MENTS IN THE REDUCTION OF OXIDE ORES OF IRON AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Ireland, junior, of Edward Street, Broughton
" IMPROVE-
Lane, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
MENTS IN THE REDUCTION OF OXIDE ORES OF IRON AND OTHER METALS." A
communication from abroad by Thomas Shoenberger Blair, of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 22nd August 1876, and dated the 29th June 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Ireland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th June 1876.
JONATHAN IRELAND, junior, of Edward Street, Broughton Lane, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REDUCTION OF OXIDE ORES OF
IRON AND OTHER METALS."
This Invention relates to the reduction of oxide ores, that is to say, to the pro-
duction therefrom of their metallic bases in spongy or pulverulent condition, and
consists in the use of lime or other alkali or alkaline earth as a means of promoting
and accelerating the deoxydation of such ores in the following manner :-
The ore to be treated is mixed in dry or pulverulent condition with charcoal or
other carbonaceous matter in quantity somewhat more than is sufficient to take up
the oxygen of the ore, and also with lime or other alkali or its hydrate in quantity
These ingre-
amounting to one-tenth to one-twentieth part of the weight of ore.
dients well mixed are exposed to a red heat in a retort or other suitable vessel,
from which air is excluded, and the ore is rapidly reduced, the product of the
operation being the metallic base of the ore in spongy or pulverulent condition
mixed with the lime or alkali and such other earthy matters as may have been
present in the ore.
Instead of treating the materials in a pulverulent condition, as above described,
they may be mixed up with aluminous matter, so that the mixture may be formed
into bricks or lumps, which are exposed to a red heat in a suitable furnace till the
deoxydation of the ore contained in them is effected.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Jonathan Ireland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th December
1876.
JONATHAN IRELAND, junior, of Edward Street, Broughton Lane, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REDUCTION OF OXIDE ORES OF
IRON AND OTHER METALS." A communication from abroad by Thomas Shoenberger
Blair, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
This Invention relates to the reduction of oxide ores, that is to say, to the pro-
duction therefrom of their metallic bases in spongy or pulverulent condition, and
consists in the use of lime or other alkali or alkaline earth, as a means of promoting
and accelerating the deoxydation of such ores in the following, manner :-
The ore to be treated is mixed in dry or pulverulent condition with charcoal or
other carbonaceous matter in quantity somewhat more than is sufficient to take up
the oxygen of the ore, and also with lime or other alkali or its hydrate in quantity
amounting to one-tenth to one-twentieth part of the weight of ore. These ingre-
dients well mixed are exposed to a red heat in a retort or other suitable vessel,
from which air is excluded, and the ore is rapidly reduced, the product of the
operation being the metallic base of the ore in spongy or pulverulent condition,
mixed with the lime or alkali and such other earthy matters as may have been
present in the ore.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
would state that it has been proposed to employ clay, cement, lime, and such-like
materials for the purpose of agglomerating and making up mixtures of ores and
carbonaceous matters into bricks or lumps to be treated in furnaces for reducing or
smelting, and I therefore make no claim to any such use of lime or other alkaline
earth; but I claim, in reducing oxide ores of metals without fusion, the use of lime
or other alkaline earth, for promoting and accelerating deoxydation, substantially
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Ireland, junior, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
JONATHAN IRELAND, JR. (LS.)