US862684A - Smelting-furnace. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED AUG. 6, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. G. VIVIAN.

SMELTING .PURNAGEL APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 18, 1907.

4%HHHH PATENTBD AUG. 6, 1907. G. G. VIVIAN.

l SMELTING PURNACE.

APPLIOATION FIL-1m 111111.18. 1907'.

ZSHEHTS-SHEBT 2.

2 sii. .i I.

- N UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN, OEDENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LAFAYETTE HANOHETT,. OFSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

Patented Aug. e, 19o?.

Application filed March 18, 1907. Serial No. 363,068-

Be' it lknown that I, GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN, a citii zen of the United States'of America, residing at the cityand county of Denver Iand State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Smelting-Furnace, ofwhich the following is a specification.

`My invention relates to improvements inreverberae tory smelting furnaces; and the objects of my invention are: 'first,lto provide a reverberatory smelting furnace capable of continuous work and operating with a high degree ofefficien'cy and economy.- Second, to provide an ore smelting furnacain which the matte is adapted to be drawn off at its front end portion, or the end furthest from its fire box, and consequently the coolest portion of the furnace. Third, to provide, an ore smelting'furnace in which the slag is adapted to be drawn off at its back end portion or the end nearest to its fire box, v and consequently the hottest portion of the furnace. Fourth, to provide an ore smelting furnace in which the hearth or slag chamber is provided at its front end portion with angular walls diverging from the central portion of the hearth for a short distance, and with ore feeding chutes'in said walls arranged to connect through the side walls of the furnace with a supply of ore preferably through the medium bf ore holding and feeding hoppers, and a't their lower ends extend through the sides 5 of the walls into or close to the floor surface of the hearth,

l y 'cannot fall from the'ore chutes Onto and into the molten values by the carrying off by the draft of the so as'to discharge ore directly in contact with and `into the body of molten slag normally 'restingon the hearth when smelting orne, and so arranged that the ore ore slag, and that are arranged to feed the ore into the furnace at its'front end portion, and `into the coolest portion of the hearthl chamber and of the body of molten ore thereon. Fifth, to provide an Ore] smelting furnace in which the ore is fed on the molten; ore body in such a manner as topcompletely eradicate, eliminate, and prevent a'ny possibilityof losing any of the ore products of combustion'as it flows from the fire box to the chimney, ofthe ore dust. Sixth, to provide an ore smelting furnace arranged to smelt o re and to which Ore can be fed and the slag withdrawntherefrom Without admitting cold air to the hearth chamber, and to the molten ore, and that is constructed Without door-controlled openings in its sides and roof through which to feed ore and to withdraw or skim off the slag. And seventh, to provide a simple, easily constructed, thoroughly prac-l tical smelting furnace Qf the reverberatory type, that .will extract a matte product from the ore of a higher trated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1, designates in general a reyerberatory furnace embodying my invention. v

-2 designates the foundation side walls; 3, the foundation rear end wall; and 4, the foundation front end Wall.

5 designates the fire bpx. This fire box: is made narrower in width than the body of the furnace, and is formed in the center of the width of the furnace, and is made of a length sufficient to receive a grate surface of sufficient capacity for the size of the furnace.

6 designates the fire grate; 7 is a coal entrance hopper "in the roof of the fire box, and below the grate bars an ash pit 8 is formed.

A-hearth 9, which may be constructed of any suitable material and may be arranged in any desired manner, is formed on the foundation walls 2 and 3 and 4, and'a fire bridge walllO: is formed between the fire box and theadjacent end of the furnace. This bridge wall is a vertical extension of the rear end Wall above thev end of the hearth, and extends beyond the fire box, and with the foundation wall 3 Aforms the rear end of the furnace. The foundation walls 2 and'3 and 4 extend above the hearth vand are integrally formed, and a roof 11 extends integrally from the sides and ends over the hearth,l thus ,formingy a molten ore chamber l2 above the hearth.

' At the front end ofthe furnace is a'fiue 13, connecting witha chimney 14, which extends from one corner of the front endof the furnace.

