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Xerotine Siccative
Xerotine siccative was an oil drying agent used in the late 19th century. It is a type of terebene; unlike standard terebenes, xerotine siccative doesn't become cloudy when mixed in an oil. Replacing boiled oil, xerotine siccative was mixed with paint in order to speed up the drying process; however, its use ceased when it was discovered to be highly flammable. The dangerous qualities of xerotine siccative were first discovered in an investigation of a small explosion on in 1881. In November of the same year there was an explosion on which killed three men and wounded seven more. Name The words "''xerotine''" and "''siccative''" each mean "drier" in Greek and Latin respectively. Uses As an oil dryer, xerotine siccative was mixed with oil based paints in order to speed the drying time of the paint. Initial investigations The first evidence that xerotine siccative was a chief agent in the explosions of these ships came from an investigation done on ''Cockatrice''. It was dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oil Drying Agent
An oil drying agent, also known as siccative, is a coordination compound that accelerates (catalyzes) the hardening of drying oils, often as they are used in oil-based paints. This so-called "drying" (actually a chemical reaction that produces an organic plastic) occurs through free-radical chemical crosslinking of the oils. The catalysts promote this free-radical autoxidation of the oils with air. Typical oil drying agents are derived from ions of cobalt, manganese, and iron, prepared as "salts" of lipophilic carboxylic acids such as naphthenic acids, in order to give them a soap-like chemical formula and make them oil-soluble. Varieties of drying agents In technical literature, oil drying agents, such as naphthenates, are described as salts, but they are probably also non-ionic coordination complexes with structures similar to basic zinc acetate. These catalysts were traditionally hydrocarbon carboxylate chelates of lead, but due to lead's toxicity, cobalt and other elements, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its history, from the early 18th century until its abolition, the role of the Lord High Admiral was almost invariably put "in commission" and exercised by the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, who sat on the governing Board of Admiralty, rather than by a single person. The Admiralty was replaced by the Admiralty Board in 1964, as part of the reforms that created the Ministry of Defence and its Navy Department (later Navy Command). Before the Acts of Union 1707, the Office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs administered the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of England, which merged with the Royal Scots Navy and the absorbed the responsibilities of the Lord High Admiral of the Kingdom of Scotland with the unification of the Kingdom of G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning " wax", and was registered as a trademark by Canadian geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage. The term kerosene is common in much of Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, and the United States, while the term paraffin (or a closely related variant) is used in Chile, eastern Africa, South Africa, Norway, and in the United Kingdom. The term lamp oil, or the equivalent in the local languages, is common in the majority of Asia and the Southeastern United States. Liquid paraffin (called mineral oil in the US) is a more viscous and highly refined product which is used as a laxative. Paraffin wax is a waxy solid extracted from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fahrenheit
The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his scale exist, but the original paper suggests the lower defining point, 0 °F, was established as the freezing temperature of a solution of brine made from a mixture of water, ice, and ammonium chloride (a salt). The other limit established was his best estimate of the average human body temperature, originally set at 90 °F, then 96 °F (about 2.6 °F less than the modern value due to a later redefinition of the scale). For much of the 20th century, the Fahrenheit scale was defined by two fixed points with a 180 °F separation: the temperature at which pure water freezes was defined as 32 °F and the boiling point of water was defined to be 212 °F, both at sea level and under standard atmospheric press ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities. The original coal gas was produced by the coal gasification reaction, and thus the burnable component consisted of a roughly equal molecular mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Thus, coal gas was highly toxic. Other compositions contain additional calorific gases such as methane, produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process, and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Prior to the development of natural gas supply and transmission—during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and during the late 1960s and 1970s in the United Kingdom and Australia—almost all gas for fuel and lighting was manufactured fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coquimbo (steamer)
The Pacific Steam Navigation Company ( es, Compañía de Vapores del Pacífico, links=no) was a British commercial shipping company that operated along the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean. History The company was founded by William Wheelwright in London in 1838 and began operations in 1840 when two steam ships ''Chile'' and ''Peru'' were commissioned to carry mail. Early ports of call were Valparaíso, Coquimbo, Huasco, Copiapó, Cobija, Iquique, Arica, Islay, Pisco and Callao. In 1846 the company expanded its routes to include Huanchaco, Lambayeque, Paita, Guayaquil, Buenaventura and Panama City. In 1852 the company gained a contract for British Government mail to posts in western South America. Two direct routes were also established - Liverpool to Callao in 1868 and London to Sydney in 1877. In common with its contemporaries, the company lost a number of ships in its early decades. They includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britomart-class Gunboat
The ''Britomart''-class gunboat was a class of sixteen gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1859–1867. Design The ''Britomart'' class was an improved version of the designed by W.H. Walker, and as such comes under the generic group "Crimean gunboats" although this class was ordered and built long after the end of the Crimean War. These were the last Royal Navy gunboats to have wooden hulls: subsequent gunboats were of composite construction, with wooden planking over iron frames. Propulsion The class were fitted with a single-cylinder single-expansion reciprocating steam engine. The single screw could be hoisted to give improved performance under sail. Sail plan The ships were provided with a three-masted barquentine rig, that is, with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the main and mizzen masts. Armament Early ships of the class were armed with two 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon (as had been planned, but not implemented, for the ''Dapper' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USS Maine (ACR-1)
''Maine'' was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April. U.S. newspapers, engaging in yellow journalism to boost circulation, claimed that the Spanish were responsible for the ship's destruction. The phrase, "Remember the ''Maine!'' To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for action. Although the ''Maine'' explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war. ''Maine'' is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source. Commissioned in 1895, she was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. ''Maine'' and the similar battleship were both represented as an advance in American warship design, reflecting the latest European naval developments. Both ships had two gun turrets staggered ''en échelon'', and full sailing masts were omitted due to the increased reliabil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homogeneous Catalysis
In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is catalysis by a soluble catalyst in a solution. Homogeneous catalysis refers to reactions where the catalyst is in the same phase as the reactants, principally in solution. In contrast, heterogeneous catalysis describes processes where the catalysts and substrate are in distinct phases, typically solid-gas, respectively. The term is used almost exclusively to describe solutions and implies catalysis by organometallic compounds. Homogeneous catalysis is an established technology that continues to evolve. An illustrative major application is the production of acetic acid. Enzymes are examples of homogeneous catalysts. Examples Acid catalysis The proton is a pervasive homogeneous catalyst because water is the most common solvent. Water forms protons by the process of self-ionization of water. In an illustrative case, acids accelerate (catalyze) the hydrolysis of esters: :CH3CO2CH3 + H2O CH3CO2H + CH3OH At neutral pH, aqueous solutions of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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