458 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



The charging of the melting kettle with virgin lead is accomplished 

 by means of a specially designed lead-handling grapple (Fig. 26) which 

 has a capacity for 100 billets of the standard size or a total weight of 

 about 8500 lbs. Five to six of these charges or about 40,000 to 50,000 

 lbs. constitutes one melting cycle. The corresponding amount of 



Fig. 26 — Charging of lead-melting kettle. 



antimony is loaded into a special cradle which moves in a separate 

 chamber and is lowered below the surface of the lead, where the 

 antimony is dissolved by the washing action of the stream of lead 

 from the return line of the pump (Fig. 27). 



The supply kettle is charged with the desired amount of molten lead 

 of the correct composition and temperature from the melting kettle by 

 means of the pump on the transfer line. Each kettle has one recording 



