User:Chuckhoffmann/Jovite

Jovite was the trade name of powdered high explosive mixtures initially developed in the late 19th century by Dr. Jonas E. Blomén.

Blomén was originally granted US patent 506032 for granulated particles of an oxidizer coated with the mixture of a hydrocarbon and nitrophenol in October 1893.

Two formulations of jovite were submitted by the Jovite Manufacturing company for Army testing as an alternative to wet guncotton and emmensite, which was conducted in June 1895 at Fort Hamilton, New York.

The first was jovite N. A., which was a mixture of nitronaphthalene, nitrophenol and ammonium nitrate in the proportions of 5%, 8%, and 87% , while the second was jovite N. S., which was a mixture of nitronaphthalene, nitrophenol and sodium nitrate in the proportions of 5%, 35%, and 60%.

However, both mixtures were so insensitive that they could not be reliably ignited with detonators using 24 grains of mercury fulminate, and further testing was not recommended.

In 1896, jovite was used as the filler for several test shells to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Hathaway High Explosives Company's new detonators. Conducted in February 1896 at the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, all five shells fired failed to detonate fully.

Accidents of manufacture

On August 7, 1900 an explosion destroyed a factory at Ditchley in Fairfax County, Virginia where a quantity of jovite was being prepared, badly injuring a worker.

Late in the afternoon of June 1, 1903, 1500 pounds of jovite exploded at a manufacturing plant in Elmira, New York, killing three and injuring four more, in addition to destroying the plant and causing damage in a two-mile radius.