The main ingredients of gunpowder are saltpetre, charcoal and what else?
Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills wood engaged better than iron and iron and that quieter and smoother running resulted. The charcoal men and the sulphur and saltpetre refinery played an important part in the manufacture of gunpowder. Gunpowder had to be uniformly good and this depended on pure ingredients being produced by these men. The mixer’s job was to mix these three ingredients in the gunpowder. The mixture – now called the ‘green charge’ – was stored in small low houses called charge houses before being taken to the incorporating or composition mills. This was the most important process because here gunpowder was produced. For
Great Saltpetre Cave Great Saltpetre Cave The Great Saltpetre Cave is a notable limestone cave located in Rockcastle County in southeastern Kentucky. During the War of 1812, it served as an important source of saltpeter, a vital component of gunpowder. Robert Baker discovered the cave in the late eighteenth century. A stream ran through the cave, and was wide enough so that oxcarts could be used to bring the saltpeter above ground. However, torchlights had to be used to light the cave so that workers could mine the saltpeter from the ground. At the cave, calcium nitrate, also called niter, is leached from