Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-12-05
A SHOT TOWER.
How Z" Buck" Shot and NO. 6 a" are
Manufn Ctured.

Manufactured
From the Cincinnati Commercial
ST. LOUIS, October 30.-Passing, a
few days since through that dingy,
smoky, and not altogether clearly
northern portion of the city, which lies
near the river, l encountered lofty
stack of brick and mortar, which, on
inquiry, l ascertained to be the tower
of the ST. Louis Shot-works. l had
often had occasion to use shot of vari-
GUS denominations, in the prosecution
of small game, but knew nothing of the
process of manufacture, beyond a
vague idea that the molten lead was
dropped from a height, and in obedl-
ence to the law of cohesive attraction,
assumed spherical form in the de-
scent. 1t occurred to me that this was
probably the best opportunity | would
ever have to acquire a knowledge of
the shot business, and accordingly
presented myself at the Office and ask
ed for permission to look through the
establishment The Superintendent, a
muscular looking gentleman, with IRON
gray side whiskers and Butlerian eye,
took my card, and courteously accord
ed permission, provided l would keep
out of the way of the workmen. 'You
had better go to the top first, said he.
SO L started for the top, climbing a
dark spiral staircase and hesitating at
each turn for fear of pitching off into
space or walking into the jaws of ma
chinery. There was rush and roar,
like that of Niagara, the noise being
produced, as | Uncovered so soon as my
eyes accommodated themselves to the
dim light, by the descent of two streams
of shot into great tank OF water at
the bottom of the tower. The ascent
was tireson e, the distance being 1856
feet, but the top was finally reached,
and the first stage of shot-maklng was
an open book There was furnace,
three kettles of molten lead, and two
grimy workmen ladJlng it out of the
kettles, and pouring it out into TIN cups
set IN frying pans, portion of the met
al being allowed to run over from the
cups into the pans. AS each vessel was
filled the metal was seen to sink away, so
that by the time the workmen got an
other ladle full ready to pour in, the
cup and pan were nearly empty, the
bottom of the cups and pans being
perforated like sleeves. The globules
formed in passing through the sieve are
not uniform..in size. In the two streams
which are seen descending are pellets
of ali sizes, and the asserting is done
after the shot are taken out of the tank.
After falling in the tank the shot are
taken up by a continuance similar to
those in use in grain elevators, and are
passed into circular revolving tube,
or hopper, heated by steam, for the
purpose of drying. After being dried
they are placed in revolving iron bar
rel, little emery being put in with
each barrel full, for the purpose of i'm
parting polish. The next business
ON hand is the asserting of sizes The
shot are conveyed to series of ma
chimes, looking something like job
printers cabinet of cases, each rack
containing series of sleeves represent.
ing the different sizes of the shot.
These racks are violently showed for
ward and back by the steam, thus fore
ing the smaller shots through the va
rious sleeves. The larger are stopped by
the first sieve, while the fine bird shot,
used by sportsmen in quail and snipe
shooting, pass on to the last. After a
sufficient amount of shaking the work
man in charge stops the machine, takes
out the draws, two Mt time, and
empties their contents IN the bins pre-
pared for them. The next operation is
that of weighing and bagging the shot.
The scale is set ut twenty-five pounds,
ana the workmeu, expert 10y reason of
long practice, scoops out what he
thinks will be enough and pours into
the scale. Scrupulous honesty seems
to be the rule in bagging. There must
be gust twenty-five pounds-not the
weight Of a hair more or less. The
workman who scoops the shot usually /
guesses within a few pellets OF the
weight, and these are added and sub /.
tracted until the beam is on even poise. (
After q sufficient number of bags are
filled, along comes another workman
with a sa,lmaker's needle, who sews up
the loose ends with astonishing dexter /
ity, and the shot are ready for market F..
| have always been sort of scrus
sportsman, and as | stood around the
bins, dabbling my hands in No. and
1 +. the sight filled me with Joy and
sadness. Some Of these bright pellets
VIII be used next season by clean
sportsmen in hagging grouse on the
Illinois prairies, and some viii be pros