More unfortunate explosions

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.pyrotechnics/2005-12/msg00095.html


The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives Industry, Published under the auspices of the VIIth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 1909, Eley Brothers, London
"By 1828 the demand for these accessories gave promise of opening an almost unlimited field for inventive ingenuity. William Eley, the founder of the present firm was early attracted to this interesting branch, and literally devoted his life and fortune to mechanical inventions. To him is attributed the once-famous wire cartridge, which by delaying the dispersion of the pellets, effected the same purpose in the guns of the period as in now produced by choke-boring.
At the age of forty-seven he fell victim to a disastrous explosion of fulminate of mercury which simultaneously destroyed him, his laboratory, and its contents. The business initiated by Mr. William Eley was continued by his three sons under the style, Eley Brothers, until 1874, when it was converted into a joint stock enterprise, with limited liability."

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