US3575400A - Rotary longitudinal kiln apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The specification discloses an improved mercury-extraction, oretreatment, apparatus comprising an inclined longitudinal rotary kiln having a rotating longitudinal inner ore-flow tube means through which mercury ore is fed and passes spirally downwardly from the upper inlet end thereof to the lower discharge end thereof while being exteriorly subjected to hot flue gases in an outer insulated furnace extension tubular portion (nonrotating) surrounding said inner rotating ore-flow tube means and thus causing mercury in the mercury ore to be released in the form of vapor which is then extracted from within said ore-flow tube means by suction applied to longitudinal mercury vapor extraction tube means extending into said rotating ore-flow tube means from the lower end thereof and then passing through condenser means for condensing the extracted mercury vapor. The inner rotating ore-flow tube means is provided therealong with a plurality of mercury vapor and ore separating and isolating means which freely allow passage of the ore therethrough, but which virtually prevent the passage of vapor therethrough. One form of the oreflow tube means includes novel expansion joint means compensating for thermal expansion and slight misalignment of ore-flow tube means sections along the length thereof and also provides thermal expansion and seal means between adjacent tubular furnace extensions portions and supporting wheel means passing therethrough and bearing the weight of the rotating ore-flow tube means at longitudinally spaced locations.

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventor Jack G. Fisher Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser 11032 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, Assistant Examiner-R. Spencer Annear Calif.9160l [2]] Appl. No. 738,492 [22] Filed June 20, 1968 ABSTRACT: The specification discloses an improved [45] Patented Apr. 20,1971 mercury-extraction, ore-treatment, apparatus comprising an Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. inclined longitudinal rotary kiln having a rotating longitudinal 465,474, June 21, 1965, now abandoned. inner ore-flow tube means through which mercury ore is fedand passes spirally downwardly from the upper inlet end thereof to the lower discharge end thereof while being exteriorly subjected to hot flue gases in an outer insulated furnace extension tubular portion (nonrotating) surrounding 6 said inner rotating ore-flow tube means and thus causing [54] ROTARY LONGITUDINALKILN APPARATUS mercury in the mercury ore to be released in the form of vapor 17 Claims, 13 Drawing Figs. which is then extracted from within said ore-flow tube means 52 use! 266/18, by Swim aPPlied mgnudinal mmury extract 266/ tube means extending into said rotating ore-flow tube means [51 Int. Cl C22b 5/16 mm the end and Passing through Field of Search 266/16, 18, widens" mam mndensmg extractedmerww valPm- 263 /3 /25 81 83 The inner rotating ore-flow tube means is provided therealong with a plurality of mercury vapor and ore separating and [56] R f ren Cited isolating means which freely allow passage of the ore UNITED STATES PATENTS therethrough, but which virtually prevent the passage of vapor 475 060 5/1892 Kohler 263/34 therethrough. One form of the ore-flow tube means includes 1 314849 9/1919 Bassett 263/34 novel expansion oint means compensating for thermal 2l58689 5/1939 g 266/18 expansion and slight misalignment of ore-flow tube means 5/1944 D 266/18X sections along the length thereof and also provides thermal egner expansion and seal means between adjacent tubular furnace FOREIGN PATENTS extensions portions and supporting wheel means passing 565,737 12/1932 Germany... 266/18 therethrough and bearing the weight of the rotating ore-flow 225,779 12/1924 Great Britain 263/34 tube means at longitudinally spaced locations.

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This application comprises a continuation-in-part of my copending patent application, Ser. No. 465,474, filed on June 2l, 1965, which substantially issued on ,luly 9, 1968, as US. Pat. No. 3,39l,9l6.

ln a broad sense, it may be said that the present invention relates to the mining field and, more particularly, to the treatment of mercury-containing ore, such as cinnabar or mercuric sulfide ore, or the like, for the purpose of extracting mercury therefrom. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a very simple apparatus for treating such ore for the extraction of mercury at very low cost per unit of ore handled, or per unit of mercury extracted therefrom, and which eliminates and overcomes most of the major prior art problems which have existed in the past in the extraction of mercury from such ore and which have effectively increased the prior art cost per unit of mercury for such prior art extraction of mercury from ore of the type referred to above.

llt should be noted that cinnabar, or mercuric sulfide ore, is customarily, according to prior art practice, treated in any of several different ways. In certain cases, it may be crushed, if necessary, and it may be gravity-concentrated by various conventional gravity-concentration methods well known in the art since such cinnabar ore has a relatively high specific gravity, as compared to the conventional or usual gangue material.

The mercury in the concentrate may then be extracted by froth flotation followed by retorting the flotation concentrate or otherwise removing the mercury therefrom, or in other cases the ore may be directly roasted in a rotary kiln, orthe like, for the effective disassociation of the ore into mercury and sulfur and for the effective vaporization of the mercury and subsequent condensation thereof. This vaporization and condensation separation and recovery method is based upon the fact that the mercury and sulfur ore in cinnabar ore usually become disassociated when its temperature is raised to a magnitude of between 500 to 600 C., at which temperature the disassociated mercury turns to a vapor at ordinary atmospheric pressure.

The above-mentioned roasting or retorting procedure, which produces disassociation of the ore and vaporization of the mercury, followed by subsequent condensation thereof, is only suitable for ore which does not contain any very fine dust or very small particle sizes since the conventional prior art rotary kiln passes the entire volume of hot flue gases over, through, and in intimate contact with the ore and at very substantial velocities such that any ore in the form of dust or relatively small particle sizes will be picked up by reason of the velocity of the hot flue gases and carried completely through the kiln to the outlet end thereof. This normally requires use of means for recovering said dust which may then be concentrated by flotation, or the like, or otherwise accumulated in the form of a mud which must then be further treated for the recovery of the substantial amount of mercury contained therein. This further recovery treatment may involve a further retorting and/or additional processing, all of which adds to the cost of the processing per unit of mercury finally recovered or per unit of ore handled.

Even in those cases where the ore does not contain any such dust or fine particle sizes, but is of a substantial particle size and thus is supposedly, according to conventional prior art practice, ideally suited for the above-mentioned type of prior art treatment by roasting same in a rotary kiln which vaporizes the mercury, which is subsequently condensed, it will be noted that a major disadvantage still exists in that all of the hot flue gases will normally have to be passed through the condenser since said flue gas has been in direct intimate contact with the ore in the kiln during the heating of the ore. This necessarily increases the required size and capacity of the condenser means and further complicates matters since it will be found that a considerable amount of other materials will also be condensed with, or washed out of, the considerable volume of the hot flue gases, thus necessitating further treatment thereof in order to extract the mercury therefrom, all of which adds to the cost of the overall processing per unit of mercury extracted or per unit of ore handled.

The novel apparatus of the present invention virtually completely eliminates and overcomes the above-mentioned prior art disadvantages since the hot flue gases do not ever come into direct contact with the ore during the heating therefrom by said hot flue gases and, therefore, no contamination of the hot flue gases can possibly occur in the above-mentioned undesirable prior art manner. Furthermore, it makes little or no difference whether the ore contains fine dust or fine particle sizes since the substantial velocity of the hot flue gases cannot pick same up in the above-mentioned highly undesirable prior art manner by reason of the complete isolation of the ore, which is moving downwardly angularly in one direction from the hot flue gases which are moving upwardly angularly in the opposite direction.

Thus no dust recovery problem is encountered and, therefore, no treatment of the flue gases for the purpose of recovering any such dust and any mercury which might be contained therein is required by the novel apparatus of the present invention. lndeed, the complete volume of hot flue gases may be directly exhausted to atmosphere without any treatment of any kind and certainly without the necessity, in the above-mentioned undesirable prior art manner, of said complete volume of hot flue gases being fed through a condenser, washing unit, or other dust and mercury extraction and recovery means. The above-mentioned major advantage of the present invention greatly reduces the required size and capacity of the condenser means, and the reduced amount of handling of the hot flue gases and treatment of any concentrate separated therefrom, in the manner required in accordance with conventional prior art practice, as referred to above, greatly reduces the overall cost of processing mercury ore with the apparatus of the present invention. This, of course, and as a consequence thereof, greatly reduces the cost of the ore processing and mercury extraction per unit of the mercury extracted or per unit of the ore handled and additionally reduces the capital investment required for the equipment correspondingly.

The above advantages are achieved largely by reasonof the complete isolation of the ore and the hot furnace flue gases, although they are in a very effective form of heat transfer relationship which minimizes the amount of fuel required by the furnace and, therefore, correspondingly reduces the cost of the ore processing. This is brought about by reason of the contraflow or counterflow arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention with respect to the feeding of the ore angularly downwardly and the feeding of the hot furnace flue gases upwardly angularly with respect to each other while in heat transfer relationship. It will be noted that as one proceeds angularly upwardly along the flowing hot furnace flue gases, they will become progressively colder or less hot while, similarly, the downwardly angularly feeding ore will also become progressively colder at any given position with respect to the corresponding hot flue gases in heat transfer relationship with respect thereto. This causes the temperature diflerential which exists at any given location along the heat transfer region of the hot flue gases and the ore to maintain a much more nearly consistent value than would otherwise be the case if they were both fed in the same direction, which would produce a maximum temperature differential at the beginning of the heat transfer zone and a minimum temperature differential of very much less magnitude at the end of the heat transfer zone.

The novel contraflow or counterflow arrangement of the present invention, by reason of said characteristic of tending to maintain the temperature differential between the hot flue gases and the ore along the length of the heat transfer zone, produces the most effective transfer of heat from the hot flue gases to the ore and, therefore, by merely adjusting the overall length of said heat transfer zone, virtually any desired amount of the total available heat in said hot flue gases may be extracted prior to exhausting same to ambient atmosphere through an exhaust flue. This of course maximizes the thermal efliciency of the apparatus of the present invention and reduces the fuel costs for operating same.

In addition to the above contraflow or counterflow arrangement which produces maximum thermal efliciency in the novel apparatus of the present invention, its abovedetailed major advantages also stem from the provision of a novel mercury vapor extraction means or system which is in interior communication with the heated ore at the lower end of the heat transfer zone (where said ore has achieved its maximum temperature sufficient to disassociate the ore and vaporize the disassociated mercury thereof) and which is not in communication with the hot furnace flue gases at all. This, of course, means that said vapor extraction system or means has to handle only a relatively small volume of mercury vapor accompanied by a small amount of air and need not handle the vastly greater volume of hot furnace flue gases, as is frequently the case in conventional prior an apparatus. This is a major advantage since it reduces the size and, consequently, the cost of not only the pumping means employed for moving the mercury vapor as opposed to the complete volume of hot furnace flue gases, but also correspondingly reduces the required size and cost of the condenser means. it should be noted that the mercury vapor extraction means or system referred to above, in a broader sense, may be said to comprise material (usually gas or vapor) pumping and handling means capable of both pumping out mercury vapor or the like and also capable of acting as an injector, either at certain specific times or continuously during actual operation of the rotary kiln so that appropriate material of any suitable type may be injected into any of the longitudinally adjacent ore and vapor chambers defined within the ore-flow tube means for the purpose of facilitating the reaction, or mercury vapor extraction operation, occurring therein. This is particularly true with respect to the lowermost and hottest of the longitudinally adjacent ore and vapor chambers defined within the hollow interior of the ore-flow tube means into which it is desirable to introduce a certain amount of air or other oxygen-supplying material so that sulfur disassociated from cinnabar ore in this lowermost, hottest ore and vapor chamber will not recombine with the mercury vapor simultaneously disassociated from the cinnabar ore, but will become oxidized by the introduced oxygen and thus will form either sulfur dioxide or sulfur trioxide which will be exhausted to atmosphere and will not recombine with the freed mercury vapor.

