Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-01-21
WORK IN A SHOT TOWER.
The Queer Process OF Making
Shot Described.
How the Globules are Formed in q Fall
of Nearly Two Hundred Feet

OF Nearly Two nunureu Iee~
Every person who has walked about
the lower part of this city, must have
noticed a high, round tower, as high |
as the roadway of the bridge, which
rears itself high above the surround
Ing buildings, and has small windows
at different places. This tower is in
Centre street. near Worth street, and
belongs to the Colwell Lead Company.
There are several OF these towers in
this city. They are places built ex-
pressly for the casting and manufac-
ture of shot. The tower rises to a
height of 176 feet. and is fifty feet in
diameter at the base. 1t diminishes
in diameter as it ascends, being about
thirty feet across at the top. 1t is
divided into several stories A circu-
lar stairway, made Of iron, extends to
the summit, giving access to the sew
eral stories. Great height is essential
for casting, as the lead must cool in
the descent, and thus assume a spheri-
cal shape. If not, it would fatten
when it strikes the water, into which
1t falls.
The first method is making what is
called "temper." This is mixture OF
arsenic and lead The mixture is
melted in large kettles, and is constant
ly skinned and stirred. 1t is cast in
bars, the same as lead. When the
temper is made, it is carried to the top
floor, where there are kettles and
furnace for melting it. The temper is
mixed with the lead, as pure lead
would assume various shapes in cast
ing; but when mixed with the temper
In the proportion of three tons of
lead to one ton Of temper, it takes the
shape Of globules when it is cast.
The casting pans are large colan-
ders, round pans with holes perforated
in the bottom. The casting is all done
on the top floor, and the colander is
suspended over an opening in the floor
which goes through the entire height
of the building to the ground, where
there is well of water. The lead is
melted in large kettles, and is dipped
out and poured into the colander with
ladies' which have long handles. 1t
oozes through the holes in the bottom
of the colander, and falls through the
opening to the ground floor into the
well. The shot is taken out of the
well by small buckets fastened to an
endless belt, which runs over wheel,
which carries it from the well up to a
long hot metal table. Here the shot is
constantly stirred by men with long
rales, and the heat rapidly dispels the
moisture, and the shot soon becomes
perfectly dry.
1t is taken from the drying table,
TO the "screeners," series Of tables
with narrow openings between them,
the tables being set at slight angle.
If the shot is round and perfect, i
rolls rapidly along lthese tables. skip
ping the openings, until it reaches a
box at the extreme end, into which it
falls. If it is imperfect, it cannot roll
fast, and falls into the openings, under
which boxes are placed.
The shot then goes to the "separa-
tors" which are series of drawers,
not unlike bureau, which rocks back
ward and forward by machinery. The
shot is poured into the upper drawer,
which has an iron bottom perforated
with holes of a certain size. The Sec
ond drawer has holes Of smaller size,
and so on down to the lowest drawer,
the bottom of each drawer being per-
forated with holes of a size smaller
than those in the drawers above it.
The backward and forward motion
throws the shot from side to side, let
ting all the shot the size of the holes
or larger than the holes remain in the
drawer. The same is repeated down
to the lowest drawer, so that each
drawer contains smaller size of shot
than the one Immediately above it.
The next process is polishing" The
shot is put into irregular shaped iron
boxes, which continually revolve
When the box is nearly full, powdered
black lead is so ground into it that il
cannot be rubbed off. And it is thi:
that gives it the beautiful shiny ap
NJ, Wal. Trr,L,,,o