patent]] infringement. His patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind". After losing the case, it went to the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]]. This dispute eventually reached the [[House of Lords]], in 1895, but it was finally lost because the words "of the well-known soluble kind" in his patent were taken to mean the soluble collodion, and hence specifically excluded the insoluble guncotton.<ref name="life of nobel-7">{{Harvnb|Schuck|Sohlman|1929|pages=136–144}}</ref> The ambiguous phrase was "soluble nitro-cellulose": soluble nitro-cellulose was known as ''Collodion'' and was soluble in [[ethanol|alcohol]]. It was employed mainly for medical and [[photograph]]ic use. In contrast, insoluble in alcohol, nitrocellulose was known as ''gun cotton'' and was used as an explosive.<ref name="life of nobel-7"/><ref name="life of nobel-I">{{Harvnb|Schuck|Sohlman|1929|loc=Appendix I: ''Alfred Nobel's English lawsuit. Mr justice Romer's judgment in the "Cordite Case"''}}</ref> Nobel's patent refers to the production of [[Celluloid]] using [[camphor]] and soluble nitrocellulose; and this was taken to imply that Nobel was specifically distinguishing between the use of soluble and insoluble nitrocellulose.<ref name="life of nobel-I"/> For a forensic analysis of the case, see The History of Explosives Vol II; The Case for Cordite, John Williams (2014).  However, in her comprehensive 2019 biography of Alfred Nobel<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carlberg |first1=Ingrid |title=Nobel: Den gåtfulle Alfred, hans värld och hans pris |year=2019 |publisher=Norstedts |place=Stockholm |language=sv|isbn=978-91-1-306939-5  }}</ref> [[Ingrid Carlberg]] notes how closely Abel and Dewar were allowed to follow Nobel's work in Paris, and how disappointed Nobel was with how this trust was betrayed. The book argues for Nobel as the original inventor and that the case was lost because of an unimportant technicality.