Thus, it may be said that the mercury vapor extraction means is capable of both pumping outwardly and inwardly. The outward pumping is of course for extracting the mercury vapor from the kiln and feeding it to the condenser, while the inward pumping action is for the purpose of introducing air or other reaction-aiding material into any desired one of the ore and vapor chambers. This may be accomplished in any of a number of difl'erent ways. For example, at certain stated times, the pump associated with the mercury vapor extraction means may be effectively reversed or an auxiliary pump may be placed in operation to pump air into any desired one of the ore and vapor chambers, after which this inward air injecting operation may cease and subsequently the conventional mercury vapor extracting outward pumping operation may be performed. The introduction of air may be arranged to occur periodically in substantially the right amounts to facilitate the operation just described.

Alternatively, the extraction-injection tube means associated with the mercury vapor extraction means may be compartmented so as to have two different duct portions therein, one of which is normally operated in an outward pumping mercury vapor extraction manner and the other of which may be operated in an inward pumping air injecting manner. These operations may occur at difierent times or may occur simultaneously, and the outlet for the injected air may be spaced from the inlet for the mercury vapor so that there will be no direct, very closely adjacent communication between the inwardly pumping injected air and the outwardly sucking portion of the tube or duct, which would tend to immediately withdraw the air before it had had a chance to react with the disassociated sulfur Various other means for achieving this same effect may be employed within the broad scope of the present invention.

Also, it should be noted that the normally concentrically positioned tube comprising a part of the mercury vapor extraction means or system, which extends from a position exterior of one end (usually the lower end) of the ore-flow tube means into the interior of one or more of the inner ore and vapor chambers defined within the ore-flow tube means, may be arranged to be nonrotatively fixed along the axis of the ore-flow tube means while it rotates axially therearound and may be appropriately provided with bearings at points where it passes through the end of the ore-flow tube means and any of the hereinafter-referred-to vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned therewithin, or, conversely, the tube of the mercury vapor extraction means (which also is intended to be interpreted broadly enough to include the air injector tube in keeping with the above disclosure thereof) may be fixedly mounted (usually concentrically and axially) relative to the ore-flow tube means so as to rotate therewith, in which case it may have an exterior rotative bearing and fluid transmitting coupling positioned between its point of exit from the end of the main ore-flow tube means and its connection to the pumping means of the mercury vapor extraction means. Either such an arrangement of any other substantially functionally equivalent arrangement is intended to be included and comprehended within the broad scope of the present invention.

The above briefly details certain of the major advantages of the improved apparatus of the present invention with respect to the handling of mercury-containing ore and the efficient extraction of mercury therefrom. However, the advantages of the present invention are not limited to those detailed above but also lie in certain important structural features, such as the novel mounting means (including support means) of the present invention which rollably support a longitudinal oreflow tube through which the ore is angularly downwardly fed as it is rotated and in which it is heated by the surrounding hot furnace flue gases. Said novel mounting means mount and support said rotating ore-flow tube at all necessary and required locations. Usually these comprise the opposite ends thereof, at one of which driving means for rotating said oreflow tube is nonnally provided, and also at one or more intermediate locations along the length of said ore-flow tube. These latter intermediate mounting means are extremely important since it will be understood that the entire ore-flow tube and, in particular, portions near to the furnace means becomes quite hot during the operation of the apparatus, which has the effect of weakening the metallic material of which it is made, (usually high-strength steel, although not specifically so limited), and if it were unsupported between the ends thereof, intermediate heated portions of said relatively lengthy ore-flow tube would tend to sag and become misaligned with respect to the rest of the apparatus, which would probably lead to serious operational difficulties and complete failure of the apparatus.

However, the present invention provides the novel mounting means referred to above, which are capable of rotatably supporting said longitudinal ore-flow tube at any number of desired locations along the length thereof, while in no way interfering with its positioning inside of an outer furnace portion so that the hot furnace flue gas may flow around said ore-flow tube in heat transfer relationship with respect thereto. Thus the novel mounting means of the present invention comprises another major advantage of the invention which, incidentally, may be independently usable in arrangements other than mercury extraction apparatus of the specific type described in detail hereinafter and, indeed, may be generally usable in rotary kilns or in various other apparatus having similar intermediate mounting and/or supporting problems, and this feature of the present invention is intended to be covered in all such apparatuses and or usages.

The above-mentioned longitudinal ore-flow tube means may be provided with air inflow means adapted to supply a predetermined amount of air to the interior thereof, or it may be of a controllably adjustable nature adapted to be adjusted so as to supply any required amount of air to the interior thereof, primarily for the purpose of effectively oxidizing the sulfur released as a result of the heat-caused disassociation of the mercuric sulfide ore produced by the heat of the furnace means so that it will not recombine with the vaporized mercury.

A particular advantage of the present invention over prior art apparatus and even over my hereinbefore-identified copending patent application directed to generally similar apparatus, is the provision in the improved apparatus of the present invention of vapor and ore separating and isolating means within the longitudinal ore-flow tube means of the present invention through which the ore passes as it is being heated for the purpose of vaporizing mercury in one preferred form of the invention and acting to effectively divide or separate the interior of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means into two or more and, in one preferred form of the invention, three, hollow interior longitudinally adjacent ore and vapor chambers. Each of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means is readily adapted to transmit crushed ore therethrough from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means, but is effective to greatly inhibit and substantially prevent any major amount of flow of vapor from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downwardly or upwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber.

Thus, it will be understood that, as the mercury-containing ore passes downwardly angularly from a first or upper ore and vapor chamber within the longitudinal ore-flow tube means into the next downwardly angularly adjacent ore and vapor chamber of the ore-flow tube means by being readily transmitted through a first or upper vapor and ore separating and isolating means, the vapor which is contained in said first or upper ore and vapor chamber is largely prevented from similarly passing through said vapor and ore separating and isolating means into said next angularly downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber along with the ore, and the major portion of the vapor remains in said first or upper ore and vapor chamber so that it may be said that the ore and the vapor emitted therefrom in response to the heating of the ore by the hot furnace flue gases passing around the exterior of the right upper end portion of the ore-flow tube means in an exterior annular hot furnace flue gas passage defined between the exterior of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means and the interior of an upwardly angularly inclined projecting ore-treatment furnace extension portion are effectively separated by said first vapor and ore separating and isolating means.

In said first ore and vapor chamber, the separated vapor is usually largely moisture vaporized out of the ore in said initial ore heating zone within said first ore and vapor chamber, and the inflow end of the ore-flow tube means is preferably open and vented to atmosphere to allow said vaporized moisture to escape.

The initially heated ore, after passing through the first vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the second ore and vapor chamber within a middle portion of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means, is now heated by the hot furnace flue gases in said exterior longitudinal hot furnace flue gas passage to an even greater temperature, perhaps of the order of 700 although the invention is not specifically so limited. This vaporizes the free mercury in the ore, which will then be contained within the second or middle ore and vapor chamber, and the mercury vapor so produced will not to any substantial degree pass through the second or next downstream positioned vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the first ore and vapor chamber. Instead, the vaporized free mercury in the second or middle ore and vapor chamber is then drawn completely out of the apparatus by mercury vapor extraction tube means positioned in effective interior and usually substantially concentric communication with the interior of said second or middle ore and vapor chamber, usually by passing centrally through the second vapor and ore separating and isolating means from the interior thereof and then downstream through the center of the third ore and vapor chamber, the downstream positioned furnace, and the third vapor and ore separating and isolating means to a position exterior of the apparatus where suction is applied to said mercury vapor extraction tube means for effecting the extraction of the free mercury vapor from the second or middle ore and vapor chamber in the manner just described, after which it may be-fed through suitable condenser means and condensed back into liquid mercury. lt will be noted that this prevents the mercury vapor produced from the free mercury contained in the ore and vaporized by the exteriorly applied heat in said second or middle ore and vapor chamber from coming into contact with the much hotter ore, which is heated perhaps to a temperature of approximately 1 although not specifically so limited, in the third and next downstream positioned ore and vapor chamber, which would be undesirable because the mercury vapor from the free mercury produced in said middle ore and vapor chamber would, if allowed to come into contact with the ore in the third or lowermost ore and vapor chamber at a higher temperature of approximately llO0, become oxidized and form various undesirable compounds and drop into the ore and be lost in the waste. This is extremely undesirable since it represents an attenuation or loss of the mercury vapor which has already been extracted from the mercury-containing ore as a result of vaporization of substantially all of the free mercury in said ore in the second or middle ore and vapor chamber.

The second vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned between the second or middle and the third or lowermost ore and vapor chambers within the longitudinal ore-flow tube means allows the ore which has been heated to approximately 700 to pass therethrough into said third or lowermost ore and vapor chamber where it is heated to a much higher temperature, perhaps to the order of approximately 1l00 as mentioned hereinbefore, which temperature is adapted to cause chemical disassociation of mercury and other elements which have been present in the ore up to that point in the form of mercury-containing compounds, such as cinnabar or various other mercurycontaining compounds. In other words, the temperature in the third ore and vapor chamber in the lowermost portion of the ore-flow tube means and in the portion thereof which actually passes directly through the main heating portion of the furnace itself, is sufficient to disassociate chemically lockedup forms of mercury and to then vaporize the released mercury within said third or lowermost ore and vapor chamber. This mercury vapor, and any other vapors produced as a result of the heat applied to the ore, may then be withdrawn from said third or lowermost ore and vapor chamber separately from the ore itself by passing through a third or lowermost vapor and ore separating and isolating means. This is accomplished by employing mercury vapor extraction tube means and suction means similar to that referred to above with respect to the withdrawal of mercury vapor from the second or middle ore and vapor chamber produced by vaporization in said chamber of mercury originally contained in the ore in the form of free mercury.

The withdrawal of the mercury vapor from the third or lowermost ore and vapor chamber by such mercury vapor extraction tube means and suction means may be done independently of the withdrawal of the mercury vapor from the second or middle ore and vapor chamber as previously referred to, and may be only recombined therewith after condensation and liquefication of the mercury, or a common mercury vapor extraction tube means and suction means may be employed and separate inlets thereto communicating with said common mercury vapor extraction tube means in each of said second and third ore and vapor chambers may be provided.

In either of the arrangements referred to above, it should be noted that the mercury vapor extraction and subsequent condensation is effectively optimized by reason of the provision of the plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means and greatly improves the extraction efficiency of the whole apparatus.

It should also be noted that, if desired, the mercury vapor withdrawn from either the middle ore and vapor chamber or the lower ore and vapor chamber, or both, may be fed through suitable auxiliary equipment for suitable additional treatment if needed before condensation and, if desired, in certain forms of the invention, may even be fed back into the apparatus at any point for treatment, retreatment, or recirculation if such is thought desirable. However, the above-described method of operating the improved form of the apparatus of the present L invention provides a highly advantageous and superior mercury-extraction ore-treatment process having an extremely high level of extraction efficiency without the necessity of further treatment of the extracted mercury vapor or recycling or retreatment thereof.

