IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE SMELTING OF COPPER ORES
Year: 1846

page_text: BELL'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,, I, THOMAS
BELL, of Don Alkali Works, South Shields, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
July (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six), in the tenth year, of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Bell, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that. I, the said Thomas Bell, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Bell, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within. England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE SMELTING OF COPPER ORES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Bell, should cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will
moro fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Bell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In calcining for and in roasting between the processes of melting copper
ores, bituminous coal is employed, which gives off much smoke. In carrying
my Invention into effect, in order that sulphuric acid may be made, and
anthracite coal, or charcoal, or coke of bituminous coal employed, I prefer to
use a roasting furnace, such as has before been applied for calcining or roasting
copper ores, consisting of three or four floors, so that the air in passing from
one floor to another becomes more thoroughly charged with sulphurous acid.
To this furnace I attach a roasting kiln, such as is used in alkali works for
making sulphuric acid from pyrites, about two or three feet square, and ten or
twelve feet high. The gas from the first furnace, each floor of which is to be
charged with ground or small ore) passes into this upright kiln through a flue
about two feet from the bottom, and the gas comes in contact with another
portion of copper ore, which is in larger pieces, the kiln being kept full of ore
in that state. Between the furnace and the kiln there is to be a length of flue
(say from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet) to permit all or nearly
all the solid particles which have been mechanically carried off from the ore in
the furnace to deposit. At the end of the flue from the upright roasting kiln,
I employ a jet or jets of steam to produce the requisite amount of draught for
the furnace and the kiln.
The kiln is closed or arched over at top, and from the arch proceeds a flue
of about one foot square leading to a vitriol chamber, and the jet of steam
is introduced into the centre of the flue and near the vitriol chamber, the
steam passing through an opening of about a quarter of an inch diameter, and
I use steam of about thirty pounds to the square inch, and the power of the
jet is such that I can employ anthracite coal or coke in this operation. The
steam of the jet also serves the purposes of supplying the sulphuric acid
chamber with aqueous vapor for the condensation of the sulphurous acid. At
a point of the vitriol chamber near to the entrance of the gas
and vapours, I
admit a supply of acid gases produced by the action of strong sulphuric acid
upon saltpetre or nitrate of soda in the usual way of manufacturing sulphuric
acid, and as is well understood. The acid gases and aqueous vapours by their
mutual reactions produce sulphuric acid, which is collected at the bottom of
the chamber, but a considerable quantity of gasses escape uncondensed, and I
convey these gasses to a series of coke columns, with suitable means of
obtaining exhaustion in columns, such as described in the Specification of my

page_text: former Patent for sulphuric acid making, dated the Third day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, where all or nearly all of the gases
are condensed, as described in my said former Specification; or in place of the
means therein described for obtaining exhaustion, a high chimney may be
employed when using similar columns in making sulphuric acid in the smelting
of copper ores.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the details herein described so long as the peculiar character
of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is the mode herein described of
carrying on that part of the process of smelting copper ores, which consists of
calcining or roasting the same, whereby I am enabled to manufacture sul-
phuric acid by employing anthracite coal, coke, or charcoal in combination
with a jet or jets of steam, as herein explained; and I also claim the use of
columns of coke or other suitable material with means of obtaining & draft
through the same when combined with apparatus for making sulphuric acid in
the process of smelting copper ores by using anthracite coal, coke, or charcoal.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Bell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-seven.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1847, the aforesaid Thomas Bell came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.