[2] The explosive was patented in 1874[3] by Messrs Samuel Joseph Mackie, Camille Faure and George French.
[4] Its name was taken from the Latin verb tonat = "it thunders", and is pronounced "toe-nite", not "tonight".
The high gas pressures generated by the detonation of tonite resulted in it being used as a bursting charge in some hand grenades used early in World War I.
[citation needed] Nitrocellulose is an oxygen-negative low explosive, so its decomposition is incomplete combustion:
Because nitrocellulose was used in mining, carbon monoxide could build up and pose a danger to miners.