US1385723A - Smelting minerals - Google Patents

Description

F; w. SMITH'. SMELTING MINRALS. APPLICATION FILED- AUG.15 191-9. 1

Patented July 26, 1921.

2 SHEES-SHEET 2- F. W. SMITH. SMELTING MINERALS. APPLICATION FILED AUG.I5`, 1919. 1,385,723, Patented July 26, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK W. SMITH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-FOURTH TO JOHN J.

GLASHEEN, ONE-FOURTH TO RICHARD J'.

SNELLBERGER, AND ONE-FOURTH T0 WILBERT J. LEWIS, ALL OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SMELTING MINERALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented AJuly 26", 1921.

Application filed August 15, 1919. Serial No. 317,653.

useful Improvementsin Smelting Minerals,

of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In lead smelting practice, it has been the practice to draw the gases from the smelting furnaces by a-blower and to force themV through filtering bags to conserve the entrained dust and fume, generally known as lead fume. It has been the practice to periodically shake the bags to discharge the fume into compartments or chambers surrounded by high brick partitions and permit it to accumulate in the chambers and then ignite it by means of light waste, suiieient air being admitted through usually takes about three days after setting fire to the dust for the chambers to cool sufiiciently before they can be cleaned, at which time the dust becomes cindered and is in a columnar structure about siX inches thick. During this period, the filter bags above the chambers are necessarily out of operation. This delay is caused by the necessity of permitting the dust to 'cool off sufiiciently so that it could be shoveled into wheel-barrows and dumped into railroad cars and taken to the blast furnace bin.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of handling this fume or dust which will avoid the delay and loss of time incident to the cooling of the fume in the firing-chambers.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved method by which the fume will be handled mechanically so that the men do not have to handle the burnt products, thus eliminating all danger of mineral poisoning.

The invention consists primarily in providing hoppers in the fume-receiving chambers with valves, through which the hot cindered fume will fall, and discharging it, while it is hotand without waiting vfor it to cool, onto a conveyer adapted to handle and convey it while hot into the usual railroad cars or place of storage. In this manner, the time, usually lost in Waiting for the cindered material to cool and the gas to escape vfrom the filtered bags.

doors and windows to furnish oxygen for combustion. Ity

therefrom until it is safe for the operators to remove it, Vis saved and the receiving chamber can be used to again receive fume This practice results in greatly eXpediting the handling of the cindered fume.

The invention consists in the several novel features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawings: F ignre 1 isa longitudinal section of apparatus for practising the invention. Fig.'2 is a horizontal section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, parts beingk omitted. Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 upon an enlarged scale.

The invention is illustrated in connection with a refining plant adapted for lead smeltl ing practice and in which the gases are drawn from furnaces and discharged into a flue passing along the bag-house 9. From said flue, the gases with entrained dust and fume are drawn through the filtering bags 10 of usual construction. As well understood in the art, mechanical shakers are operatedv at stated intervals to dislodge the material caught in the bags.

A chamber 14 is provided with downwardly convergent inclined walls 15 which direct the discharge from the bags onto gates 16 which form a movable bottom for the chamber. The walls of the chamber are formed of concrete andthe gates 16 are, formed of metal to adapt the structure for burning the fume in the chamber. The gates 16 are transversely slidable in guideways formed by channeled cross-beams 17 and 18, and are adapted to be opened land closed by chains 19 and shafts 20 which eX- tend longitudinally of the chamber 15 and are provided with wheels 21, so that the gates can be opened or closed by an operator outside of the chamber 14. The lower ends of walls 15 join with side walls 22 of a conduit 23 which contains an endless conveyer 24 which is adapted to convey the material received from the chamber 14 to and through one end of the bag-house and to deliver the material into railroad cars 25 which are adapted to convey the fume to the blast furnace-bins.

The conveyer 24 is preferably of the endless chain type provided with metallic plates 30, the chains passing around sprockets 31 and 32 at the ends of the conveyer. A concrete Hoor 33 is provided under the conveyer. An electric motor 34 operates a belt 35 Which in turn operates a pulley 36 on a shaft 37 which is connected by a chain 38 and sprockets 39 and 40 to the shaft 41 of the sprockets 31. The operation of the conveyer by driving mechanism is controlled by a suitable clutch 43 so that the operator can control the operation of the conveyer as desired.

In the practice of the invention, the dust in chamber 14 is ignited in the usual Way While it is in said chamber and While gates 16 are closed. As soon as the fume is burnt, the gates 16 are opened and the fume, While it is still hot, is discharged upon the conveyer 24 which is adapted to conduct the material to the car in that condition. As

a result of this practice, the time heretofore lost in Waiting for the fume to cool suiiiciently to make it possible to handle it by workmen and for the poisonous gases to escape will be saved, because'as soon as the fume has been burnt, the conveyercan be operated to remove this material and discharge it into the cars where it can be lett to cool as long as desired Without interfering `with the operation of the plant.

The invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details set forth, since these may be modified Within the scope of the appended claims, Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, 'what i charged through said blast-furnace, discharging the'fume into a chamber, burning the fume in the chamber, discharging the burnt fume from the chamber before it has been cooled sufficiently to be handled by Workmen and mechanically conveying it from beneath the chamber before it has so cooled, so that the iiltering of the gases may be continued Without waiting for the fume to be so cooled.

2. In av smelting plant tor minerals',

the

combination of means for filtering gases Y from a blast-furnace, a chamber `beneath the filtering means to receive the fume from the iiltering means, means for controlling the discharge of the fume from said chamber, and mechanical means adapted to receive the hot fume discharged through said controlling means and convey it away from the building containing the chamber.

'3. In a smelting plant for minerals, the combination or' means for filteringV gases from a blast-furnace, a chamber beneath the filtering means having a hopper therein for receiving the fume from the filtering means, gates for 'controlling the discharge of .the fume from said hop-per and an endless conveyer to receive the lhot gates and conveyit to cars for transporting it to the smelter bins.

Y Y FRANK W. SMITH.'

burnt fume dis-1

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