Hi Tom,
There's an account of The Burning House, with illustrations, in:
Henderson, J 1858 'Methods of Tin and Copper Dressing in Cornwall' Proc Inst Civil Engineers, Vol 17, 195-220. The one illustrated is of very similar layout to those at Atlas and Little Gem.
Lynne Mayers produced a booklet version of this paper a couple of years ago; she may still have copies.
A little earlier, Henwood (1832) provided the following description of the operation of roasting in a similar structure, also described.
'The furnace being raised to a dull red heat, about seven cwt of ore is put into it, through a hole in the top: if it were roughly stirred at once, the rapid evaporation of the moisture, contained in it, would probably dissipate a portion of the ore: it is therefore, allowed to remain unmoved for about an hour, in order to [allow?] the gentle evaporation of the water: it is then spread over the furnace for about four feet in length, nearest the fire; and, by means of an iron rake, it is turned every half-hour or oftener, that the whole may be equally exposed to the action of the fire. This continues until it ceases to give out whitish fumes; it is then turned, to exhibit bright sparkles; it is then withdrawn through a hole now uncovered in the bottom of the furnace, and allowed to cool'. For full description see Henwood, W J 1832 Roy Geol. Soc Cornwall, Vol 4, 153.
Perhaps the best illustration is in: Scoffern, J 1857 The Useful Metals and Their Alloys (London)Which is available on the internet but is a huge unmanageable 35mb PDF file.
I have copies of all of these if you need them in a hurry.
All the best
Phil Newman
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history on behalf of Tom Greeves
Sent: Sat 24/05/2008 20:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Reverberatory calciner
Does anyone know of a mid- to late 19th century account of the operation of a brick built REVERBERATORY CALCINER for roasting tin or other ores? This is something different from a BRUNTON calciner.
Dr Tom Greeves, MA PhD
39 Bannawell Street, Tavistock
Devon PL19 0DN
(tel: 01822 617004)
www.tomgreeves.org
_________________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the
views of English Heritage unless specifically stated. If you have received it in error, please delete it
from your system and notify the sender immediately. Do not use, copy or disclose the information in
any way nor act in reliance on it. Any information sent to English Heritage may become publicly available.
|