The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-01-04
TIE MAKING OF SHOT
SHAPED BY A COLANOeR AT THE TOP
OF A TALL TOWER.

lets Are Hardened - The fehriui
Force of the Fall.
Standing on made ground over the very
spot where Robert Fulton sailed his first
steamboat is the celebrated shot tower
that has entered into the romance and
tragedy of the great city for generations.
From its top one may look down into
the courtyard of the Tombs prison, and
years ago, when murdcrers we've hanged
there, newspaper men We're wont to
watch from the tower and signal the
news of death to other watchers posted
Oh the roofs of newspaper offices on Park
row. Many men have been killed by
the shot made there, and millions of rab-
bits and statelier game have become vic
tins Of the fleshpots through its intlu-
euce.
Every generation or so some crank
comes forward with n scheme to make
small shot without a tower. Every plan
has been tried, but not an ounce Of small
shot is on the market except what was
made in the old fashioned way. The lar
gest shot that can be made in Il tower Is
nty-three-hunLredths of inch in
diameter. Buckshot and all sizes larger
are nodded.
The process Is extremely simple. The
shot forms itself, and the height Of the
tower has nothing to do with shaping the
pellets. Height is only necessary to give
them time to harden before they come in
contact with anything that might de-
stroy their shape. The old tower on
Center street is 10 feet tall At its bot
tom is n well 10 feet deep filed with wa
ter, into which the hard but hot shot fall.
An endless chain works at the bottom
with buckets, carrying the shot up to a
platform as fast as they reach the bot
tom of the well. On working day II
tons of shot will be rained down from
the giddy top into this well, and the wa
ter will be kept kissing with the torrent.
But that is a little detail Of the manu-
facture. The real skill is required in
mixing the lead to be poured.
Melt pure lead and pour it through the
colander ut the top of the tower, and it
will be taken from the water in short
strings, more like crooked nails than shot.
To make the lead form pellets it must be
shortened or ''sharpened," d just as a
housewife shortens dough with lard to
make pie crust. The shortening for lead
is arsenic.
The amount of arsenic used is so slight
and so perfectly asSimilated by the lead
that it is harmless. 1t is mixed with the
lead thus: On the bottom of great re-
tort is placed heap of 40 pounds of pure
arsenic. Over it Is placed an iron crown,
which fits uirtight. On top of this is put
ton of cold lead. The lead is then heat
ed. The moment it begins to show red an
attendant plunges an iron rod into it and
upsets the iron crown, or bowl, that held
fhO 10 10 10
leased at the bottom Of the hot lead. 1t
begins to work its way up through the
mass, but by the time it reaches the sur
face there is barely Il fume of it left, the
lead having absorbed it.
Lead thus treated is as brittle as quick
silver, and bit of it dropped on the floor
will fly in thousand directions and come
to rest in n myriad of tiny pellets. 1t is
too brittle for shot. 1t is shot stock"
One hundred pounds of this stock is melt
ed with LOCO pounds of pure lead, and
the resultant mixture IS short enough for
shot and is run off into bars of 200 pounds
weight each.
At the top Of the tower on sort of dais
is u melting pot. The prepared lead is
hoiStcd to this on an elevator. The colan-
der, which is like those used in any kitch-
en-, only vastly more heavy, is foot in
diameter. 1t is placed over the center #
q wooden tube three feet in diameter that
stands in the center of the tower. Scum
from boiling lead is powdered, and the
bottom of the colander is covered with it
to the depth OF half an inch. On the top
of this the lead is poured. 1t percolates
through the powder and drops through
the holes exactly as water through i'll
ter. Each drop that leaves the suspend' d
colander is a perfectly rounded shot. Its
form is never changed for the better. Aft
er the drops begin to let go they fall SO
fast from the many holes that to the eye
they seem like solid streams of lead in
stead of Il succession of tiny globes. The
rain of metal CLEANS like silver and is
pretty thing to look at. But if one were
to thrust ones head into the shower ones
head would be chewed off in twinking,
especially at the bottom, for the speed it
acquires in its fall is almost great as
that it has when fired from gun.
Nearly every stranger who visits the
tower for the first time wants to poke his
hand into the stream to see how hard il is
falling. Recently a wise young man
with q silk hat insisted holding out
his hand, and the engineer jerkcd him
back just in time to save the hand. The
young man then held out his hat to catch
u hatful of the shot The hat was eaten
up so quickly that only a few bits of it
could be fshed from the well. The en-
gineer then held pine board into the
rain, and when the shot passed right
through it the visitor shuddered at the
thought of the hand he might have taken
home.
To ward against accidents the lead Is
dropped down q wooden tube. The tube
Is open here and there to let the air cir
culate freely. The hot shot in falling
will often swerve to one side and beat
against the sides. About one-third of the
shot dropped is ruined by this or by he
ing beaten out of shape in striking the
water. The only recent improvement in
making shot is in driving blast Of iced
air up the tube through which the shot
falls. Thus a shorter fall will harden
the shot, but as the chilled air is costly
the tall tower is just as valuable as ever.
The holes in the cOlander do not regu-
late the size of the shot absolutely, for
six or more sizes OF shot will often be
secured from the same pouring. More or
less shortening viii make the drops larger
or smaller through the same hole Thus
lead nearly pure will hold on longer be-
fore falling and make larger drops. Lead
and thus form tiny pellets. For the very
smallest bird shot the lead is heated and
cropped from about two-thirds the way
up the tower.
Twelve tons of lead is a days pour.
From this eight tons of perfect shot will
be secured. As the pellets are lifted from
the bottom of the shot well they are run
through machine filed with Il multitude
of round holes of different sizes. which
assert the shot, turning the imperfect
ones back to be melted over.-New York
Mail and Express.
Pat aud His Wheel.
The other day Pat went to a cycle
agent with the intention Of buying a
bike. He inspected few, but what puz-
zled him most was the brake.
whats that fort" inquired Pat.
"Oh," replied the agent, you use that
when coming to a steep hill"
Pat learned to ride fairly well; and
while out one day he came to a steep hill
which he must climb.
"Sow for the brake" thought Pat, and
off he started, full pressure on brake, up
the hill.
Half way up some friends saw him, ex
claiming:
"PulI off the brake, man. You're going
up hill"
''Ah" said Pat, "can't you see, man,
that's to keep it from going back down