Also, it should be noted that the improved form of the invention has another major advantage over the prior art and the apparatus disclosed in my hereinbefore-identified copending patent application in that means are provided for fully compensating for the efi'ects of thermal expansion and contraction without loss of strength or loss of seal, and this makes it possible to construct the improved apparatus of the present invention in virtually any size and, particularly, in virtually any length desired without loss of efficiency, and without structural and/or sealing problems. This is accomplished in one preferred form of the invention by reason of the fact that the ore-flow tube means comprises a plurality of (usually three, in one preferred form of the invention) longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions having end parts of different and interfitting diameters so as to be in telescopically overlapped and effectively interiorly communicating end-toend engagement in a telescopically relatively extenriable and retractable manner whereby to allow for thermal expansion of adjacent ore-flow tube means portions by allowing the engaged end parts thereof to move longitudinally, thus providing what might be termed expansion joint means along the length of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means. Since the ore-flow tube means is power-rotated by driving motor means (usually at one end thereof and, in the example illustrated and described for exemplary purposes, at the upper end thereof, although not specifically so limited), it will be noted that the middle and lower ore-flow tube means portions would not be rotated along with the upper ore-flow tube means portion unless independent power rotation driving means are coupled thereto, or unless the telescopically overlapped and engaged longitudinal oreflow tube means portions end parts are effectively nonrotatively keyed or splined with respect to each other so that they are free for longitudinal, telescopic, relative movement but rotate together. Both arrangements are intended to be included and comprehended within the broad scope of the present invention. It should be clearly noted that each telescopically overlapped and effectively interiorly communicating end-to-end engagement of adjacent ends of the different portions of the ore-flow tube means which forms the above-mentioned expansion joint means is effectively so connected as to be of a type adapted to allow effective pivotal movement to a limited extent in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said tube means. This is true of forms of the invention where the expansion joints are not effectively keyed or splined together, and each is simultaneously or synchronously driven by driving motor means and is equally as true of another form of the invention wherein each such expansion joint means is effectively rotatively keyed or splined, thus allowing all of the tube portions to be simultaneously driven by a single driving means connected to only one of the three portions in a driving manner. In other words, a limited degree of effective bending of the ore-flow tube means and also of relative extension and retraction is permitted by the novel construction of the expansion joint means or junction means, which thus fully allows for thermal expansion, contraction, deformation, and deflection without causing physical displacement of supported portions of the ore-flow tube means in a manner such as to produce excessive localized stresses or loading or other thermally caused structural problems.

The highly advantageous temperature compensation means improvement of the present invention referred to above also includes means for allowing for thermal expansion and contraction of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means with respect to the transverse movement which will be imparted therefrom to the interrnediately positioned, circumferentially enlarged stress-transferring wheel means which effectively engage intermediate portions of the periphery of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means at longitudinally spaced, intermediate locations and which passes through similarly positioned annular spaces in the exterior furnace extension into positions where said enlarged stress-transferring wheel means are positively supported on roller means carried at the upper end of underlying structural support means. It will be understood that as the longitudinal ore-flow tube means expands or contracts, this will obviously correspondingly longitudinally move at least certain of the intermediate stresstransferring wheel means fastened thereto, and the present invention provides an arrangement wherein the annular recess in the extended ore-treatment furnace portion through which such an intermediate enlarged stress-transferring wheel means passes is longer than the received portion of said wheel means whereby to effectively comprise and define expansion joint space means between opposite sides of said wheel means and adjacent parts of the extended ore-treatment furnace means portion on each side of each such annular recess whereby to allow the wheel means positioned therein and carried by the corresponding portion of the ore-flow tube means to move substantially in response to thermal expansion and/or contraction of said ore-flow tube means. The underlying roller means provides a sufficiently broad engagement surface and no longitudinal-movement-inhibiting-or-preventing means so as to allow the corresponding intermediate enlarged stresstransferring wheel means to longitudinally move in the manner just described as a result of thermal expansion and/or contraction of the ore-flow tube means carrying said intermediate stress-transferring wheel means.

In a preferred form, the stress-transferring wheel means at opposite ends of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means (and, in one preferred form, at the lower end of a separate middle portion thereof) may be engaged by underlying roller means which are provided with longitudinal-movement-immobilizing or thrust-preventing means, thus acting to maintain said ends of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means in predetermined locations irrespective of thermal expansion or contraction of other intermediate portions of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means. This is made possible by the previously mentioned separation of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means into the severally longitudinally telescopically engaged portions, and the thermally caused movement of said intermediate portions of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means and the corresponding intermediate stress-transferring wheel means is fully provided for and allowed by the thermal expansion joint space means referred to above and the engagement of the intermediate supporting rollers and the intermediate stress-transferring wheel means in the manner referred to above, which allows such thermally caused longitudinal relative movement thereof.

Thus, all of the mechanical problems resulting from thermal expansion and contraction are fully solved in the improved apparatus of the present invention by reason of the provision of the structural arrangements referred to above and,

additionally, any sealing problems which might result from such thermal expansion and contraction are also solved by the provision of longitudinally extendable and retractable heatresistant seal means effectively extending across open portions of each such annular recess of the type referred to above between adjacent extended ore-treatment furnace means portion and the corresponding enlarged stress'transferring wheel means passing outwardly therethrough in a manner such as to effectively seal and prevent the escape of hot furnace flue gas from said interior hot furnace flue gas passage through said expansion joint space means and yet to freely allow the above-mentioned thermally caused longitudinal movement of intermediate stress-transferring wheel means.

With the above points in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel mercury extraction ore treatment apparatus and/or method of the character referred to herein, having the advantages referred to herein, generically and/or specifically, and individually or in combination, and which is of relatively simple, inexpensive, readily assemblable and disassemblable (and, therefore, readily movable) construction adapted for ready mass manufacture at relatively low cost and which is characterized by extremely low cost per unit of ore handled and/or per unit of mercury extracted therefrom, whereby to be conducive to widespread use thereof and to the mining and processing of mercury-containing ores otherwise considered to be marginal or submarginal and, therefore, conventionally considered to be economically unworkable.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel mercury-extraction ore-treatment apparatus of the character referred to herein, wherein the mercury-containing ore is passed along a substantial heat transfer zone in highly effective contraflow or counterflow heat transfer relationship with respect to, but completely physically isolated from, hot furnace flue gases, whereby to produce an optimum roasting of the ore and consequent disassociation thereof whereby to release mercury therefrom and vaporize same in a highly efficient and low-cost manner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide novel apparatus of the character referred to in the preceding object, including novel mercury vapor extraction means for directly extracting said mercury vapor produced from the mercury disassociated from the ore by said heat and without in any manner requiring the handling, by said extraction means, of the hot flue gases.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the character referred to in the second preceding object, including the novel mounting means (including support means) capable of being positioned in supporting relationship at any desired locations along the length of an ore-flow tube means adapted to be heated by surrounding encompassing hot furnace flue gases, without in any way interfering with a furnace extension portion confining said hot flue gases to flow along and around said longitudinal ore-flow tube means.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the character referred to herein having the ,novel vapor and ore separating and isolating feature referred to hereinbefore to allow the vapor in any of a plurality of compartments within the ore-flow tube means and defined by the vapor and ore separating and isolating means to be extracted and removed from the ore-flow tube means rather than being passed along with the ore into the next succeeding ore and vapor chamber within the ore-flow tube means.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the character referred to herein having the novel thermal expansion and contraction compensation feature referred to hereinbefore which allows for and compensates for thermal expansion of the heated ore-flow tube means and associated parts of the apparatus in a manner which causes no loss of structural strength and no loss of seal and thus allows the apparatus to be economically manufactured in virtually any size or length desired.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which follows hereinafter (which is to be considered as exemplary of, but not specifically limiting, the present invention), and said objects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study of the detailed description which follows hereinafter.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, several exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the hereinbelow-described FIGS. of the accompanying drawings and are described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced size, fragmentary, partially broken away, threedimensional, pictorial view, illustrating one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It should be clearly understood that, for drawing space conservation reasons, three intermediate portions of the device are broken away and removed entirely in order to effectively shorten the lateral extent of the apparatus which normally is substantially longer in a lateral direction than shown in FIG. I. Also, it should be noted that certain portions of the exhaust flue and of the ore supply and feeding bin and hopper are broken away and removed from FIG. 1 for drawing space conservation reasons.

FIG. 2 is a side view similar in many respects to FIG. 1, although it is a true orthographic side view rather than an oblique view in the manner of FIG. 1. Furthermore, this view largely comprises a substantially vertical central plane sectional view taken largely along the plane indicated by the arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1, although certain parts of the apparatus are shown in full side elevation in FIG. 2 rather than in section on said central plane as indicated by the arrows 2-2 of FIG. I. This is done in order to provide the greatest possible amount of information in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the arrows 3-3 of FIG. l and primarily comprises a cross-sectional view of the extended tubular oretreatment portion of the heating furnace means and the hollow ore-flow tube means rotatively concentrically mounted therein. However, an upper portion of the support means effectively rollably supporting the inner ore-flow tube means is shown fragmentarily in elevation in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a further fragmentary view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the arrows 4-4 of FIG. 3 and comprises a central plane section taken along the axis of an exemplary one of the plurality of stress-transmitting spokes effectively connecting the stress-transferring outer rim of the wheel means, rollably supported on the roller means of the underlying support means, to the centrally concentrically positioned inner ore-flow tube means. This view also illustrates, in enlarged form, an exemplary one of the expansion joint space means and the corresponding longitudinally extendable and retractable heat-resistant seal means extending across open portions of said expansion joint space means between adjacent end surfaces of the extended ore-treatment furnace means portion and the corresponding stress-transferring wheel means for effectively sealing and preventing the escape of hot furnace flue gases from the interior hot furnace flue gas passage while readily allowing thermally caused relative movement of said stress-transferring wheel means caused by thermal expansion and contraction of the inner ore-flow tube means carrying same relative to the fixed ore-treatment furnace portion. This view also illustrates a typical one of the two thermal expansion joints between adjacent telescopically overlapped and effectively relatively nonrotatably keyed or splined engaged end parts of adjacent portions of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means and which allows for thermal expansion of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means, without requiring movement of oppositelongitudinally fixed end mounted portions thereof, and for doing so in a structurally strong and effectively sealed manner. This view also shows a portion of a typical one of the three longitudinally spaced vapor and ore separating and isolating means carried by the longitudinal ore-flow means.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary view, taken substantially along the plane indicated by the arrows 5-5 of FIG. 2 and comprises primarily an end elevation of a lower outflow terminus or discharge end of the ore-flow tube means and the means provided at said discharge end for controlled gravityfeeding discharge of treated ore, and also the air inflow means provided at said discharge end for allowing inflow of air into the hottest portion of the interior of the ore-flow tube meansthe lower portion thereof-for oxidizing disassociated sulfur in order to prevent recombination thereof with disassociated mercury vapor.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, partly broken away, persepective view illustrating the exemplary vapor and ore separating and isolating means shown in cross section in FIG. 4 and is exemplary of the other two such units carried by the ore-flow tube means at longitudinally spaced locations along the length thereof.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in elevation, taken substantially along the plane indicated by the arrows 7-7 of FIG. 2 and primarily illustrates feed control means for gravity-feeding, in a controllably adjustable manner, a desired quantity of mercury-containing ore from the ore supply bin and hopper means into the open inflow end of the ore-flow tube means, and shows it as taking the form of a controllably adjustable regulating gate means and an inclined spout connected to the lower end of the ore supply bin and hopper means.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the arrows 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary, somewhat diagrammatic and schematic view of a modified form of the mercury vapor extraction means and shows most of the apparatus with which it cooperates (which is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) broken away and removed for reasons of drawing space conservation and simplicity and shows the modification of the mercury vapor extraction means in a fragmentary, schematic, diagrammatic, and partially broken away form, but in a form which provides a clear disclosure of the essential feature of the modification when viewed in conjunction with the showing of FIGS. I and 2 of the first fonn of the invention.

FIG. I0 is a greatly reduced size, fragmentary view of a largely diagrammatic and schematic nature similar in certain respects to portions of FIG. 1, but does not provide a full structural showing in the manner of FIG. 1 since this would merely be repetitive and the corresponding structure has already been fully disclosed in FIG. 1. This view is primarily for the purpose of illustrating an alternate arrangement wherein each of the three ore-flow tube means portions is positively driven without the use of spline means at each of the junction means between adjacent ends of the three ore-flow tube means portions as in the first fonn of the invention. Thus, the elimination of said spline means and the provision of other direct driving means for each of the three tube portions is the major showing of this view of a slight modification of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a somewhat larger-scale view similar to a left portion of FIG. 2, but shows a modified arrangement of the concentrically positioned tube means of the mercury vapor extraction means wherein it rotates with the main ore-flow tube means and is exteriorly provided with rotative bearing means and fluid transmitting coupling means to couple the rotating end of said extraction tube with respect to a fixed tube portion connected to the mercury vapor extraction pump means.

