US1733419A - Continuous copper-melting furnace - Google Patents

Continuous copper-melting furnace Download PDF

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Publication number
US1733419A
US1733419A US76440A US7644025A US1733419A US 1733419 A US1733419 A US 1733419A US 76440 A US76440 A US 76440A US 7644025 A US7644025 A US 7644025A US 1733419 A US1733419 A US 1733419A
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United States
Prior art keywords
furnace
copper
slag
pool
masses
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Expired - Lifetime
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US76440A
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English (en)
Inventor
Hiram S Lukens
Russell P Heuer
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Individual
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Individual
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Priority to US76440A priority Critical patent/US1733419A/en
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B15/00—Obtaining copper
    • C22B15/0026—Pyrometallurgy
    • C22B15/006—Pyrometallurgy working up of molten copper, e.g. refining
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B15/00—Obtaining copper
    • C22B15/0026—Pyrometallurgy
    • C22B15/0028—Smelting or converting
    • C22B15/003—Bath smelting or converting
    • C22B15/0036—Bath smelting or converting in reverberatory furnaces
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B9/00—General processes of refining or remelting of metals; Apparatus for electroslag or arc remelting of metals
    • C22B9/006—General processes of refining or remelting of metals; Apparatus for electroslag or arc remelting of metals with use of an inert protective material including the use of an inert gas
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F27—FURNACES; KILNS; OVENS; RETORTS
    • F27B—FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS, OR RETORTS IN GENERAL; OPEN SINTERING OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • F27B3/00—Hearth-type furnaces, e.g. of reverberatory type; Tank furnaces

