The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-10-07
A Great Scientific Fact.
Experiments Which Prove the Gas.
Producing Qualities Of Our Coal.
Copper Smelling Will Be ReVolutionized
to This City'S Advantage.

Says the n. Y. Engineering and Min
ing Journal:
The question is often asked: Why
are no copper ores smelted in the United
States with gas? The failure of a few
timid attempts has increased the we'll
known conservatism of copper smelters,
preventing rational efforts. A trade
which still maintains the face color test
as the measure of quality admits a few
innovations.
In locating the new works at Great
Falls, of the Boston e. Montana Consoli.
dated Copper and Silver Mining COM
pany, the question had to be met by Mr..
G. o. Parsons, then consulting engineer
of that company.
Pennsylvania coke shipped 800 miles
was expensive, the product of the West
err coke limited and Indifferent, and the
blast furnace poorly adapted for smelt-
ing fine concentrates. Mr.. Parsons. who
had watched the building of the earliest
Siemens steel smelling furnaces in this
country, is a strong advocate OF the gas
system, and after al examination of the
coal of the Sand Coulee field, adopted
fuel gas. employing what seemed especi-
ally adapted for this coal, the Taylor gas
producer. On his resignation from the
NJ. d M. Co.. a system not well adapted
for the coal was introduced, and reports
of another failure Of gas smelling have
been officially recorded across the water.
The question was of such vital import
ance to the Great Northern Railway
company, who largely control the Sand
Coulee field. an arrangement was made
with a rival copper company by which
an unbiased test could be made, and for
several months preparations for expert
ments have been quietly going on at the
old works (now idle) of the Anaconda
Mining company.
For a preliminary test, in the absence
of a regenerative furnace, the ordinary
low-roofed reverberatory designed for
coal firing was used. A temporary iron
pipe hot blast was improvised, heating
the air. to the safety limit of the pipe.
probably not over loo degrees +. The
gas entered the furnace direct from
the producer, probably not over $50 de-
grees +. The gas was made from Sand
Coulee coal IN a semi water jacketed Tay-
lor producer, an improvement of Mr.. w.
II. Blauvelt, the engineer Of the Taylor
Producer company.
These producers on this coal. which is
inclined to clinker if forced, worked from
the start with the simplicity of a base
burning stove and with less care than a
steam boiler. The gas is clean, rich and
luminous and fills every recess of the old
furnace with a hot flame. No figures
have been given out by the Great North
ern Railway company, but a very large
saving has been proved, even with i'm
provised arrangements, enough to war
rant the consideration of a large ex-
penditure for properly constructed re-
generative furnaces.
These experiments are of the greatest
importance. showing to the copper trade
that a very large reduction can be made
in the cost of producing western copper,
and also showing to the metallurgist
that the smelling of copper ores in the
United States by fuel gas has been prac-
tically accomplished.
It's importance to the young, enter
prising city of Great Falls can hardly be
measured, lying as it does with its i'm.
mense water power. only fifteen miles
from the largest and most important ere
taceous coal fields in the state.