English:

Identifier: leadpoisoningins00hami (find matches)
Title: Lead poisoning in the smelting and refining of lead
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Hamilton, Alice, 1869-1970 Meeker, Royal, b. 1873
Subjects: Lead Lead industry and trade Hazardous occupations Lead Poisoning
Publisher: Washington, Govt. print. off.
Contributing Library: Columbia University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons

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RETORTING AND CUPELLING FURNACES.

In the refining of lead these furnaces are an important link in the sequence of recovering the gold and silver. They are both quite neat in operation, and with proper draft and ventilation should give no offense. The rich amalgam of zinc and lead in chunks is dropped into the retorts in the Fabre du Faur tilting furnace and the condensers sealed on at the neck of the retort. At the close of the distillation, when the zinc has been volatilized, the condenser is removed and the rich lead poured out and wheeled to the cupelling

Text Appearing After Image:

PLATE 13.— FABRE DU FAUR ZINC DISTILLATION FURNACE. The retort is shown with the zinc condenser in place. When this is removed the rich lead or doré runs out. There is no hood to catch the fumes.

furnace, into which it is poured. From the cupels the dore, silver and gold, is recovered, the lead is oxidized to litharge, and the arsenic and antimony are lost in the fume.
The accompanying illustrations (plates 13 and 14) show where the dangers may arise in retort and cupel work. When the condenser is removed from the retorts, there usually is a copious discharge of fume.

In one large refinery in a room with nine retorts one large hood runs the whole length of the room over the doors of these furnaces. The draft inside this large hood is of course insufficient to carry off the fume, and the company is experimenting with individual hoods over two furnaces at the end of the row. These two, however, are connected with the same flue, and it is expected that the workmen will turn on the draft over one when it is tapped and at the same time turn off the other so as to concentrate the exhaust on one. When this room was visited, some Slavic workmen were engaged in tapping one retort and great clouds of white fume were pouring out and spreading through the room. The superintendent ran forward and threw open the draft with one motion of his hand, but the men could not understand his reproof, administered in vigorous English, and they evidently did not see what had been wrong or understand its importance.