Definitions

  • Our invention relates to methods and apparatus for refining copper and is suitable for use in founding operations attending copper refining.
  • a purpose of our invention is to continuously melt copper with a minimum of sulphur contamination and of oxidation subsequently as part of the continuous operation to deoxidize the molten copper.
  • a further purpose is to use ,waste heat from fuel combustion to preheat copper masses (which may be cathode masses) to a temperature near to their melting point and then to drop the massesinto a molten pool of copper and melt them while submerged in order to keep them from taking up sulphur during the melting.
  • copper masses which may be cathode masses
  • a further purpose is to prevent a 001- of molten copper from absorbing sulp ur by protecting its surface with a layerof slag and maintaining a somewhat oxidizing atmosphere above the slag.
  • a further purpose is to operate the founding of copper as a continuous operation.
  • a further purpose is to deliver cathodes to a melting furnace in practically a'continuous stream, and to preheat the stream of cathodes by passing it into the furnace throu h a-flue carrying waste gases of combustion rom the furnace.
  • a further purpose is to continuously feed to and tap from a copper melting furnace.
  • Figure 1 is a top plan assembly view illustrating structure for operating our invention.
  • Figure 1 shows a portion of Figure 1 arranged to pour into moulds upon a casting wheel.
  • Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1.
  • Figure 3 is an end elevation of Figure 1.
  • Figure 4 is an enlarged portion of Figure 1 showing the continuous melting furnace.
  • Figure 5 is a section of Figure 4 taken upon line 55.
  • Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of our fur- 5 nace for removing oxide from thecopper.
  • Figure 7 is a section of Figure 6 taken upon line 7-7.
  • the present invention is to some extent a development of the subject matter of our application No. 703,122, method of removing copper oxide from copper, filed March 31, 1924, and our application No. 758,723, method of freeing copper from copperoxide,. filed December 29, 1924:.
  • the cathode raw material is usually substantially pure copper, but copper that is physically unsuited for commercial use.
  • the cathodes comprise sheets about one inch thick, three feet long and two feet to be wholly unadapted to use without remelting.
  • the cathodes Prior to our present invention in common practice the cathodes have been remelted withinlar e. reverberatory furnaces which are intermittent in operation. A customary charge has been about 250 tons. This is fired for about 12 hours before it is completely melted and during melting takes up some oxygen and considerable sulphur. The sulphur is burned out by blowing air into the molten bath. It goes 01f eventually with gaseous products of combustion as SO during the blowing.
  • the blowing operation necessary to burn out the sulphur, greatly increases the oxide content of the molten'bath so that after the blowing is over the metal contains perhaps six percent of Cu O. an amount altogether too much for commercial copper, and the bath is now poled to remove the greater part of this copper oxide.
  • the polin operation is tedious, expensive and wastefu
  • the poles usually are trees often eight or ten inches in diameter and forty feet long and as many as twenty of them are used on one charge.
  • Poling usually lasts about two hours and reduces the copper oxide content to a value never much less than one-half of one percent, which has for this reason hitherto been the oxide content of commercial copper.
  • Fuel, desirably pulverized coal, and air for combustion, are delivered into the combustion chamber at 25 and the combustion products passing over the bridge 26 heat a molten pool 27 upon the hearth, leaving the furnace by means of the flue 24.
  • the hearth tapers downwardly toward the rear making the pool relatively deep in the rear where the cathodes are to be dropped into it and shallow in the front portions of the hearth.
  • the exit fiue leaves the furnace from a point28 some distance above the surface of the pool within the hearth.
  • the puroses of droppin the cathode piles into the bath are two-fol This protects from loss of heat from the pool by conduction of heat from mass to mass back through the line of cathodes. Such losses would have the cf fect of chilling the pool.
  • Our invention also makes sure that the melting takes place below the slag.
  • the exit flue serves a double purpose, that of leading away the gaseous products of combustion, and that of providing a runway 29 in which to preheat the piles before they enter the pool. It is shown as sloping upwardly away from the furnace, so that the runway, carrying in fresh piles, slopes downwardly to the furnace. This downward slope of the runway toward the furnace makes easier the workof pushing in the piles.
  • the runwa is the sloping bot-tom of the flue 24 and t e inwardly progressing piles are shown covering it throughout its length and most of its breadth.
  • the copper may be raised somewhat on runway 29 to permit the hot gases to surround the copper if desired.
  • the piles are pushed into the flue at the rear through any suitable opening 30 by the reciprocating plungers 31 of the ram 20.
  • Rows of piles are placed successively in I front of the plungers upon a suitable feed table 32 and are pushed forward into the flue successively-by the forward strokes of the plungers. In movin forward successively they push ahead of t em the layers of piles already in the fiue. With each stroke of the plungers a row of cold piles is thus pushed into the flue, those piles already in the flue are progressed forwardly one step, and a front row, now preheated by its progressive passage throughout the whole length of the hot flue, falls into the pool, to sink and melt while submerged. Three rows of iles are shown side by side on the runway. With the usual dimensions of copper cathodes this would-mean a total runway width of about nine feet, and if one such row falls into the pool, with each stroke gle plunger.
  • the effective stroke of the plunger will be about two feet.
  • Three plungers are shown in the figure. These may act from the gases of combustion, and yet as near to this temperature as is practicable. In practice this means with piles of copper cathodes a temperature just below melting.
  • the depth of the pool at 33 where the piles enter is suflicient to permit the piles to sink below the surface of the pool before they begin to melt, and, with the available heat of the furnace to secure substantially complete melting of each charge before the next charge comes in with the next stroke of the ram.
  • the temperature of the molten metal at this part of the pool is near but somewhat above the melting temperature to continually supply the latent heat of fusion.
  • the bottom is desirably sloped so as to become progressively more shallow toward the front of the hearth, and the molten metal is continuously.
  • the slag upon the surface of the bath is normally that which forms of itself, due to oxidizing some of the metal with perhaps deposition of more or less ash from the fuel of combustion.
  • the furnace operates continuously day and night and we show a door 35 at which excess slag due to gradual accumulation over a considerable period of time, may be removed as found desirable.
  • the melting furnace is shown as delivering its superheated metal continuously through its spout 34 into the deoxidizing furnace 16.
  • the molten copper within the furnace 16 is covered with a 'deoxidizing slag 36, the slag being so chosen that under operating conditions the partial free energy of copper oxide in it is less than the partial free energy of copper oxide in the incoming copper.
  • This revivification of the slag may be per formed in place, if desired, continuously or intermittently as illustrated in Figure 6, or
  • some of the slag may be removed continuous- 'ly or intermittently for treatment to reduce its oxide content with a corresponding delivery into the furnace of fresh slag.
  • the molten copper is covered with a layer of slag 36. Above this is shown a thick layer of carbon 37; and electrodes 38 and 39 make contact with theslag. They are adapted for use either in electrolytic deposition of copper from copper oxide absorbed by the slag or in electrica ly heating the furnace interior.
  • Doors 41 and 42 in the roof of the slagging furnace may be used for the charging of slag or carbon, or one may be used as an inlet for hot gases to heat the furnace interior and the other as an outlet for these gases.
  • the furnace is shown mounted upon suitable trunnions 43 and 44 for use in emptying the furnace when it is to be shut down, as for repairs.
  • molten copper purified to any desired degree from its dissolved copper oxide is delivered through a seal 45 and spout 46 into the pouring ladle 18 feeding the moulds 47 of the casting wheel 19.
  • Lower partial free energy of copper oxide in the slag of the second furnace will mean lower copper oxide content in the slag of the second furnace as compared to that in the first furnace if the two slags be otherwise chemically the same.
  • the copper oxide a slag that would be unavailable for use at 130 all if but one furnace were used. Even if the same slag be used, the higher-concentration of copper oxide in the first'furnace would cause reduction to take place more rapidly in it than in the second furnace.
  • the piles of cathodes are slowly progressed through the hot flue 24 by the ram 20. Theytravel in any desired number of transverse rows covering the whole floor ofthe flue and ultimately drop into the molten bath, having been preheated in the flue to a temperature preferably just below that of incipient melting. When they take their plunge into the molten bath the piles sink beneath the surface of the molten co per, and the layer of slag upon the top of the ath and the somewhat oxidizing conditions main tained above the slag largely protect the bath from sulphur.
  • the drop deliver of the piles into the bath prevents heat con uction between the bath and the layer of piles in the flue, with 1ts attendant cooling of the bath.
  • the molten product containing copper oxide is delivered in a continuous stream through the spout 34 into the first slagging furnace.
  • the metal is preferably preheated sufliciently to avoid the need of adding additional heat within the slagging furnace.
  • the slag used should. be one in which copper oxide has a relatively.
  • This oating slag is maintained effective for removal of copper oxide from the metal either chemically by carbon or hydro-carbon or electrol ically or both.
  • the revivification of this s ag, continuously'or intermittently has been slagging furnace.
  • the first slagging furnace is shown delivering continuously through'a trap45 and spout 46 into a second slagglng furnace and the second slaging furnace is shown as delivering continuously into the ladle 18 feeding the moulds 47 of the casting wheel 19.
  • the casting wheel is operated continuously.
  • the pouring ladle does not move away from beneath the delivery spout 46 of the second
  • a furnace for melting copperv cathodes adapted to contain a pool of molten copper, a fuel inlet, an exit flue for the gaseous products of combustion, positively step by step means for passing a stream of masses of copper relatively slowly toward the pool and means separating the stream from the pool and-for discharging the copper abruptly into the pool.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Manufacture And Refinement Of Metals (AREA)
  • Vertical, Hearth, Or Arc Furnaces (AREA)
US76440A 1925-12-19 1925-12-19 Continuous copper-melting furnace Expired - Lifetime US1733419A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US76440A US1733419A (en) 1925-12-19 1925-12-19 Continuous copper-melting furnace

