The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-07-08
HANDY BLAST
A Description Of G. L. Hartsfeld's Novel
Portable Furnace.

From the Iron Trade Review.
The usual dictum of the disappointed
miner is that the mines are ''piayed out
One may hear the words from mir eeenths OF
those who return i~ortunefess and dlscour-
aged from Colorado, New Mexico and Ari-
IONA. But this is all a mistake. The min
eral wealth OF our great mountain chains
is simply ~exhauStless. limos every claim
that.the shrewd prosl.ector has staked could
be made to yield a competence, il not a for
tune, ii only the appliances were at hand to
bring forth the precious metals from the
stubborn rocks.
Just here the difficulty lies. A mine OF un-
common richness invites the attention OF
capitalists, and a costly plant is sent out
for the extraction OF the precious metals.
Ev n at that the lower grade ores are
always cast aside and form the tailings Or
dump OF the mine. A mine OF even lair
yield, unless it be near to railroad commu-
n,cation, hangs like a dead weight on the
owners hands if they cannot induce a squirt
OF capital. The mine whose ores are OF a
poor grade is simply abandoned, the pros
capital to push their development, and the
expenses OF mountain transportation being
such that it will not paw to send such ores
to the great smelters. The consequence is,
in brief, that there are millions OF tons OF
low grade ores lying around all the mining
camps of the Rocky Mountains, and count
less millions in sight that will not be touched
for a OF appliances within the means OF
the men who have opened the claims.
To this class of mine owners, who can
not coax in capital or create stock compa-
MES, we 10Y OF nothing more serviceable
than a portable blast furnace which is the
invention of c. l.. Hartsfeld, of Newport,
Kentucky. This furnace is portable in the
true sense OF the word, as the smaller sizes
of five tons daily capacity-are only
1000 pounds weight, and might easily be
transported by mule power to the remotest
gorges OF the hills. 1t is adapted for smelt-
SILVER, gold, nickel, tin, manganese, bis
muth, chrome and other ores, and has,
during the last year, won ground in Aus
tria, Hungary, Russia, Norway and Swe-
den, Holland. Belgium, France, and Ger
many, and is now being introduced in Eng
land, Scotland, South Wales, Australia,
South America and the United States.
The inventor is now building his furnaces
in Cincinnati foundries, but the construc-
ton is SO simple, being a combination OF
the Scotch hearth n reverberatory, that
an illustration is scarcely needed to make
its merits obvious to a mining man.
The novelty consists chiefly in the o
ing OF the smelling furnace by water, with
out using an air-tight water space. The
inner cylinder can expand and contract
without any resistance as to temperature;
the consequence is that repairs are hardly
ever required. The smelling process can
therefore be kept up continuously without
interruption; the upper part OF the furnace
never gets hot, and the coke or wood does
not begin to burn until it arrives at the
lower part where the smelling process takes
place at once by a very strong blast.
The extraction OF the precious metals in
this furnace is accomplished by gravitation,
the heavier taking the lead, and each com-
ing forth from the tap hole OF the lower re-
| verberatory in the order OF it's weight and
| worth. There is consequently no dealing
| with bullion alloys, and if al ore will yield
| anything over four ounces OF silver TO the
! ton, the furnace is SO inexpensive as to re-
munerate the miner. As it is generally the
! custom in Western mining to reject all ores
that do not show over fifteen ounces to
| the ton, it will be seen that there is by this
| device a large margin for profit even on
what are called p%oorores. 1t is u chance
| for small claim holders which only a cheap
railroad communication or the Immediate
| proximity OF "a snelter could equal.
AS an illustration of it's perfect working
may be given an abstract from a report
published by Das VOgische V~Olksblatt, on
| the cost OF reducing ores to metal, ninety
six per cent, OF mineral actually converted
into metal, out OF every 100 taken from
Hartsgebirge at Clausenthal, argentiferous
ores. The analysis as made by the emf
nent practical chemist, Mr.. David Stuart,
in his report for the Austro-Hungarian
Government, at Vienna, is us follows: