Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-03-29
improvements In smelling.

expressed for those who bring scien-
tiic training into the ordinary avoca-
tons Of life, and much satisfaction is
expressed when those that theorize
reduce their knowledge to practice,
and fail temporarily in their exper-
ments. Tho contempt for knowledge
by those who have learned their pur.
suits by simply working for their daily
bread. and acquired their training in
contact with their labors, is a great
drawback to advancement in their
chosen professions, and when at any
time there comes an Improvement or
step in advance, these men are left
high and dry, for the reason that they
are unable to comprehend anything
that departs from the regular routine.
Take smelling for an example. When
1t was found that the ores of this dis.
trict could only be worked by this pro.
cess, although it WAS by no means a
new one, and had been carried on for
centuries in other countries, the great
est difficulty was experienced in con.
siructing a furnace that would SUCCESS
fully treat the argentiferons ores.
With all the advantage of the ex Pc
Renee of other workers in the same
field, and the supervision of an able
and scientific man, the first furnace,
although it proved that the ore could
he smelled. still was financially a dead
failure. But the fact that the ores
could be treated was encouragement
enough for the sanguine owners and
they wen on testing and ex pertinent
ing until financially, as well a. theo-
retically, the furnace was a success.
Looking back to what was termed
q success eight years ago, one
wonders at the crude work Of the
time. On the Both of June, 1870, the
product Of seven furnaces for a six
months run was $50 ions Of bullion. val.
ued at 1914 900. Allowing thatthese sew
ell furnaces made a steady run of ninety
days during that period, and that each
ton OF bullion represented six IONS Of
ore, we find that the reducing ca pacity
of \ successful smelling furnace was,
eight years ago, nine tons and a frac-
ton Of ore per day, which just about
equals the bullion producing capacity
of the present time. A practical smelter
of the present day smiles at such a
showing, but those furnaces we're
the result of two hundred years. pro-
gress. Messrs. Keyss Il Arenas, who
had charge of the Bateinan furnaces,
noticed that much delay was caused
by the process OF tapping for lead, and
introduced the automatic tapping appa-
ratus known a. the lead we'll. which is
nothing more than a pipe starting from
a kettle outside the furnace to the
bottom Of the crucible. This simple
improvement, which vas the result of
observation n science combined,
prevented the forming of horses,
lightened the work of the smelters.
permitted the running of the furnace
more regularly, and consequently in
creasing its capacity, while the bullion
much purer than that obtained by
the old-fashioned process.
PROGRESS.
We have hardly space to trace fur.
Their improvements, but the reducing
capacity OF the furnaces were gradu-
increased, until it is nothing un-
now for one of them to smelt
or ninety tons of ore, and pro.
duce from ten TO fifteen tons of base
bullion.
Nor Is this the only direction in
which improvements have been made.
Repeated experiments by Guido Kues-
in the latter part of 1870. showed
that the loss in the Stag and iron and
volatiliZation, reached an average OF IS
per cent. of The silver and 43 per cent.
Of lead, contained In the ore. This
loss was enormous No wonder the
old dumps assayed a. high a. $50 in
silver aud gold. AT the present time
the Stag runs with q mere trace of gold.
and silver and the iron rarely exceeds
$50 per ton, and oftener averages from
Sl2 10 SIS. while the loss by vola,iliza-
ton has been reduced to a low figure.
An experiment. in this connection, an
interesting experiment, has come I'M
der u observation. One of u
progressive superintendents. not salts.
fed with the returns OF q furnace, in
troduced a system Of competition.
placing two practical shelters at work
of each other. Both being
their mettle, the utmost care and
attention was bestowed on all the de-
tails of the work, extending to the
minutest matters, and, reused out of
the usual routine that had prevailed,
this rivalry was productive OF the
most satisfactory results. The fur
naces, responding to the rare bestowed
upon them, run through n greater
quantity of ore, and, still better, the
percentage of loss decreased in a cor
responding ratio, showing at once that
all that was needed was an application
of brains as we'll N manual labor.
The superintendent having demon
strated by his shrewdness what could
be done where there was an incentive,
will in the future tolerate no step
back ward, and the company profits by
his intelligence communicated . the
employees.
CHARCOAL CoNAUMPrloN.
In the item of coal consumption the
same percentage of gain has been
made; formerly, from forty'five to
fifty bushels to a ton Of ore was not an
extravagant average, but at the present
time under thirty bushels is the
amount used. In drawing these few
.-,1antaAn 80. x~lrv zls,.s &c -.