centre of the framing, where there will be
plenty of room for clearance.

The capacity of the skip will of course depend to some extent on the
capacity of the furnace, but an average charge may be put down at 2 tons
of ore and lime, or 1 ton of coke. To raise such a charge to a furnace
80 ft. high would require, assuming no counter weight were used, a motor
of about 100 h.p. On account of the great speed at which the hoist
works, the time taken in raising the charged skip, discharging it, and
returning it empty would be only 30 to 40 seconds. The hoist cable runs
over guide pulleys placed at the top of the furnace, and the cable is
often manipulated by an electrically driven winch in a cabin below. The
descent of the empty skip in more modern installations is utilized to
effect an even distribution of the feed from the hopper to the furnace
by causing the hopper to revolve. To this end the latter is provided
with an ingenious mechanism which only comes into operation as the car
descends. After every charge shot into the hopper the latter is revolved
a few degrees, and this has the effect of giving the delivery of the
next load in another direction, so that the charges of the skip are in
turn distributed over the whole area of the surface. This is deemed a
most essential point in furnace-charging, and it is not one of the least
recommendations of this mechanical system of furnace-charging that it
can give an even feed without any hand labour whatever. A double hoist
has been designed which has the advantage that if one elevator breaks
down the work of the furnace is not interrupted. In this system two
furnaces are connected at the top by a gantry or bridge, against which,
between the furnaces, two inclined elevators are set, so that each can
serve either furnace. The skips are on wheels and detachable from the
elevator, and are loaded from the ore pockets at the lower terminal and
drawn up on a cradle; as this reaches the top where the rails on the
gantry correspond with the gauge of the skip or car, the latter is
carried by its own weight down a slight incline to either furnace,
discharging its contents as it passes over the conical mouth. Another
advantage claimed for this system is that the rails of the cradle, when
in its lowest position, correspond with the rails which lie parallel to
the furnaces and run right under the store bins from which the skip is
loaded. The economy to be realized from a furnace hoist will b