US41250A - Improvement in burning, roasting,, and smelting ores - Google Patents

Description

WHELPLEY & STORER. I Bur'n ing, Roasting, and Smelting Ores.

- Patented Jan. '12, 1864.

1712: enion ytww, a% M a" No. 41,250. I

21 71 e; e s

JAMES n. WHELPLEY AND JACOB J. sronnn, on nosroiu, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURNiNG, ROASTING, AND SMELTING ORES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4],250, dated January 12, 1864.

To (ti/Z whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that we, J AMns D. WnnLrLnr and J neon J. Sronnn,ot' Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Roasting, Burning, and Smelting Ores, &c.; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description'of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

The drawing represents a longitudinal vertical section through the furnace and its appendages.

The nature of our improvement consists in dropping finely-pulverized and highly-heated ores into awater bath or upon a current of water on the hearth, so as to obtain a joint action of heat and moisture at the same instant, for

the purpose of more thoroughly desulphurizing or otherwise chemically treating the ores. To effect this the material, after being finely pulverized in a mill, is sifted or-.driven into the head of a perpindicular flue of a furnace, which is made expanding as it descends, as otherwise the object of the process would be defeated by the clinging of the substance to the sides of the flue; and the nature of the particular devices by which we carry out the general principle of our invention consists, first in the employment of a long, perpendicular, expanding line, so that the comminuted materials to be burned orroasted, introduced over the center of the same, will neither strike against nor adhere to the sides thereof so as to clog; second, in the employment of a horizontal or nearly horizontal flue, I), in combination with said perpendicular flue, as and for the purpose hereinafter described; third, in the combination of two or more opposite furnaces, I I, with said perpendicular expanding flue, so that the flames or blasts from said furnaces meeting at or near the center of the flue will greatly intensify the heat and prevent (what would happen with a single furnace) the impingement of the flame against the opposite side of the flue; fourth, in the employment of auxiliary chimneys, K K, to be opened or shut off over the furnacefires during the process of kindling and drawing, fifth, in the employment of side openings, 1, in the perpendicular flue, at graduated distances, with brick or iron removable stoppers, forthe purpose of admitting atmospheric air and allowing the operations going on in the flue to be inspected at different points; sixth, in pouring the comminuted materials to be burned or roasted into the side hopper or air-feed hole of a Ihn-blower, aided by the second blower, asdescribed, for induction into the furnace, whereby the said materials are more evenly fed and better distributed through the blast than they would be if introduced in any other manner, the two blowers together operating by force and exhaustion combined, a more even distribution of the materials in the flame of the perpendicular and horizontal fines; seventh, in the projection of a p erpendicular blast from a fanblower'down through the top of the furnace, and a long, perpendicular, expanding flue, carrying the material to be burned or roasted, in combination with the atmospheric oxygen which is to burn it; eighth, in the combination of two blowers, one at the top, as described, and the other below in the horizontal flue, to produce a balanced blast--i- 0., to draw the air through the horizontal flue and force it out of the exit H as fast as it is forced into the perpendicular flue from above, so that the of incandescence; tenth, in the employment of a chamber, G, at the farther end of the horizontal flue, to be filled with spray by means of a revolving wheel or arm, supplied with wa' ter from a pipe from above or from the side, the design of said spray-chamber being to arrest the suspended. or floating particles that would otherwise be expelled from the chimney H and lost; eleventh, in connecting the pool of water in the spray-chamber by a circuit or canal with the water external to the furnace for the purpose of making a continual circulation, whereby the same water may be used over and over again, becoming more and more charged with the soluble salts and other extending into the wheel. 7 arms of the fan-wheel. also strike the surface products of combustion; and, twelfth, in sup- .porting the perpendicular and horizontal lines on piers and arches in a tank or trough, so

that the surface of the water therein may in effect form an air-tight bottom to said fines, I and at the same time allow the deposits to be 'to describe its construction and operation.

It is obvious that there may be many devices or furnaces for carrying the principle of our invention into practical operation; but that which we consider as practically the best wewill now describe.

- A is the shell of the furnace, of brick or other suitable material.

O is the drop flue or flame-chimney, from twelve to twenty feet deep, formed by the four partitions B B. A cross-section of this chimney is a parallelogram, measuring at the top six feet by one and one-half, and at the bot tom six feet by three.

D is a horizontal continuation of the flamechimney O,supported by the piers Y and arches V, the latter being below the level of the top of the trough or tank Z, so that when said tank is full of water the surface of the water shall form in effect a bottom to the flue D, which arrangement allows the deposit on the bottom to be raked out under the arches V without disturbing the draft or opening the furnace.

F is a partition or three-sided box, extending down from the top of the fine D a little more than half-way toward the bottom of the same, leaving a space between thesides of the flue for the draft to pass through the holes 9 in the sides of said box.

