Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1893-02-10
How Powder is Made.


wood only being used for blasting
powder. The wood is put in large
iron ovens, the. doors OF which are
sealed tightly and then baked for
eight or ten hours. From experience
the man in charge can tell from the
appearance of the tar which exudes
from d pipe in the oven when the
wood is thoroughly carbonized. The
fire is then drawn and the oven left
to cool of. When cool the charcoal
is taken out and carted to the mixing
house. Here the proper quantities
of the different ingredients are
weighed and pat in bags and taken
to the barrel :" This is large
one-story building, as are all the dif-
ferent mills through which the
powder passes in the process OF man
ufacture. The barrel-mil is full Of
large, heavily built barrels, as they
are called, through the centre Of
which, length wise, runs a shaft OF
composition metal which will not
strike fire. Into each of these bar
rels the proper amounts OF saltpetre,
charcoal and 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 the opening
closed tightly. After all the barrels
are charged the machinery is started
and the barrels revolve rapidly, the
marbles thoroughly amalgamating
the mixture. The noise made by the
marbles as they rattle against the
sides of the barrels is deafening, and
would soon drive a person afflicted
with weak nerves into a state OF un-
reasoning terror. The barrels are
kept in motion from six to ten or
twelve hours. according to the quality
of powder desired. The contents are
then emptied out, u grayish-black
dust, and taken to the rolling" or
wheel mills, Of which there were
three at the works in question. These
mills are built with heavy stone walls
on three sides, the front and roof be-
ing of light boards. The roof also
slopes toward the front, so that in
case of an explosion the only damage
done is the blowing away OF the front
and roof In this mill is a cirsula
pan, ten or twelve feet in diameter,
and in this are two large, heavy
wheels weighing seven tons each,
both pan and wheels being made OF
composition metal. The charge for
this mill-about 200 pounds of the
mixture which has passed through
the barrel mills scattered evenly
over the bottom of the pan and
moistened with water. Then the ma
chinery is started and the heavy
wheels roll rapidly around in the pan,
and serving to more thoroughly i'm
pact the contents. When the ma
chinpry is set in motion the workman
leaves the building; and with the eI-
ception of an occasional visit to see
that everything is working smoothly,
it is left alone until the charge is
dono. After 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 eI-
plode while the workman is inside,
he is rarely ever killed outright, but
burned in a horribly manner, and af
ter few hours of intense agony his
sufferings 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 the edges of
The canvas are carefully tucked in to
keep the mixture from squeezing out.
After the layers have been built up
to the required height, the heavy hy-
draulic press is put in motion, squeez-
ing the mass into solid blocks. The
LAYERS are then removed and are now
in hard cakes, about thirty inches
square by one inch thick. The cakes
are then carted to the corning" mill
where they are run, one by one,
though q set OF heavy rollers which
grind or crush them into grains OF
different 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 re-
duced to the proper size. The
coarsest grains of powder are about
the size of pea-for use in cannon
mortars. From this mill the powder,
which by this time has attained its
full explosive force and is still OF a
grayish-blue hue, is taken to the glaz-
ing house. Here it is again put in
revolving cylinders, much like those
in the barrel mill, but instead OF
marbles a quantity OF lampblaek is
put with it in each cylinder, and
when all are charged and the ma
chinery started the constant revolu-
tions of these cylinders mix and rub
the grains OF powder and the lamp
black together and against each
other, giving the powder the brilliant
polish seen upon it by sportsmen-
Usually from eight to ten hours time