_East Helena System._—This was introduced at the East Helena plant of the United Smelting and Refining Company by H. W. Hixon. The plant comprised four lead furnaces, each 48 × 136 in., with a 21 ft. smelting column. They were all open-top furnaces, fed through a slot over the center, the gases being taken off below the floor. They were capable of smelting about 180 tons of charge (ore and flux) per 24 hours, using a blast of 30 to 48 oz., furnished by two Allis duplex, horizontal, piston blowers, air-cylinders 36 in. diam., 42 in. stroke, belted from electric motors. The Hixon feed was designed to meet existing conditions, without irrevocably cutting off convenient return to hand feeding in case of an emergency. As shown in Fig. 9 there is a track-way at right angles to the line of furnaces. The car hoisted up the incline is landed on a transfer carriage, on which, after detaching the cable, it can be moved over the tops of the furnaces by means of a tail-rope system. The gage of the charge-car is 4 ft. 9 in.; of the transfer carriage, 11 ft. 8 in. A switch at the lower end of the incline permits two charge-cars to be employed, one being filled while the other is making the trip. In sending down the empty car a hand winch is necessary to start it from the transfer carriage. Figs. 10 and 11 show the charge-car; Fig. 12 the transfer carriage. [Illustration: FIG. 8.—Pueblo System. (Sectional diagrams of furnace top.)] The charge-car is 10 × 4 × 3.5 ft., and has capacity for 6 tons of ore, flux, slag and fuel, the total of ore and flux being usually 8800 lb. Its bottom is flat, consisting of two doors, hinged along the sides and kept closed by means of chains wound about a longitudinal windlass on top of the car. The charging pits are decked with iron plates, leaving a slot along the center of each car exactly like the slot in the furnace top. The loaded ore-buggies are taken from the wheelers by two men, who carefully distribute the contents of each buggy along the whole length of the charge-car by dragging it along the slot while in the act of dumping. Each buggy contains but one ingredient; they follow one another in a prescribed order, so as to secure thin layers in the charge-car. The coke is divided into three or more layers. [Illustration: FIG. 9.—East Helena System. (Vert-longitudinal section and plan of incline.)] [Illustration: FIG. 10.—East Helena Charge-car. (Side elevation.)]