Show A NEW DEPARTURE IN SMELTING successful smelter in arizona using crude oil for fuel jerome news A blast furnace using california crude ol oil I 1 for fuel and dispensing dispense altogether with coke is now in successful operation on a commercial scale at chloride arizona where since monday night last it has been continuously fed with copper ore and as continuously has discharged the smelted smelter metal at the lowest vent this invention which marks the so luton of a problem perhaps the most important industrially in the southwest is by a los angeles man who owns the patents and will manufacture oil burning blast furnaces in this city the blast furnaces as heretofore used for smelting smelling sm elting iron and copper ores has been developed in regions where coke and coal is the plentiful and natural fuel it has been entirely satisfactory until the enormous new copper industry of the southwest made necessary the transportation of coke in immense quantities and for long distances to a region where crude 0 oil 1 l is the natural fuel besides being the cheapest in the world the need for an oil burning blast furnace became at once apparent and to the solving of this problem the attention of engineers has been earnestly turned for several years briefly an ordinary blast furnace is a stack into which coke ore and fluxing flexing materials are fed from near the top through h this charge from the bottom is forced a constant blast of air which by supplying oxygen plentifully causes rapid combustion and intense heat the coke burns to ash and the molten ore gathers in the crucible at the bottom whence it is drawn off nonmetallic substances are discarded as slag and the liquid metal is cast into pigs this process is constant and barring accidents should go on for months in the same furnace without interruption all stacks have heretofore been vertical for no particular reason save that they have always been so tried with oil fuel in place of coke they have invariably failed because the charge lacking the strong support of intermixed ter mixed coke cohe when heated to the fusing point drops into the crucible and freezes as it is called ruining the furnace there have been many efforts made to overcome this mechanical difficulty and several have succeeded on a laboratory scale but have always failed on a commercial scale the invention whereby oil fuel may be used for the purpose is simple not to be too technical the stack is inclined at such an angle that while it may be fed and kept full from the top by gravity the ore partially supported by the lower ned side of the furnace does not run though as it fuses it freely flows down the incline to the crucible whence it is drawn off in the usual manner the heaviest obtainable bakers field oil is used and is introduced to the charie charge through burners of special design the blast is produced as in ordinary vertical furnaces combustion is found to be very complete and the heat is as intense as that generated by the best coke the furnace has now been in constant operation without a hitch of any sort for six days and is treating fifty tons of ore per twenty four hours with an average oil consumption of thirteen barrels which means a saving of 50 per cent in fuel cost and 15 per cent in labor as compared to reduction of the same ore with coke tir this s furnace which promises pra to effect a most important economy in the production of copper in the southwest to greatly extend the market for california crude oil ani possibly poi sibly to bring brin about almost revolutionary changes in even a more important direction is the result of five years of study and experiment during which aa a many partially successful furnaces have been built and discarded this sixth of the seris series was built at the fulton engine works in this city after designs by meirs greenleaf and Riv erool mechanical engineers engine erz also of los angeles and who propose to manufacture it here for general introduction the capacity of the next furnace will be greatly enlarged but by widening rather than thickening the charge it is beloved by the inventor that capacities of tons a day may be reached without altering the bulk of ore to be fused from each burner the instant need for an oil burning blast furnace is for the smelting smelling sm elting of copper ores coke is not only expensive but the supply is always a source of anxiety and shutdowns have occurred because of scarcity from various causes in the great copper regions ot of arizona and mexico oil is the plentiful cheap easily handled fuel it is said that its use for smelting smelling sm elting in blast furnaces would effect an economy sufficient to cause very material increase in net earnings and to render profitable copper ores that are now considered of too low grade |