I can't speak of what was done in the past but I know a few years ago when I
was working on the start-up of HZL's lead-zinc blast furnace (Chanderiya,
India) the army were utilised on at least one occasion during a furnace shut
down to clear accretions of melted charge, dross and slag etc. from the
sides of the furnace walls. No "cannons" as such were used just electric
detonators and a small amount of plastic explosives. I can see why cannon
type devices firing a suitable type of charge couldn't have been used to
dislodge very heavy accretions from the roofs and walls of a horizontal flue
condensers. However, I was under the impression that this job had been done
manually, at least in the North Pennine smelt mills, by workers sent into
the flues with brushes and chisels etc.
Regards
Mark Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Cuckson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 2:34 PM
Subject: CANNONS AND CONDENSERS
> A diarist in the 1830s was told by Pontesbury smelt workers that they set
> off a cannon to release condensate from the walls of condensers and flues.
> Was this common practice and are there other records of this - or were
they
> pulling his leg?
>
> Regards,
>
> Andy Cuckson
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