The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-07-26
Mode of Making Gunpowder.


The mode of making gunpowder IL
nowadays about the same everywheie'
The saltpeter, the charcoal, and the sui
phur all must be ground very nneiy;
Among rude tribes in Asia, as IN ola
times, the grinding is done by women
and children, who pound the ingredients
with wooden pestles in wooden mortais'
and often finish by blowing up the entlre
family, house and all. In other places
they pass crank shaft through barrel
and fix it in a frame. This barrel they
partly fill with what they wish to pulver-
ize, and also with quantity of brass or
wooden balls. BY turning the crank rap
idly the balls and the material are both
rolled around from side to side, and finally
the grinding is effected. Next they mix
the three together in proper proportions,
spreading it on wooden table, turning 1t
with wooden paddles, and rolling 1t with
wooden rollers; then they put 1t back
into the wooden mortar or tub and pound
it again, any blow, just as likely as not,
being the last they will live to give. II
they and the powder survive this, they
then spread it on cloth in the sun to dry,
and if it don't blow up before they gather
it together again, the husbands and faith
ers of these brave women and children
soon have plenty of powder. l have been
told of lady, brought up in the East In
dies, whose most vivid remembrance OF
her early life was the blowing-up OF a
native" family by such means. But in
the modern powder-mills there are deep,
circular troughs of stone or iron,
around and around in which travel pom
derous wheels. Men with wooden shoves
keep the material under rollers, where it
is thoroughly crushed.
When enough of each ingredient is
ready to make batch of powder, they
weigh it-about IS parts of saltpeter, 10
of charcoal, and 10 of sulphur. These
proportions, however, vary somewhat, de-
pending upon what the powder is to be
used for, and the strength required.
The weighed-out ingredients must now
be mixed. Usually. the charcoal and sui
phur are put together first in revolving
barrels, in which are loose zinc, brass, or
copper balls; and when this is completed,
the saltpeter is added, and the rolling
process is repeated until the whole is we'll
intermingled. In some mills the three
ingredients are put into the barrels and
mixed in one operation; but this mode Is
attended with greater risk.
All this, however, is mere stirring. The
real miring must be done under great
pressure.
Now begins the greatest danger. The
stirred-up materials are taken to another
shed, called the incorporating MILL"
where there are more wheels and troughs
but, instead of men with shovels, there
are wooden and copper scrapers attached
to the machinery, that follow the wheels
and keep the mixture in place. The in
gradients are placed in the trough, the
wheels started, and the men lock the
doors and 60 away. Hour after hour,
around and around in the dark, all alone
rumble these mighty wheels. SO long as
the little scrapers attend to their business,
evenly spreading the mixture three or
four inches deep in the bottom of the
trough, all will be we'll; but if anything
goes wrong-put-bang that is the end
of that mill. Ii the crushing wheels and
the iron bottom of the trough should
happen to touch, the chances are they
would "strike fire." but the cushion OF
powder between is supposed to prevent
this.-St. Nicholas.