O CO r-t £-• M I e-< S o o \ ^ \ a i u ! B I M WALTER RENTON INGALLS ij M to U M s SB- NIW YOfcC AMD LOMDOK The Engineering and Mining Journal CLi^i^r £.-<:. "^ *^^^ ^ JOC li,^uK>-i*-^ -V /«,*- • - i ?•. J.".' .: * ' •-;i'!..iif'i<a3i»a; United Zinc 257 a o o |ii.-.l(iltY OK Illl-: ZINC INDUSTUV. CO '.' .•" !MOf iliiin "Iiu- li.ilf its iarn^cr ma.xiiiium. Tiio lowest point was .u 'I•••; II 1- :'.). will 11 spL'ltur was qiiotud al niuc mark.- {^M'J) at Brcslau. l-l li! l.--;ii.> I'l .Sil>iiii zinc industry 'jL-{;an to develoji on a soiifldcr basis. a Ill- piifi- fnr the ni'-i.il remained low duriug the nc.Ki Jd years, but sales 6-1 I'liiH' Dion- rcgiilai .mti gradually the demand began ajjain to eicced tho Mil niKin, in con-'-iiicnce of whirh prices ruled higli from 1810 to 1843, ;ir-.!'!.;; frpm If. tn .'li marks ($rf0((j'$130). The pol'iucil disturliances of 3 i.-|S 1;-:.V> (Inn pave Ihc industry a setback, which lasli-d until 1852, pricc4 -Min.in;,' from 11 lo i:r.")0 marks (?5-i(a $G7-r)il), but rrom tliat time until 3 I •<"•-. III. re "lis ft (;U-i<ly period of prosperity, which wa- only interrupted hy i'l- t.uaiiciii! crises nf 1858 and iST:"), and the wars of ISGO and 1870-1871. I J 111 .•\llalJ^!iOJ^ of -nine of the inipf^rtant deposits of calamine (especially C lin .'-iharlt". aiul Marie mines) in 1S70 led to a decrcn-e in production, and ...ll 'icrcasc III prici nwing lo the higher cost of ore; Lut by the end ot the a: • 'l-l .i!,. nil Illl' vs'orkf «ore e<)uippod with masting plani- for the treatment of o till- iil.n'le, ttliiili had Iirst bcpin to be exploited in }37o. Tlie supply of w the -uh.hidi' ore miiig large, the value of zinc in tho five years followi-ng 1:<7-> au;r.T,-i'd fue marks, or '.io^o. below that of tl.e 10 years preceding l.-'T I, and in IHM wa^ lower Ihan it had been for :50 years. Tbe avcr- -•".:.' ]ii"i(-e oi' SiliMian z.inc per centner and per ton at r,rcslau by dccadf^ Fi"." 1H30 -.vas as follows: 1830-1340, 13-04 marks ($05-20); 1840-1350, CQ i;. ir mnrk-.-< (.tiiii-M.i); ISSO-ISGO, 18-42 marks /-fOi'-lO) ; 1300-1870, W--2 mnrlii ($91-1)0); 1870-1880, 20-15 marks ($100-75).' The history nf . pell or ni\ce iS-tn is summarized ia Chapter IV. •a: rMTED .^>TA.n s. —Zinc was first made in the United States about 1838, •if llie iJovi rnnicnl Arsenal in Wa.«hingtoD, frora tlie red zinc ore of New •/i" -cy, .for thc brai^ designs of the standard weights and measures ordered hy Congress. Th" procoss wa* so expensive, however, as to preclude any i idci nf producing zinc commercially in the same manner. The regular CO niiinnfacture of /;inc was fiist undertaken in 1850 at Newark, N. J., by s f!i. hard ./ones, tbi- ore being ciiarged into Belgian retorts just as it came fi-"ui the iiiiho. The experiment proved a failure owing to excessive brcak- CC iik'' 0." the relort.s 'Iuc to the high tenor of the ore in iron and manganese. o A'-(-r.(ion was tlici directed to recovery of the zinc a? oxide, and a furnace cfinotnictiii of fire brick with a large clay muffle wa.= designed, which with- o e''od the corrwii-n letter than the Belgian retorts. A row of those was ertctir-i in connection with a mii.'lm bag apparatus (invented hv Samuel T. ' Th»«* data roocr'-nln; th* lluctuttloai Orarllnrbaft Cf'TK rnn Glrtcbf-i Erbm. en Jn Ih" priCT or 8llr»liin ilnc ar» Ukeo from iitiMi I)*nkachrirt tur Fpt«r dn ranfila • pamphUi piihlixbrd bf the Bfrr»»rk« JXhrlcra nctteb'-Qn <>r WllhrlmlBeitnkbattc. United Zinc 258 14 ntODfCTlO.S" .UVD PEOrtRTIta OF ZI.VC. Jones) to collect thc fume, and the regular manufacture of ziro oiiJe waa begun. In 1851 Samuel WethcrLU, one of the officers of the .N'ew Jersey Zinc Co., invented the proci-Fs, since known as the Wctherill process, by which the eitraneously heated ni'jffle was done away with. Tb-.' ore mjte<l with anthracite coal was thrown in a layer 3 to 4 in. thick '^•^^xx a hearth composed of perforated cast-iron plates. 1 in. thick; the d<x)r was cloR-d and cold air blown under thc grate, which passing through the charge raised the tempi-rature to such a point that the ore in contact with the carbon was reduced to metallic zinc, vaporized and oxidized, passing off as a white smoke to the collecting apparatu.o, where the product.