Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-02-25
U. S. BAG HOUSE.
Workings of Plant at Bingham juno
ton Explained.

The bag house in service at the Unit
ed States lead smelter is not materially
different from the one being operated
at the Murray plant of the American
Smelling, Refining &c Mining company.
The operation is the same expect that
through the Introduction of zinc oxide
into the fumes as a neutralizing agent
1t is possible to introduce into the bag
house, without injury to the bags, for
filtration the gasses from both the
roasters and lead stacks.
The object of the bag house is to FL
ter the gasses from the furnaces through
fabric, so as to catch the solid matter,
or ore hust, which is the damaging ele
ment and thus the gases are dis
charged into the atmosphere so that
they do not cause damage to crops or
animals
The gasses coming from the furnaces
are received by large steel fan, driv-
en- by $50 horse power motor, and
this fan imparts to the gasses the pres
sure necessary to force same through
the filtering cloth. After leaving the
fan. the gases pass through a long bee
hive shaped fiue, on the side of which
are 10 steel pipes. about three and a
half feet in diameter, leading to the
bag house cellars. Each pipe contains
a valve so that the flow of gas into
any cellar may be regulated of cut off
entirely.
The playhouse itself consists of sub
stantial building, with steel frame and
brick walls. About l6 feet above the
floor level, a steel floor extends across
the whole building. This is perforated
with holes IS inches in ditmeter, which
are placed as closely together as pos
sible. A steel nipple extends up
through each hole. The bags are lS
inches in diameter and so feet long.
The end of the bag is drawn over the
nipple. and clamp is then put on to
hold 1t in place. The top of the bag
is fastened to the roof structure by a
rope. Altogether. there are 2,076 bags,
and the total filtering surface of all
these bags abnunts to 100000 square
feet or 7.3 acres.
When the gas enters the bag house
from the beehive flue through the sreei
pipes, Ii finds no path for exit except
upwards through the bags AS the
gas passes through the bags, which are
made of muslin, all the solid particles
are caught by the meshes of the cloth.
and after a while there Is quite a coat
ing of dust on the inside of the bag.
Then the gas is cut off from one divi-
sion and the bags are shaken, so that
this dust falls down onto the floor of
the playhouse. 1t here accumulates
until 1t is two or three feet thick, and
is then taken out in tram cars
The filtered gases, after passing
through the bags, find steel flue at
the top of the playhouse, through which
they pass down to the base of the stack,
and then pass up the main lead plant
stack, and are discharged into the at
mosphere at a height of 275 feet above
the ground. So perfect Is the filtra-
ton of solid matter, that many people
have thought the smelter shut down
recently. because they saw no smoke
coming from the stack.
The playhouse was completed about
June 1, at a cost OF 100000. and has
been IN constant and successful opera
ton ever since. Occasionally, a bag
fails. and has TO be replaced. but the
number of failures is very small, as is
indicated by the fact that up until
the end of November. there We're re-
placed only % bags. out of a total of
2,076 in service.