Winchester Ringblaster industrial gun - video and photo

[Jon]

Winchester Ringblaster industrial gun. Used for removing buildup and brick lining.

The Ringblaster® can be fired by a manual lanyard operation or an auto fire operation. The Ringblaster® has been used by the cement, lime, and ferro alloy industries for over 60 years.

0:55 video:

More: Winchester | Industrial Products - Equipment

Previously:

Punt guns - enormous old shotguns for hunting waterfowl
Firefighting shotgun - GIFs and video

[Clockguy]

Well, I watched both the 55 second video above and also the 3 or 4 videos on Winchester's website and I still haven't a clue what this contraption is doing nor how it operates. It appeared to be chipping away at bricks and a cement collar in the videos on their website, and I did see what appeared to be shotgun casings being ejected or thrown out of the machine but I guess I simply don't understand the concept or purpose of it all?

[skibo]

These guns were made for industrial use only, I have had many hours in using these in the pulp mill I worked at. We shot the rings of lime build up in the cold rear part of the kiln, the lime goes in as a mud slurry and flows down to the turning slopped hot end (1100 degrees) of the kiln as in a near molten state! Sometimes the lime mud slurry might get hung up at the beginning of the brick lining and start to form a small ring. It soon get's bigger and if not caught in time it forms a ball that get's bigger every rotation of the kiln, same as the ring, it get's bigger and chokes the kiln. These guns we had were 8 gauge and larger Rimmington and Winchester! We used to shoot the ring out with and shoot what ball was there! Yes these guns shot what looked like shotgun shells but no shot, just solid lead slugs, very heavy slugs! I hated to shoot these miserable things, the repercussion would make the lime dust fall off from everything like the ceiling rafters, a very miserable time! Anyone ever had dry hands from working with cement? The lime we had to contend with was many times stronger and if you sweat it turned into a open burn! But the job was usually was done on overtime and I did make a lot of money doing it! cement kilns are the same thing as lime kilns, as both cement and the paper industry use lime for manufacturing!

[PJs]

Thanks for the info Skibo...had no idea about these and how they are used. What happens to the lead round after...just melt into the mix or separated some how?

And somebody has a lot of reloading to do after...that was a lot of rounds.

[skibo]

Hi, The lead just melts right away, and we had to keep the kiln turning every two or three mins. as not to warp the kiln because if any longer the hot lime just sitting there would warp the kiln! By turning the kiln also would drive the lime could work forward and drop into the drag chain conveyer trench to the hot lime tank! The lead just goes into the dissolving tank along with the hot lime from the hot lime tank for settling out after that any lead or anything not usable for the making whit liquor for cooking the wood chips was slaked out and went to a deposit area!

[PJs]

Hi, The lead just melts right away, and we had to keep the kiln turning every two or three mins. as not to warp the kiln because if any longer the hot lime just sitting there would warp the kiln! By turning the kiln also would drive the lime could work forward and drop into the drag chain conveyer trench to the hot lime tank! The lead just goes into the dissolving tank along with the hot lime from the hot lime tank for settling out after that any lead or anything not usable for the making whit liquor for cooking the wood chips was slaked out and went to a deposit area!

Thanks for the quick answer. Had a feeling it would head down stream and be slaked out.

PJ

[skibo]

No problem, a lot of people don't know the many facet's of making paper, it has many operations involved and the production of cooking liquor is one of many involved process's!