Saltpetre works
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A saltpetre works or nitrary is a place of production of potassium nitrate or saltpetre used primarily for the manufacture of gunpowder. The saltpeter occurs naturally in certain places like the "Cave
A typical nitrary (Germany, circa 1580) with leaching deposits (C) filled with decaying vegetal material mixed with manure. A worker collects effloresced saltpeter from deposits, transporting it then to be concentrated in the factory (A) boilers.
Saltpeter Mine Ruins in Mammoth Cave
Efflorescence
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In chemistry, efflorescence is the migration of a salt to the surface of a porous material, where it forms a coating. The essential process involves the dissolving of an internally held salt in water
Saltpetre works
…and waiting until the leaching process did its job; after a certain time, operators gathered the saltpeter that "came out" to the ground surface by efflorescence. Then they transported it to be concentrated by ebullition in the boiler plant. Besides "Montepellusanus", during the thirteenth century (and beyond…
Secondary efflorescence on the dam of the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant.
Primary efflorescence on a brick wall in Germany.
Primary efflorescence on a firestop mortar at Mississauga Civic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario City Hall.
Substantial primary efflorescence on a building in Denver, Colorado.