P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



281 



looks not only to electricity to furnish light, 

 and, through the medium of present un- 

 utilized natural resources, motive power, but 

 heat as well. The exhaustion of fuel-sup- 

 ply will inevitably drive us to seek and find 

 some other agency to do our work, and 

 this, he thinks there is good reason to be- 

 lieve, will be found in electrical energy. 



A IVcw Smolting-Fnrnace. The utiliza- 

 tion of petroleum for fuel in the various 

 metallurgical operations, in steam generat- 

 ing, and generally where coal is industrially 

 used, has been a favorite project with in- 

 ventors for a dozen years or more. The 

 advantages of such a fuel are very great, 

 and the reward to the successful inventor 

 of an apparatus that would make its use 

 practicable would be correspondingly large. 

 Like gas, a liquid fuel is under perfect con- 

 trol, and is in a form allowing of perfect 

 combustion if properly burned. The fuel 

 is, moreover, very abundant, the production 

 having been for some time past in consider- 

 able excess of the demand. In one district 

 alone something like six thousand barrels 

 are daily running to waste through lack of 

 storage capacity, and one of the largest pro- 

 ducers of oil is now obtaining from the wells 

 about fifteen thousand barrels per day more 

 than can be marketed. The oil companies, 

 as well as inventors who have hoped to 

 make a fortune by a successful furnace, 

 have been unceasing in their efforts to turn 

 this fuel to industrial uses, but so far the 

 devices and they have been many have 

 uniformly failed. A furnace is, however, 

 now being developed which seems to prom- 

 ise, if not a complete solution, at least a 

 partial solution of the problem. The fur- 

 nace consists, in reality, in an immense blow- 

 pipe-flame, which is made to play upon the 

 ore to be smelted, when used for metallur- 

 gical purposes, and to pass through boiler- 

 tubes when used for steam generating. In 

 the metallurgical apparatus there is first a 

 fuel-furnace ia which any ordinary fuel may 

 be used, or oil if preferred. Against the 

 upper portion of the flame from this furnace 

 a blast of air is projected, similar to that 

 from the mouth blowpipe against the flame 

 of a spirit-lamp. Into this blast, at the 

 point where it strikes the fuel-furnace flame, 

 a stream of oil is introduced. The on-goins 



blast and the heat of the flame vaporize the 

 oil, which is then in a condition to be com- 

 pletely consumed. The result of this ar- 

 rangement is the production of a column of 

 flame, some thirty or forty feet long, of high 

 temperature. This flame is projected hori- 

 zontally through an iron cylindrical shell, 

 lined with tire-brick with a facing of graph- 

 ite, into which the ore to be reduced is fed 

 from a hopper at the farther end. The 

 shell is slowly rotated, so that the entering 

 ore, tumbling about, is brought into intimate 

 contact with the flame. It is also slightly 

 inclined, that the material may slowly feed 

 into the flame, and the melted material run 

 down into the crucible at the lower end, 

 where it is tapped and the slag run off in the 

 usual way. The farther end of the revolv- 

 ing cylinder is let into a chamber, built of 

 brick, stone, or clay, which is divided into 

 compartments by walls or sheets of incom- 

 bustible material kept constantly wet by 

 running water. The hot gases, carrying va- 

 pors of the metals and other ingredients of 

 the ore, are here gradually cooled dowTi and 

 condensed, the character of the condensa- 

 tion depending upon the materials present 

 in the ore. The burned gases are with- 

 drawn from the condensing chamber by 

 means of an exhaust-fan, and discharged 

 into the atmosphere. The air and oil are 

 both under perfect control, so that a heat 

 suitable for smelting or for vaporizing can 

 be produced at will. Several furnaces are 

 shortly to be put into operation for the 

 reduction of ores of the precious metals, 

 on which experiments have so far chiefly 

 been made. The inventor, however, ex- 

 pects to be able to use it successfully in 

 making iron and steel, as well as in burn- 

 ing lime. A modified form is also suitable 

 to the burning of pottery and glass-making. 

 In using it for generating steam, the boiler- 

 flue is made large, the flame at no point 

 coming in contact with the metal, thus avoid- 

 ing the burning out of the boiler, the chief 

 difficulty encountered by most of the other 

 devices using oil-fuel for steam - making. 

 The experiments with the furnace upon an 

 industrial scale have been as yet too few 

 and imperfect to thoroughly test its value, 

 but they seem to warrant the opinion that 

 the furnace has capabilities that promise 

 very well for its future usefulness. 