The several features above enumerated are common to all reverberatory smelting furnaces; and in addition to these features the reverberatory furnaces'in use are provided with doors in front and in their sides, through which the slag is skimmed off from the body of melted Ore on the hearth, and through which the operation may be watched and repairs made, and ore is sometimes fed through these doors to the hearth. The feeding of thev vore however, is most generally done through door-controlled openings in the roof of the furnace, from hoppcrs positioned above the openings, and the ore is fed in intermittent charges of large quantities, which fall into the molten slag with a splash, which scatters the slag 'and matte onto the innerl surface of the hearth chamber,

thus causing an immense amount of dusting, alarge volume'of which, carrying values, is carried up the chimney. The splashing of the hot slag and matte against the walls of the hearth 'chamber causes them to be rapidly eaten away andl to deteriorate and to shrink Y greater fluidity and ebullition atthis point and mixes more freely with and settles slowerthan at the front end and this results in a portion of the matte being carried the operator to watch the smelting operation and to keep rside walls to near the apex or front end .of the furnace or expand and to finally crack from the unequal heat.

The slag is drawn off through doors located at the furthest end of the furnace from the fire box, which is the coolest part of the furnace, or through doors in the sides of the furnace, in such a manner that the conditions are unfavorable to the settling of the matte and the skimming off of the slag portion of the melted ore on the hearth, and when doors are used for this purpose, a large volume of cold air is admitted to the furnace, causing a chilling of the slag, which in a measure prevents a proper and free settling of `the matte or metal values to the bottom of the slag, and along the bottom of the l hearth, and the admittance of cold airV to the slag-chamber also causes rapid contraction and expansion and subjects the furnace to severe strains that cause its sides and roof to crack. The matte or liquid metals are drawn off through doors located at the side of the furnace,

ff with the slag, as it is hotter at this point-than at the front end of thefurnace, and the matte is in a state of of the furnace. Y

My invention, however, contemplates a radically different arrangement of theiore-feeding, slag-tapping and matte-tapping lelements of reverberatory smelting furnaces, and a construction that will prevent a loss of values by dusting, by imperfect settling of the matte, and by alternate cooling and heating, which also results in an unnecessary waste in fuel and in time. To accomplish these results, I form the flue 13, which connects with the chimney 14, at or adjacent to the front end of the furnace, and preferably in the center of the width of the furnace and in its roof, and' I shape th hearth of the furnace square at the fire box end, and with straight parallel sides to-near the front end portion of the furnace, from which point the sides convergek into straight angular walls l5, which meet at the center of the front end of the furnace, at which point a metal or matte tap-holelG is formed through the frontend wall. Thistap hole is placed on a level with the bottomjof the hearth-and at the fire-box or rear end wall of the hearth I place one or more slag tap-holes 17, preferably using two and placing them one on each side of the fire-box. These slag tap Vholes are placed a trifle above the bottom of the hearth so as to drain the upper portion of the body of molten slag llying on the hearth. The roof of the furnace is made solid and without openings of any kind, and the sides of the furnace are also preferably madesolid except that two entrance doors 18 are preferably placedv in each side wall, which allow the inside entrances ofthe slag tap-holes in goed order, as they require occasional repairing to prevent their being burned out Atoo large in diameter to properly keep the slag under control. An air chamber 19 is also formed between the side and end foundation walls below the hearth. In the walls 15 of the angled front end portion of thefurnace, I form ore feeding chutes 20 inthe form of oblong apertures which sta'nd at an outwardly inclined angle from where they enter the furnace. I preferably arrange these feed chutes to ex tend along the greater portion of the length of these angled walls from the point where they intersect the sae, 684.`

Where they come together. These oppositely disposed ore feed chutes could be Aeach made in one long narrow aperture or'slot, but in order to insure the greatest strength of wall I preferably form two or three or more ore chute apertures, five being illustrated, at a short distance apart, and leave an integral portion of the wall as a partition between them to support and tie the hearth face portion of the wall to the outside portion of the side and end walls. These ore feeding chutes extend down through the angled walls of the furnace, to or close to the floor'of the hearth, and in their top lentrances I fit the discharging ends of a pair of orefeed hoppers 21 and 22, which are connected by launders 23 with ore-storage bins, which I do not illustrate.

