Method and apparatus for producing a detonating cord

Abstract

An improved low-energy detonating cord, which is light-weight, flexible, strong, and non-conductive, detonates at high velocity, and is readily adapted to high-speed continuous manufacturing techniques, has a continuous solid core of a deformable bonded detonating explosive composition comprising a crystalline high explosive compound, preferably superfine PETN, admixed with a binding agent, the crystalline explosive loading being about from 0.5 to 10 grains per foot (0.1 to 2 grams per meter) of length; and, enclosing the core, a protective plastic sheath, e.g., about 0.005-0.075 inch (0.127-1.905 mm) thick, no metal or woven textile layers being present around the core or sheath. Perferably, one or more continuous strands of reinforcing yarn, e.g., running substantially parallel to the core's longitudinal axis, are located between the core and the plastic sheath, or in or around the sheath. A preferred cord can be made by drawing strands of yarn under tension in the form of a moving cage of substantially parallel strands, allowing the moving cage to engrain a bonded explosive core within it and thereby form a conveyor for the core, and applying a layer of plastic material around the cage while effecting substantially no change in the diameter of the exposive core after its entrainment within the cage.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.