The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-10-25

glowed red.hot furnace, on which was
placed a kissing pot Of boiling lead Two
men were at work there pouring the
dlppers full OF the metal into n pan with
slevellke bottom, through which II
fell into "a we'll OF water at the foot Of the
tower. The atmosphere on this plat
form was too warm TO make n prolonged
stay agreeable, aud the ascent was con-
tlnued. What amount of time II took to
reach the top Is not known. II seemed
to be about six weeks but the watch.
man said II was not quite go long, and
he appeared to be u truth.telllng man.
When the top was gained, however, the
reporter was far from inclined to cry
Excelsior ~ What he felt like doing,
and did In fact do, was to seat himself on
the last step and try to breathe.
After time he succeeded, and with
time also the whlrllng sensation in his
head began to abaie. Then he looked
from the tower to the ground, 175 feet
below, and drew back to the centre OF
what seemed TO him n rldiculously mar
row platform. Some people say that
when they stand upon great height
they feel desire to jump down. Not
the slightest longing of that kind arose
In the Star reporters breast. He felt
that he would like TO get do Hn, but the
jumping process never even suggested
itself to him. The desire to descend was
not lessened by the discovery that the
tower was swaying to and fro in the
breeze, and that he expected each mo.
ment to see II topple over.
Just rs day had fully opened, the
watchman Of the tower thrust his head
above the scuttle door and bade the re-
porter good morning. If he wished to
get some idea OF shot-making, now was
the time, he said, as he was about to
make his last tour of the tower and
building, and could explain the details
MS he went around. The explanations
were given inteligently and fully, and
the following is an attempt to summarize
the information obtained.
Lead shot, though sometimes made Of
lead alone, are almost always formed Of
an alloy of arsenic and lead, the arsenic
being introduced In the form of arsonious
acid or the sulphuret (orpiment). The
object of the addition of the arsenic Ia TO
render the hard, brittle qualities of the
lead, which IL contaminated by iron and
antimony, softer and more ductie, and
of the proper consistence, when melted,
for taking the globuar form.
Up In the lofty apartment, from which
descends the stream of lead, stand two
men, their hands incased in thick bags
and grasping heavy iron ladies with
which they dip out the molten metal
from the kettle and pour IL into the col
lenders. Blstering as the molten metal
is, the men dash their ladies into it rs If
1t were water. This Is hard labor, and
rapid besides, for the lead runs through
the collender almost like quicksilver
while If IL is allowed to become little
chilled in the bottom of the vessel then
the holes are stopped, aud the careless
workmen have no easy job in cleaning
them. Five tons of lead are often thrown
down In half an hour in the establish
ment visited. The collender Is simply
copper pan, the bottom of which is per-
forated and which rests in an iron ring.
In falling to the base of the tower the
particles of semi.fluid lead, acted upon
alike over their whole surface by cur
rent of air, are made to assume the
globular form, and by the time they
reach the bottom they are sufficiently
Ia arIa hx, 10 tIoa 81,
of striking the surface of the water in
the well below.
The size Of the shot is only approx
mately fixed by the sizes of the holes in
the collenders. The mass is always
larger than the hole from which it ex-
udes, and, as the period of dropping is
not exactly uniform, perhaps half doz-
en- sizes are produced from the same
sieve. Again, large sized shot require to
be dropped from greater height than
small sized, and while in some cases 100
feet is sufficient, in others an elevation
of $50 feet is hardly enough.
After the shot have reached the bot
tom of the well they are at once lifted
out by an elevator and thrown upon an
inclined drying table, over which they
slide, falling ultimately into wire gauze
rotating cylinder. Here they are rolled
and ground together, and in this way the
minute burrs upon them are removed.
From the cylinder another elevator lifts
the shot upon screening table. This
consists of series of planes arranged at