The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-11-16
MAKING In EIAD SHOT.
SOMETHING ABOUT A SIMPLE
But CURIOUS INDUSTRY.
Dropped From High Tower-Thc
Little spheres Nodded by Nat
urai Forces - sortjnr
Different sizes.

q rises high into the air. Its
purpose is the Manufacture of small
metallic pellets for the use of sports
1nep. and OF these il turns out billions
every week in co ld weather. Up near
the top of the structure are furnaces
Tor melting the substance, which Is
poured in showers of globules down
through the shaft They fall into
we'll of water at the bottom, out of
which they are then scooped, 10 he
sorted into proper sizes and polished
for market. Each individual shot
must pass test and be declared per-
feet before il is permitted to go out.
Perfect shot could be made by fall
ing two feet just as well as by drop.
ping distance of 300 feet, il only
they could cool rapidly enough, The
shot, when they are let fall from the
top OF the tower. are as perfectly
spherical rs when they reach the hot
tom. If they started in any other
shape they would not be made round
by tho tumble, but would be merely
slugs when they got to the water. But
It is necessary that they shall drop n
long distance, in order that they may
have time to cool and harden before
arriving at the bottom. As for the
water, its purpose is not to chill them,
but to afford yielding substance for
them to strike. III il wero otherwise
they would be hattened and made USE
less. The well in the bottom of the
tower described istwelve feet in depth
The tower may be likeued to tall
and very slender light house. II is 7S
feet high. The spiral iron stairway
winds from the bottom to the top
around central shaft. To reach the
summit is laborious climb. ~ IA
height of 40 feet is floor with dur
mace for melting the metal. Thirty
'eet higher is another floor and Sec.
ond furnace like the first. The lower
furnace is used for the smaller sizes
of shot, because they do not have to
drop so far in order to get cool For
big shot the upper furnace is en-
ployed. A fall of sixty feet would be
sufficient for the very small bird shot.
The workman who tends the furnace
has half n doXen utensils which look
like big saucepans, with long handles.
The bottom af each saucepan is per-
forated with small holes Thereiis no
other apparatus. Few manufactures
are more simple than that of lead shot
The metal for making shot has to be
very carefully prepared. Tin is COM
monty found as an alloy of lead, but if
there is so little as one pound of tin
4 aA~six tons of lead the material will
N OF produce shot; it will only weld
,quelong slugs Pure lead will not make
shot 1t must have with il n propor-
tion of arsenic. The latter has some-
what the same effect upon lead rs lard
or butter has on pastry; it makes it
brittle. To begin with, the metal is
arsenic to each ton of lead. The mix
ture is heated to cherry red, which
signifies about 1000 degrees Fahren-
heit. The alloy thus prepared is made
into pigs OF 100 pounds each One of
these pigs is melted together with 1000
pounds of pure lead, and thus is OBJ
tained the material required for the
shot
When the man at the furnace wishes
to ascertain whether his molten stuff
is heated to the right temperature he
throws little of it ont upon cool
iron. If correct, ii splits mp into
lot of rolling globules resembling
mercury. All being in readiness, he
skins off from the top of the melt
ing pot n quantity of the impure stuff
that floats on the surface. He puts
60 a 4 A. 4
the saucepanS. When partly cool it
is of putty-like consistency. 1t is
very porous.
Now, the operator holds the sauce
pan over the central shaft, which is
boxed i'll with planks all the way to
the bottom of the tower. Looking
down, one can see faint simmer of
the water III the well far below. The
workman with his ladle pours some of
his pure lead alloy into the pan. 1t
makes its way through the porous
stuff on the bottom of the utensil and
forms little drop at every opening
i'll the perforated bottom. The drops
fall down the wall, followed by others
as fast as they can form.
In the manipulation of the lead and
saucepan skill is required which
machinery could not supply. 1t is
not necessary to have a pan with
distinct size of perforations to pro.
duce each size of shot demanded.
Holes of given size can be made to
yield shot of several different sizes by
making the layer of scum on the bot
tom of the pan thinner or thicker, or
by altering the temperature of the
lead alloy, The holes are punched by
hand At the same time, it is not pos
sible to make all the shot in given
batch of exactly the same size. No, 4
shot, for instance, are made with Il
pan that has holes measuring four one
hundredths of an inch in diameter.
rhree-quarters of them will be of the
right size, but from fifteen to twenty