FIG. 12 is a view somewhat similar to a portion of FIG. 4 but illustrates a modified fonn of the spoke means of the enlarged stress-transferring wheel means cam'ed by the main ore-flow tube means for positively supporting same on the underlying exteriorly positioned roller means, wherein said spoke means is made of a solid (nonliquid), thermally conductive material, exteriorly thermally insulated.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary view generally similar to a portion of FIG. 6 and illustrates a slight modification thereof wherein the outlet end of the spiral tube of each vapor and ore separating and isolating means is provided with controllably adjustable gate means or restriction means to cause the spiral tube to normally be substantially filled with particles of crushed ore and thus act efiectively as a vapor block.

Generally speaking, the exemplary form of the present invention illustrated comprises heating furnace means having an extended tubular or treatment portion extending laterally and slightly angularly upwardly form a main portion of the furnace means and in interior communication therewith and having positioned therein a through-passing hollow ore-flow tube means made of a metallic material of high termal conductivity so that ore may be introduced at the upper end of said ore tube means, which is rotated by suitable driving means, whereby to feed the ore from said upper end downwardly angularly and laterally toward the main furnace portion while hot furnace flue gases are simultaneously passing upwardly angularly in the opposite direction around and along the exterior of said hollow ore-flow tube means so that said ore will be very effectively heated by the contraflow or counterflow arrangement just described in general terms and will arrive at a lower portion of said ore-flow tube means within the main furnace means, but completely physically isolated therefrom, at an elevated temperature sufficient to disassociate mercury ore of the mercuric sulfide or cinnabar type into mercury and sulfur with the mercury being immediately vaporized into mercury vapor and directly and positively extracted from said lower maximum temperature portion of said ore-flow tube means, which may be termed the disassociation portion thereof, to a position exterior thereof and being subsequently condensed back into purified liquid mercury. Said mercury vapor extraction is performed by suitably mercury vapor extraction means and said condensing of the vaporized mercury is performed by suitable condenser means.

It should be noted that the ore-flow tube means referred to above is effectively separated, in the exemplary first form of the invention illustrated, into three different ore and vapor chambers comprising an upper or upstream ore and vapor chamber, a middle or intermediate ore and vapor chamber, and a lower or downstream ore and vapor chamber, with each ore and vapor chamber being separated from the next ore and vapor chamber by novel vapor and ore separating and isolating means, each of which is capable of readily transmitting ore therethrough from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downstream or downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber, but each of which is effective to greatly inhibit or substantially prevent the similar downstream or upstream flow of vapor from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downstream or downwardly adjacent or the next upstream or upwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber through said vapor and ore separating and isolating means.

In this improved arrangement the upper or upstream ore and vapor chamber is normally heated to a relatively moderate temperature, perhaps of the order of 300, although not specifically so limited, for vaporizing and driving off moisture associated with the ore initially, and this may be exhausted to atmosphere through the open inflow end of the ore-flow tube means. After the ore, but not the vaporized moisture passes through the first vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the intermediate or middle ore and vapor chamber, the ore is then heated by the hot furnace flue gases to a temperature of perhaps the order of 700 although not specifically so limited, and this vaporizes virtually all of the free mercury associated with the ore so this middle or intermediate chamber might be termed the free mercuryextraction region or zone.

Then the heated ore, but not the mercury vapor produced from the vaporized free mercury originally contained in the ore, is passed through the second vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the third lower or lowermost downstream-positioned ore and vapor chamber which is the one passing through the main furnace means itself, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, where the ore is now heated to a third temperature higher than either of the other two temperatures mentioned hereinbefore of perhaps the order of 1 100, although not specifically so limited, such that the chemically combined mercury in the ore, such as cinnabar or the like, is disassociated into free mercury and sulfur which combines with the air fed into said lower disassociated extraction region or zone comprising said third or lowermost chamber, to produce sulfur dioxide or sulfur trioxide, which thus prevents the disassociated sulfur from again combining with the disassociated mercury vapor. The mercury vapor produced in this lower chamber or disassociation extraction region is then removed by the mercury vapor extraction means, which may be a part of the mercury vapor extraction means used for extracting the mercury vapor produced from free mercury originally present in the ore by vaporization in the middle chamber as mentioned above or which may be an independent and separate mercury vapor extraction means.

in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, the above-mentioned heating furnace means is generally designated by the reference numeral and may be said to comprise a main furnace portion 22, which effectively comprises a hollow fire box means designated by the same reference numeral and which defines therein an interior main furnace heating chamber designated at 24.

In the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, said heating furnace means generally designated at 20 also is provided with the hereinbefore-generally-referred-to extended ore treatment portion, which, in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, takes the form of a longitudinal cylindrical hollow tubular ore treatment furnace extension portion generally designated at 26, which directly communicates, through the opening 28, with the interior main furnace heating chamber 24 and which, therefore, is adapted to directly receive therefrom hot furnace flue gases when the fuel-buming heating means generally designated at is in operation.

It will also be noted that, in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, the extended tubular ore-treatment furnace portion 26 has a remote end portion designated at 32 laterally spaced from the fire box means 22 and slightly elevated thereabove so as to position said tubular ore-treatment furnace extension portion 26 in an upwardly inclined laterally extended relationship from the fire box 22 to an upwardly directed exhaust flue 34 connected to said remote or upper end portion 32 thereof. in other words, said laterally upwardly inclined extended tubular ore-treatment furnace portion 26 is positioned at a predetermined pitch angle adapted for appropriate exhausting of hot flue gases from the main heating chamber 24 of the furnace fire box 22 and, more particularly, adapted for the effective downward flow of mercury ore in the inner longitudinal ore-flow tube means, which is generally designated by the reference numeral 36, from the upper inflow end 38 thereof to the lower outflow or discharge end 40 thereof. This ore-feeding action, of course, is also a function of the rate at which the inner longitudinal oreflow tube means 36 is rotated, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

It should be noted that the longitudinal ore flow tube means 36 referred to generally above is usually of substantially cylindrical configuration having an exterior cross-sectional diameter substantially smaller than the interior cross-sectional diameter of said ore-treatment tubular furnace extension portion 26 and is mounted by suitable mounting means, which will be described in greater detail hereinafter, concentrically therein whereby to define between the exterior of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 and the interior of said tubular furnace extension portion 26 a longitudinal upwardly angularly inclined annular hot furnace flue gas passage designated by the reference numeral 42 and extending from, and in communication with, said interior heating chamber 24 of the furnace fire box 22 as a source of hot flue gases passing through said annular passage 42, and also being in communication with the previously mentioned exhaust flue 34 for effectively exhausting said hot furnace flue gases after they have passed along the complete exterior length of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 positioned within said tubular furnace extension portion 26 and have effectively transferred most of the available heat from said hot furnace flue gases through the wall of said ore-flow tube 36 to the interior thereof and to mercury ore such as that generally designated at 44, adapted to be fed along the bottom inside surface thereof. in other words, it may be said that the abovementioned hot flue gas passage 42 is in a highly effective form of contraflow or counterflow heat transfer relationship with respect to the inner concentrically positioned ore-flow tube means 36 for very effectively heating the ore 44 adapted to flow therethrough.

The effectiveness of the transfer of heat from the hot flue gases along the length of the annular passage 42 through the exterior wall 46 of the longitudinal ore-tube means 36 to the interior thereof and to the ore 44 carried within said interior thereof, is enhanced by reason of the fact that the contraflow or counterflow arrangement of the hot flue gases along the passage 42 upwardly and angularly, and the oppositely directed downwardly and angularly directed flow of the ore 44 (of course, in a manner isolated from each other by said wall 46 of the ore tube means 36) causes the hottest flue gases, which will, of course, be at the left end of the ore treatment furnace extension portion 26, to be in heat transfer relationship with respect to the hottest portions of the ore 44, while the coldest portions of the hot flue gases (which will, of course, be in the right end of the ore-treatment furnace extension portion 26) will be in effective heat transfer relationship with respect to the coldest portion of the ore 44. This has the effect of maintaining as nearly constant a temperature differential across the wall 46 of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 as is possible, which maximizes thermal efficiency as opposed to an arrangement where said temperature differential varies from a very large or extreme magnitude at one end of the ore heating region to an extremely low magnitude at the other end of the ore heating region. Such a conventional prior art heating arrangement produces extremely low thermal efficiency and greatly increases the fuel consumption required for effectively heating a quantity of ore and also reduces the amount of the available heat which is extracted from the hot furnace flue gases so that, with such a noncontraflow or noncounterflow prior art arrangement, the hot flue gases exhausted to atmosphere will still be at a relatively high temperature and will carry off to ambient atmosphere and waste a great amount of heat. However, the improved contraflow or counterflow arrangement of the present invention just described produces a maximum thermal efficiency and a minimum fuel consumption of the fuel-burning heating means 30 and also produces a maximum extraction of the available heat from the hot flue gases flowing along the annular passage 42 so that by the time they are exhausted through the exhaust flue 34 to ambient atmosphere, a much larger amount of the available heat has been extracted therefrom and said exhaust flue gases have dropped to a relatively low temperature. Of course, this may be adjusted and controlled by varying the length of the passage 42 and/or the rate of flue gas flow therethrough, the turbulence thereof, the thermal conductivity of the material of which the wall 46 of the ore-flow tube means 36 is made, and by modifying the extent of the thermal insulation means 48 effectively insulating the furnace extension ortreatment portion 26. All of these factors and others, such as the amount of ore 44 fed through the ore-flow tube means 36, plus other conventional well-known factors affecting heat transfer may modify the amount of heat extracted from the hot flue gases in the passage 42 and, therefore, consequently modifying the temperature of the hot flue gases exhausted through the exhaust flue 34. However, the essential principles of the improved thermal efficiency of the present invention in any given size and/or volumetric capacity, by reason of the contraflow or counterflow arrangement described above are still valid and effective and comprise a substantial advantage over conventional mercury ore roasting means.

The specific construction of the exemplary form of the oreflow tube means 36 in three end-to-end, telescopically engaged and effectively relatively nonrotatably coupled relationship to each other, the specific construction of the exemplary form of the hereinbefore-mentioned vapor and ore separating and isolating means dividing the ore-flow tube means 36 into the hereinbefore-mentioned upper, middle, and lower ore and vapor chambers, and the specific construction of the exemplary form of the hereinbefore-mentioned expansion space and longitudinally extendable and retractable seal means closing same and coupling the movable stresstransferring or tube-supporting wheel means relative to portions of the furnace extension ore-treatment portion 26 will not be described at this point but will be detailed later on in this specification.

It should be noted that the heating means 30 has been referred to above and is shown in the drawings as being of a fuel-buming type which normally comprises conventional burner means 50 provided with controllable air-aspirating means generally indicated at 52 for providing a mixture of fuel and air of optimum combustibility when emitted from the burner means 50. The fuel might comprise oil, natural gas, manufactured gas, petroleum products, or any other suitable fuel, and the invention is not specifically limited to any particular type of burner means or any particular type of fuel adapted to be burned thereby.

Also in an even broader sense, it should be noted that the present invention does not relate to the detailed nature of the heating means 30 but merely requires that it be capable of providing heat and, therefore, it should be noted that said heating means might in certain forms of the invention, comprise some other form of heating means which does not actually burn fuel. For example, it might comprise an efficient form of heat exchanger means adapted to be supplied with a heated working medium fed thereinto from a suitable source thereof or it might comprise an electrically energizable heating means or any other equivalent arrangement capable of providing the desired amount of heat for the interior chamber 24 of the furnace fire box means 22.

