───────┴────────┴───────┴─────┴────────┴────────┴──────┴───────┴──── Draft, 1·7 inches. Furnace No. 1 delayed 8 hours tapping and claying. Furnace No. 7 down for repairs. Bad coal on all furnaces. Number of furnaces running, 6·67 Number of charges, 118 Ladles matte tapped, 47 Cupriferous material smelted per furnace, 246·7 tons. _Tapping the Furnace._—Matte is usually withdrawn from these large stores upon such occasions as it is required for the converters, though sometimes when the supply has got ahead of the converters’ demands, the matte is tapped and run outside the reverberatory building, being cast into large matte-beds. The tap-holes are situated between the second and third doors, and between the fourth and fifth; and each consists essentially of a copper plate 2 inches thick and 25 inches square, which at first stands back 9 inches from the outside of the wall. Through this plate a 1-inch hole has been drilled. The tapping bar is maintained inserted up this hole, being passed through the conical clay plug which closes it. At the back of the plate is 21 inches of lining material through which the tapping-hole passes. When the copper plate shows signs of a red heat, it is an indication of the lining tending to burn through; this part of the furnace is then cooled, the plate taken out, a 9-inch layer of sand is rammed into position, and the plate is thus moved forward a corresponding distance. Such a tap-hole plate lasts for about five months. The reverberatories are usually not tapped until they contain about 250 tons of matte. The operation of tapping is performed by withdrawing the rod by means of a wedge and ring, when the matte flows along the launders leading to the ladles for the converters; two ladles of about 8 tons capacity each are usually filled at once, each ladleful being sampled at the runner. The tap-hole is then stopped with a cone of clay, and the tapping-rod driven through it again. Typical daily reports of the furnaces are appended in Tables VI. and VII., and a monthly report on Table VIII. TABLE VII.—FROM DAILY ASSAY REPORT—REVERBERATORY FURNACES. AUGUST 19, 1908.