Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, came up with the idea for dynamite in 1866. It was the first explosive that could be securely managed and was more powerful than black powder.
Immanuel Nobel, Alfred Nobel’s father, was a prominent manufacturer, engineer, and inventor in his own right. In addition to constructing buildings and bridges in Stockholm, he also established the first rubber plant in Sweden. Because of his employment in construction, he became interested in discovering other ways of blasting rock that was more efficient than using black powder.
After making some poor business decisions in Sweden, Immanuel moved his family to Saint Petersburg in 1838. There, Alfred and his brothers received a private education from both Swedish and Russian teachers. Alfred went on to become one of the most influential people in the history of Russia. Alfred Nobel was sent away for two years when he was just 17 years old. During this time, he met the Swedish engineer John Ericsson in the United States and studied chemistry in France under the renowned scientist Théophile-Jules Pelouze and his student Ascanio Sobrero. Sobrero was the one who first synthesized nitroglycerin in 1847.
While in France, Nobel came upon nitroglycerin, which Pelouze warned him not to utilize as a commercial explosive because of its extreme sensitivity to shock.
In 1857, Alfred Nobel submitted the first of what would become several hundred patents, the most of which concerned air pressure, gas and fluid gauges, but he remained obsessed with the possibility that nitroglycerin may be used as an explosive. The Nobel family, including Nobel, his father, and his brother Emil, conducted research on the effects of varying proportions of nitroglycerin and black powder. Nobel came up with a solution for how to detonate nitroglycerin in a safe manner by developing the detonator, also known as a blasting cap, which enabled a controlled explosion to be set off from a distance using a fuse. Nobel’s invention was a game-changer.
In 1863, Nobel executed his first successful detonation of pure nitroglycerin using a blasting cap constructed of a copper percussion cap and mercury fulminate. The blasting cap was used in conjunction with the mercury fulminate. Alfred Nobel submitted patent applications in 1864 for the blasting cap and for his technique of producing nitroglycerin using sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and glycerin. Both inventions led to the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Emil and several other people were murdered in an explosion on September 3, 1864, when they were doing experiments with nitroglycerin at the factory on Immanuel Nobel’s farm in Heleneborg. The accident occurred at the plant.
After this, Alfred established the firm Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget in Vinterviken so that he could continue working in a more remote location. The next year, he relocated to Germany and established a second company there called Dynamit Nobel.
Nitroglycerin was made unusable for use in commercial explosives due to its inherent instability, despite the fact that the blasting cap had been invented. In order to find a solution to this issue, Nobel Laboratories looked into the possibility of combining it with another chemical that would make it secure for travel and handling while maintaining its explosive potential.
He experimented with several mixes of cement, coal, and sawdust, but his attempts were fruitless. Last but not least, he experimented with diatomaceous earth, a fossilized form of algae, which he collected from the Elbe River near his plant in Hamburg. This experiment was effective in transforming the nitroglycerin into a portable explosive.
On May 7, 1867, Nobel was granted patents for his innovations in England, and on October 19, 1867, he was granted patents in Sweden. After it was first manufactured, dynamite quickly became widely utilized as a risk-free substitute for black powder and nitroglycerin. This occurred not long after the invention of dynamite. Nobel exercised stringent control over the patents, and unauthorized businesses that attempted to replicate its work were swiftly put out of business.
Some American entrepreneurs were able to circumvent the patent by employing absorbents other than diatomaceous earth, specifically resin.
The name “dynamite” comes from the Ancient Greek word dynamis, which means “powder.” Dynamite was initially sold by Nobel under the name “Nobel’s Blasting Powder,” but the company later chose to alter the name.