IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN MINERAL WATERS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THEREFROM, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN METALS FROM CERTAIN COM- POUNDS CONTAINING THOSE METALS, AND IN OBTAINING OTHER PRODUCTS BY THE USE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROWLANDSON, of Liverpool, Chemist, 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-eighth day of
February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Rowlandson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Row-
landson, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas
Rowlandson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN MINERAL WATERS TO OBTAIN
PRODUCTS THEREFROM, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN METALS FROM CERTAIN COM-
POUNDS CONTAINING THOSE METALS, AND IN OBTAINING OTHER PRODUCTS BY THE USE
OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Rowlandson, 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

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
'more fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Rowlandson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention is applicable to those mineral waters, whether produced
naturally or artificially, in which copper exists in solution, either alone or
mixed with solutions of other metals. I effect the precipitation of the copper
by adding to such mineral waters a solution of an alkaline sulphuret, which
causes the copper to precipitate in the state of sulphuret of copper; I add the
solution of alkaline sulphuret until the whole of the copper is thrown down,
which I ascertain by the application of ammonia, or any other of the tests
usually employed to detect the presence of copper in solution. I also effect
the same result by means of solutions of hydrosulphuret of lime, sulphuret of
barium, or sulphuret of strontium; but the employment of the last-mentioned
sulphurets is accompanied by the inconvenience of having the precipitated
sulphuret of copper mixed with the insoluble earthy sulphates; I therefore
prefer using a solution of sulphuret of sodium to precipitate the copper from
solution.
I also effect the precipitation of copper by means of protosulphuret of iron,
and for this purpose I prefer using the hydrated protosulphuret of iron.
Another part of my Invention is applicable to the separation of zinc, lead,
copper, silver, and gold from certain ores in which these metals exist together.
It is well known to the smelters of metallic ores, that the presence of zinc in
any large proportion renders such ores incapable of being reduced by the
ordinary methods of smelting. Now, my improved process or processes con-
sist in effecting the separation of the zinc from those metals with which it is
associated. This end I obtain by reducing the ore to powder, and then
roasting it in a reverberatory furnace at a low red heat; by this process the
sulphuret of zinc is oxidized, and thus converted partly into sulpbate of zinc
and partly into oxide of zinc. I afterwards remove the sulphate of zinc by
water, and then dissolve the uncombined oxide of zinc by means of sulphuric.
or muriatic acid. When the ore contains copper, this is found in solution'
along with the sulphate of zinc, from which I precipitate it by means of solu-
tion of sulphuret of sodium; after the separation of the zinc and copper,
then effect the separation of the lead, silver, and gold by any of the processes
usually employed in smelting ores containing these metals..
I
What I claim in regard to' this the second part of my Invention is, the'
:

page_text: mode of effecting the separation of zinc from those ores which contain lead,
silver, or gold, and thus rendering such ores capable of being smelted and the.
precious metals obtained.
Another part of my Invention consists in the preparation of the stannates:
of soda and potash. I procure stannate of soda and stannate of potash by,
heating in a reverberatory furnace tin ore, oxide of tin, or other matters .con-
taining tin, with carbonate of soda or carbonate of potash. The proportions:
I use are one hundred parts of carbonate of soda or soda ash containing fifty
per cent. of real soda, and tin ore or other matters containing tin in such
proportions as are equivalent to about eighty-five parts of real tin. These I
mix intimately and heat in the furnace,. stirring the materials during the
operation until combination takes place. The mass being removed from the
furnace the soluble stannate of soda, is separated from insoluble matter by
lixiviation. To make stannate of potash, I substitute an equivalent of. car
bonate of potash for the carbonate of soda, and pursuing the same.process, I.
obtain stannate of potash.
Another part of my Invention. consists in obtaining sulphate of soda. I,
add common salt to a mixture of bisulphuret of iron and metallic iron, both.
in the state of powder, in such proportions as constitute the chemical equiva-
lent; that is, I add about one hundred and twenty parts of common sålt to
sixty parts of bisulphuret of iron and twenty-eight parts of metallic iron, and
I roast the mixture at a low temperature in a reverberatory furnace, and
afterwards remove the sulphate of soda by lixiviation. I am aware that sul-
phate of soda has been obtained by heating a mixture of common salt and
bisulphuret of iron, but in that process only about one-half of the sulphur
contained in the bisulphuret of iron was obtained as sulphate of soda; but by
this my improved process nearly the whole of the sulphur is obtained as sul-
phate of soda. I also procure sulphate of soda by heating common salt with
a mixture of bisulphuret of iron and the subsulphate of iron, which pre-
cipitates as an ochreous deposit from certain mineral waters, and lixiviate as
in the foregoing process.
I claim as my Invention, firstly, the process or processes for precipitating
copper from its solutions by means of alkaline, earthy, and metallic
sulphurets.
Secondly, I claim the process or processes, herein-before described, for
effecting the separation of zinc from those ores in which it exists along with
copper, lead, silver, and gold, either singly or collectively.
Thirdly, I claim the preparation of stannate of soda and stannate of potash

page_text: by heating tin ore, oxide of tin, or other matters containing tin, with carbonate,
of soda or carbonate of potash.
Fourthly, I claim the process for obtaining sulphate of soda by means of
bisulphuret of iron, metallic iron, and common salt, treated as herein-before
described.
Fifthly, I claim the process for procuring sulphate of soda, by means of
bisulphuret of iron and subsulphate of iron heated with common salt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Rowlandson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.