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US76440A US1733419A (en) 1925-12-19 1925-12-19 Continuous copper-melting furnace
GB17561/29A GB331353A (en) 1929-06-07 1929-06-07 Improvements in and relating to the melting and refining of copper

Publications (1)

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US1733419A true US1733419A (en) 1929-10-29

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US76440A Expired - Lifetime US1733419A (en) 1925-12-19 1925-12-19 Continuous copper-melting furnace

Country Status (6)

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US (1) US1733419A (ru)
BE (1) BE361563A (ru)
DE (1) DE521569C (ru)
FR (1) FR676744A (ru)
GB (1) GB331353A (ru)
NL (1) NL28484C (ru)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3822871A (en) * 1968-12-07 1974-07-09 T Morisaki Apparatus for continuous processing of sulfide ores and apparatus therefor

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1171161B (de) * 1961-03-04 1964-05-27 Jlario Properzi Verfahren und Lichtbogenofen zum Ein-schmelzen von Metallen, insbesondere von Kupferkathoden
US4581063A (en) * 1984-05-03 1986-04-08 Sumitomo Light Metal Industries Ltd. Method and apparatus for melting metal ingots
US4923177A (en) * 1988-11-07 1990-05-08 General Kinematics Corporation Continuous preheat scrap charging system and method

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3822871A (en) * 1968-12-07 1974-07-09 T Morisaki Apparatus for continuous processing of sulfide ores and apparatus therefor

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB331353A (en) 1930-07-03
FR676744A (fr) 1930-02-26
BE361563A (ru) 1929-07-31
NL28484C (ru) 1932-12-15
DE521569C (de) 1931-03-28

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