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Powder mill

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Title: Powder mill  
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: David Crockett State Park, Lukács Baths, Maynard, Massachusetts, Mill (grinding), Paul Revere
Collection: Firearm Industry, Grinding Mills
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia

Powder mill

One component of a Powder-Mill, taken from Encyclopédie, published by Denis Diderot, circia 1770
A working example of the drawing above. This is a restored edge-runner mill at Eleutherian Mills

A powder mill is a mill where black powder, a type of gunpowder, is made.[1]

Powder mills were driven by a power source such as windmill, water mill or horse mill, and contained rollers for grinding or a pilon for pounding[2] the ingredients of gunpowder together, as well as presses and tumbling barrels and sieves for compacting, granulating, drying, grading and packaging the powder. Powder mills were built with an eye towards mitigating the danger of explosion, usually with one or more walls built purposely weak so that the force of an accidental explosion could be directed towards an open field or a river.

In 1802, the DuPont family started their industrial enterprises in the United States by building the Eleutherian Mills on the Brandywine Creek in Delaware.[3] This was the start of large-scale gunpowder production in America, supplanting what had been primarily a cottage industry.

The place where the finished powder was stored was called a powder magazine or powder house.




  1. ^ Knight, Edward H.. "Powder-mill" Knight's new mechanical dictionary: a description of tools, instruments, machines, processes, and engineering: with indexical references to technical journals (1876-1880). vol. 2. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1883. 1781. Print.
  2. ^ Braddock, John. A memoir on gunpowder: in which are discussed, the principles both of its manufacture and proof.. Madras: Printed at the Church Mission Press, 1829. Print.
  3. ^ Rideal, Charles Frederick, and Freeman Morris. A century of success: the history of a great industry ; what it has accomplished ; a record of progress and sustained work : the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Co., from its foundation to the present time. New York, N.Y.: Business America, 19111912. Print.
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