Friday, June 27

Finland Friday - Pispala Shot Tower

Here are some pictures I took of the Pispala Shot Tower, located in Tampere, Finland.


It is locally known as the haulitorni, which is Finnish for shot tower.
Pispala Shot Tower (fin."Haulitorni") in Tampere is the last shot tower left in Finland, and one of the most famous landmarks in Pispala. Pispala Shot Tower is a tower where shotgun pellets are made by dropping melted lead down a tube. The tower was built in 1908 and it's 55 meters high. The making of pellets was a well preserved secret. First lead was melted in a pot under the tower, and some arsenic was added to make the lead form drops better. Also 2 % antimony was added to the alloy to make the pellets harder. After this the lead was cast in pigs and lifted up in the tower, where they were melted again. The melted lead was poured into the tube through a sieve and it fell as drops down the tube. The upward stream of air in the tube gave the pellets their round shape. Finally the pellets were cooled down in a bowl of water. The making of pellets in Pispala Shot Tower ended in 1972. - Google 3D Warehouse

More on shot towers at Wikipedia.
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