Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-01-27
A POWDER MILL.
VARIOUS OPERATIONS N MAX
ING THE EXPLOSIVE.
saItpetrc. Sulphur and Charcoal
the Three observation-disclosures
Mills Through Which the
Powder Passes.

charge can tell from the Appearance OF
the tar which exudes from pipe in the
oven when the wood is thoroughly car
bonized. The fire is then drawn aad the
oven left to cool off, When cool the
charcoal is taken out and carted to the
Westinghouse. Here the proper quanti-
ties of the different ingredients are
weighed aud put in bags and taken to
the "barrel- " This IS a large one
story building, as are all the different
mills through which the powder passes
in the process Of manufacture. The
barrel mill is full Of large, heavily built
barrels, as they are called, through the
centre of which, lengthwise, runs a
shaft o; composition metal which will
not strike FIRE. Into each Of these barrels
the proper amounts of slltpetre,
charcoal aud sulphur are placed
and stirred thoroughly; then a
quantity Of common marbles, such as the
BOYS play with upon the street, are also
thrown in the barrel and tue opening
closed tightly. After all tae barrels are
charged the machinery is started and the
barrels reyolye rapidly, the marbles
thoroughly amalgamating the mixture.
The noise made by the marbles as they
rattle against the sides Of the barrels is
deafening, AMI would soon drive a per-
son afflicted with weaS nerves into a
state 5f unieasouing terror. The barrels
are kept in motion from six 20 ten or
twelve hours, according to the quality Of
powder desired. The contents are then
emptied out, a erayish.b.ack dust, and
taken to the rolling or "waeel' mills,
Of which there we're three at the works
in question. These mills are built with
heavy stone walls on three sides, the
front and roof being Of light boards.
Tae roof also slopes toward the front,
so that in case OF an explosion the only
damage done is the blowing away
of the front aui roof In this
mill is large circular pan, ten OF
twelve feet IN diameter, and in
this are two large, heavy wheels weigh
ing segen tons each, both pan and
wheels being made OF composition metal.
The charge for this mill-about 2)O
mounds Of the mixture winch ha, passed
through thc barrel mills scattered
evenly over the bottom Of the pan and
moistened with wafer. Then the ma
chinery is started aud the neayy wheels
roll rapidly around in the pan, aad serv-
ing to more thoroughly impact the coa-
tents. When the machinery is set in
motion the workman leaves the building;
and with the exception Of al occasional
visit to see that everything s working
smoothly, 1t is left alone until the charge
is done. After a lapse of two hours the
mill is stopped, the charge taken out
and another put in its place, which goes
through the same operation. II by any
chance the mill should explode while
the workman is inside, he is rarely ever
killed outright, but is burned in horri-
blv manner, and after few hours Of in-
tense agony his suTerings end in death.
From the wheel mill the charge is taken
to the 'press house" Here the mixture
is placed in layers with piece Of heavy
canvas between each; tue edges OF the
canvas are carefully tucked in to keep
the mixture from squeezing out After
the layers have been built up to the re-
quired height, the heavy hydraulic press
is put in motion, squeezing the mass into
solid blocks. The layers are then re-
moved and are now in hard cakes, about
thirty inches square by one inch thich.
The cakes are then carted to the "corn-
ing" mill, where they are run, one by
one, througha set of heavy rollers which
grind or crush them into grains OF dif-
lerent sizes. These fall, as they come
from between the rollers upon a large
sieve, which separates all which are too
coarse for the largest grade of powder,
and these are run through the crushers
again and reduced to the proper size.
The coarsest grains OF powder are about
the sIze CT a pea-for use in cannon or
mortars. From this mill the powder,
which by this time has attained
IS full explosive force and is still of a
grayish-blue hue, is taken to the glazing
house, Here it is again put in revolving
cylinders, much like those in the barrel
mill, but instead Of marbles a quastity
OF lampblaek is put with it in caca cy.-
inder, and when a are CHARGE a0d the
machinery started the constant reyolu-
tions OF these cylinders mix aud ru5 the
grains Of powder aud the lampblack to-
gether and against each other, giving
the powder the brilliant polish seen upon
it by spoftsmcn. Usually from eight to
ten hours time is taken up in giaziug,
and when the power is emptied ont OF
the cylinders it presents very differ
ent appearance than heretofore during