Functions of the Reverberatory Furnace — Requirements
for Successful Working — Principles of Modern
Reverberatory Practice — Operation of Modern Large
Furnaces — Fuels for Reverberatory Work; Oil Fuel;
Analysis of Costs — Condition of the Charge.
=The Functions of the Reverberatory Furnace.=—The reverberatory
is essentially the furnace for the smelting of fine material, as
the comparatively still atmosphere, the absence of blast, and the
opportunities for settling prevent the heavy losses by dust which
necessarily accrue with the other types of smelting furnace. The
atmosphere of the furnace is practically neutral, it therefore
exercises little influence on the reactions taking place in the charge,
and the reverberatory is, in consequence, mainly a melting furnace.