FURNACE FOR SEPARATION OF VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF ORES

摘要

A gravity-flow, mercury ore reduction furnace having a hollow, vertical firebrick housing, an ore-feed hopper on its upper end, a vibratory ore-discharge conveyor on its lower end, an elongated heating element extending upwardly through the housing in a central plane and defining a serpentine passage for fire gases supplied to its lower end, and means for withdrawing mercury vapor from the lower portion of the furnace. In one form, the heating element is a continuous tubular coil, and in a modified form, the lower portion of the element is a sealed box structure of high-temperature sheet material having partitions forming vertically spaced galleries for a serpentine flow of gases through the box structure and into a coil forming the upper portion of the element, some of the partitions being made hollow and used for vapor withdrawal.