Aware of the short life of the frictional electric machine, as at present constructed; knowing how the ordinary induction coil diminishes its intensity of spark, in proportion to the number of blasts to be fired; seeing that the Electro-magnetic machine is limited to a series of five blasts, which can only be exploded consecutively; that the Electro-dynamic machines are open to this last objection, besides destruction of their conducting parts by overheating, whilst in the matter of adopting “over-sensitive priming” to compensate for the deficiency of electricity or cheap conducting wire, there looms up the danger to the miner of handling exploders, which “go off by looking at” them, it seemed that, unless some amelioration was effected in these details, the great economy of simultaneous blasting by means of electricity would have to be abandoned. Add to these difficulties the fact that any casualty occurring from any of the above causes would reach the public as caused by Nitro-Glycerin, and my reader will comprehend the interest I have felt, during the past four years, in solving the following problem:
To construct an apparatus that will, under every condition of atmosphere, whether damp, dense or rarefied, evolve, at the will of the operator, abundance of electricity; such electricity to possess the property of developing intense heat, so as not to need a very sensitive priming, and to possess sufficient tension to overleap numerous solutions of continuity, say fifty, at a flash. Next, to discover a priming composition, to insert between the solutions of continuity, that would not be affected by moisture, that would bear handling without danger of exploding, be unchangeable for years, unaffected by the induced electricity of the atmosphere, whether caused by thunder storms, lightning on the rail, machinery belting in motion, or steam blowing off from a safety valve, ozone, etc., and yet not too exhaustive of the electric force of the spark required to fire it.
The above seemed to me the conditions necessary for the apparatus and the exploder in firing with electricity.
In addition to these, for conducting such electricity to the points required, the best conductor, and the best insulation attainable.