It will be noted that because of the substantial length of the ore-treatment tubular furnace extension portion 26, it is necessary to provide supplementary structural support means therefor and additionally and for similar reasons, it is necessary to provide additional support and/or mounting means of a structurally strong type for mounting and positioning said ore-flow tube means 36 in the previously described concentric relationship within the ore treatment furnace extension portion 26. In the latter case, the mounting problem is complicated by reason of the fact that said inner ore-flow tube means is rotatably mounted for rotation around a longitudinal axis thereof which is also the longitudinal axis of said furnace extension portion 26.

The complication in the rotatable mounting of said inner ore-flow tube means 36 arises from several factors, such as the very substantial length of said ore-flow tube means 36, the great weight of said ore-flow tube means 36 and the ore 44 adapted to flow therethrough, and the fact that said ore-flow tube means 36 is heated to very substantially elevated temperatures by the hot flue gases passing along the exterior thereof by way of the annular passage 42, as previously described. Of course, the maximum heating of said ore-flow tube means 36 will occur at the lower end thereof inside of the interior heating chamber 24 of the main furnace fire box 22 and at regions of the ore-flow tube means 36 near the right side of said furnace fire box 22.

Therefore, in order to properly rotatably mount and support said inner ore-flow tube means 36, the present invention includes a novel type of mounting means such as is generally designated at 54 and which, in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, is shown as comprising a plurality of circumferentially enlarged stress-transferring wheel means 56 effectively concentrically rigidly connected to and supporting said longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 at any required number of spaced locations along the length thereof by means of a plurality of longitudinally effectively apertured and perforated radial wheel spoke means 58 whereby to effectively cause the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 to comprise a common hub for all of said plurality of wheel means 56.

The above-mentioned mounting means generally designated at 54 also includes a plurality of upstanding structural support means, such as generally designated at 60, provided at the top thereof with roller means 62 rollably receiving and supporting corresponding rim portions 64 of corresponding ones of said plurality of wheel means 56, thus positively rotatably supporting the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 at each portion thereof rigidly carrying such a wheel means 56.

ln the exemplary arrangement illustrated it will be noted that the lowermost stress-transferring wheel means 56 is carried by the outwardly extended lower or left end of the oreflow tube means 36 at a position exterior of both the main furnace means 20 and the fire box 22 thereof and, of course, exterior of the furnace tubular extension portion 26 and, thus, no problem exists with respect to the radial outward extension of said left extreme lowermost stress-transferring wheel means 56 for effective supported engagement by the left extreme upstanding structural support member 60 in a manner which will be described hereinafter.

Substantially the same situation exists with respect to the right extreme stress-transferring wheel means 56 which is also positioned beyond the right end of the tubular furnace extension portion 26 and, thus, provides no problem with respect to its supported engagement by the right extreme upstanding structural support means 60 in a manner such as described hereinafter.

However, the two intermediate upstanding stresstransferring wheel means 56 are positioned at locations such that they must pass outwardly through annular recesses in the tubular furnace extension portion 26 in order to be positioned for supported contact by the corresponding two intermediate upstanding structural support means 60. Therefore, two such intermediate annular recesses are provided in the tubular furnace extension portion 26, and each is designated by the reference numeral 66 and is positioned at the appropriate intermediate location of each corresponding one of the two intermediate stress-transferring wheel means 56 whereby to allow said intermediate wheel means 56 to be positioned therein and to extend outwardly through its annular recess 66, thus providing for exterior, rollably supported contact of the corresponding roller means 62 carried by the corresponding upstanding structural support means 60 with the corresponding exterior rim 64 of said particular intermediate stress-transferring wheel means 56 as is shown in FIGS. 1-3.

It should be noted that the left annular recess 66 is shorter in a direction parallel to the axis of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 than the right annular recess 66 and that each of said recesses 66 is longer in said longitudinal direction than the corresponding dimension of the received portion of the corresponding wheel means 56, whereby to effectively comprise and define expansion joint space means such as is designated by the reference numeral 57 and which exists between opposite sides of the wheel means 56 and the adjacent end parts 59 of the tubular furnace extension 26, and which will allow for thermally caused relative movement of said intermediate wheel means 56 with respect to the tubular furnace extension portion 26 as a result of thermal expansion or contraction of the inner ore-flow tube means 36 to which each of said stress-transferring wheel means 56 is rigidly attached.

In the example illustrated, the expansion joint space means 57 is effectively sealed and closed by longitudinally extendable and retractable heat-resistant seal means, indicated at 61, and spring means 63 biasing same into sealed joint closing relationship thereacross as is best shown in FIG. 4 with respect to an exemplary enlarged one of the expansion structural arrangements just described.

It will be noted that a greater expansion joint space 57 is provided adjacent to the right intennediate stress-transferring wheel means 56 than adjacent to the left stress-transferring wheel means 56, as previously mentioned. In the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, this is because of the fact that the right one of the pair of intermediate stress-transferring wheel means 56 will normally move much more than the left stress'transferring wheel means 56 of said intermediate pair thereof because of the fact that the underlying roller means 62 engaging the exterior rim 64 of the left intermediate stresstransferring wheel means 56 is provided with longitudinal movement limiting thrust flange means 68 which minimizes longitudinal movement of the left wheel means 56 of said intermediate pair of wheel means, while the right wheel means 56 of said intermediate pair thereof has its rim engaged by underlying roller means 62 having no such longitudinal movement limiting thrust flange means 68 and having sufficient length to allow a considerable amount of longitudinal movement of the right intermediate wheel means 56 without causing any disengagement of the exterior rim 64 thereof and the corresponding underlying nonflanged roller means 62.

The above-mentioned thermally caused movement of the right intennediate stress-transferring wheel means 56 of the intennediate pair thereof is made possible by reason of the previously mentioned fact that the longitudinal ore-tube means 36 actually comprises three different longitudinal oreflow tube means portions designated at 36U, 36M, and 361., respectively, with the lowermost left tube portion 36L having a right end part 36Le which is exteriorly larger in diameter than the mating left end part of the middle ore-flow tube means portion 36M and with said middle ore-flow tube-means portion 36M having a right end portion 36Me which is exteriorly larger in diameter than the left end 36Ue of the right uppermost oreflow tube means portion 36U, in each case to an extent just such that the corresponding longitudinally adjacent end parts 36Ue, 36Me, and 36Le fit one into the other in telescopically overlapped and effectively telescopically, relatively extendable and retractable engagement with each other, whereby to effectively provide the two intermediate thermal expansion joint means generally designated at 361, which will freely allow thermal expansion and contraction as the ore-flow tube means 36 is heated and cooled.

In the exemplary first form of the invention illustrated, the lower ore-tube means portion 36L has an interior diameter at its right end 36Le just sufficient to telescopically receive the exterior of the left end 36Me of the middle ore-tube means portion 36M, while the right end 36Me of the middle ore-tube means 36M has an interior diameter just sufiicient to receive the exterior of the left end 36Ue of the upper ore-tube means portion 36U. However, it should be clearly understood that the invention is not specifically limited to this arrangement and that other types of end-to-end relatively extendable engagement are intended to be included and comprehended within the broad scope of the present invention. Of course, it should be understood that, if desired, the three different oreflow tube means portions 36U, 36M, and 36L, may actually be of different diameters throughout their lengths, with the portion 36L being larger in diameter than the portion 36M, and with the portion 36M being larger in diameter than the portion 36U, in each case to an extent such that the corresponding adjacent end parts 36Ue, 36Me, and 36Le fit, one into the other, in said telescopically overlapped and effectively telescopically relatively extendable and retractable engagement with each other whereby to provide two intermediate, thermal expansion joint means substantially identical to those generally designated at 36]. ln each such arrangement, the thermal expansion joint 36] is such as to allow a limited degree of pivotal movement in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of the main ore-flow tube means 36 so as to, in effect, allow a very limited degree of bending of the main ore-flow tube means 36 at each such thermal expansion joint means or junction means 361 in addition to the relative longitudinal movement of the adjacent end parts 36Ue, 36Me, and 36Le permitted by said joints 36].

In the exemplary arrangement, it will be noted that the extreme left roller means 62 has longitudinal movement limiting thrust flange means 68, thus substantially limiting movement of the left end of the lower ore-tube means portions 36L while leaving the right end thereof free for slidable longitudinal extension and retraction relative to the left end of the middle ore-tube means portion 36M which has its left end constrained as to longitudinal movement by reason of the fact that the left intermediate roller means 62 has the longitudinal movement limiting thrust flanges 68 previously referred to. The right end of the intermediate ore-tube means portion 36M is free to longitudinally lengthen or contract relative to the left end portion of the upper ore-tube means portion 36U which has its right end relatively longitudinally immobilized by reason of the fact that the right roller means 62 is provided with longitudinal movement limiting thrust flange means 68 of the type previously described.

Each of the roller means 62 which is provided with the longitudinal movement limiting thrust flange means 68 which acts to support the corresponding portion of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36, not only vertically but in a manner neutralizing angular leftwardly downwardly directed thrust thereagainst provided by the very substantial weight of the corresponding portions of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 by reason of its downward angular inclination as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This effective thrust neutralizing action of any of said roller means 62 provided with such thrust flange means 68 may be further enhanced by mounting the corresponding rollers on suitable thrust bearing means, if desired (said thrust bearing means not being shown, since such are well known in the art).

lt should be noted that the extreme right structural support means 60 and the corresponding extreme right stresstransferring wheel means 56 positioned beyond the right end of the tubular furnace extension 26 are effectively provided with appropriate driving means, such as is generally designated at 70, in effective driving relationship with respect to the ore-flow tube means 36 for rotating same around the longitudinal axis thereof in the manner previously generally described.

It will be noted that said driving means 70, in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, comprises an ore-cylinder circumferential drive gear 72 carried adjacent to the right side of the extreme right one of said previously described stresstransferring wheel 56 immediately at the right side of the corresponding effectively flanged roller means 62 with said driving gear 72 being in driven engagement with respect to a pinion gear 74 mounted on the drive shaft 76 of the driving motor 78 which, of course, is adapted to be controllably energized by suitable control means (not shown since such are well known in the art). Usually, suitable reduction gear means will be employed, and such are not shown in the invention since reduction gear means are also well known in the art. The reason why reduction gear means are normally employed, is the fact that the ore-flow tube means 36 is normally adapted to be rotated at a relatively slow rate of only a small number of revolutions per minute for providing proper feeding action of the ore 44 longitudinally along the bottom inside surface of the ore-flow tube means 36 from the inflow end 38 thereof to the outflow ore discharge end 40 thereof.

in order to provide for positive rotation of the middle and lower ore-tube means portions 36M and 36L, suitable key or spline means may be provided in the telescopically engaged junction portions 36.] thereof, as indicated at 65. This may comprise any suitable type of relatively nonrotatable key or spline means or any functional equivalent thereof which is capable of transmitting rotary driving torque from the upper ore tube means portion 36U to the middle ore-tube means portion 36M and for same to the lower ore-tube means portion 36L.

In certain forms of the invention the key or spline means 65 may be eliminated, and the driving motor means 78 may be drivingly coupled to each of the tube sections, or portions, perhaps most effectively by driving engagement with stresstransferring wheel means such as those illustrated at 56 rigidly connected thereto, and the construction may be modified so that each separate ore-tube means portion will have at least one such stress-transferring wheel means 56 conveniently positioned for driven engagement by such a driving motor in such a modified form of the invention, if desired.

Each of the structural support means 60 referred to above may comprise a number of column members or vertical loadsupporting members 80 provided with suitable base means 82 and may vary widely in construction and configuration within the broad scope of the present invention.

Each of said structural supporting means 60 has two sets of opposed pairs of upwardly extending spaced ears 83 which rotatably mount the corresponding pair of said roller members 62 which are spaced so as to lie in substantially the same horizontal plane symmetrically positioned on each side of a vertical central plane bisecting the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36, thus providing an effective two-point support at each support means 60 for the corresponding stresstransferring wheel means 56. In the case of each of the intermediately positioned ones of said structural support means 60 which lie below said ore-treatment furnace extension portion 26, the upper ends of said column members 80 are effectively provided with structural extension bracket members 84 adapted to firmly engage and support exterior portions of said furnace extension or treatment portion 26 whereby to firmly support same at said intermediate locations.

