Mine Hill

Mine Hill (HMY8W)

Location: San Jose, CA 95120 Santa Clara County
Buy California State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 37° 10.475', W 121° 50.659'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 534 views
Inscription
[Side-bar on left]
Rotary Furnace Brings New Almaden into the 20th Century
In 1939, engineer H.W. Gould designed and built the first rotary furnace. The onset of World War II created a new interest in mercury because of its use in munitions. Gordon I. Gould, II, H.W.'s son, first showed a model for this continuous furnace at the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco.

The rotary furnace worked by tumbling crushed ore down a pipe heated to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Two gases were released, sulphur and mercury. The sulphur was allowed to pass through the rest of the system, while the mercury vapors were cooled within the condenser pipes. These vapors turned into liquid mercury and dripped down the pipes into buckets. The buckets were then dumped onto a table filled with lime powder, which absorbed any water or impurities from the liquid mercury. Seventy-six pounds of mercury were the poured into an iron flask and sealed for sale.

[End Side-bar]
A 100-ton rotary furnace and condensing system was installed here in 1940. The furnace proved too large and this 50-ton furnace, which worked best when processing about 35 tons of ore, replacing the first one. Gould's furnace technology brought the New Almaden Mines into the 20th century, winning worldwide recognition for productivity. This furnace was used until 1976, when the property was purchased by the Santa Clara Parks Department.

Details
HM NumberHMY8W
Tags
Placed BySanta Clara County Parks
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, October 23rd, 2014 at 7:12pm PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)10S E 602594 N 4114865
Decimal Degrees37.17458333, -121.84431667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 10.475', W 121° 50.659'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 10' 28.50" N, 121° 50' 39.54" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)408
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 115 Wood Rd Trail, San Jose CA 95120, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Nearby Markersshow on map
Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?