Primacord
Encyclopedia
Primacord is a registered trademark of detonating cord
used in blasting, originally manufactured by the Ensign-Bickford Company
. Ensign Bickford sold the trademark to Dyno Nobel
Inc in 2003 and it is now manufactured in Graham, Kentucky
. Primacord consists of a core of pure powdered PETN
in an outer textile jacket (sometimes waxed), and is produced in 8 strengths:
Primaline is a related product differing principally in having a plastic jacket instead of textile. Primaline is also available in higher loadings, up to 85 g/m (400 gr/ft):
"Primacord" is frequently used as a synonym for any detonating cord; c.f. genericized trademark
.
Detonating cord
Detonating cord is a thin, flexible plastic tube filled with PETN . With the PETN exploding at a rate of approximately 4 miles per second, any common length of det cord appears to explode instantaneously...
used in blasting, originally manufactured by the Ensign-Bickford Company
Ensign-Bickford Company
The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company was started in 1836 in Simsbury, Connecticut as a manufacturer of William Bickford's safety fuse for use in mining. Safety fuse was a great advance in mining technology over the practice of filling holes with black powder. The next step in mining...
. Ensign Bickford sold the trademark to Dyno Nobel
Dyno Nobel
Dyno Nobel is a major manufacturer of explosives. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Incitec Pivot Limited, and its customers include users in the mining, quarry, construction, pipeline and geophysical exploration industries...
Inc in 2003 and it is now manufactured in Graham, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. Primacord consists of a core of pure powdered PETN
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...
in an outer textile jacket (sometimes waxed), and is produced in 8 strengths:
| Name | Loading g Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... /m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... (gr Grain (measure) A grain is a unit of measurement of mass that is nominally based upon the mass of a single seed of a cereal. From the Bronze Age into the Renaissance the average masses of wheat and barley grains were part of the legal definition of units of mass. However, there is no evidence of any country ever... /ft) | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Primacord 1 | 1.5 (7.5) | Yellow |
| Primacord 2 | 2.1 (10) | Orange |
| Primacord 3 | 3.2 (15) | Red |
| Primacord 4Y | 3.6 (18) | Yellow |
| Primacord 4R | 3.6 (18) | Red |
| Primacord 5 | 5.3 (25) | Red |
| Primacord 8 | 8.6 (40) | Red |
| Primacord 10 | 10.6 (50) | Yellow |
Primaline is a related product differing principally in having a plastic jacket instead of textile. Primaline is also available in higher loadings, up to 85 g/m (400 gr/ft):
| Name | Loading g Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... /m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... (gr Grain (measure) A grain is a unit of measurement of mass that is nominally based upon the mass of a single seed of a cereal. From the Bronze Age into the Renaissance the average masses of wheat and barley grains were part of the legal definition of units of mass. However, there is no evidence of any country ever... /ft) | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Primaline 4D | 3.6 (18) | Orange |
| Primaline 4HS | 3.6 (18) | Clear with blue stripe |
| Primaline 5 | 5.3 (25) | Orange with wax coating |
| Primaline 5D | 5.3 (25) | Orange |
| Primaline 5NF | 5.3 (25) | Yellow |
| Primaline 8D | 8.6 (40) | Orange |
| Primaline 8HS | 8.6 (40) | Clear with black stripe |
| Primaline 10HS | 10.6 (50) | Clear with red stripe |
| Primaline 21 | 21.3 (100) | Clear |
| Primaline 32 | 31.9 (150) | Clear |
| Primaline 42 | 42.5 (200) | Clear |
| Primaline 85 | 85 (400) | Light green |
"Primacord" is frequently used as a synonym for any detonating cord; c.f. genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
.