It should be noted that the ore-flow tube means 36 at each of its opposite ends extends through corresponding apertures 86 and 88 so that the corresponding lower discharge end portion 40 and corresponding upper inflow end portion 38 of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 are positioned beyond and completely outside of the furnace extension oretreatment portion 26 and also the main furnace firebox 22. The aperture or hole 86 is actually in the left sidewall of the main furnace firebox 22 and a small annular clearance space of perhaps one-eighth of an inch radial dimension, or the like, is provided to allow the ore-flow tube means 36 to rotate with respect to the aperture 86 while not allowing any very substantial amount of heat loss therethrough. A similar small annular clearance space is provided between the other aperture 88 in the opposite, otherwise closed, end wall 90 of the furnace extension ore-treatment portion 26 for similar purposes. It should be noted that the above-mentioned small annular clearance spaces may be effectively sealed and closed off by sealing means generally similar to the previously described sealing means best illustrated in H0. 4, and including either or both of the elements 61 and 63 thereof, or various other substantially functionally equivalent arrangements may be provided for such a sealing purpose if desired.

In the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, said lower discharge end portion 40 of the ore-flow tube means 36 is effectively provided with a partially closed terminal discharge end panel or portion 92 carried by a tube 122 (which will be described hereinafter) closely adjacent to and across most of the upper portion of the discharge end 40 of the ore-flow tube means 36 and having a cutaway portion at the bottom thereof providing a bottom discharge opening 94 for discharging treated ore, from which mercury has been extracted, into a discharge chute means, such as is generally designated at 96 and which may have a remote effective outflow end which is adapted to be moved from one location to another so that discharged, previously treated ore or tailings may be disposed of in a manner not providing a single large pile thereof. Of course, this may be supplemented by additional material-moving means such as conveyor belt means, or various other material-moving means for appropriately disposing of such tailings if desired and since such arrangements are well known in the art, they are not shown in full detail in the drawings of the present invention.

The upper inflow end 38 of the ore-flow tube means 36 is open whereby to be adapted to receive the lower dispensing spout portion 102 of an ore supply and feeding means generally designated at 104 and taking the form of a bin and hopper 106 adapted to be supplied through a top opening 108 with a quantity of mercury-containing ore such as mercuric sulfide or cinnabar ore, or the like, usually in crushed, particulate, or comminuted form, and which is adapted to be angularly downwardly dispensed through the dispensing spout 102 into the inflow end 38 of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 in a gravity-feeding manner whenever the controllably adjustable regulating gate means 110 is vertically angularly elevated so as to allow a bottom portion of said ore to slide along the bottom surface of said angularly inclined dispensing spout 102 onto the bottom inside surface of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36. Thereafter, the ore 44 will be fed along the bottom inside surface of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 as a result of the rotary lifting and falling movement imparted to said ore 44 by reason of the angular downward inclination of said ore-flow tube means 36 and by reason of the rotation thereof provided by the driving means generally designated at 70.

Incidentally, it should be noted that the lower plate 92 closing the lower discharge end 40 of said longitudinal oreflow tube means 36 may be a controllably adjustable flow regulating gate means of the same general type as designated at 110 at the bottom of ore supply and feeding means 104, although it is not specifically so limited in all forms of the invention.

The longitudinal ore-flow tube means'36 may be effectively provided with air-inflow means in interior communication therewith for providing sufficient inflow of air (actually the oxygen of the air) thereinto for substantially completely oxidizing sulfur disassociated from mercuric sulfide ore 44 by reason of the heating thereof by the hot furnace flue gases. Such air-inflow means may be controllably adjustable to provide the desired amount of air (and, therefore, oxygen) to correspond to the volume of disassociated sulfur produced by the operation of the apparatus.

In the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, said airinflow means is generally designated by the reference numeral 112 and is provided at the lower outflow end 40 of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36, although the invention is not specifically so limited.

As illustrated, said air-inflow means 112 comprises an adjustable air valve opening means 114 effectively provided in the lower terminal effective end plate 92. Said airinflow means 112 is adjustable for the purpose of controlling the amount of inflow of such air for the effective neutralizing of sulfur disassociated from the mercury ore 44 as a result of the heating thereof by the hot furnace flue gases to a temperature in the range of between 500 to 600 C. In certain forms of the invention, said air-inflow means 112 may be of a nonadjustable type, may be located at only one of the ends of the ore-flow tube means 36, or may be otherwise in interior communication therewith. The air-inflow means 112 may also be said to include a similar adjustable air valve opening means 114 effectively provided in the transverse sealing wall 127 of the immediately adjacent and lowermost one of the hereinafter-described vapor and ore separating and isolating means 118. Such an auxiliary additional adjustable air valve opening means 114 is shown in FIG. 6 for illustrative purposes but is in phantom because it is not actually present in the middle vapor and ore separating and isolating means 118, which is the one shown in H6. 6, but the phantom-line showing thereof is intended to represent the way it would appear as carried by the lowermost one or the left extreme one of the three vapor and ore separating and isolation means 118. This additional adjustable air valve opening means 114 may be arranged to be effectively coupled to and operating simultaneously with the operation of the first-mentioned air valve opening means 114 provided in the lower terminal effective end plate 92 so that they can both be simultaneously operated from an exterior position in a manner such as to permit the access of a desired amount of air into the lowermost one of the ore and vapor chambers defining that one designated by the reference numeral 119L as referred to hereinafter.

The previously mentioned vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned within the longitudinal ore-tube means 36 and effectively dividing it into the three previously mentioned upper, middle, and lower ore and vapor chambers comprises the three structures generally designated at 118, and each of said three ore and vapor chambers is generally designated by the reference numeral 119U, 119M, and 119L, respectively.

It will be noted, as is best shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, that each of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means 114 comprises a helically arranged and, in certain forms of the invention, substantially rectangularly cross-sectionally shaped ore through-passing tube 121 which has an inlet opening 123 within an upper one of two adjacent ore and vapor chambers and which has an outlet opening 125 within the next downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber.

It will be understood that as the ore-tube means 36 rotates, the ore 44 travels helically downwardly along the inside thereof and thus when it strikes the transverse sealing wall 127 of the vapor and ore separating and isolating means 118, will be fed through the inlet opening 123 of the ore throughpassing tube 121 in a manner such as to substantially fill same. Continued rotation of the ore-tube means 36 will cause the ore in the helical through-passing ore-tube 121 to move therethrough until it is discharged from the outlet opening 125 thereof in the next downward adjacent ore and vapor chamber. Very little vapor will pass therethrough because of the effective closing of the opening within the helical throughpassing ore-tube 121 by the particulate mercury ore contained therein. In other words, the mercury ore 44 itself acts as an effective stopper for the vapor in one chamber and prevents any substantial amount thereof from passing from an upper ore and vapor chamber to the next downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber, or vice versa.

The uppermost separating and isolating means 118 has no auxiliary means for passing vapor toward the left from the upper chamber 119U, and since said vapor is normally water vapor, this is desirable and it is normally exhausted or vented through the inlet opening 33. However, the next downstream positioned separating and isolating means 118 does have a central opening 129 passing therethrough and sealingly receiving the open suction or insertion end 12s of a mercury vapor extractor tube 122 which extends leftwardly through the lower chamber 119L and through the lowermost sealing and isolating means 118 to a position exterior of the ore-flow tube means as and the furnace firebox 22 where it is provided with suction pump means 124 which positively sucks the mercury vapor from the middle chamber 119M produced by vaporization of free mercury originally contained in the ore 44 and draws it through the open suction tip 126 of the extractor tube 122, through said tube 122 to a leftwardly extreme position completely exterior of the entire furnace means 20, after which the mercury vapor is passed through a condenser means, such as is generally designated at 128, which acts to recondense the mercury vapor into liquid mercury adapted to be discharged through the discharge end 130 of said condenser into any suitable receptacle for receiving the extracted and purified mercury. It should be noted that the extractor tube 122 is also provided with another suction tip 131 connected thereto (and, in certain forms of the invention, through a one-way valve means such as is shown in phantom at 133, although not specifically so limited), positioned within the lower ore and vapor chamber 119L so that mercury vapor produced therein after disassociation of chemically combined forms of mercury has been produced by the high heat to which the ore is subjected in said lowermost disassociation region, can be added to the mercury vapor produced by vaporization of free mercury in the middle chamber 119M. It should be noted that in the example illustrated, said condenser means 128 takes the form of an effective heat exchanger comprising a coiled length of tubing 122T in communication with the mercury vapor extraction tube 122 by way of the pump means 124 and with said condenser tubing 122T being coiled within an outer container 132 which effectively comprises means for applying a coolant liquid, such as is designated at 134, to the exterior of said condenser tubing 122T whereby to extract heat therefrom and effectively condense the mercury vapor back into liquid form.

While the condenser means 128 illustrated in the drawing and described above comprises one form thereof effective for the purposes of the present invention, it should be noted that the invention is not specifically limited thereto and a great variety of different types of heat exchanger and/or condenser means may be applied in lieu of the specific condenser means illustrated at 128.

It should be noted that all portions of the furnace means 20, in the exemplary form of the invention illustrated, are shown as comprising an exterior cylindrical wall 136 made of highstrength metallic material such as steel, or the like, lined with suitable thermal insulation material such as the refractory firebrick means 48. However, these structural features maybe modified within the broad scope of the present invention.

Incidentally, it should be noted that, in certain of the drawings, such as in FIGS. 1 and 2 for example, the thermal insulation material taking the form of refractory firebrick means 48, which actually lines the complete furnace means 20 including both the firebox means 22 and the lateral extension ore-treatment portion 26 thereof, is not shown in detail with respect to all of the rectangular gridlike edge abutment or junction lines between adjacent bricks which one would normally see when viewing said firebrick means 48 in elevation, such as is shown fragmentarily in FIG. 4, for example. It is to be understood that all of said firebrick means would, when seen in elevation, resemble the fragmentary showing thereof illustrated in FIG. 4, and that this is not done in various of the other views of the drawing for reasons of drawing simplification and clarity, and since the detailed structure of the refractory firebrick type of insulating means 48 does not touch upon the inventive aspects of the present invention and, furthermore, is well known in the art.

It should also be noted that the flow of the hot furnace flue gases along the annular passage 42 is substantially unimpeded by the radial spokes 58 rigidly connecting each of the stresstransferring wheel means 56 to the corresponding portion of the longitudinal ore-flow tube means 36 since large effective apertures or passages 138 are defined between each arcuately adjacent pair of said spoke means 58. However, in certain forms of the invention it may be found that the hot flue gases may provide excessive localized heating of said spoke means 58 which may be objectionable. This is particularly likely to occur at locations of said spoke means 58 quite near to the main furnace firebox 22 and, where this problem exists, means for preventing localized hot spots on the spoke means 58 may be provided, and this may comprise the provision of hollow interiors 140 in each such spoke means 58, as is best shown in FIG. 4 illustrating one such exemplary hollow spoke means 58, which may then be partially filled with a metallic heatconductive means or material, such as is designated at 142 in FIG. 4 and which has a melting point lower than the temperature to which said spoke means 58 is to be subjected by hot furnace flue gases impinging thereupon and passing therearound. It will be understood that when localized overheating of the spoke 58 tends to occur, the melted heatconductive metal 142 moves around within the hollow interior of the spoke means 58 under the action of the rotary movement of the corresponding wheel means 56 (this being true because it will be remembered that the entire ore-flow tube means 36 is being power-rotated by the driving means 70). Such movement of the liquefied heat-conductive metal 142 (which might comprise lead, or the like) will act to positively prevent any localized hot spots and will tend to maximize heat transfer efficiency and equalize temperatures along the complete spoke means to a degree such as to protect them against localized overheating damage.

