antimony - Sciencemadness.org

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THE METALLURGY OF ANTIMONY.
is introduced into a blast furnace or a cupola with 10 per cent, of
coal. If the mineral is an oxide, then 25 per cent, of coal is required.
In immediate connection with the furnace or cupola is a chamber
for the condensation of the volatile oxide thus produced, and beyond
it a reservoir containing water for the condensation of the last trace
of the volatile trioxide. The practical working of this process may
thus be summarised:—200 lbs. of coal are burned in the furnace or
cupola; on it is put one ton of sulphide ore or 800 lbs. of oxide ore;
FIG. 25.—Scale=^.
A, Profile of the muffle. C, A section on the front
B*, A section on the back. D, The cover, with an air-hole.
air is then drawn in by means of a ventilator; the oxygen of the air
thus introduced combines in part with the antimony, forming the
volatile oxide, and in part with the sulphur, forming sulphurous acid.
The process of Hering(1883) was analogous to that of Herrenschmidt,
the principal difference being that the roasting was effected in a
reverberatory furnace.
In 1883 Helmhacker first mentioned the use of cloth or sack for
the condensation of the fine volatile oxide, in place of water, which is
so destructive to the metallic lining of the reservoir.