Li-qua′tion hearth or Fur′nace.
A hearth or furnace in which metals are separated by exposure to a heat which melts one or more of them, but leaves the other or others unmelted. The disks of alloy — say, copper, lead, and silver — are set on edge in a slanting position on two iron plates, between which is an interval. Wedges are placed between the disks until the furnace is charged, and the space around the disks is then filled in with charcoal, the top of the furnace restored, and heat applied to the kindling in the chamber below. As the temperature increases, the alloy of lead and silver, whose union is more intimate than that of either with the copper, becomes fused and runs down to a conductor on the bottom of the fire-chamber, and is led to the cistern in front, from whence it is ladled, the lead and silver being afterward separated by cupellation. |
| Liquation-furnace. |
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| Liquid-carbon furnace. |