Smelting ore consisting of concentrates from jigs and concentrating tables varying from about one-quarter inch mesh down toabout a hundred meshand even finer, make up a large part of the character of size of the ore product usually smelted in reverberato'ry furnaces,-

and all kinds of smelting ore that isfshipped direct from the mine, which when in large lumps passed through rock breakers and is reduced to small pieces, in which form it is easily fed through the hoppers and chutes to the hearth after being first mixed with proper fluxes when they are required.

As my invention contemplates the automatic and continuous gentle and slow feeding of ore to the furnace without any agitationA or movement of the ore that would raise its dust particles into the draft current fiowing from the fire box to the chimney, the hoppers are provided with ore enough to keep the feed chutes in the opposite angular Walls ofthe head end of the slag chamber full at all times. These ore chutes are adapt.- ed in area to feed and discharge ore continuously onto the molten body of ore on the hearth without allowing it to drop, and the slag tap holes and also the matte tap hole are adapted to be continuously open in all cases where the ore smelts quickly and readily, and it is necessary to feed fast in order not to'allow the slag to lie any longer on the hearth than is necessary for it to arrive at tlie degree of the heat necessary to reduce it to that state of fluidity necessary to allow all of the ores metallic Values to. separate from its slag element, and easily and thoroughlysettle out of the slag, and form the lower sti'atuin of the molten ore body along the floor or i h ea'rth of the furnace. But when complexer refractory ores are smeltedi'and the feed though continuous is slow, it may not be drsirable or necessary to keep the slag and vmatte tap-holes open all of the time., but it will be sufficient to open them as required at intervals, as is customary. But on ores that contain but little value and a large amount of slag, it might bc necessary to keep the slag tap open continuously and draw off the matte. at intermittent periods when a sufficientl quantity has accumulated. The slow easy continuous fiowing feed movementrrof the ore at the front end of the hearth directlyI on top of and into the body of molten ore prevents the fine dust particles of the ore from getting into the fiame and heat and combustion draft that flows constantly and with considerable force from the fire box to the `chimney over the molten ore-slag. and thus completely and thoroughly era-d'icates this particular element of-loss of values from the economicl value of my furnace. This automatic methodv of feeding ore'directly onto'landfinto the"l body of molten ore completely eliminates the splashing 'of the molten slag and` matte against the sides of the hearth or slag chamber, and also completely Aavoids the admittance of cold air into the hearth chamber from the opening of doors, as in the most advanced and perfected type of reverberatory furnaces in use at the quent chillings, is thus avoided, and the cost of labor and the wear and tearof the furnace greatly reduced, making altogether an item representing a saving of `from about ten to twenty-five per cent. in the cost of treatment and higher extraction of values, which when coupled with a large increased capacity of my antomatic feed `over intermittent manual feeding establishes a far greater degree of utility, practicability, and economic .value for my' improved automatic feeding reverberatory smelting furnace over all other reverberatory furnaces known to the art of smelting ores.

ln order to protect the slag outlet apertures from the intense heat of the interior of the furnace and scouring effect ofthe molten ore, I' place in the walls ofthe furnace a water jacket which may be of any suitable con-` struction for this purpose, preferably illustrating a water carrying coil of pipe 24, which at one end extends from a supply of cold water and enters the wall adjacent to a tap-hole and extendsl around the tap-hole and then at its opposite end extends out of the furnace and leads to waste. i

