Abstract: Apparatus for mechanically separating cathode metal such as zinc from a matrix during electroextraction of the metal. The matrix with layers of cathode metal on both sides thereof is supported on a frame and positioned by guides. Vacuum heads are advanced towards each other and brought into sealing contact with the layers of cathode metal on the opposite sides of the matrix. Following this, the vacuum heads are subjected to reduced pressure so that the heads effect seals with the cathode metal layers, and then the vacuum heads are pulled apart to strip the layers of cathode metal from the matrix.

Abstract: A metallurgical apparatus; air is continuously blown into a mixture of agglomerates of lead concentrates and carbonaceous fuel in a shaft furnace. The resulting slag is delivered from the shaft furnace into a settling tank to which the slag continuously flows while the slag is continuously delivered from the settling tank into a fuming furnace, so that the slag flows in cascade from the shaft furnace to the settling tank and from the settling tank to the fuming furnace, thereby providing a continuous flow of the treated slag from the shaft furnace through the settling tank into the fuming furnace; the slag, in addition, is continuously withdrawn from the shaft furnace.