The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-26
But TE & BIOS TON Smell TER
Many Changes and Improve
ments Under Way.
THE NEW MOTOR ROOM
Powerful Engine and Air Compressor,
Three New Dynamos - Molten
Matte Goes Directly to
y Converters.

One of the important industrial con-
Germs of Butte that is improving and
charging its plant is the Butte & Bos-
ton smelter. 1t is situated in the west
ern outskirts of Meaderville on the line
OF the Meaderville street car line, not
Ear from the M. o. P. smelter and at
the base of the hill upon which the
| MeaderVille mines are located. It's
works are extensive and occupy a large
acreage of ground, and the mill and
furnaces turn out steady product of
raw copper.
| For some time the company has been
engaged in constructing slime plant
in connection with the concentrator,
and when the plant is finished all the
shines turned out by the concern Will
be worked by 1t. The plant will con-
tain Ii round tables for treating the
| shines. These tables are double deckcd
and of large size. They are being put
| IN now, and four tailings elevators are
! being constructed in connection with
| them. The new mill for the shines Is
at the foot of the concentrator, and
the round tables are close to the Frue
vanners, in a convenient position TO
! take up the shines at, the end of the
I first milling PROCESS. When the mill
|
put into operation the Butte & Bos-
| ton smelter and concentration will tie
| able to reduce the ores handled by it
| completely and lack nothing but re-
| fnery. The shines plant is in an adj
vanced stage and will be finished be-
| fore long.
Beside the mill for working tailings,
| the smetter company has added to its
| plant very fine engine or motor room
within the past year, and it intends
to bring the power plant, which is now
| divided, all under one roof in this
room. The new motor room is very
large and commodious, eXcellenuy
lighted and perfectly adapted to it's
purposes. 1t contains three new cleo
| trio dynamos, just put in, an S00-horse
| power engine and a 700-horse power
air compressor. The air compressor is
a double compound machine, and it
| and the engine are of the Edward p.
Allis make. The new motor building
is between the smeter and the con-
contractor. The engines of the old pow
er plant are in the smelter building.
| 1t is the intention of the company to
move the latter into the new power
| building, add more electric dynamos
to the three just put in and run the
whole plant by electricity. The drive
| wheel of the engine in the new motor
| building is a large one, being five feet
and eight inches across the face. The
| whole boiler plant at the smelter con-
sists of five 250-horse power boilers.
! Two of the dynamos are of 130-horse
| power each and one of 244-horse power.
| One of the former operates the over
! head crane in the smelter, the other
! runs the Stag motor, and the larger
one furnishes Electric lights. The lat
| ter will be used1to supply power for,
other purposes also later. The dyna-
| mos were manufactured by the West
| inghouse Electric and Manufacturing
| company of Pittsburg #.
| The concentration at the Butte & Bos-
| ton smelter brushes from 600 to b25
! tons of ore a day, reducing it to about
| 250 tons. The ore is from the Butte &
Boston and Boston e Montana mines,
| including the Silver Bow No. l and No.
g. the Blue Jay, the Gray Rock and
others. 1t is delivered at the concen-
TRAITOR by rail and by wagon. A rail-
road switch on level with the upper
most floor of the concentrator lands
the ore brought by rail in ore bins
there, and the ore that comes by wag
on is hauled up to the bins from the
| road below in cars running on an in
| clined tramway.
The crushing machinery at the con-
| contractor is composed of four crush
| ers, three double sets of rolls and four
Huntingdon mills. There are so Harris
| and Evans jigs, of from one to four
| steps, and 90 vanners connected with
| them. The process of reduction is the
| arators and elevators and the revolv-
| ing trommels do not differ from those
| generally in use. The first crushing
is done on the uppermost floor of the
| concentration, where are located two
| 9X15-inch Blake crushers. The ore is
fed from the bins to these crushers,
| and then drops down and passes
through trommels which separate it
| into three sizes The oversize mate
rial is crushed again by crushers on
the next floor, and the other material
goes to the jigs and rolls. The tailings
finally reach the Huntingdon mills,
pass into hydraulic separators on jigs
| and overflow into settling tanks. The
last step in the process is reached at
the vanners, Which finish the concen-
tration of the tailngs.
| The smelter has eight roasting fur
naces, four reverberatory or matte fur
| naceS, two blast furnaces and two con-
verters. The blast furnaces are not in
operation at present, and one of he
matte furnaces is undergoing recon-
struction. The roasters are of the
! large double decked O'Hara type. They
feed from the top automatically, and
| ploWs on endless chains scrape the ore
from the upper floor to the lower. Their
capacity is so tons a day. There is a
| great overhead crane weighing 10 tons
that taps the matte in a molten state
directly into the converters. 1t weighs
60 tons when loaded. The roasting fur
| naces are on a lower level than tine
mill, and the matte furnaces are be-
low them, therefore gravity is of aid
and lifting is saved in transferring the
Gre from one to another The concen-
trates are kept from four to eight
hours in the O'Haras, the calcined
matter from three and q half to four
hours in the reverberatories and The
| matte from two and a half to four
hours in the conVerters.
The calcined material is wheeled hot
| from the roasters to the matte fur
| naces in smelter buggies, and the
| matte is tapped in a molten condition
either into ladies or directly into the
converters with the aid of the crane,
and the copper is poured out of the
converters into molds, which shape it
into pigs. The matte is so per cent.
pure and the pig or blister copper So
per cent. pure. The latter is shipped
East for refining. The travelling of the
mighty crane up and down the ways
and the roaring of the air blast through
the converters, under pressure of Is
pounds to the square inch, are spec
| - Il