lhe operation of my improved furnace is as follows: The ore is fed into the hoppers from a source of supply, and flows freely into the feed chutes, which are always kopt full of ore, and the ore feeds by gravity into the body of molten slag which is always from about one to two or more inches deep on the hearth, and the ore feeds of its own weight through the ore chutes onto and into the bpdy of molten ore moving slowly and. gently into it only as fast as it melts, and as the feed chutes are positioned at the front end of the furnace, which is the coolest part of the body of moltenlslag, it does not disturb or cool the hottest portion of the Imolten ore, which is at the fire box end or back end of the furnace, and as the .ore melts it flows towards the fire box end of the furnace and is heated hotter and hotter, and the metals settle to the bottom of it along the floor portion of the hearth, as matte or metal, which is the collected fluid metals of all kinds in the4 ore, and lthis matte flows along under the top stratum of the melted ore whieh'is the slag portion, and consists of the fluid earthy matter in the ore, to the matte tap-hole at the front or fecdend of the furnace, while the hot slag is drawn off through the slag tap holes atthe fire box end ofthe furnace, and as the slag at this end of the furnace isin the hottest zone of `thefurnace, it is of clearer fluidity and consequently the metals of the ore settle out of it more readily and quicker and more thoroughly than out of the cooler portions of the molten ore slag,

and carries less values away than in furnaces where the slag is drawn off through side doors that admit chilling air to the interior of the hearth chamber; moreover, the iiame and products of combustion of the iirebox in t flowing from the fire box to the chimney flue come in contact with the ore as it flows into the hearth chamber onto the molten ore body, and heats it and thereby aids in melting it and to that extent increases the smelting capacity of the furnace.

Suitable metal launders which I do not illustrate,`are arranged; below the tap-hole spouts to conduct the slag and mattemaway from the furnace.

My improved automatic'ore feed reverberatory fur- -nace is simple andv thoroughly practical, and will enable ahigher percentage of the values of ores and a cleaner and purer matte tfr be obtained and an economic saving to be made over the present reverberatory furnaces used for smelting ores, and at the same time provides a continuous and a more perfect smelting apparatus.

While I have illustrated the preferred construction and arrangement lof my improved furnace, I do not wishl to be limited to it, as many changes might be made without departing from `the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as' new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising aheartli,V

3. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a. hearth;

a combustion chamber communicating therewith, a slag tap adjacent said combustion chamber, a matte or metal tap remote from said combustion chamber, and ore-feeding means adjacent said metal tap.

4. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating means therefor, a slag tap adjacent said heating if .means, a matte or metal tap remote from said heating means, and ore-feeding meansdisposed on each side of said metal tap.

5. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating means therefor, a slagtap adjacent said heating means, a matte or metal tap remote from said heating means, and ore-feeding means adjacent said metal vtap and arranged to feed ore in proximity to said hearth. A 6. A reverberatory smelti'ng furnace comprising a hearth, heating means therefor, slag and matte or metal taps, and means adjacent said matte or metal tap for feeding ore to said furnace in proximity to said hearth.

7. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth having a converging end, a matte orlmetal tap adjacent. said converging end, and'means adjacent said tap for feed-v ing ore to said furnace.

8. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth having a converging end, n matte or metal tap adjacent said converging end, and means adjacent said tap for feeding ore to said furnace in proximity to said hearth.

-9. A reverberatory sfnelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating means therefor, slag and matte or metal taps, and means for feeding ore to said hearth, said' ore feeding means comprising a plurality of channels discharging into said furnace in proximity to, said hearth. l K

10. An automatic continuousore feeding reverhetatory smelting furnace, eomprisingan operatively arranged and heated smelting furnacefhavifng .a hearth, a plurality of ore vfeeding chutes arranged at the front end`portion of said hearth on pposlte sides of said hearth in its side while the slag is clear and free from the metals or matte walls, arranged to discharge the ore adjacent said hearth.

11. An automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory smelting furnace, comprising an operatively hearted hearth an ore feeding chute in the walls ofthe front end -of the furnace arranged to continuously convey and feed ore directly to vthe surface of said hearth, a matte tap-hole at the front end of saidhearth and furnace, a fire box at the back end of said furnace, and slag tap-holes at the hack endl of said furnace adjacent to said fire box. Y

13. An automatic continuous ore feeding reverheratory smelting furnace, comprising an operative smelting furnace provided with a fire box, and a chimney. and containing a smelting hearth and a hearth chamber, parallel side walls to said chamber, a rectangular end wall at its fire box or back end, and with converging angular walls at its front end that meet together at the central portion of said hearth, a matte tap-hole at the apex of said converging angular side walls in the front end of saidA furnace level withthe oor surface of said hearth, slagtap-holes in the back end wall of saidfurnace slightly`above the floor surfa'ce of said hearth, and ore feeding chutes in the opposite converging angular walls tif-said hearth chamber arranged to continuously convey and'feed ore directly into and onto the said body of molten ore onsaid hearth at the front end portion of said hearth and furnace.

14. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory snielting furnace, the combination with the hearth, the front, the back, the side walls, and roof, the chimney, and the nre-box of a reverberatory ore smelting furnace, of a hearthchamber having at its front end converging angular side walls arranged to converge from the side walls together andmeet in a point at the front end of the hearth, a matte tap-hole at the meeting point of said converging walls through the front wall of said furnace level with the floor surface ofsaid hearth, slag tap-holes at the fire box or back end of said furnace a little above the iioor surface of said furnace, and positioned on opposite sides of said fire box, a plurality of ore chutes formed in the-opposite side walls of said hearth chamber and extending from the outside of said walls through said walls to close to the floor surface of said hearth, saidore chutes being arranged to feed ore continuously from opposite sides of said furnace into the opposite sides of and at the front end portion of said hearth and furnace, whereby said ore is fed continuously to the coldest portion of said furnace and isfed directly onto and into the body of molten` ore on said hearth, and the slag product of said molten ore flowing to and being tapped off at the hottest portion of said hearth and furnace, and the matte Ilowing to and 'being tapped off at the front and coldest end of said hearth and furnace, the said positioning of the slag and matte tap-holes permitting the natural order of separation of the slag and matte elements of the molten ore.

wall of said ore chamber arranged to convey ore through the wallsA of said' ore chamber to the adjacent edges of said hearth, and means including an ore feeding hopper for feeding ore to said chutes.

' 16. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory smeltingfurnace, the combination of the combustion chamber, with the walled inclosed ore chamber and the hearth, said ore chamber being formed with its sides converging at its front end, a plurality of ore feeding chutes extending into each of the converging walls of said ore chamber to close to .thesurface of said hearth and arranged and adapted to continuously. discharge ore directly at and into the adjacent edge surfaces of said hearth, means including a hopper provided with a plurality of ore discharge chutes for feeding ore continuously to said chutes and hearth, means for tapping slag from said hearth at the combustion chamber end of said hearth and ore chamber, and means for tapping matte from the front or coldest end of said ore'chamber and hearth adjacent io said ore feeding chutes.

17. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory smelting furnace, the combination with an operative combustion chambered fire box, of an .operatively wall-inr cased ore chamber, a hearth in the bottom of said cha1n ber, a plurality of ore feeding chutes extending through the walled incased ore furnace of said ore chamber to said hearth and adapted' to continuously feed'ore automatically to said hearth as fast as said ore melts on said hearth, means including an ore hopper provided with a supply of ore and connected to said plurality of ore chutes for feeding ore continuously to said hearth, a slag tap- 'hole at the combustion chamber end of said furnace, a

matte .tap-hole at the front or opposite end of said furnace Y from said combustion chamber, and door-controlled openings in the side of said furnace arranged to control said slag tap-hole.

tending through the wall of said ore chamber from its top portion to the adjacent edge of the front end portion of said ore smelting hearth, and arranged and adapted to discharge ore continuously upon and onto and into said bed of molten ore upon said hearth, means including a hopper connected to said `ore chute and provided with a supply of ore for feeding ore continuously to said ore chute and said hearth, a tap-hole or holes at the back or fire lbox and hottest end portion of said ore chamber or hearth. arranged to dran' off the slag` element of Said body of molten ore, a-tapdiole at the front and coolest end portion of said ore chamber and hearth adapted to draw off the matte element of said body of molten ore, and suitable doored openings into said ore chamber and hearth arranged to permit operative control of the smelting of said ore in said ore chamber on said hearth and the slag entrances to said slag tap-holes.

in testimony whereof l aiiix my signature in presence of .two witnesses.

GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN.

Witnesses: g

4i. SAnGnN'r ELLIo'rT, Aonnm M. FowLn.

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