Show binte Sint wintering sintering ring ering plant of the tintic gintic smelter FRED G KELLEY the smelting smelling sm elting of fine copper ores and concentrates cen in the furnace is a notoriously no expensive as well as troublesome operation and the efforts of our best metallurgists have in recent years been directed to the problem of so preparing these fine sulphides sulp hides that they may be smelted smelter in the more economical blast furnace in a recently completed smelting smelling sm elting plant where both types of furnaces of equal capacities were installed the total cost of the blast furnace plant was one fourth the total cost of the plant including its attendant roasters asters ro while the cost of smelting smelling sm elting in the blast furnaces was only 60 per cent of the cost in the re tories at the same time the flags are cleaner the furnace operations are simpler and more under the control of the metallurgist and the maintenance cost is much less in lead smelting smelling sm elting plants where reverie ra tories are not operated roasting furnaces and bri mills are used for preparing the fine ores for the blast furnace but the results are at best unsatisfactory and with the advent of large quantities of galena pyrite concentrates the operation of blast furnaces presented many serious problems which necessitated the increasing of smelling smelting sm elting rates upon some mine products to an almost prohibitive figure the so called sintering wintering sint ering process like the process of roasting has been known and practiced for many decades but was in recent years brought into prominence by its adaptations in the carmi cormichael chael 13 bradford rad ford and huntington heberlein processes bothof which involve the use of certain fluxes with a view of improving and facilitating the process when applied to certain ores these fluxes however were soon found to be not only entirely unnecessary but in most cases positively detrimental for the production of a suitable produce for the blast furnace and their use has been discontinued in nearly all of the western smelling smelting sm elting plants the original sintering wintering sint ering roast is now exclusively applied with perhaps the use of improved machinery and expert manipulation for the benefit of some who have followed the development of this process it may be well to state that any ore or mixture of ores not coarser than 34 inch mesh and containing not less than 15 per cent of sulphur can be converted in a few hours to a coherent porous mass containing less than G per cent sulphur and eminently suited for the blast furnace in fact the capacity of the blast furnace is increased to nearly the same extent that this sintered material is added or in other mining en engineer ineer ani and words this material in quantities s not exceeding one third of the total furnace charge involves no extra costs for smelt I 1 ing n this is extremely important and for certain ores it means that not only can the first cost of a smelting smelling sm elting plant be reduced by 3 33 per cent but the actual cost of smelting smelling sm elting each ton of ore can be reduced by the same amount however the sintering wintering sint ering plants of the th e salt lake smelters shelters sm elters having been adapted from the special processes have failed to realize these conditions because of the heavy nature of the apparatus involved and the large number of hand lings that the material received the average cost of a pot process plant is per ton of daily capacity while its operating cost exceeds per ton thus largely nullifying the many advantages of the treatment and limiting the use of the process to only the th e very large plants and it was with the idea of eliminating nearly all of the expensive operations of handling and crushing of material that I 1 designed this sintering wintering sint ering plant for the tintic gintic smelt ing company here the heavy travelling tra velling cranes the cooling floor the large crushers the heavy pots with their multifarious blast and flue connections are entirely omitted while the only handling required is the drawing of the finished product from the bins into the blast furnace charge cars in general as als may be seen in the accompanying cut the apparatus consists of a rectangular converter mounted upon two rockers or wheels above a bin for receiving the product covering the converter is a hood opening into a flue which passes the fumes to a stack the converter tray is constructed of steel plate and is seven feet long three and one half feet wide twenty inches deep and contains about 2200 pounds of charge A cast iron perforated grate divides the tray horizontally into the compartments the lower being the blast box and the upper being the crucible this latter is provided with steel liner plates which completely protect the tray from chemical action and at the same time hold the grate in position when the tray is dumping the grate is cast ca st with ribs three inches in height which serve to divide the sintered mass into blocks of suitable size breaking along these lines when it drops upon the grid below the wind box has two si xin tu yeres which connect auto ily with nipples from the main blast pipe these nipples are provided with slide valves which are operated simultaneously by a lever the crucible is mounted upon two circular rockers so placed that the line of their centers is mid midway way between the cen ter fer of gravity of the whole crucible when it is empty and its center of gravity when filled with ore thus making its dumping and returning action practically automatic only a slight push being required to start the motion covering the converter is a stationary hood provided with a charging door a working door and two shuttered openings into the steel fume flue these are coun ter balanced are easily operated and fit with accuracy to prevent any undesirable leakage of air into the flue above the steel flue is the track carrying the charge car in this position the charging is accomplished with out interference feren e to the operator of the converter who ho stands upon the platform over the bin ordinary ore cars are used for charging