88 president's address — section b. 



buggy oc carriage, a jib crane serving to lift them oft" and on the latter. 

 An important departure, the practical value of which can scarcely be 

 overestimated, notwithstanding its near-lying simplicity, was the 

 division of the heietofore undivided metal shell of the vessel, at first 

 into three, subsequently into two parts. These were bolted together, 

 so that top and body could be se]:arated for the relining of each, 

 as required, instead of obliging the liner to crawl into the vessel for the 

 purpose. This departure alone has not only greatly eased this Avork, 

 but also proportionally improved the lasting qualities of the linings, 

 now put in with greater freedom and care. In fact, American progress 

 is built up of a multitude of similar practical ruses, far too numerous to 

 mention. Last, not least, the more recent application of electricity 

 to cranes for lifting and cairpng purposes has again so modified the 

 arrangement of all plant, and so simplified all handling, that very little 

 seems left to improve. The outward configuration of the converter 

 vessels also underwent detail changes, though the general type was 

 not altered before 1893. The original Parrott vessels of 1884 were 

 built entirely of wrought iron. In 1889 cast-iron bodies were tried, 

 but their unwieldly weight and liability to crack soon put them out 

 of commission, and thereafter steel-plate constructions, with cast-iron 

 mountings, came in and have since remained — -at least for the vertical 

 type. 



On the strength of the undoubted success of the Parrott installation 

 — which was the first in the world to turn out the unprecedented 

 quantity of 14,000,0001bs. of blister copper of extreme purity by the 

 pneumatic method in a single year — the very much larger Anaconda 

 Company, also operating in the Butte district, undertook the experi- 

 meiital investigation of the method, and in 1888 constructed two small 

 stationary vessels, set on trucks, and tilted by hand, of an over-all height 

 of 7ft. and a diameter of 4ft. In 1890 these works introduced the 

 Stalmann type of square vessel, 8ft. high over all by 5ft. square externally, 

 with 10 tuyeres, six of them in straight alignment on the back, the 

 others on the sides. A battery of 12 of these vessels served the Anaconda 

 Works for a period of four years ; but, on the removal of the plant to 

 another locality, and its simultaneous enlargement, a return was made 

 to the older cylindrical shape for purely mechanical reasons, largely 

 suggested bv considerations connected Avith the use of large vessels 

 equivalent to those of steel practice. This departirre gave rise to 

 aspersions against the square vessel which have since been perpetuated 

 by the traditional tendency of authors to rely on each ether in matters 

 oi opinion on which they have no positive information, although, to 

 the enlightened and open-minded practitioner the subject may wear an 

 altogether different face. It is so in the present instance. In the 

 early days of copper-converting, notions verging on superstition were 

 entertained by many in regard to small, really unessential, details, the 

 importance of which has now been long forgotten, and. wholly owing 

 to insufficiently practical accessory features restricted to the outer 

 mechanism, the square type was misjudged. Under this influence 

 others more theoretical! v inclined have tried to reason fundamental 



