By the time the drops hit the water below, they’d started to solidify.
The water caught the shots and cooled them further.
Watts applied for a patent and was granted.
Soon, shot towers started appearing all over England and Europe.
In subsequent years, shot towers advanced technologically and spread across the United States and Europe.
Steam elevators replaced staircases, cast-iron frames buttressed brick walls, and mule-drawn carts made way for rail lines.
Yet the manufacturing process itself has changed little.
However, improvements such as the addition of an up flow of air dramatically shortened the drop required.
Instead of tens of feet, the molten leads could be dropped from as little as 1 inch.
Shot towers became obsolete and gradually fell into disuse.
Sadly, it was demolished.
This brick structure was built in 1882 and is 160 feet high.
The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower, located in Wythe County, Virginia began construction around 1800.
Another square shot tower was also located not far away downstream along the Thames.
Its hard to estimate how many shot towers were built and how many of them survive today.
Some surviving examples of shot towers along with their pictures are published below.
It was built in 1969 as a replacement for the original tower built by William Watts.
The 50-meters tower was completed in 1888.
