Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the oldest known chemical explosive. It is composed of sulfur and carbon, which serve as fuels, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter), which acts as an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been extensively utilized as a propellant in various applications, such as firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics. It has also been employed as a blasting agent in quarrying, mining, and construction projects like pipelines, tunnels, and roads.
DuPont developed Lesmok powder, a semi-smokeless powder combining black and nitrocellulose powder, in 1911.
Multiple British gunpowder manufacturers, including Explosives Trades Limited, merged to form Nobel Industries Limited in 1926, later becoming a founding member of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).
In December 1931, the Curtis & Harvey's Glynneath gunpowder factory located in Pontneddfechan, Wales, ceased operations.
Following its closure, the Curtis & Harvey's Glynneath gunpowder factory, situated in Pontneddfechan, Wales, was destroyed in a fire in 1932.
In 1941, a German parachute mine inflicted significant damage upon the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, leading to its permanent closure.
Winchester discontinued the sale of Lesmok powder in 1947.
ICI Nobel's gunpowder factory in Roslin ceased operations in 1954.
In 1966, MIT Press reprinted Vannoccio Biringuccio's "De la pirotechnia," a significant text on pyrotechnics originally published in 1540.
The gunpowder production area of ICI Nobel's Ardeer site in Scotland, the last operational gunpowder factory in Great Britain, closed in October 1976.
Fire is a rapid oxidation process called combustion releasing heat...
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