The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-24

| In the manipulation of the lead and
| saucepan a skill is required which ma
chinery could not supply. 1t is not nee
essary to have pan with distinct size
shot demanded. Holes OF given size
can be made to yield shot of several
different sizes by making the layer of
scum on the bottom of the pan thinner
or thicker, OF by altering the temperature
os the lead alloy. The.holes are punched
by hand At the same time it is not
possible to make all the shot in a given
batch of exactly the same size. No.
shot, for instance, are made with pan
that has holes measuring four One-hun-
dredths of an inch in diameter. Three
quarters Of them will be of the right
size, but from Is to 25 per cent will be
smaller or bigger than No.
Making Different Sizes.
Another fact to be considerd is that
brands of lead differ. All of them will
not make shot of the same size for hole
of given sizes. The operator is obliged to
get over the difficulty by suitably adjust
ing the temperature of his melted metal
and the thickness of the scum at the
bottom of his pan The best time to
make shot is when the iron sides of the
FROST In the sort of weather which now
prevails the leaden drops do not cool fast,
enough, so that they are fattened when
they strike the water below. Not long
ago visitor came to see how shot were
made at the tower described. Showers
of the little globules were falling down
the shaft. Standing near the bottom
he thrust his hand out to feel the molten
rainleaden. The foreman grabbed his
arm qnickly enough to prevent him
from being seriously injured. Dropping
from such height the shot would have
quickly riddled his hand.
From the bottom of the well endless
chains of little buckets dip up the new
made shot and carry them to floor
above where they are poured upon an
inclined plane of heated iron. AS they
roll across this table they are dried by
the heat. and at the other end of it they
fall into great bins. There they remain
until they are ready to pass through
certain further process which are re-
CURED to prepare them for market. On
coming out of the bins they go into a
cloth. Friction in this continuance re-
moves from them all corrosion and dirt
Then they are conveyed by machinery
to a series of wide boards arranged like
steps, the difference in elevation between
each two being slight. The first and
l13QoSU DOdru Is SIduutu SulllClCiUly W
set the shot rolling to the end of the
steps, The other boards are horizontal
Testing the Shot.
Now, between each two of the step
like boards there is space as wide as
three or four fingers. The perfectly
spherical shot jump clear across these
spaces, but the imperfect ones do not
roll sufficiently well to make the leaps.
Perhaps they may get across one or two
gaps, but they are sure to drop through
by the time they get to the third or
fourth. Falling out, they are rejected.
Those which pass the ordeal and jump
all of the spaces are perfect shot, and
are deemed acceptable without further
test. The bad ones are of all sorts of
shapes. Some of them are twins or
triplets, having stuck together in falling
down the we'll. Finally the little pellets
are put through series of revolving
with different sized holes. by which they
are automatically sorted into oil the
different sizes known to the sportsman.
Then it only remains to pack them in
bags and send them to market. 1t should
have been said, however that before be-
ing sorted by the sleeves they are put
into machine which tumbles them
around with plulnbago, otherwise known
as black lead or graphite--the stuff that
is used to make pencils. Thus they get
coating of plum bago, which gives
them their beautiful shine. Washington
Star.