-^ of combus­ tion strained through the muslin, leaving the oxide inside the bags. This process proved so successful that it was introduced immediati;ly and has remained in use without essential change up to thc present time. A de­ scription of the first works and mines was given in Wliitm y's Metallic Wealth of the Uniteii States, published in 1854. Attempts to produce spelter were not given up, however, and in 1858 experiments with a Silcsian fumace were made at Bethlehem, Tenn., by th« I/2high Zinc Co. They proved unsuccessful, neither the anthracite fuel nor the retort clay being apparently adapted to the purpose. In 1857 Messrs. -•}. Matthiessen and Hcgeler, who had just come to the United States frora the school of mines at Freiberg, Saxony, obtained permission fmm the com­ pany to experiment on their o-wn account at the abandoned i>lani They did it on a small scale, using one muffle placed in a kiln altered for tbe pur­ pose. They demonstrated that anthracite, as well aa New Jcrsry clay, could be used, and made some spelter in this experimental way. but failed to cnme to an agreement with the owners of the property for building works, largely on account of thc financial crisis prevailing at that time. The> then turned their attention to the West, where they studied the zinc deposil s of Wiscon­ sin, and latc in 1858 began the erection of the present work.s at Lasalle. Lasalle was selected as the point where thc Illinois coal fieM approached nearest to the Wisconain zinc mines. The Joplin mines were unknown at that time.' In the meanwhile experiments were still carried on in New Jersey and Pennsylvania by Samuel Wetherill. Joseph Wharton and otlicrs, who in­ vented fumaces of various types, but tho several undertakings failed, and after all the Lehigh Zinc Co. returned to the Belgian fumace and in 1860 erected works at Bethlehem. Penn. .\fter that date works 'vpre built at Newark, Jersey City, and Rorjcn Point. N. J., and at Frirdensville. pcnn. > The Snt tine worki ID th< WMI trr uid to have bom boat ID ibe -:>(<•'. lo Wlicnosln. bj Gnrgi, an old Sllnlao smelter: bis uodertaklnt wan iioniir. »vifal. United Zinc 259 a o u CO M'.^i-'iRY OF run zi.vc IKDUSTRY. S3 li, \Ii;.^ouii -line M It nut made until lbC7, when small works were erected I'-:.•::!. in Wasliiiii.'tnii (.'ounty. The Carondelet uorks were built in -li: Thcsi ttoilv.. were supplied with calamine mined in Southeastern ;is--.iri. Tiie minis of the Joplin district became productive in 1873, ll ... ii"s being Bliii)|iid first to thc Illinois Zinc Co. al Peru, 111. A little ii.T -il..!' wnrks wi'r.: built at Weir and Pittsburg, Kan., Robert Lanyon, lm li'n! b(H>ii engag- d jireviously irt zinc smelting at Lasall", being one of II [iiiiiict.-re in Kaii.sa.s. s Ti'. 7.1'ic industry iu the United States has been characterized by rapid •,'.1 li|iiii«>nl ill rcS|H'.;t lo production. Tlie technical and economical derel- l.iii:.'.it iios li(«n HICW on the other hand, and up to a few years ago the o lilil- '.y|)c of distillaiion furnace was in use as at the time of the inception o '. U.. industry in I his country. The Wetherill process for thc manufacture f 7,1 ,-1.- nxidc ilirectl} from ores is the most important contribution that haa i.i-n made by American engineers to the metallurgy of zinc. Apart from n.u Mic iiioKt distinctive feature in .American practice has been the SUCCCSB- w iil .'iiplication of n^.-chiinical roasting fumaces to tho desulphurization of li-iiil'v About If^'j'.i Uie discovery of natural gaa at lola, Kan., and the •valI m of -'.lac si.ii'llcrics at that point began a change in the American inc industry, whidi has become a radical one. In New Jersey also the ui;c< <:fii( di-velopin< nt of the Wctherill process for the magnetic separation w f fiinklmitn and willemitc has been of great importance. CQ CO M M O United Zinc 260 ?; IL I PRESENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. The largest zinc-producing countries arc Germany, Belgium and the United States, which in IS'-iO ranked in importance in the ord -r named, each producing upward of 100,000 metric tons of spelter. In Germany and the United States there are in each cose two quite distinct zinc-producing districts; in Germany, thc eastern, or Upper Silesia, and thc western, or Rhcinland and Westphalia; in the United States, the eastern and southem, or New Jersey and Virginia, and the western, or Kansas and Minouri, in­ chiding the works of Illinois and Indiana, which derive their ore-* from the same source.