May 23, 1967

D. M. WELSH

3,320,883

EXPLOS IVL.1 TAP 1

Filed Oct. 18, 1965'

FIG.4
INVENTOR

David Martin WELSH

;

1 UN

AGENT

United States Patent 0

3,320,883
Patented May 23, 1967

3,320,883

oped textile covered detonating cord, referred to in the

trade as low energy cord, is described in United States

David Martin Welsh, lilrownsburg, Quebec, Canada, as

signor to Canadian Safety Fuse Company Limited,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a corporation of Canada
Filed Get. 18, 1965, Ser. No. 496,928

Patent No. 3,125,024 and comprises a core of high ex~

plosive such as PETN having a speci?c surface of at least
about 900 square centimeters per gram (e.g. 900-3400 sq.
cm./ gr.) in a concentration of at least 1.5 grains per foot
of length for speci?c surfaces of up to 3400 square cen

6 Claims. (Cl. 102-27)

timeters per gram (e.g. 1.5-10 grains per foot), con?ned

within a textile sheath preferably surrounded by a ther

EXPLGSIVE TAPE

Claims priority, application Canada, Sept. 3, 1965,

939,8 89

moplastic layer.

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A ?exible weftless explosive tape comprises parallel

co-planar longitudinal detonating cords bonded together

By speci?c surface is meant the surface area per unit

weight of the high explosive in powder form. It is

measured by the standard nitrogen adsorption test using
the BET equation and apparatus. (See Encyclopedia of

by means of an adhesive. The tape can be provided with 15 Chemistry, Reinhold, 1957, or Small Particle Statistics

an adhesive backing.

by G. Herdan, Buttleworth, 1960.)

The high explosive content of the detonating cord strand
or strands of the explosive tape of the invention can be as

This invention relates to an improved explosive tape

low as the detonation-cross propagation reliability will
and, more particularly, to an explosive tape which is 20 permit for any given high explosive ingredient and can be
possessed of such ?exibility that it can be folded back on
as high as demanded by the application or use of the tape.
itself or tied in knots at any area without forming a crack
As previously mentioned, the tape may contain as little
at the bends.
as one textile covered detonating cord strand bonded in
Explosive compositions have heretofore been described
parallel longitudinal relationship to at least one ordinary

(cg. in United States Patents Nos. 2,992,087 and 2,999, 25 textile strand. If more than one textile covered detonat
743) which can be formed into ?exible, non-resilient
ing cord strands are present in the tape, they can be
sheets. Despite their many useful properties, however,
located in juxtaposition or in alternate relationship with
the said sheets have been found to lack the necessary
ordinary textile strands. The tape can of course wholly
?exibility to permit their being folded back on themselves
consist of strands of detonating cord. The textile cov
without tearing or cracking and hence no satisfactory ex
ered detonating cord strands may, if desired, have a ther
plosive tape can be made therefrom.
moplastic covering for waterproofing purposes.
A partial solution to the aforesaid ?exibility problem
The explosive tape may be provided with an adhesive
has been proposed in United States Patent No. 3,169,478
backing and thus take the form of a standard adhesive
which describes an explosive tape adapted to be folded
tape or the weftless adhesive glass ?bre tapes. It can be
at designated areas because of the presence in the tape 35 completely or partially enclosed in metal foil or covered
of a plurality of slits, essentially equal in length, arranged
with thermoplastic. Where RDX is the high explosive in
in echelon across the tape, torsion bars being de?ned
gredient of the detonating cord, for example, the tape can
by the section of the tape lying between the slits. As
be covered with a polyamide or a polyester such as poly
explicity pointed out by the patentee, the tape can only
ethylene terephthalate. The tape can also be so designed
40
be folded at designated areas and hence is not completely
that although it will cross propagate detonation within

?exible, being thus unsuitable for many applications such

as, for example, the strapping and/or lining of military
or other containers which must be quickly opened.
It is the primary object of this invention to provide an
explosive tape which is completely ?exible in the sense
that it can be folded at any area without any resultant

itself, it will not cross propagate detonation when over

lapping with another piece of the same tape.

Any ?exible adhesive can be used for bonding the

strands of the tape together in parallel longitudinal rela

tionship as long as such adhesive has no detrimental effect
on the detonating cord. Water-based latex adhesives are

tearing, discontinuities and hiatus of the explosive

particularly suitable.
composition in the region of the fold. Additional ob
The invention will be more fully illustrated by refer
jects of the invention Will appear hereinafter.
ence to the accompanying drawing wherein:
50
The improved explosive tape of this invention is weft
FIGURE 1 is a top view of an explosive tape consist
less and comprises essentially a plurality of strands bond
ing wholly of bonded strands of detonating cord;
ed together in parallel longitudinal relationship by means
of an adhesive, at least one of said strands being a tex

tile covered detonating cord.

