IMPROVEMENTS IN REDUCIN ALUMINIUM FROM ITS ORES OR EARTHS, AND IN PRODUCING ALLOYS THER F- FROM
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Henry Newby, of King William Street, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REDUCIN
ALUMINIUM FROM ITS ORES OR EARTHS, AND IN PRODUCING ALLOYS THER F-
FROM." A communication from abroad by Anthony Leonard Fleury, of
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 1st January 1869, and dated the 4th July 1868.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th July 1688.
I, EDWIN HENRY NEWBY, of King William Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN REDUCING ALUMINIUM FROM ITS ORES OR EARTHS, AND IN PRODUCING
ALLOYS THEREFROM," a communication to me from abroad by Anthony
Leonard Fleury, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, to
I, EDWIN HENRY NEWBY, of King William Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REDUCING ALUMINIUM FROM ITS ORES OR EARTHS, AND IN PRODUCING
ALLOYS THEREFROM," a communication to me from abroad by Anthony
Leonard Fleury, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, to

page_text: and earths.
Dronze and others, nom
Oxides, EUILS,
In carrying out this Invention pure alumina (such as appears in
nature or is artificially produced) is at first intimately mixed with a suitable
hydrocarbon, such as gas tar, resin, petroleum, or any other analogous
substance, in sufficient quantity as to produce with it a stiff paste. This
paste, after having been made into small balls or other suitable shapes,
is dried in the air or in a drying oven, and then charged into a strong tube
or retort, which is to be lined with a plumbago coating and heat applied
to it. This tube or retort must be of sufficient strength to stand a
pressure of 25 to 30 pounds to the inch while exposed to a cherry red
heat, and be so arranged that by means of a safety tube or valve the
necessary amount of hydrocarbon gas can be introduced into the retort
among the heated mixture, and the pressure of from 20 to 30 pounds to
the inch maintained therein. To accomplish this the hydrocarbon gas is
evaporated by gentle heat from liquid hydrocarbon and pumped by a
force pump into the retort or tube, and as the gas is consumed the
supply is maintained at the requisite pressure by the pump. At the
said pressure, and while at a cherry red heat, a complete reduction of the
aluminium compounds, ores, or salts takes place, and the metal remains
as a spongy mass mixed with carbon in the tube or crucible. When
cool the retort is opened and the product remelted in a covered crucible.
To facilitate the remelting metallic zinc may be added, and then after
the alumirium has collected in the metallic zinc the latter is driven off
by heat, and the pure aluminium is left in the crucible. The reduction of
the metal is due to the action of the hydrocarbon under pressure. The
time for reducing 100 pounds of alumina earth, cryolite, or other
compound wherein aluminium is contained should not require more
than 4 hours, and where hydrocarbon gas can be obtained in a heated
and compressed state the reduction takes place in a still shorter period.
To produce aluminium alloys the respective metallic oxides can be
mixed in the desired equivalents with the gas tar as above described
heated and reduced together, or the previously prepared spongy aluminium
may be kept at the bottom of the crucible by means of a perforated
diaphragm of plumbago or other suitable refractory material, so as to
prevent the aluminium from .floating at the top of the crucible, and
then it may be alloyed with the desired quantity of copper or other metal.

