smelt1 (smelt)

found in ME.; It. smalto, enamel, dial. smalzo, butter, = F. émail, enamel: see smalt, amel, enamel, Connection with melt is doubtful.] I. trans. To fuse; melt; specifically, to treat (ore) in the large way, and chiefly in a furnace or by the aid of heat, for the purpose of separating the con-. tained metal. Metallurgical operations carried on in the moist way, as the amalgamation of gold and silver ores in pans, treatment by lixiviation, etc., are not generally designated by the term smelting. Establishments where this is done are more commonly called mills or reduction works, and those in which iron is smelted are usually designated as blast-furnaces or iron-furnaces. The var i smelt ous smelting operations differ greatly from each other, according to the nature of the combinations operated on. Simple ores, like galena, require only a very simple series of operations, which are e entially continuous in one and the same furnace; more complicated combinations, like the mixtures of various cupriferous ores smelted at Swansea by the English method, require several succe ive operations, entirely disconnected from each other, and performed in different furnaces. In the most general way, the e ential order of succe ion of the various proce es by which the sulphureted ores (and most ores are sulphurets) are treated is as follows: (1) calcination or roasting, to oxidize and get rid (as far as po ible) of the sulphur; (2) reduction of the metal contained in the oxidized combinations obtained; (3) refining, or getting rid of the last traces of deleterious metals a ociated in the ores with the useful metal, to obtain which is the e ential object of the operation. II. in trans. To fuse; melt; di olve. Having too much water, many corns will smilt , or have their pulp turned into a substance like thick cream. Mortimer, Husbandry. 5715