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the same tape;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of an explosive tape com

Textile covered detonating cord or fuse is a well-known 55 prising alternate strands of detonating cord; and
FIGURE 4 is an end view of the tape of FIGURE 3.
article of commerce. It is an elongated cord-like material
All ?gures are slightly enlarged in dimension for clarity.
consisting of a core of high explosive such as pentae

In FIGURES 1 and 2 1 designates the tape consisting

rythritol tetranitrate (PETN), icyclotrimethylene trinitra
mine (RDX), nitromannite, lead azide, lead styph 60 of eight strands of detonating cord 2 bonded together in
parallel longitudinal relationship by adhesive 3. 4 repre
nate, tetryl, trinitrarnine, TNT or cyclotetramethylene
tetranitramine (HMX), con?ned within a textile sheath.
This sheath is normally surrounded by a thermo

sents the core of high explosive of each strand of detonat

ing cord 2 while 5 represents the textile sheath con?ning

plastic covering for waterproo?ng purposes when used

in the ?eld. A typical textile covered detonating fuse

core 4.

has a uniform velocity of detonation of the order of

6000 meters per second and comprises a core of
30-50 grains per foot of PETN having a speci?c sur

In FIGURES 3 and 4, the tape 6 is shown as being

made of four strands of detonating cord 7 bonded to
four ordinary textile strands 8 in alternate parallel lon

gitudinal relationship by means of adhesive 9. The high

face of 500 square centimeters per gram, a textile

explosive core 10 of each strand 7 is surrounded by a

sheath surrounding said core to contain the same, and, 70 textile sheath 11.
preferably, a waterproo?ng layer of thermoplastic sur
The following example serves to illustrate further one

rounding said textile sheath.

A more recently devel

speci?c embodiment of the explosive tape of the invention.

3,320,333

Example

2. An explosive tape as claimed in claim 1 comprising

at least two strands of said elongated cord-like material,
the high explosive of the core of said elongated cord~like

A tape approximately % wide, of the kind shown in

FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, was fabricated by bonding

material being present in such a concentration as to en
together with a waterJbased latex adhesive eight strands 5 sure cross-propagation of the explosive detonation.
of textile covered detonating cord having a diameter of
'3. -An explosive tape as claimed in clailn 2 wherein
approximately 0.06", the explosive Core of which con
the high explosive of the core of the elongated cord-like
tained 4 grains per foot of PETN and was enclosed in a

material is pentaerythritol tetranitrate.

textile braid. The tape was completely ?exible and was

4. An explosive tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein
detonated by applying a conventional No. 6 blasting cap 10 each of the strands is an elongated vcord-like material as
to one end thereof.
de?ned in said claim.
Because of its flexibility, the improved explosive tape
5. An explosive tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein
of this invention can be formed into a linear shaped charge
ordinary textile strands alternate with strands of an elon
and applied to those uses which linear shaped charges
gated cord-like material as de?ned in said claim.
are normally applied to.
15
6. An explosive tape as claimed in claim 1 provided
The tape can, of course, be used where prior art sheet
with an adhesive backing.

"explosives have heretofore been used, e.g. for joining

metallic objects, Imetal hardening, etc. It is particularly
suitable for strapping and/ or lining military containers

References Cited by the Examiner

UNITED STATES PATENTS

or the like for quick opening thereof.

20
2,455,534
What I claim is:
3,021,785
1. A weftless explosive tape comprising essentially more
3,035,518

than two ?exible strands of substantially the same cross

section bonded together "by means of an adhesive in par

allel, co-planar longitudinal relationship when in the ?at

condition, at least one of said strands being an elongated
cord-like material having a core of high explosive con

25

3,062,142
3,160,949

12/1948

tBisch _____________ __ 102-22

2/ 196.2

Hradel et al. _____ __ 10227 X

5/1962

Coursen ___________ __ 102~22

11/1962
12/1964

Breza et al. ________ __ 102-23

Busseyet al. _____ __ 10223 X

FOREIGN PATENTS

797,472

7/1958

Great Britain.

?ned within a textile sheath, said tape being further char

acterized by complete ?exibility across its width and

7. BENJAMIN A. BORCI-IELT, Primary Examiner.

length.

O V. R. PENDEGRASS, Assistant Examiner.