The air-inflow means 112 carried by the lower end effective terminal plate 92 is illustrated fragmentan'ly in FIG. 5. However, the specific illustrated form of this structure is optional and it may be modified and/or eliminated in certain forms of the invention, and this is also true with respect to the upper regulating gate means 110 and the lower regulating gate means form of lower effective terminal plate 92.

FIG. 9 merely illustrates a slight modification of the mercury vapor extraction means of the first form of the invention and since all other parts remain the same this view is quite fragmentary, schematic, and diagrammatic in nature, and it will be noted that the mercury vapor extraction means 120 comprises two separate mercury vapor extractor tubes 122' shown as each having individual suction pump means 124' applying suction thereto and having outer end portions 143 which may be connected to a condenser means such as that shown at 128 in the first form of the invention, or which may be partially recirculated, recycled, retreated, or additionally processed in any desired manner, thus lending extreme processing flexibility to this form of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a view very similar to portions of FIG. 1 although drawn to a much smaller scale and shown in a much more schematic, fragmentary, and diagrammatic form than FIG. I, which is thought to be permissible since FIG. 1 has provided a full showing of the structure of the repeated parts so diagrammatically, schematically, and fragmentarily illustrated in FIG. 10. In other words, FIG. 10 is provided primarily for the purpose of showing a slight modification of the first form of the invention and, therefore, parts of this modification similar to those of the first form of the invention are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter 0, however.

In the FIG. 10 modification, it will be noted that each of the junction means 36,10 is no longer keyed or splined as designated at 65 in the first form of the invention but otherwise still permits relative telescopic extension and retraction and limited pivotal movement in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of the main ore-flow tube means 360 in a manner similar to the corresponding ore-tube thermal expansion joint or junction means 36] of the first form of the invention. However, since in this modification there is no rotative coupling between adjacent main ore-flow tube portions 36Ua, 36Ma, and 36La, it is clear that driving means of the type shown at 70 in the first form of the invention would only rotate the upper right ore-flow tube portion 36Ua and thus it is necessary to provide auxiliary power transmission means, such as is indicated somewhat diagrammatically at 145 in FIG. 10, driven by the main drive motor 780 and coupled to a ring gear 7 2a similar to that shown at 72 in the first form of the invention and carried by a main supporting wheel means 560 connected to each of the three ore-flow tube means portions and thus providing a positive simultaneous and synchronized driving means for each of the three ore-flow tube means portions 36Ua, 36Ma, and 36La. It should of course also be understood that independent driving motor means might be employed for this purpose and that such an arrangement or any other substantially functionally equivalent arrangement is intended to be included and comprehended within the broad scope of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates and alternate arrangement for mounting the inner tube 122 of the mercury vapor extraction means I of the first form of the invention, and parts which are similar to those of the first form of the invention are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter b, however, in FIG. 11. It will be noted that in the FIG. 11 modification the mercury vapor extractor tube 122b (which is also to be understood as being intended to be construed broadly enough to include the meaning of an air injector tube as previously mentioned) is rigidly attached with respect to the main oreflow tube means 36b and to the corresponding two lowermost vapor and ore separating and isolating means ll8b and rotates therewith and is exteriorly provided at its lower or left end with a fluid transmitting rotary coupling means such as is generally designated by the reference numeral 146, which allows the extracted mercury vapor to pass therethrough in a sealed manner and into the fixed pumping means l24b. Otherwise this modification of the invention is substantially the same as the first form of the invention and it should be understood that either of these arrangements and various other substantially functionally equivalent arrangements are within the broad scope of the present invention and are intended to be included and comprehended herein.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view similar to a portion of FIG. 3 and illustrates a slight modification of at least the two intermediate wheel supporting means 56 shown in the first form of the invention and which can become extremely hot from the hot flue gas passing upwardly and angularly through the annular space 42 in the first form of the invention. In this modification, parts which are functionally or structurally similar to or substantially equivalent to those of the corresponding parts of the first form of the invention are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter c, however.

In the FIG. 12 modification, it will be noted that each of the wheel spokes 5&- is exteriorly insulated with a thermalinsulating material such as is designated by the reference numeral 147 and which reduces the rate of heat transfer from hot flue gases passing through the space 42c and into the metal of the spokes 58c to a degree such that the heat can be conducted along the spokes 58c either an equal or greater rate than the heat transfer through the insulation 147 into the spokes 580. This of course allows heat to be conducted to the outer rim 640 of the wheel 560 or to the wall 46c of the inner ore-flow tube means 36c at a rate such that excessive localized heating of the metal of the spokes 58c does not occur. This is an alternate to the arrangement best illustrated in FIG. 4 and previously described in detail for minimizing excessive localized heating of the wheel spokes 58 of the first form of the invention. Otherwise, this modification of the invention is substantially the same as the first form of the invention, and no further detailed description thereof is thought necessary or desirable since it would obviously be redundant.

FIG. 13 illustrates fragmentary a very slight modification of the helical tube 121 of each of the three vapor and ore separating and isolating means 118 of the first form of the invention, it of course being understood that a representative one of the three such helically shaped tubes is shown in FIG. I3 where it is designated by the reference numeral 121d. However, it should be clearly understood that the same modification may be provided on the other two such vapor and ore separating and isolating means substantially equivalent to the one generally designated at 118d. In this view, all portions which are functionally or structurally similar to or substantially equivalent to corresponding parts of the first form of the invention are designated by similar reference numerals, followed by the letter d, however.

In the FIG. 13 modification of the helical tube IZId, it should be noted that the only modification is at the outlet opening 125d thereof which is provided with an ore-flow regulating gate means 148 which may be of any desired type although it is shown for exemplary purposes only as being of the type generally similar to that shown in FIG. 7 and designated therein by the reference numeral 110, and it is of similar construction and operates in a similar manner. However, it should be noted that a great many different types of flow restricting or regulating means at or adjacent to the outlet opening 125d may be employed in lieu of the specific, exemplary restricting or flow-regulating gate means generally designated by the reference numeral 148. The purpose of this type of flow restriction at or adjacent to the outlet opening 125d is to cause the interior of the helical tube ll2ld to be substantially filled with ore Md during operation of the apparatus so that it will act as a substantial inhibitor or the the passage through the tube 121111 of vapor from one ore and vapor chamber to the next ore and vapor chamber on opposite sides of each of the three vapor and ore separating and isolating means such as the representative exemplary one illustrated in H6. 113 and generally designated by the reference numeral lllhd.

It should be understood that the FIGS. and the specific description thereof set forth in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specific structure shown in the FIGS. and specifically described hereinbefore. Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantially equivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventive concept of the present invention.

lclaim:

ll. Mercury-extraction apparatus for treating mercurycontaining ore, comprising: heating furnace means provided with hollow firebox means having an interior main furnace heating chamber therein and heating means in heat transfer relationship with respect to said interior furnace heating chamber, said interior furnace heating chamber of said furnace means being provided with an effectively laterally upwardly angularly inclined extended ore-treatment portion having a remote end part spaced from said firebox means and provided with an upwardly directed exhaust flue for venting exhaust flue gases to ambient atmosphere; longitudinal substantially cylindrical hollow ore-flow tube means of a material of high thermal conductivity substantially concentrically mounted within; and along a longitudinal axis of, said extended ore-treatment portion of said furnace means and being of smaller exterior cross-sectional diameter than the interior cross-sectional diameter of said extended ore-treatment portion to define therebetween an annular longitudinal hot furnace flue gas passage extending from said interior heating chamber within said firebox means of said furnace means to said exhaust flue and being in effective heat transfer relationship with respect to said inner substantially concentrically positioned ore-flow tube means for effectively heating ore adapted to flow downwardly angularly therethrough in a substantially helical manner during rotation of said ore-flow tube means; mounting means for rotatably mounting said ore-flow tube means in said substantially concentric relationship within said extended ore-treatment portion for rotation around a common longitudinal axis thereof; driving means in driving relationship with respect to said ore-flow tube means for rotating same around said longitudinal axis thereof; said ore-flow tube means being provided with a plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned within said ore-flow tube means at longitudinally spaced locations along the length thereof and effectively separating the hollow interior of said ore-flow tube means into a plurality of hollow interior longitudinally adjacent ore and vapor chambers, said vapor and ore separating and isolating means being capable of readily transmitting ore therethrough from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber but being effective to greatly inhibit andsubstantially prevent the flow of vapor from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next adjacent ore and vapor chamber; material pumping and moving means in effective interior communication with the interior of at least one of said ore and vapor chambers and passing through at least one of said plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means to a position exterior of the end of said ore-flow tube means for extracting vapor from said chambers.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim I, wherein said material pumping and moving means comprises mercury vaporextraction means in effective interior, substantially concentric communication with the interior of selected ones of said ore and vapor chambers and passing through corresponding ones of said plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means to a position substantially axially exterior of the end of said ore-flow tube means.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said ore-flow tube means has a lower discharge end portion extending laterally and slightly angularly downwardly in sealed relationship through said interior furnace-heating chamber of said firebox means of said furnace means to a position exterior thereof and is there provided with a terminal discharge end having a discharge opening means for discharging treated ore, said ore-flow tube means having an upper inflow end portion extending beyond a remote upper end of said extended oretreatment portion into a position exterior thereof and there being provided with inflow means adapted to receive a controlled flow thereinto of particulate mercury-containing ore from suitable ore supply and feeding means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said ore-flow tube means comprises a plurality of longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions in telescopically overlapped end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement in a telescopically relatively extendable and retractable manner to allow for thermal expansion of adjacent ore-flow tubemeans portions engagement end parts while maintaining positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said ore-flow tube means comprises a plurality of longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions in telescopically overlapped and effectively relatively nonrotatively coupled end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement in a telescopically relatively extendable and retractable manner to allow for thermal expansion of adjacent ore-flow tube means portions engagement end parts while maintaining positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween and relative axial rotative immobilization of engaged adjacent ore-flow tube end portions with respect to each other.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting means comprises a plurality of circumferentially enlarged stress-transferring wheel means effectively concentrically rigidly connected to and supporting said longitudinal ore-flow tube means at spaced locations along the length thereof by a plurality of longitudinally effectively apertured and perforate wheel spoke means to effectively cause said longitudinal oreflow tube means to effectively comprise a common hub for all of said plurality of wheel means, said mounting means also including a plurality of upstanding structural support members provided at the top with roller means rollably receiving and supporting corresponding portions of corresponding ones of said plurality of wheel means, at least a pair of said wheel means being positioned between opposite ends of said extended ore-treatment portion, with said extended ore-treatment portion being provided with an annular recess at the location of said wheel means and receiving said wheel means therein and being longer than the received portion of said wheel means for defining an expansion joint space means between opposite sides of said wheel means and adjacent parts of said extended ore-treatment portion on each side of said annular recess to allow for thermal expansion of corresponding ore-flow tube means portions carrying said wheel means exteriorly attached thereto and also providing for exterior rollably supporting contact of the corresponding one of said roller means with the exterior of said intermediate wheel means; and longitudinally extendable and retractable heat-resistant seal means effectively extending across open portions of each such annular recess between adjacent extended ore-treatment portions and the corresponding wheel means for effectively sealing and preventing the escape of hot furnace flue gases from said interior hot furnace flue gas passage.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein a lowermost one of said roller means is effectively provided with thrust receiving and resisting flange means and effective thrust bearing means for receiving and reacting to the thrust thereagainst provided by the downward angular inclination of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means for effectively supporting same against angular downward longitudinal movement thereof along the longitudinal axis thereof.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein at least certain of said spoke means in high-temperature portions of said annular flue gas passages are interiorly hollow and are at least partially filled with a heat-conductive means therein having a melting point lower than the temperature to which said spoke means are adapted to be subjected by flue gases passing therearound, thus providing for effective liquefication of said heat-conductive means for preventing localized heating of said spoke means and the consequent raising of the temperature thereof beyond permissible limits.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said heating means is adapted to heat said interior chamber of said firebox means to a temperature sufficiently high to transfer an adequate amount of heat to the interior of lower disassociation portion of said ore-flow tube means positioned partially therewithin and partially in the immediately adjacent upstream ore and vapor chamber portion of said ore-flow tube means to cause disassociation of mercury-containing ore adapted to flow therethrough into mercury and sulfur and to efiectively vaporize the disassociated mercury; said mercury vapor extraction means comprising at lest one mercury vapor extractor tube having suction pump means at one end thereof positioned exterior of said ore-flow tube means and having at least one insertion end thereof extended through said substantially closed lower discharge end of said ore-flow tube means and one of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned at said location into the interior of said oreflow tube means and along the length thereof through at least one additional one of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the corresponding ore and vapor chamber means and there being provided with open suction end means for corresponding aspiration of mercury vapor thereinto, said mercury vapor extraction means being provided with condenser means exterior of the lower end of said ore-flow tube means for condensing extracted mercury vapor into liquid mercury and having a discharge end for condensed liquefied mercury.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said condenser means comprises an effective heat exchanger taking the form of a coiled length of tubing in communication with said mercury vapor extractor tube and means for effectively applying a coolant medium in heat transfer relationship with the exterior thereof.

11. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, including means for providing controlled flow of particulate mercury-containing ore into said inflow means at said upper inflow end of said oreflow tube means comprising regulating gate means adjustably positioned for providing a variable depth downwardly angularly inclinedly directed effective flow opening in gravityfeeding relationship to said upper inflow means of said oreflow tube means and a supply of particulate mercurycontaining ore from suitable ore supply and feeding means.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein said regulating gate means is provided with downwardly angularly inclined spout means mounting said regulating gate means in an adjustably positioned manner for providing said variable depth downwardly angularly inclinedly directed effective flow opening at the bottom of said spout in said gravity-feeding relationship relative to said upper inflow means of said oreflow tube means.

13. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including air-inflow means in interior communication with said ore-flow tube means for providing sufficient inflow of air thereinto at said lower ore and vapor chamber means portion of said ore-flow tube means for substantially completely oxidizing disassociated sulfur originally contained in mercury ore prior to heat-caused disassociation of such sulfur rom such mercury ore.

14. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including ore supply and feeding means comprising bin and hopper means adapted to be supplied through a top opening thereinto with a quantity of mercury-containing ore in crushed particulate form of a desired average or maximum particle size.

15. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said firebox means of said furnace means and said extended ore-treatment portion of said furnace means are provided with effective interior thermal insulation comprising refractory firebrick means.

16. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said telescopically overlapped end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement of each pair of adjacent ends of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions is of a type adapted to allow effective pivotal movement to a limited extent in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said ore-flow tube means while maintaining said positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween.

17. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein said telescopically overlapped and effectively relatively nonrotatively keyed or splined end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement of each pair of adjacent ends of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means portion is of a type adapted to allow effective pivotal movement to a limited extent in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said ore-flow tube means while maintaining said positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween and said relative axial rotative immobilization of engaged adjacent ore-flow tube end portions with respect to each other.

Claims (17)

1. Mercury-extraction apparatus for treating mercury-containing ore, comprising: heating furnace means provided with hollow firebox means having an interior main furnace heating chamber therein and heating means in heat transfer relationship with respect to said interior furnace heating chamber, said interior furnace heating chamber of said furnace means being provided with an effectively laterally upwardly angularly inclined extended ore-treatment portion having a remote end part spaced from said firebox means and provided with an upwardly directed exhaust flue for venting exhaust flue gases to ambient atmosphere; longitudinal substantially cylindrical hollow ore-flow tube means of a material of high thermal conductivity substantially concentrically mounted within, and along a longitudinal axis of, said extended ore-treatment portion of said furnace means and being of smaller exterior cross-sectional diameter than the interior cross-sectional diameter of said extended ore-treatment portion to define therebetween an annular longitudinal hot furnace flue gas passage extending from said interior heating chamber within said firebox means of said furnace means to said exhaust flue and being in effective heat transfer relationship with respect to said inner substantially concentrically positioned ore-flow tube means for effectively heating ore adapted to flow downwardly angularly therethrough in a substantially helical manner during rotation of said ore-flow tube means; mounting means for rotatably mounting said ore-flow tube means in said substantially concentric relationship within said extended ore-treatment portion for rotation around a common longitudinal axis thereof; driving means in driving relationship with respect to said ore-flow tube means for rotating same around said longitudinal axis thereof; said ore-flow tube means being provided with a plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned within said ore-flow tube means at longitudinally spaced locations along the length thereof and effectively separating the hollow interior of said ore-flow tube means into a plurality of hollow interior longitudinally adjacent ore and vapor chambers, said vapor and ore separating and isolating means being capable of readily transmitting ore therethrough from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next downwardly adjacent ore and vapor chamber but being effective to greatly inhibit and substantially prevent the flow of vapor from one interior ore and vapor chamber to the next adjacent ore and vapor chamber; material pumping and moving means in effective interior communication with the interior of at least one of said ore and vapor chambers and passing through at least one of said plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means to a position exterior of the end of said ore-flow tube means for extracting vapor from said chambers.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said material pumping and moving means comprises mercury vapor-extraction means in effective interior, substantially conCentric communication with the interior of selected ones of said ore and vapor chambers and passing through corresponding ones of said plurality of vapor and ore separating and isolating means to a position substantially axially exterior of the end of said ore-flow tube means.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said ore-flow tube means has a lower discharge end portion extending laterally and slightly angularly downwardly in sealed relationship through said interior furnace heating chamber of said firebox means of said furnace means to a position exterior thereof and is there provided with a terminal discharge end having a discharge opening means for discharging treated ore, said ore-flow tube means having an upper inflow end portion extending beyond a remote upper end of said extended ore-treatment portion into a position exterior thereof and there being provided with inflow means adapted to receive a controlled flow thereinto of particulate mercury-containing ore from suitable ore supply and feeding means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said ore-flow tube means comprises a plurality of longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions in telescopically overlapped end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement in a telescopically relatively extendable and retractable manner to allow for thermal expansion of adjacent ore-flow tube means portions engagement end parts while maintaining positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said ore-flow tube means comprises a plurality of longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions in telescopically overlapped and effectively relatively nonrotatively coupled end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement in a telescopically relatively extendable and retractable manner to allow for thermal expansion of adjacent ore-flow tube means portions engagement end parts while maintaining positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween and relative axial rotative immobilization of engaged adjacent ore-flow tube end portions with respect to each other.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting means comprises a plurality of circumferentially enlarged stress-transferring wheel means effectively concentrically rigidly connected to and supporting said longitudinal ore-flow tube means at spaced locations along the length thereof by a plurality of longitudinally effectively apertured and perforate wheel spoke means to effectively cause said longitudinal ore-flow tube means to effectively comprise a common hub for all of said plurality of wheel means, said mounting means also including a plurality of upstanding structural support members provided at the top with roller means rollably receiving and supporting corresponding portions of corresponding ones of said plurality of wheel means, at least a pair of said wheel means being positioned between opposite ends of said extended ore-treatment portion, with said extended ore-treatment portion being provided with an annular recess at the location of said wheel means and receiving said wheel means therein and being longer than the received portion of said wheel means for defining an expansion joint space means between opposite sides of said wheel means and adjacent parts of said extended ore-treatment portion on each side of said annular recess to allow for thermal expansion of corresponding ore-flow tube means portions carrying said wheel means exteriorly attached thereto and also providing for exterior rollably supporting contact of the corresponding one of said roller means with the exterior of said intermediate wheel means; and longitudinally extendable and retractable heat-resistant seal means effectively extending across open portions of each such annular recess between adjacent extended ore-treatment portions and the corresponding wheel means for effectively sealing and preventing the escape of hot furnace flue gases from said interior hot furnace flue gas passage.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein a lowermost one of said roller means is effectively provided with thrust receiving and resisting flange means and effective thrust bearing means for receiving and reacting to the thrust thereagainst provided by the downward angular inclination of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means for effectively supporting same against angular downward longitudinal movement thereof along the longitudinal axis thereof.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein at least certain of said spoke means in high-temperature portions of said annular flue gas passages are interiorly hollow and are at least partially filled with a heat-conductive means therein having a melting point lower than the temperature to which said spoke means are adapted to be subjected by flue gases passing therearound, thus providing for effective liquefication of said heat-conductive means for preventing localized heating of said spoke means and the consequent raising of the temperature thereof beyond permissible limits.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said heating means is adapted to heat said interior chamber of said firebox means to a temperature sufficiently high to transfer an adequate amount of heat to the interior of lower disassociation portion of said ore-flow tube means positioned partially therewithin and partially in the immediately adjacent upstream ore and vapor chamber portion of said ore-flow tube means to cause disassociation of mercury-containing ore adapted to flow therethrough into mercury and sulfur and to effectively vaporize the disassociated mercury; said mercury vapor extraction means comprising at lest one mercury vapor extractor tube having suction pump means at one end thereof positioned exterior of said ore-flow tube means and having at least one insertion end thereof extended through said substantially closed lower discharge end of said ore-flow tube means and one of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means positioned at said location into the interior of said ore-flow tube means and along the length thereof through at least one additional one of said vapor and ore separating and isolating means into the corresponding ore and vapor chamber means and there being provided with open suction end means for corresponding aspiration of mercury vapor thereinto, said mercury vapor extraction means being provided with condenser means exterior of the lower end of said ore-flow tube means for condensing extracted mercury vapor into liquid mercury and having a discharge end for condensed liquefied mercury.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said condenser means comprises an effective heat exchanger taking the form of a coiled length of tubing in communication with said mercury vapor extractor tube and means for effectively applying a coolant medium in heat transfer relationship with the exterior thereof.

11. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, including means for providing controlled flow of particulate mercury-containing ore into said inflow means at said upper inflow end of said ore-flow tube means comprising regulating gate means adjustably positioned for providing a variable depth downwardly angularly inclinedly directed effective flow opening in gravity-feeding relationship to said upper inflow means of said ore-flow tube means and a supply of particulate mercury-containing ore from suitable ore supply and feeding means.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein said regulating gate means is provided with downwardly angularly inclined spout means mounting said regulating gate means in an adjustably positioned manner for providing said variable depth downwardly angularly inclinedly directed effective flow opening at the bottom of said spout in said gravity-feeding relationship relative to said upper inflow means of said ore-flow tube means.

13. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including air-inflow means in interior communication with said ore-flow tube means for providing sufficient inflow of air thereinto at said lowEr ore and vapor chamber means portion of said ore-flow tube means for substantially completely oxidizing disassociated sulfur originally contained in mercury ore prior to heat-caused disassociation of such sulfur from such mercury ore.

14. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including ore supply and feeding means comprising bin and hopper means adapted to be supplied through a top opening thereinto with a quantity of mercury-containing ore in crushed particulate form of a desired average or maximum particle size.

15. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said firebox means of said furnace means and said extended ore-treatment portion of said furnace means are provided with effective interior thermal insulation comprising refractory firebrick means.

16. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said telescopically overlapped end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement of each pair of adjacent ends of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means portions is of a type adapted to allow effective pivotal movement to a limited extent in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said ore-flow tube means while maintaining said positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween.

17. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein said telescopically overlapped and effectively relatively nonrotatively keyed or splined end-to-end interiorly communicating engagement of each pair of adjacent ends of said longitudinal ore-flow tube means portion is of a type adapted to allow effective pivotal movement to a limited extent in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said ore-flow tube means while maintaining said positive communication and structural interengagement therebetween and said relative axial rotative immobilization of engaged adjacent ore-flow tube end portions with respect to each other.

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