Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/855

 ZINC 825 bonic oxide ; and so the process continues, re- peating itself until the zinc oxide has heen com- pletely reduced. Carbonate and silicate ores, containing 47 per cent, of zinc, yield actually from 34 to 35 per cent. ; blende of the same richness yields 33 to 34 per cent., its smaller yield being due to the proportion of sulphur left in it, even after careful roasting. The spelter works deliver about 65 cwt. daily to the rolling, mill, where it is remelted in a reverbe- ratory and run into shallow moulds. Eolled down to the desired thickness, and annealed and trimmed, the sheets are packed in casks, containing 1,200 Ibs. each. The same com- pany manufactures zinc white. Its product since 1863 has been 47,191,829 Ibs. of oxide and 34,983,717 Ibs. of spelter; in 1875 it was 1,988,600 Ibs. of oxide and 3,370,641 Ibs. of spelter. The New Jersey zinc company, hav- ing mines near Franklin, N. J., both of cala- mine and of red zinc ore, manufactures at its works in Newark oxide, spelter, and (from the residues of the zinc manufacture) franklin- ite iron and spiegeleisen. (See FEANKLINITE.) The product of oxide and spelter by this com- pany has been in 24 years, from January, 1852, to the end of 1875, 61,480 tons (of 2,000 Ibs.) of oxide, and in 12 years, from May 17, 1864, to the end of 1875, 5,980 tons of spelter. The mines of this company are the most ex- tensive and valuable zinc mines in the coun- try, presenting a vein of great size and length, filled with massive ore (silicates, red oxide, and franklinite). The Passaic zinc company (mines at Ogdensburg, N. J., works at Com- munipaw, near Jersey City) began operations in 1855. The company works two veins, re- spectively 40 and 20 ft. wide, by open pits and cuts (present maximum depth, 180 ft.), extract- ing 5,000 or 6,000 tons of silicate and oxide per annum. The (Belgian) spelter furnaces are in two stacks of four each, back to back, 70 retorts in each furnace. There are also about 50 furnaces for making zinc white ; and a rolling mill for sheet zinc was finished in 1876. The total product of oxide since 1855 has been between 30,000 and 35,000 tons, of which two thirds was produced within the last ten years. The spelter manufacture was be- gun in October, 1874, and about 900 tons had been produced down to the end of 1875. _ The best spelter of this company is exceedingly pure. The ores yield 36 per cent., which is said to be about 85 per cent, of the total quantity of zinc contained in them. The Ber- gen Port zinc company, at Bergen Port, N. J., manufactures spelter and oxide, employing for the former the Lehigh ore, from a mine ad- joining that of the Lehigh zinc company at Friedensville, Pa. The product in 1875 was 500 tons of spelter and 1,000 tons of oxide. An important centre of zinc production in the United States is La Salle, 111., where several establishments treat the ores (both blende and calamine) of the Mississippi valley, which are brought to this point on account of the avail- ability of cheap coal. The most important works are those of the Matthiessen and He- geler zinc company, which were first estab- lished in 1857, the earliest west of the Alle- ghanies, except an unsuccessful furnace at Min- eral Point, Wis. This company manufactures spelter and sheet zinc, in gas furnaces built after a special design of the proprietors, and strictly neither Silesian nor Belgian in prin- ciple. The product in 1874 was 8,108,062 Ibs. of spelter; in 1875, 7,845,992 Ibs. of spelter (7,412,132 Ibs. of sheet zinc, principally made from the spelter produced at the works). In 1867 the product was a little over 2,000,000 Ibs. of spelter (sheet zinc, about 2,000 Ibs.). It has steadily increased since. The La Salle (formerly the Mineral Point) zinc company has six Belgian furnaces, containing 82 to 96 retorts each, and a rolling mill started in Octo- ber, 1875. The works of Robert Lanyon and co., at La Salle, comprise four Belgian fur- naces; those of the Illinois zinc company, at Peru, near La Salle, have the same capacity. The ores employed by all these works are chiefly carbonate and blende, associated with lead ore (principally galena), iron pyrites, and iron oxides, from S. W. "Wisconsin. Blende and carbonate, and, by the Illinois company in particular, hydrous silicate, are also brought from Missouri. The Chicago zinc and mining company, at Cherokee, Kansas, has four Bel- gian furnaces, of 102 retorts each. The mines are in Newton co., Missouri, and yield blende containing 50 to 60 per cent., and silicate con- taining 30 to 40 per cent, of zinc. The works began running about the beginning of 18Y4, and have produced annually about 2,000,000 Ibs. of spelter. The Martindale, Missouri, and Carondelet companies, at St. Louis, complete the list of the producing works of the United States. There are some establishments which buy spelter for the manufacture of sheet zinc. None of the western works manufacture zinc white, this being produced from the purer ores of the east. The manufacture of metallic zinc in the United States is shown by the following table, compiled by Messrs. Behr and Steiner of New York from the returns of the various works. The figures given include the amount of metal rolled into sheets. PRODUCT OF METALLIC ZINC IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1875, IN TONS OF 2,240 LBS. WORKS. Locality. Product. New Jersey zinc co Newark, N. J Commnnipaw. N. J. Bergen Port, N. J. Bethlehem, Pa Near Lancaster, Pa. La Salle, 111 625 700 812 1,505 54 8,500 1,829 831 1,850 1,820 1,285 P50 1,056 Lehigh zinc co Matthiessen and Hegeler zinc co. La Salle zinc co La Salle, 111 La Salle, III Kobert L, y Peru, 111 St. Louis, Mo St. Louis, Mo St. Louis, Mo Cherokee, Kansas. . Chicago zinc and mining co Total 14,817