page_text: Where copper is smelted, the aluminium, either as sponge or metal,
can be alloyed by means of a perforated ladle, which serves to convey
the aluminium (which is of a less specific gravity than copper) to the
bottom of the copper furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Henry Newby in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
HENRY NEWBY, of King William Street, in the City of London, send
grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty.
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edwin Henry Newby, Her special licence
that I, the said Edwin Henry Newby, my executors, administrators,
and assigus, or such others as I, the said Edwin Henry Newby, 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
REDUCING ALUMINIUM FROM ITS ORES OR EARTHS, AND IN PRODUCING ALLOYS
THEREFROM," a communication to me from abroad by Anthony Leonard
Fleury, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Henry Newby, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under ny,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edwin Henry Newby, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the reduction of aluminium
from its ores or earths, and also to the direct production of aluminium
alloys, such as bronze and others, from a mixture of oxides, salts, and
earths.
In carrying out the Invention pure alumina (such as appears in
nature or is artificially produced) is at first intimately mixed with a
suitable hydrocarbon, such as gas tar, rosin, petroleum, or any other
analogous substance, in sufficient quantity to produce with it a stiff
paste. This paste, after having been made into small balls or other
suitable shapes, is dried in the air or in a drying oven, and then charged
into a strong tube or retort, which is to be lined with a plumbago
coating and heat applied to it. This tube or retort must be of sufficient
strength to stand a pressure of 25 to 30 pounds to the inch while
exposed to a red heat, and be so arranged that by means of a safety
tube or valve the necessary amount of hydrocarbon gas can be introduced
into the retort among the heated mixture, and the pressure of from 20 to
30 pounds to the inch maintained therein. To accomplish this the
hydrocarbon gas is evaporated by gentle heat from liquid hydrocarbon
and pumped by a force pump into the retort or tube, and as the gas is
consumed the supply is maintained at the requisite pressure by the
pump. When such an arrangement cannot be obtained 1 introduce a
liquid hydrocarbon (I prefer the use of such as give off free carbon when
passed through a red-hot porcelain tube, such, for instance, as crude
petroleum or turpentine,) into and among the heated mass, when as the
carbon is in its nascent state and is brought in contact with the heated
oxide or oxides it causes their decomposition. Under the said circum-
stances, and while at a red hoat, a complete reduction of the aluminium
compounds, ores, or salts takes place, and the metal remains as a spongy
mass mixed with carbon in the tube or crucible. When cool the retort
is opened and the product remelted in a covered crucible. To facilitate
the remelting metallic zinc may be added, and then after the aluminium
has collected in the metallic zinc the latter is driven off by heat, and
the pure aluminium is left in the crucible. The reduction of the metal
is due to the action of the hydrocarbon under pressure and the presence
of carbon in process of generation. The time for reducing 100 pounds

page_text: of alumina earth, cryolite, or other compound wherein aluminium is
contained should not require more than four hours, and where hydro-
carbon gas can
be obtained in a heated and compressed state the
reduction takes place in a still shorter period.
To produce aluminium alloys the respective metallic exides can be
mixed in the desired equivalents with the gas tar as above described
heated and reduced together, or the previously prepared spongy
aluminium may be kept at the bottom of the crucible by means of a
perforated diaphragm of plumbago or other suitable refractory material,
so as to prevent the aluminium from floating at the top of the crucible,
and then it may be alloyed with the desired quantity of copper or other
metal.
Where copper is smelted, the aluminium, either as sponge or metal,
can be alloyed by means of a perforated ladle, which serves to convey
the aluminium (which is of a less specific gravity than copper) to the
bottom of the copper furnace.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that I am aware
that zinc has been heretofore used in the reduction of aluminium from its
chlorides, and therefore no claim is intended to be made for any primary
application of zinc to the oxides, salts, and earths containing aluminium ;
but what is claimed under the herein-before in part recited Letters,
Patent is
1stly. The method of reducing aluminium from its oxides, salts,
and earths by the admixture of hydrocarbons, and the subjection of
such mixture to heat in a retort under pressure of hydrocarbon gas
injected by a force pump or otherwise, or of carbon in process of generation,
as described, whereby the aluminium is reduced to a spongy mass in con-
nection with carbon.
2ndly. The treatment of this product by the addition of zinc in the
process of remelting in a covered crucible, and the consequent elimination
of the zinc by volatilization or sublimation.
And 3rdly. The production of alloys of aluminium by the admixture
of the respective metallic oxides and hydrocarbons, or of the spongy

page_text: substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Heury Newby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
EDWIN HENRY NEWBY. (L.S.)