Hazard Powder Company press mill
Photograph taken by Thompsonville (Enfield), Connecticut professional photographer N.P. Palmer showing one of the Hazard Powder Company's press mills. To avoid explosions, black powder ingredients were ground and mixed wet. The wet mixture was then pressed in this mill to produce cakes. The cakes would then be "cracked" (crushed) to produce the various grain sizes of black powder identified required for uses ranging from gun and cannon powder to blasting and other industrial uses. The cart is on the narrow gauge rails that ran between the mill buildings. Only human- and horse-propelled carts and wagons were used.
2012.10.12-18