| 1942 in L. F. Fieser Sci. Method (1964) iv. 47 Novello and Harris will arrive..on Monday morning and deliver 7 small bombs and 7 large ones, each loaded with 100 grams of white phosphorus and with Napalm Polymer Gum prepared in gasoline. 1942 H. C. Hottel Stud. Fuel Projection from Nozzles (U.S. Govt. Res. Rep. PB 23769, 8 June) Summary, Very striking and extremely promising, however, is the enormous increase in range obtainable by the use of special materials, specifically a starch-water suspension and an incendiary gasoline gel known as Napalm. The latter can be projected three times as far in a one-eighth inch jet as can a conventional hydrocarbon fuel. 1946 L. F. Fieser et al. in Industr. & Engin. Chem. Aug. 769/1 It was next found (January 29, 1942) that a combination of aluminium naphthenate with the same ‘aluminum palmitate’ could be easily incorporated into gasoline to form a promising gel, and we termed this naphthenate-‘palmitate’ combination a Napalm gel. Subsequently it developed that the supposed ‘aluminum palmitate’ was actually the aluminum soap of the total fatty acids of coconut oil, and that the specific gelling quality is due to a high content of lauric, not palmitic, acid. 1951 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. VI. 580 The U.S. uses a mixture of aluminum soaps, generally referred to as Napalm, as a thickening agent. A fuel of any desired consistency may be prepared by mixing the proper amount of Napalm with gasoline. 1952 R. Cutforth Korean Reporter xix. 174 He was no longer covered with a skin, but with a crust like crackling which broke easily. ‘That's napalm,’ said the doctor. 1953 Armed Forces Chem. Jrnl. (U.S.) July 8/2 The thickening agent, known popularly as napalm, gelled the gasoline to a honey-like consistency. 1964 L. F. Fieser Sci. Method ii. 27 On Feb. 14 [1942], we reported to NDRC development of two lines of gels that could be prepared by stirring with gasoline at room temperature. To one, made from aluminum naphthenate and ‘aluminum palmitate’, I gave the name Napalm. Ibid. 32 The most interesting sample, Napalm X–104, arrived on April 13, 1942... The material is a brownish, dry, nonsticky powder. When an amount of Napalm powder sufficient to produce a 12% solution is poured into gasoline and given one stir, solvation occurs rapidly and the swollen solvated particles soon fill the container with material of applesauce consistency... After aging for a few hours without attention, the gel reaches its final form, in which it is tough, strong, and sticky. 1966 Chem. & Engin. News 14 Mar. 24/3 An Air Force contract to supply 100 million pounds of the new napalm, which contains 50% polystyrene. Ibid., Napalm-B, besides the 50% polystyrene, contains 25% benzene and 25% gasoline. It is replacing the soap-jelled gasoline napalm formulations of World War II and the Korean action. 1966 Daily Tel. 16 Aug. 17/3 Mrs. Anne Kerr, Labour M.P. for Rochester and Chatham, said in Tokyo today that the United States should withdraw from South Vietnam ‘rather than drop napalm on innocent peasants’. 1967 Freedomways VII. 121 We saw a man who was a victim of napalm, and two women who had been tortured in Diem's prisons. 1968 [see incendijel]. 1968 V. W. Sidel in S. Rose Chem. & Biol. Warfare iii. 46 The adhesiveness, prolonged burning time and high burning temperature of napalm favour third-degree burns, and such burns are likely to be deep and extensive. 1970 K. Lyle in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 293 I-am-wishing for an hour of napalm on ALL Junior Chambers-of-Commerce. |