Roy Morton
14 years ago
I have a photo of an explosives magazine containing boxes of Casobel (gelatine) explosive.
Curious about the stuff I typed Casobel into Google and got.....nowt.. A Googlewhack!
Unperturbed, I tried Nobel's Casobel......same result. Googlewhack x 2!
Ah! ICI Casobel ........Nope! Googlewhack x 3 yay! A hatrick!
I guess in this world of cranks and nutcases, genuine enquiries are treated as all the same and so info may be restricted to professional subscribers and customers.
Maybe? 😞
"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"
NewStuff
14 years ago
If you use the string "casobel" gel with the quotes, you get a word document that appears to be comparing various substances that go bang. Other than that on Google, nothing.

Other search engines don't use the same search algorithm, so you may get some joy out of them. Bing, Lycos, Yahoo, Altavista etc... or google Search Engine.

"Roy Morton" wrote:

I have a photo of an explosives magazine containing boxes of Casobel (gelatine) explosive.
Curious about the stuff I typed Casobel into Google and got.....nowt.. A Googlewhack!
Unperturbed, I tried Nobel's Casobel......same result. Googlewhack x 2!
Ah! ICI Casobel ........Nope! Googlewhack x 3 yay! A hatrick!
I guess in this world of cranks and nutcases, genuine enquiries are treated as all the same and so info may be restricted to professional subscribers and customers.
Maybe? :(

Searching for the ever elusive Underground Titty Bar.

DDDWH CC
Vanoord
14 years ago
On the bright side, this thread now registers as the top hit on Google for this particular type of explosives!

SimonRL should expect a knock on the door in the dark sometime soon... :lol:
Hello again darkness, my old friend...
steve turbo
14 years ago
"Vanoord" wrote:

On the bright side, this thread now registers as the top hit on Google for this particular type of explosives!

SimonRL should expect a knock on the door in the dark sometime soon... :lol:

that would be so funny :thumbsup:
Graigfawr
14 years ago
The 1958 edition of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, Nobel Division book 'Blasting in Collieries' lists both the explosives permitted under the Coal Mines Acts and those not permitted. Amongst the permitted explosives is Hydrobel ("A gelatinous explosive with extra high resistance to water penetration. It is specially designed for use in pulsed infusion shotfiring. The cartridge sizes are 1 1/4 in. x 6, 8 oz. and 1 7/16 in. x 12, 16 oz."). Presumably Casobel was from the same family of resistant explosives. Hope this helps!
Ben Cooper
14 years ago
The -obel suffix was applied to lots of gelatine explosives, not just permitted ones. For example Geobel was a special explosive for geophysical surveying.
http://www.transientplaces.co.uk 
NewStuff
14 years ago
"Vanoord" wrote:

On the bright side, this thread now registers as the top hit on Google for this particular type of explosives!

SimonRL should expect a knock on the door in the dark sometime soon... :lol:



Hence me not linking to the search, or using certain words... the world is paranoid enough as it is.
Searching for the ever elusive Underground Titty Bar.

DDDWH CC
Ben Cooper
14 years ago
This is probably completely unrelated, but there's a place called Casobel not too far from the Nobel's factory at Perranporth in Cornwall.
http://www.transientplaces.co.uk 
Roy Morton
14 years ago
"Vanoord" wrote:

On the bright side, this thread now registers as the top hit on Google for this particular type of explosives!

SimonRL should expect a knock on the door in the dark sometime soon... :lol:




:oops: 😞 😞

Thanks for the info guys. I had guessed that the stuff was for use in wet environments. Mount Wellington was one such wet mine that used tons of the stuff.
It's a sign of the times to remember that only a few years ago an enquiry such as this would have been treated purely as a just an enquiry. Nowadays you need to think twice about asking about anything like this. 😞
"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"
JohnnearCfon
14 years ago
Is it possible that the -obel suffix relates to the fact that it is a Nobel's manufactured explosive? I can think of several similar ideas, for instance all of Alan Sugar's companies start with AMS.
ditzy
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14 years ago
ask mr.c bet he knows
http://ditzycaving.blogspot.com 
my underground blog
Grumpytramp
14 years ago
If you look on Google in the Google Books section there is actually a reference to Casobel in a book entitled "Explosives" and written by Josef Köhler & Rudolf Meyer in 1993

It is clearly still subject to copyright as no text is freely available other than a short extract with the relevant 'hit' word; but it probably gives just enough away!

Quote:

Casobel 54 Casobel Trade name of ammonium nitrate-nitroglycerine powder explosives in small diameters distributed in the UK by lCl, Nobel's Explosives Co Ltd. density: 1.1 g/cm3 weight strength: 87 % velocity of detonation: 3000 m/ s ...



The fact that it was an dry powder ammonium nitrate based explosive would lend me to believe it was not going to be used in a wet environment (unless of it course it was really well packaged?). I suspect that it was a compromise explosive combining the high VOD properties of the nitroglycerine and the bulking properties of the ammonium nitrate to clear the blast hole

Mr.C
  • Mr.C
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14 years ago
"Grumpytramp" wrote:

If you look on Google in the Google Books section there is actually a reference to Casobel in a book entitled "Explosives" and written by Josef Köhler & Rudolf Meyer in 1993

It is clearly still subject to copyright as no text is freely available other than a short extract with the relevant 'hit' word; but it probably gives just enough away!

Quote:

Casobel 54 Casobel Trade name of ammonium nitrate-nitroglycerine powder explosives in small diameters distributed in the UK by lCl, Nobel's Explosives Co Ltd. density: 1.1 g/cm3 weight strength: 87 % velocity of detonation: 3000 m/ s ...






That's the entire entry from Kohler & Meyer - I've a copy I've just rooted out from my book collection.
Unfortunatly all my stuff is in a cupboard/boxes at present due to decorating etc.
I'm sure I've more info in the old ICI docs I have, but can't lay my hands on them at moment.
We inhabit an island made of coal, surrounded by a sea full of fish. How can we go wrong.......
Vanoord
14 years ago
"Mr.C" wrote:

Unfortunatly all my stuff is in a cupboard/boxes at present due to decorating etc.



If your explosives are deteriorating, I'd be tempted to move them out of the house entirely... 😮
Hello again darkness, my old friend...
Mr.C
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14 years ago
"Vanoord" wrote:

"Mr.C" wrote:

Unfortunatly all my stuff is in a cupboard/boxes at present due to decorating etc.



If your explosives are deteriorating, I'd be tempted to move them out of the house entirely... :o



No no no - the days of sweaty bang under the bed (not in the biblical sense!) have long gone. Come to think of it, the "in the biblical sense" has long gone too 😞
What I ment was, me books are packed away due to painting me room and stuff 🙂
We inhabit an island made of coal, surrounded by a sea full of fish. How can we go wrong.......
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