ed for carrying a small amount of hot sul aphides from the hand roasting furnaces about pounds of these thase sulphides sulp hides being used to start the action in the converter the ore mixture is taken from the bedding bins to the converters and the finished product is removed by the ordinary steel ore car crammed by one man the simplicity of construction is obvious and a twenty five ton plant can be erected at a cost of while the only power required is that for the blower which is less than seven horse power the method of operation is very simple and involves no strenuous or agreeable diss labor such as is inseparable from the pot or box plants A hot primer charge consisting of pounds of ignited sulphides sulp hides is drawn from the steel hopper into the car and crammed to the converter where the operation is complete the blast calv aro closed and after a short time for co ing the tray is given a slight push this starts its overturning actio accio which continues until the rockers enga with the stops when the tray is emu emp it automatically rolls back to it its hargil position and is ready for the ithe next operatic p aratt 0 k the sintered mass drops upon the g gi ri and breaks along the indented lines in ii blocks which pass through the grid and into the hopper below from which ii 1 ter it ts is taken to either a large sto storage 1 1 1 or to the blast furnace direct the fines remaining with the mai ma amounting to about 7 per cent of th t charge may be separated by using a griz gri ly placed over the storage bin and return to the mixture beds the only two essential qualities ahr tl 4 7 J E 4 SALT LAKE 1 mimina this receiving bin or hopper is only large enough to hold three charges and is covered with a steel bar grid having openings 12 inches by 18 inches through which the finished produce must pass before entering the car below most of the material however breaks much smaller than this size the air blast is supplied by a small buffalo fan blower which furnishes 2500 cubic feet of air per minute under a pressure of six ounces this amount being required fr for the four converters of this plant the low pressure of the blast required is one of the most desirable features as the older plants require positive blowers which are expensive to install and to operate A primer hopper or bin is also provid it is discharged through the top door upon the grate the attendant with a hoe distributes it somewhat uniformly then partly opens the blast valves in a few minutes the primer is thoroughly ignited and the main charge from the mixture beds in a moist condition is dumped upon it smoothed tamped camped slightly with the hoe the doors are closed the blast valves are opened wide and the sintering wintering sint ering begins the attendant raises the front door at intervals of a half hour for inspection of progress and should any blow holes or dead spots have developed they are corrected by stirring and tamping with a specially shaped bar the mass gradually settles down to about three quarters its original depth and at the end of about three and a half hours the charge mixture must possess are it must contain over 15 per ceni cent suit and the larger part must he be finer tha 34 94 3 9 4 inch mesh pine fine ores concentta con centra flue dust ground matter as well as 01 0 smelter products can be so blended thi tha satisfactory solid sinter is produced the results are equally successful with lena copper pyrite or iron rite supplying the sulphur the use of a small quantity of fine c or coal mixed in the charge greatly 1 litotes the converting and improves product provided that only small qua quatt of lead are present live steam introduced with the blast is also beneficial in many c its action being to heat the blast kee keey charge in a moist condition con diton and ta L t lexical decomposition to hasten the roas oa or fe ig action acetic where the charge carries much wit val 1 alphur act k the so called downdraft process of sin azg iring ring which i is receiving so much attention et 1 the present time can be used with this harl by simply applying an exhauster erg stead istead of a blower to the blast pipe and ae e uniting biting from a portable grate using a long aming I 1 coal this method while possess ng ig many desirable features has the icher ich nt fault of rapidly destroying the grates ige e nd it will require much experimental york ork before satisfactory re results will be ar it obtained ata ned the sintering wintering sint ering plant in process of erection ion at tintic gintic smelter will have at present t our converter trays and a capacity of twenty wenty five tons per day but provision is eing made for trebling this plant when 1 1 necessary it will replace a large toasting roasting furnace and a bri mill in he design of the plant and will result in caving several thousand dollars in the first post besides giving a more satisfactory product for the blast furnace ln in fact the low installation and operation ion costs of this plant not only make the valuable sintering wintering sint ering process available for the smaller smelters shelters sm elters but mines and mills may so convert their product at their own plants that the smelting smelling sm elting 1 costs will be reduced by several dollars per ton and this with an expenditure pend iture of less than 40 cents per ton at ache he same time as the weight is reduced and he material is solidified fled the transportation charges chares char es and losses will be greatly lessened also the removal of the izing plants from our valley smelters shelters sm elters would forever their difficulties with the farmers and by eliminating all damage claims would eventually result in more equitable smelting smelling sm elting charges upon all alases of ore the development of the sintering wintering sint ering process cess in probably the most momentous factor of modern metallurgy and while it is not yet entirely understood its is being constantly extended and it promises to almost revolutionize the art of smelting smelling sm elting the accompanying cut shows the general form of this apparatus all novel fea f captures are protected by patents and applications feat ions for patents |