Ingredients for black powder are relatively inert when unmixed. Years ago, sodium nitrate replaced saltpeter as the key ingredient in black blasting powder. This improved powder was developed by Lammot, grandson of the founder of the DuPont...
Narrow gauge tracks and distinctive hand cars link DuPont's sprawling Belin Works black powder plant at Moosic, Pennsylvania. It is now the company's only black powder plant. Once the Explosives Department has 25 black powder plants in 13 states.
Black powder line starts at soda mill, where synthetic nitrate is unloaded, screened and weighed out. Powder man at DuPont Belin Works uses traditional scoop shaped like snow plow to move sodium nitrate to the screen equipment, while more cascades...
