The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-10
SIGHTS IN A SHOT TOWER.
BILLIONS OF PELLETS TURNED
OUT EVERY WEEK.
Dropped Through the Air n Distance
of 200 Feet-Taken From Well
and Rolled over a Heated Table
Then sorted, Polished and Packed.

Within the memory of most middle
aged New Workers. one of the tallest
structures of the town before the adj
vent of the sky-scrapers was the old
shot tower standing within half dozen
blocks of Fulton ferry. Today you can
only see this latter structure from some
nearby roof top. so completely hidden is
1t by the forest of high office buildings
All the same the industry pursued in
side its slender smoke grimed walls has
lost none OF its completely and none of
its interest.
The building was erected for the pur-
pose of manufacturing those small me-
tallic pellets used by sportsmen. and of
these II turns out billions every week
during the winter. Up near the top of
the structure are furnaces for melting
the substance, which is poured In show
ers OF globuies down through the shaft
These fall into a we'll of water at the
bottom. out Of which they are then
scooped, TO be sorted into proper sizes
and polished for the market. Each in
dividual shot must pass test and be
declared perfect before IL Is permitted TO
so. out of the establishment
Among the numerous popular decisions
about the manufacture of shot" said one
of the attendants to me, lis the notion
that the little metal balls are made spheri-
cal by falling from a height through the
air. The fact is that the perfect shot
could be made by falling two feet just as
we'll as by dropping 200 feet-which is the
height OF our towerif only they could
cool rapidly enough.
'Ths shot" he continued, when they
are lei fall from the top of the tower. are
perfectly spherical as when they reach
the bottom. III they started in any other
shape they would not be made round by
their long tumble, but would be merely
slugs when they got to the water. But
it .t... Iat
distance. in order that they may have
ample time to cool and harden before ar
irving at the bottom. As for the water,
Its purpose Is not to chill them. but to
afford a yielding substance for them to
strike. IL II were otherwise they would
be nattened and made useless. The well
in the bottom OF the tower described is IL
feet in depth.
'Our tower is not the only one In town."
he went on. though It Is the taIIest and
perhaps the best known. 1t has been called
the lighthouse Of The swamp II Is not I'M
like lighthouse In its construction, only
II Is more slender and has no lamp of
course, at the top. II Is close upon 800 feet
high. As you can see, there IL a spiral iron
staircase winding from tho bottom TO tho
top. around a central shaft. To reach the
summit IL a laborious climb. At height
Of 40 feet Is a. floor with furnace for
melting the metal.
Thirty feet higher you see another floor
and second furnace like the first. The
lower furnace IL used for the smaller size
of shot because they do not have to drop
30 far In order to get cool. For big shot
the upper furnace Is employed. A fall OF
sixty feet would be sufficient for small
bird shot The workman. who tends the
furnace. you will notice. has half dozen
utensils, which look like saucepans with
long handles The bottom OF each sauce
pan Is perforated with small holes. There
is no other apparatus, for none IL needed.
:'The metal for making shot has to be
very carefully prepared Tin Is common
so little as one pound of tin In six tons OF
lead the material will not produce shot; it
VIII Yield only oblong slugs, Nor will pure
lead make good snot. 1t must have--weli
what would you guess7 No, you would
never think OF the correct thing--srsenic.
Tho latter has about the same effect upon
lead that lard or butter has on pastry; II
makes II brittle. To begin with. the metal
is put In a pot with thirty pounds OF ar
senic TO each ton OF lead The mixture Is
heated to a cherry red. which signifies
about 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The alloy thus prepared Is made into
pigs OF 100 pounds each. One OF these pigs
Is melted together with 900 pounds OF pure
lead and thus Is obtained the material re-
quired for shot Quite recently hubbub
was made by some sensational writer. who
asserted that game killed with shot that
were loaded with arsenic must be poisonous
Nothing could be more absurd than such
statement The effect OF this mineral on the
metal is TO cause the latter when melted
TO form itself into globules. like quicksilver
when the workman at n furnace
wishes to ascertain whether his molten
stun Is heated TO the correc, temperature
he throws a little OF II upon sheet OF
cool iron. IL IL Is all right. IL splits UP
into lot OF little rolling slobulss like
mercury. All being In readiness. he skins
on from the top of the melting pot
quantity OF the impure material that
floats on the surface. lie then puts a
layer of the pure stun In the bottom Of
one Of the saucepans. When partly cool
1t Is of the consistency OF putty. and very
porous. Now the operator holds the
saucepan over the central shaft, which Is
boxed In with planks all the way 60 the
bottom ~ the tower. Looking down this
perpendicular tunnel you see faint SHIN
mer OF the water in the well far below
The workman with his iadle pours some
lead alloy into the pan and the real pro
cess of shot making begins.
The metal alloy makes It's way through
the porous stun on the bottom of the
utensIl and forms little drop at every
opening In the perforated bottom. The
drops fall down the we'll. followed nv
others as fast as they can form. BEING
liquid drops. they are absolutely spheri-
cal when they leave the saucepan. The
man continues 90 add quantities of melt
ed lead with his iadle Rs fast as Il IL re-
quired, 40 that the shower OF metal drops
IL continuous. by the time they have
fallen 100 feet or more through thu air
they have cooled ana hardened so far
that th@ impact Of the water does not
alter their shape.
In the manipulation Of the lead and
saucepan a skill Is required which ma
rhlncry could not supply. II Is rot nee
essary 60 have a pan with a distinct siEs
81 perforations 10 produce each size ~
shot demanded Holes % given slEa
can be made 20 yield shot of several ST.
ferent siEes BY making the 'syer Of the
scum 90 tho bottom 81 the pan thinner
or thicker, or by altering the sampaSa-
ture 81 tho Lead alloy. The holes arc
puuched by hand. Al the same time Il
- not possible 20 make All the shot IN
given batch 81 precisely the same siEe
For example. Ne. shot are made
with "a pan that has holes measuring gl0a