The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-19
OPERA TI0 N.
OF A NE W
SHELTER
INVENTOR FINK DESCRIBES HIS
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT.
Expected to Revolutionize the smeIt-
ing Business-Ores Can Be Re-
duced at Small Cost.

Edward Fink, who is associated
with Samuel Newhouse, has complet-
ed bis experiments with his new smell
ter and has produced blister copper, or
So per cent copper, In one operation,
at comparatively small cost. He de-
scribes his process, Us follows:
(By Edward FInk.l
During the last two months or more
much has been written about the ex-
perimental smelling plant which was
then being erected near Garfield by
MIR. Newhouse. A great many of the
statements published were far from
accurate. some absolutely ridiculous.
Although often requested to make
statement, l did not feel justified In
doing so at the time. and even now
hesitate about giving any definite In
formation for publication.
The Fink furnace is not a cure-all
for every metallurgical difficulty; nor
can it smelt every ore known to
scientists" as was reported in one
paper The principles underlying the
present day smelling operations are
the same as were employed hundred
years ago, tho improvements being
largely in the different manner of ap
plying those fundamental principles.
The improvements made from time to
time have been made. first, by alter
Ing the construction of furnaces; Sec
ond. by changes In the manipulation
of the charge to be smelted. To read
some OF the statements made by lead
ing metallurgistS only a few years ago,
relating to the smelling processes as
conducted at the time, one can hardly
realize that in the present day smelt-
ing methods and operations arc per
formed which were regarded as abso-
lutely impossible. For example. DIR.
Peters, in the earlier editions of his
most valuable book on copper smelt-
ing, states cmphatically that 1t is Inn
possible to enrich matte to any extent
by putting same through the furnace
two or more times Today this Is sue
cessfully done, and this fact has done
much to make the pyritic smelling pro-
cess a success.
Not many years ago reverberatory
furnace smelling 25 tons per day was
considered large furnace. Today re-
verberatory furnaces are built having
capacity of $50 tons per day, and
blast furnaces are by no means uncom-
mon smelling 500 tons per day.
The epoch-making discovery of
essemer-conyerting pig iron into
steel by forcing compressed air
through a column of molten iron
which, while used in the iron indus
try for many years, did not find appli-
cation In copper smelling until quite
recently The difficulties encountered
were wholly mechanical ones, and,
once these were overcome, the prac-
tice of "bessemerizing" became quite
as common In copper smelling practice
as in the production OF steel.
The furnace which has been erected
near Garfield. as well as the process
of smelling conducted therein. were
designed to meet certain conditions
Problem of Fine Concentrates.
The bugaboo of the blast furnace
operator has been fine ore for the tre-
mendous blast forced In at the toyeres
blows considerable amount of this
product out of the furnace before 1t
can reach far enough down to enter
the zone Of fusion. To over come this
difficulty a great many experiments
have been conducted, and much money
expended in preparing the tine ore or
concentrate for blast furnace smelling.
Most of the tests were along the lines
OF briquetting or sintering the pro-
duct. the idea being to render it SUI
ficiently dense before introducing
same into the furnace to prevent dis
integration. While these experiments
helped in measure, the results up to
the present time leave much to be de-
sired, moreover they entail separ-
ate operation, which is not only eX-
uensive. but wasteful, 1t does not re-
quire a scientific mind TO discover
that a small particle Of matter Will
fuse much more readily than large
mass. handful Of snow II exposed to
heat will melt more rapidly than the
same weight Of Ice. Fine concentrates
are obtained from massive ore
through process Of grinding and sub
sequent washing; such a product is
ideal for rapid smelling because of
its tineness, It becomes evident that
to try and bring 1t back to It's origin
al state OF hardness and size, even
though this could be successfully ac-
compllshed, Is a step backward, pro-
yiding it could be smelted direct. A
blast furnace is certainly not adapt
ed to smelt fine ores or products OF
this description, and If smelted in
reverberatory furnace a preliminary
roasting to remove portion OF its sui
phur is necessary, an operation which
also yields considerable flue dust
Clearly, then, to smelt such pro-
duct cheaply it becomes necessary to
break away from the well established
methods and change the furnace as
well as manipulation OF the charge, so
as to be able to take advantage of the
finenes6 of the ore without danger of
losing too much in fiue dust A second
and most important consideration is
The fuel consumed. Many of the COM
mon minerals contain sulphur. Under
proper conditions this will ignite and
burn, giving off heat, just as coal or
wood will do on burning. In ordinary
blast furnace smelling a good portion
OF the sulphur is volatiliZed and es-
capes from the top of the stack, In
reverberatory smelling much of tho
sulphur Is removed before the ore Is
introduced into the furnace. AS stat
ed above, sulphur Is a fuel. and to OBJ
tain the maximum heat effect there
from its combustion should take place
In the furnace, where the heat Is re-
CURED,
Principle Of Fink Furnace.
In the ordinary blast furnace smelt-