Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-10-16
GUNPOWDER
How the Ingredients Necessary to
Manufacture Are Prepared.

TOW the ingredients necessary 10
Manufacture Are Prepared.
Minneapolis Commercial Bulletin
Gunpowder is composed of three
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., saltpeter and char
coal. But tossing these materials to-
gether anyway does not make gun
powder by any means, There is .
method, and it is somewhat complicat-
ed. That pursued at the most famous
factories is as follows: The saltpeter
comes chiefly from Bengal and other
provinces in Ir liza, where it is found
mixed With the soil and as an incrusta-
ton on the ground. 1t is boiled and
c-ystalized by evaporation. Before t
is used at the factory it is purified by q
process which acts on the principle
that hot water will receive in the solu-
ton more of the saltpcter than the i'm
p~urities mixed with it. So the salt
peter is boiled in water, the resulting
solution filtered and cooled in Large
watts, at the bottom of which the pure
saltpeter is deposited in fine crystals
1t is then washed, dried and stored in
bins, care being taken that no sand or
gritty particles are introduced as I'M
der pressure they might produce an
explosion.
Tho Sanla Arnca11tinpu nrn t,l on Nth
regard to the production of the sulphur
and charcoal. The best sulphur come.
from Sicily. 1t is purified by a dis
filling process, which brings it out in
handsome yellow crystals. Then it is
pulverized by being ground under iron
runners ana sifted in Il kind of revolv-
ing cylindrical sieve called a "slope
reel.' Alder and willow are planted
near the factories. and the charcoal
from these is used for common pow
der, and black dogwood is used for fine
rifle powder. The charcoal is not pre-
pared in pits, but the wood is sawed
into short lengths and packed into
iron cylinders. called slips, which are
placed on a small carriage and run in
to a rctort like that used in Gas works.
Here the cylinders are exposed to the
flames for IA period of two and a half
or three and a half hours the Gas issr-
inc from the wood being utilized for
fuel. The charcoal, when taken out,
is ground in q machine like a giant
coffee mill, and then siftcd like the
sulphur.
The next process is mixing the in
gradients. The proportions vary in
different countries. For English gov
eminent powder Of every kind it is
saltpeter. sevcnty-tiyc parts; sulphur.
ten; charcoal, iifteen-the sulphur be-
il reduced almost to a minimum, a.
It's chief use is to ignite the charge and
hasten its motion. The ingredients
being weighed for a charge of fifty
pounds, are poured into a -'churn."
which is a revolving drum placed hor-
rizontally, and having within it an axis
revolving in a different direction from
the drum, and furnished with eight
rows of projecting arms. SO rapid is
the action of this machine that three
minutes is sufficient 10 mix the ingredi-
ents. 1t is then called the green
Charge and is "oady for the incorpor-
ting mills, where the object is to make
the mixture so intimate that a new sub
stance is created, Eamely, gunpowder.
The Incorporating house of Waltham
have thirty-two separate mills. Each
mill consists OF a pair of runners
coupled together by a strong axle.
This axle rests in the socket of an up
right shaft, which, passing down
through the mill-bed. is connected by
bevel wheels with a revolving horizon
tai shaft driven by steam or water
power. The unners are of Derby
shire limestone and iron. and weigh
from three and one-half 10 four tons.
The size Of the iron ones is / from three
and "A half to seven feet in diameter.
The mi,l-bcd-a circular vat with fiat
bottom and sloping sides-is of stone
or metal. On this bed fifty pounds Of
the green charge is spread or mois-
tened with water, and the mill j. set
going. Common powder is left under
the mill three hours, rifle powder four
hours.
On leaving the mill the gun powder
is in the form OF n soft cake which
easily breaks up into dust. This is
pressed in layers. between plates OF
copper or gunmetal to increase its hard
ness or density, and her made into
the required form by machinery.