The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-02-05
PERTH AMBOY Plant
AMERICAN COMPAN
Guggenheims Have Large Smell
ter in East With Excellent
Working Facilities.
ORE FROM MEXICO
in COMPANY SHIPS
South America Contributes Ores
of Silver, This Country
Furnishes Copper.

In the January number OF the En-
gineerins and Mining Journal there is an
instructive article on the Perth Amboy
plant of the American Smelling and Re
nnlng company, which is particularly
timely at this stage of the copper con-
Solldation programmes. which include the
building and enlarglng of many Of the
plants about the country. The article
Is as follows:
Land and Water Facilities.
These works were erected in 1895 by
the Guggcnhelm Smelling company. They
are situated on Raritan bay. opposite
the southern point OF Staten Island. in a
POSITION Offering excellent facilities for
| transportation by land and by water.
The materials worked up arc base lead
! bullion and crude copper containing sill
yer and gold, chiefly drawn from the
| company's smelters In the United States
| ard Mexico Silver ore Is received from
| South America, The ores and base met
rls from Mexico and South America arc
panys steamships (American Smelters
| Steamship company.
Smelling of Ores.
Tho silver ore from South America
! containing antimony and much silver.
| together with g0lcna, iron and copper
! pyrltcs) is crushed by rolls and is roasted
| down from 70 per cent to per cent S In
| eleven reyerberntory furnaces, seventy
| feet long and fifteen feet wide Onsidc di-
mensions) 1t Is then mixed with rich
salena from Idaho pyrItes clnder. Iith-
| arge copper sklmmings and resdues
| from the desilvering process. together
with limestone, and Is smcltcd for work.
| lead ana lead-copper matte In three
tcr-jacketed furnaces. using II per cent
coke, figured on the ore In the charge
| o. these furnaces one has twelve tuyeres;
| IL measures i2X96 inches in cross-sectIon
| at the tuyereS and 6 feet 3 inches by 8
| feet at the charging level. The height
or charge Is lG feet. The other two fur
races nave 10 tuycres. being n inches by
Us inches at the charging level 6 feet
D Inches by II feet, and height OF charge
10 feet The furnaces are operated at a
blast pressure OF 80 ounces per square
inch. The temperature Of the gases al
the throat Is 40 degrees f. go degrees c.
measured with a Columbia recording
These furnaces reduce, respectively. 100
to Id and 80 to 40 tons OF charge per
"a hours; they are also used for concen-
trating roasted matte.
Refining of Copper.
The crude copper Is melted in two fur
haces OF 10 tons aggregate dnIly capa-
city, and Is nodded into anodes by Walk
er casting machines. Twcnty-six anodes
are lifted out OF the cooling vessel at a
time: and are taken to the electrolytic
plant The electrolytlc plant comprises
Two systems, each Of i0S watts. The cur
rent Is furnished by two dynamos. each
giving 4'oo amperes nt los volts. The
weight OF the residual anodes is Is per
cent The anodo mud is swilled down
INTO reservoirs in the cellar as at Chrome
tpe Lamar Copper Refining company, Is
manner, Fer melting the cathodes there
are two reverberatory furnaces OF ca
paclty f9r 20 tons per "a hours. The wire
oars and lnSots are cast with Walker
machine About 800 tons of refined con.
per are produced per month
Manufacture of Copper Sulphate.
=, The lyes withdrawn from the electroly-
tic process are worked up into copper
sulphates shot copper being added This
latter is prepared In a reyerberatory fur
mace from matte obtained as a by-product
IN working up the lead. About 200 tons
or copper sulphate are thus produced Der
nonth' the process used is the same as
at the Oker works. Lower Harz. Ger
many The crystals are rinsed dried and
packed In strong wooden barrels
Refining Mexican Lead.
The working OF the Mexican raw lead
is carried out under the supervision of
the customs officers. The lead, which is
imported duty free. must be exported
again. From each bar q sample Is cut
from above and below by means of a
punch entering half way into the bar.
For refining lead there are four reverber-
atory furnacoS OF sixty tons capacity,
with hearths seventeen feet nine Inches
by twelve feet six inches. mean depth
of fourteen inches, and q CRATE area of
TO these there is a furnace OF eighty tons
capacity with hearth nineteen feet sey-
en-. en- ana Ions one-h9lf inches by nine feot, a
area OF three feet by six feet
How Lead Is Desilverized.
For desilvering the softened lead tbore
are live Kettles, each OF sixty tons ca-
paGlty; ten feet three inches In diameter
and thirty-nine inches In depth The
zinc Is stirred In with a Howard mechanI-
cal stirrer and the zinc scum is pressed
dry In Howard press. which gives a
very dry scum. The latter s then, while
for the retorts. The desilvcrizcd lead is
refined in five rcverberatory furnaces, OF
which four take charge OF fifty tons OF
production OF desilvcrlzed lead is 5eO0 to
300 tons a month.
Economical Use of Coal.
The dstillatlon of the zinc crusts IL
carried out In eighteen oil-hred Fnber du
taur tiltlng furnaces Each retort re-
GeiVes Gel , n cna5ge OF 100 pounds of broken
tillation lasts six to seven hours Fifty
gallons OF petroleum residues are con- |
eumed per charge. The oil is blown into
the furnace with a compressed air atom
lzer After Withdrawing the condenser. |
whlch runs on travelling support the |
argentiferous lead Is poured directly from
the tilted retort into an English cupel |
furnace. Seven such furnaces (magnesla- !
lined. with movable tesD are In use of |
which each works up to as TO FIVE tons |
of retort metal In twenty-four hours The |
furnaces are watcr-jackctted The blast |
Is introduced by the aid OF jet of steam |
Ihree tons of coal are used per twenty |
four hours.
Parting Of Gold and Silver,
The dore bars are cast into anodes for
clcctrolytic parting by the Moebms pro
cess The plant consists OF ia cells I'm |
twenty-four divisions The mean com
position OF the elcctrolytIc bath is said
TO be as follows Ten per cent free nitric
acid. seventeen grams silver, and thirty
hNe TO forty grams copper per liter The |
current Is furnished by a sixtytwo kilo-
watt dynamo. One coll consumes 2GO J
nmperes at LIS volts. One kllowatt gives
g yield of 1000 ounces fine silver in
twenty-four hours. The daily production
OF silver is almost 1000 ounces. and is
exceeded at no other works. About So
0C0,0O worth OF metal is always on hand |
in the different departments
He Just Had to Go.
George" said his mother-in-law. II