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Far safer than quills packed with gunpowderIn 1831, Cornishman William Bickford patented the safety fuse. This simple invention, which is a length of string containing gunpowder coated in tar ...

Upset by the amount of injuries caused by mining, he invented a safety fuse that saved many lives in Cornwall and world wide. Bickford's first idea was to put the main explosive in a cartridge ...