File:Manhès-David vertical converters at the Anaconda Copper.png

The engravings represented on the following three pages are made from photographs taken at the converter plant of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, where a 45 to 50 per cent, matte is converted into about 99 per cent, metallic copper by means of twelve huge converters running continuously and producing over 225 tons of blister copper in twenty-four hours. Since the erection of the first converter in Butte City, 1884, a new era in the history of copper production can be dated, which together with the increased demand and a great many important and highly interesting improvements of late years have carried this metal to the very front.
Operation : At the Anaconda and other modern converting plants the converters are tilted by means of a pinion and vertical rack attached to the piston-rod of a hydranlic cylinder. This improvement over the old style hand power converter has made it possible to increase the capacity of the converter three or four times. The handling is accomplished by means of two powerful electric traveling cranes, capable of lifting the entire converter from its stand and replacing it with another, in less than five minutes time. When taken into consideration that the silica

FRONT VIEW OF CONVERTER.

lining in the coverter only lasts for a certain number of hours, it will readily be seen that the rapid exchange of converters is of vital importance to a successful operation.
The matte is charged into the converter vessel from the cupola (remelting furnace) by means of a moveable spout or runway lined with fire-clay, arranged in such a manner that one cupola and one runway will take care of two converters.
To receive the charge, the converter is tilted in a horizontal position. After charging, a powerful air blast is turned on and the converter raised to a vertical position. The blast, which enters the converter through one of the trunnions at a pressure of 11-12 lbs., causes the sulphur and iron contained in the matte to oxidize. Nearly all the sulphur escapes as sulphuric acid gas, while the iron changes into ferrous oxide and combines with the silica in the acid lining of the converter, forming a basic slag, which is poured off into slag-pots by tipping the converter, leaving a pure cuprous sulphide (white metal) in the vessel.