The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

BLAST-FURNACE HOISTS 349 The hoist cable runs over guide pulleys placed at the top of the furnace, and the cable is manipulated by an electrically driven winch in the cabin below. The descent of the truck is utilised to evenly distribute the feed from the hopper to the furnace, by causing the former to revolve. To this end the apparatus is provided with a very ingenious mechanism which only comes into operation as the car descends. After every charge deposited into the hopper the latter is turned round a few degrees, so as to give the delivery of the next load in a different direction, and thus in turn the loads are distributed in all directions in the furnace. This faculty of evenly distributing and thus mixing the material without the use of manual labour is usually deemed one of the great ad vantages of such furnace ele vators, because the even distribution of material over the whole surface of the furnace is a point of great importance. Furnace Hoist of J. Pohlig.—Figs. 488 and 489 illustrate the blast-furnace elevator at the Iron and Steel Works, Hoesch, Dortmund. This installation was erected by J. Pohlig, of Cologne, and has been successfully at work since 1901. This furnace hoist is erected at an incline of 53° to the horizontal. The skip has a capacity of about 4 cub. yds., therefore holding about tons of coke, or about tons of iron ore, and is oper- ated in a similar manner to that already described. The speed of travel is at the rate of lo t. pel mmu e Portion of Furnace Hoist of the Brown Hoisting when ascending, and at the Machinery Co., showing Skip in a Discharging Position, rate of 250 ft. per minute when descending, so that sixteen to twenty journeys aie houily accomplished. The illustration shows the driving gear in a raised position. This consists of an 85 H.P. electro-motor, which is coupled to a winding gear. There is, however, a second motor standing by which, can also be coupled to ths winding gcai in case of a breakdown. Behind the motor-house is a receptacle for the coke, which is either conveyed to it by means of narrow gauge trucks, or is brought by tipping trucks on the low level. Furnace Hoist at Palmer’s Shipbuilding Co.—One example of the American elevator applied to British furnaces is that illustrated in Figs. 490 and 491, which