IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF COPPER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Capper Pass, of Bedminster, in the County
of Somerset, Metal Refiner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF COPPER."
T
Sealed the 21st December 1853, and dated the 17th, October 1853...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Capper Pass at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th October 1853.
I, CAPPER PASS, of Bedminster, in the County of Somerset, Metal
Refiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF COPPER" to be
as follows:
The object-of my improvements is to concentrate the copper, tin, or
other metals contained in the ores under treatment. This-I-effect by
simelting such ores in a blast furnace:by' the aid of hot air; and allowing
the metal and slag. to run from the furnace as melted through tap holes
opened alternately to allow the metal run out to cool and be removed,
by which means I obtain a metallic mass-principally composed of iron.
This-product is then-uielted in an ordinary reverberatory furnace, after
being mixed with fine sulphurous copper ore, by which process the iron

page_text: is removed in the slag, and an alloy of metallic tin and copper is
obtained; and if lead is present in the ore, the lead is found under the
alloy, and above the alloy is a copper metal in the state of purple metal.
On melting this purple metal in a blast furnace by hot air, the copper
will be obtained in a state fit for the toughening process, which I finish
in a reverberatory furnace. By these processes I am enabled to pre-
serve whatever metals may be contained in the ore, and to produce
copper at a less expence as regards time, material, labour, and fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Capper Pass in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CAPPER PASS, of Bedminster, in the County of Somerset, Metal Refiner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Capper Pass, Her special licence that
I, the said Capper Pass, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Capper Pass, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
AND REFINING OF COPPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Capper Pass, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said.
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, - and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Capper Pass, do hereby declare
he nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
:
My Invention consists in smelting copper ores or slags, or mixtures
of copper ores and slags, in a blast furnace with the aid of the hot blast,
by which means I am enabled to concentrate and extract the copper,
iron, tin, and any other metals contained in the ores and slags, and
obtain a clean slag composed only of the earthy parts of the ores
and slags.
.
The manner in which I carry my Invention into effect is as follows:
I employ a blast furnace of the construction used in the smelting of
iron ore, but of smaller dimensions, a fire room of from ten to twenty,
feet high being sufficient for all ordinary ores; and I cause the blast to
be heated in the manner ordinarily adopted for that purpose. I charge
the furnace with the ores or slags, or mixture of ores and slags, and fuel,;
in the proper proportions, and I use also, when requisite, fluxes of any
If the ores contain
kind employed in the smelting of copper ores.
much iron (say twenty per cent. or more), the metallic product requires
a high temperature to keep it fluid; and I find it better to allow the
metal and slag to flow from the furnace, as they melt, over two or more
beds of sand, through tap holes opened alternately or in succession, so
as to admit of one mass of slag and metal cooling and being removed,
while another portion of slag and metal is running on to another bed;.
and I continue the supply of ores or slags and fuel, &c. so long as the
furnace is in work. If the ores do not contain much iron the metals
may be allowed to remain in the crucible of the furnace, and the slag
to flow from the furnace, as in the ordinary furnace working, and the
metals may be tapped when the crucible is nearly full. I melt the
metallic mass produced by either of these modes of working with a
calcined sulphurous copper ore in an ordinary reverberatory furnace;
the iron combines with the slag, and passes off with it, and the metal
left in the furnace is a rich sulphuret of copper, in addition to the alloys
of tin and copper and whatever other metals the ores may have con-
tained in a metallic state.
On tapping the furnace and allowing these

page_text: metals' to run off, the alloys will be found in the beds of sand nearest
the furnace, and the sulphuret of copper in the beds farthest from it; or
if the metals are run into a single bed, the sulphuret of copper will be
found in a layer over the alloys. The sulphuret of copper or purple
metal is generally in a fit state to be forwarded to the refinery to
undergo the process of refining or toughening, which is performed in a
refining furnace of the ordinary description, and in the manner commonly
practised by refiners. In some cases; however, the purple metal will
require to be again melted in a hot blast furnace, and will then be in
a fit state for the refining process. By following the above methods of
working I am enabled to preserve whatever metals may be contained
in the ore; and to produce copper of a superior quality at a reduced
expence as regards time; material; labour, and fuel..
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
as iný Invention is,--
The employment of blast furnaces and the hot blast in the manufac-
ture and refining of copper, as herein-before described.
In witness' whereof, I, the said Capper Pass, have hereunto set
my hand and seal,, this Eleventh day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
CAPPER PASS. (L.S.)
LONDON:
Printed by GEORGE, EDWARD EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,.
Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. 1854.
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