Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1904 — Maximite Safe Enough. [ARTICLE]

Maximite Safe Enough.

Mp Maxim will show you one of his important inventions, his powerful shell exploder, known as "maximite, which in explosive force is about 56 per cent more efficient than dynamite, and somewhat more powerful than pure nitroglycerine. This maximite has lately been adopted by our government as a bursting charge for projectiles and shells, and it is equaled in shattering force by only two other known substances. In spite of its high explosive quality it is a very safe compound to handle, and is practically unaffected by shock, and will not explode by being set on fire —even if a mass of it is stirred with a white-hot Iron. It will bum with a bright green flame, and can be Ignited with a match. All this Mr. Maxim demonstrated by lighting a piece of smokeless powder and dropping it in a dish containing some lumps of maximite. He also melted lead and poured it over dry lumps of maximite, and, While it burned freely, like sulphur or wax, it did not explode. In appearance maximite somewhat resembles sulphur, being yellow in color and quite hard. It is easily melted, in which condition it flows like molasses and is poured into steel projectlies. —St Nicholas.