Blasting machine

The use of the term "machine" dates from early designs that used an electrical generator operated by winding a rotary handle or pushing down a T-handle.

Modern blasting machines are battery-powered and operated by key switches and push-buttons, and do not resemble the older designs.

The first satisfactory magnetic induction blasting machine was constructed in 1878 by Henry Julius Smith of Mountain View, New Jersey.

[5] While the machine is idle, an "internal shunt" is connected across the output terminals so that any stray voltages induced in the external circuit, for example by nearby radio transmitters, are harmlessly short-circuited without triggering the blasting cap.

Despite the older "T-Handle" design no longer being used, this design of blasting machine is most closely associated with Looney Tunes, and the character Wile E. Coyote, due to his penchant for attempting to use explosive materials to capture or incapacitate the Road Runner, often ending in disaster for the Coyote as the explosive either backfires, the machine does not work properly, or the T-handle gets stuck.

Two blasting machines. At rear is one where the trigger works by depressing or raising the handle; at fore, one where the handle is twisted