The Elk Mountain pilot., 1882-03-02
THE MURRAY GAS FLAME
BLAST FURNACE,

BLAST FURNACE,
Notwithstanding it has been known
for years that the charcoal and coke
as burned in the ordinary blast furnace
only produces less than one-third its
possible heat, but few attempts have
been made to remedy the great waste.
In the consumption of fuel, lead and
iron smelling is conducted much as it
was fifty years ago. A good article
Of coal, at low price per ton, is taken,
and after a large proportion of its
heat making constituents are driven off
by covering it tsinto coke, the coke is
sold to the smelters at three times its
original cost, and is then burned in
such way that less than one third Of
its vossible heat is available for smell
ting purposes. The English iron
masters long ago established the fact
that coke burned in their blast fur
naces was only converted into carbonic
oxyde gas. The loss of such combus-
ton is shown in the statement of the
ablest chemists, who have established
by hundreds of experiments the fact
that one gramme of carbon burned to
carbonic acid gas produces 5000 heat
units, while the same quantity burned
to carbonic oxyde gas produces but
7,473 heat units. But the combustion
of coke or charcoal into carbonic acid
gas requires space for the formation Of
fame, and as fame in the ordinary
blast furnace is impossible the fuel is
incompletely burned by conversion
into carbonic' oxyde gas To remedy
this great waste and cheaper the smell
ting of lead or iron, Mr.. c. H. Muir
ray, of Leadville, has invented gas
fame blast furnace, in which he will
use for fuel raw bituminous coal. Mr..
Murray is practical smelter, having
been connected with the business for
several years, and has made the sub
ject special study. In his furnace
he assures us he can smclt at one tenth
the present fuel cost, and his process
and the figures seem to warrant this
statement. The importance of such
an achievement must be felt by every
citizen of Colorado. If the smelling
Of our ores can be cheapened by four
dollars per ton, there are already a
quarter ola million of tons of ore
mined that can be worked, that can
not now be handled at all.
In this new furnace the fuel-bitu-
mlnous Goals placed in fuel cham
bers on each side of the smelling fur
mace proper. 1t is so fed by the aid
Of an air tight sliding plate that Its
introduction into the furnace does
not interfere with its constant running.
The fuel is operated upon by two sets
Of blast pipes. The lower set near the
CRATE bars keep the fuel at white
heat, while the upper set penetrate
the furnace and blow down through
the white heat any vapors or smoke
that may be forming from the fresh
coal above the order of draft being
down through the CRATE bars instead
of upward. This arrangement effects
the complete combustion OF all smoke
and converts all the volatile products
of the coal into gas. Thisgasat a high
heat is pressed forward into the smell
ting furnace in jets three-eighths Of
an inch wide and three-quarters Of
an inch long. These gas jets alternate
with warmed fresh air jets that enter
the furnace on the same plane. and
effect the complete combustion Vt the
gases contiguous to the ore. In order
that a fame may be maintained an
open space IN the furnace is secured
by shouldering the water jacket and
cutting it across laterally from one
end of the furnace to the other. The
tive sections of the jacket approach
the opening where the jets of gas and
fresh air enter in such a way that
the fame space resembles the letter V
laid down upon its side. The upper
portion of the jacket making this
space, however, extend four inches
further into the furnace than the lower,
thus holding of the ore and prevent