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Pressed
Powder Charges
By Terry A. White
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Figure
1
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As you
may all know, the Hazard Powder Company located in Hazardville,
Connecticut, manufactured pressed powder cartridges for small arms
during the American Civil War. The most common of these was for
the .44 caliber Army revolver, and universally called the Hazard
cartridge (Figure 1). R. Ogden Doremus and Bern L. Budd were medical
doctors in New York City. They received patents #34,724 and #34,725
on March 18, 1862, for their "pressed powder" cartridges.
With no manufacturing skills, the two doctors partnered with the
Hazard Powder Company to manufacture the cartridges. Patent #34,724
covered the pressing of black powder into a cake, while #34,725
covered the attachment of a bullet to that charge to make a cartridge.
Doremus and Budd also received a third patent, #34,744 dated March
24, 1862, which detailed the waterproofing of their pressed powder
cartridges.
What is less known is that Hazard also manufactured and sold "pressed
powder" charges for artillery. They made "pressed powder"
charges for the 10, 20, 30, and 100-pdr. Parrott rifle, the 12 and
24-pdr. and 11-inch Dahlgren howitzer, and for the 6 and 12-pdr.
James rifle. Other than materials located at the National Archives,
Washington D.C., very little information is found on the artillery
pressed powder charges.
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Figure
2
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Depending on the gun, a set amount of cannon powder was placed into
a brass mold. (The diameter of each mold was one-tenth of an inch
smaller then the desired caliber to allow for easy loading.) The
powder was then pressed in the molds using 10 to 30 tons of pressure
for a specific period of time to form the powder cakes. Once formed,
the powder charge was removed from the mold and placed in a zinc
container and labeled. The preprinted, paper label was applied to
the lid and detailed the contents, intended weapon, patent date,
manufacturer and directions
(Figure 2).
Figure
3 illustrates a pressed powder charge for the 12-pdr. Dahlgren boat
howitzer and its zinc container. Due to the ravage of time, some
of the powder charge on this speciman has been chipped away leaving
it shorter in overall length. The zinc container is 2.125 inches
in diameter and 4.25 inches long. A small number of the 12-pdr.
Dahlgren boat howitzer charges had an experimental sabot attached
prior to shipment from the Hazardville powder mill, but whether
it worked successfully, is unknown. Figure 4 illustrates a label
for a 10-pdr. Parrott rifled cannon. It is not known if any other
pressed powder charges exist in collections today.
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Figure
3
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Figure
4
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While
the exact number of powder charges shipped from the factory is
unknown, it is estimated to be less than 60,000. After the war,
the Government sold their surplus pressed powder charges back
to the Hazard Powder Company to be reprocessed.
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