E is a fan-wheel, placed as shown in the drawings, the axle passing through the holes g in the sides of the box F, the design of the wheel being to increase the draft and draw into the flame-chimney 0 through the ports t' and u and passages r a s an additional supply of air.

Attached to the shaft of the fan-wheel E, outside of the spray-chamber or air-box of the wheel, are arms or dashers b, in the passageway leading from the chamber to the blower, which arms, when revolving, strike the'water,

- whereby the passages are kept cool with spray and the flame of the furnace prevented from The ends of the of the water and fill the chamber G with spray by which all the floating dust and particles of metal are wet down, condensed, and deposited on the bottom of the chamber G and saved, instead of being carried off through the chimney H and lost. To further increase the quantity of spray in the spray-chamber, water may be let in through pipes or openings at any convenient point, as through the stop-cock and pipe on.

I I are the fire-boxes, provided with grates P I, on which the fuel is placed, the air being drawn or forced in through suitable openings in the ash-pit I.

K and K are chimneys, provided with dampers, which are intended to be closed except when the fire is being kindled on the grates P P and a direct upward draft is desirable.

T is an induction pipe or hopper on the top of the cover X, and situated directly over the center of the flame" chimney O, as shown in the drawings.

M is a fan-blower, mounted on a suitable frame, 0, and connected with the hopper T by means of the pipe J.

N (shown bythe dotted lines) is a hopper opening into the center of the blower M, into which hopper is fed the finely-pulverized substance to be smelted, burned, or roasted, the same being driven, by the current of air generated by the fan, through pipe J into hopper T, and thence into the flame or drop chimney 0, where it comes into immediate contact with the flame and heat from the burning fuel in the fire-boxes I I. The column of air from the blower M down through the chimney C increases by lateral suction the draft through the fuel in the fire-boxes, and this draft is still further increased by the combined action of the blower'E and the auxiliary blower opening into the ash-pits. (Not represented, being in common use in other furnaces.) The blower E is intended to be from five to six times more powerful than the blower M-so powerful as to draw into the chimney (J, to aid combustion, strong currents of air through all the ports and openin s in the sides of the chimney when required. lndeed, in some cases we dispense with the fan-wheel M, and depend for the draft entirely on the fan-wheel E and the auxiliary blowers forcinga-ir into the ash-pits, the material to be acted upon by the flame being sifted into the hopper T.

When it is required to mingle steam with the flame and gases to produce certain results,

it may be admitted from pipes 20 into a chamber, 12, at the top of the chimney and through an opening, 3.

From the above description it is obvious that a large percentage of the material roasted, burned, or smelted will fall upon the hearth of the furnace, or (when water is used) into the wateribath W. The remaining portion of the material will be drawn by the fan E into the spray-chamber G, where it will be wetted down and condensed, and thereby prevented from being lost by passing out through the chimney II.

Having thus described the construction and operation of our improvement, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The heating and immediate quenching in water of finely-pulverized ores, substantially as described.

2. The perpendicular expanding flue 0, substantially as and for the-purposes described.

The horizontal. or nearly horizontal flue D, in combination with the flue C, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combinationof two or more furnaces with a perpendicular expanding flue, substantially as set forth, and for the purpose described.

5. The auxiliary chimneys K K over the furnace-fires, for the relief of the fires during the process of kindling and extinguishing, substantially as described.

6. The side openings in the perpendicular flue at graduated distances, with brick or iron, removable stoppers, substantially as set forth, for the purpose of inspcction'and the admission of atmospheric air.

7. The pouring of the material. to be burned' or roasted into the side hopper or air-feed hole of a fan-blower for induction into the furnace, in combination with the second blower, substantiall y as and for the purpose described.

8. The projection of a perpendicular blast from a fan-blower down through the top of the furnace, and perpendicular expanding flue, carrying the material to be burned or roasted, substantially as described.

9. The combination of two blowers, one at the head or above, and the other below in the horizontal flue, to produce a balanced blast, substantially as described.

10. The use of a-water-bath or a wet hearth, commencing at the bottom of the perpendlcular fiue and extending along the horizontal fine, substantially as and for the purpose described.

11. The use of the spraychamber G and feeding the same'with water by an induction pipe or sluice from the top or side, substantially as and for the purpose described.

12. Connecting the pool of water in the spraychamber by a circuit or canal with the water external to the furnace, for the purpose of making a continual circulation, substantially as described.

13. Supporting the drop chimney C and horizontal flue D on piers and arches in a tank or trough, so that the surface of the water therein may in efi'ect form a bottom to said chimney and fine and allow the deposits to be raked out under said arches without opening the furnace or afi'ectin g the draft, suhstantlally as described.

JAlWIES D. WHELPLEY. JACOB J. STORER.

\Vituesses:

SAML. S'ronnn, N. Anus.

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