CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OCTAINING COPPER FROM COPPER ORES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PARKER PENNY, of Clarendon Place, Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the cleventh
year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said James Parker Penny,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, IIer especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said James Parker Penny, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said James Parker Penny,
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 of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
IIer said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN OCTAINING COPPER FROM COPPER ORES," being a communication
from abroad; in which said Letters Patent there is (amongst others) contained a
proviso, that if I, the said James Parker Penny, shall not particularly describe

page_text: and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, that then the said Letters l'atent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said recited proviso, I,
the said James Parker Penny, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The said improvements relate to the smelting of those descriptions of ores of
copper known as the carbonates and oxides, by means of leaves, chips of wood,
charcoal, and similar carbonaceous matter, whereby the use of the ordinary
fluxes may be avoided, and the carbonates and oxides decomposed at one
operation. The furnace which I employ is similar to the melting or rever-
beratory furnaces in common use at Swansea and Holywell, but with this
difference only, that the crown has a greater proximity to the bed or bottom of
the furnace, for the purpose of concentrating the heat upon and keeping the
flame effectually in contact with the ore. The fire-place is of somewhat larger
dimensions than as ordinarily constructed, so as to be sufficient for the recep-
tion and use of wood as the fuel. The ore to be smelted is broken into pieces
or ground, as may be deemed most convenient. The furnace having been
raised to a sufficient temperature, ordinarily described as a white heat, the ore
is introduced through an opening in the crown and evenly distributed over the
floor of the furnace. When the ore is in a state of fusion I throw in leaves,
clips of wood, charcoal, or other similar carbonaceous matter, which I mix
with the fused mass, and thereby effect the decomposition of the ore, taking
care to employ a sufficient quantity of carbonaceous matter for that purpose;
or the carbonaceous matter may be mixed with the ground ore and introduced
with it into the furnace instead of separately, as already described, when the
ore is broken into pieces. The decomposition of the ore having been effected
by this means, the copper separated from its compounds is received in a cavity
in the bed of the furnace, and may be tapped and run into moulds by drawing
out a plug in a hole in the cavity. This process having been completed, a
second charge may be introduced and the operation above described repeated,
the scoria or other extraneous matter being removed from the furnace as
occasion may require.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim, as
the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, is, the deco:-
position of the carbonates and oxides of copper. by the use of leaves, chips of
wood, charcoal, and other similar carbonaceous matter in the process of smelting
such ores, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Parker Penny, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.