AN IMPROVED MODE OF SEPARATING CERTAIN METALS WHEN IN CERTAIN STATES OF COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER;
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
JANION NEVILL, of Llangennech, in the County of Carmarthen, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Richard Janion Nevill, have invented "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF SEPARATING CERTAIN METALS WHEN IN CERTAIN STATES OF COMBINATION
WITH EACH OTHER;" and whereas Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen
Victoria, by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of October, in the seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Janion Nevill, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, that I, the said Richard Janion Nevill, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Janion Nevill, my exors,
adñiors, 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, "the said Invention;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Richard Janion Nevill,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same 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 recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Janion Nevill, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to
be and consist in certain processes for separating silver and lead, or either of
them, from copper or other metals or substances with which copper is com-
bined, which processes are to be performed in manner following:-
I take refined copper containing silver or copper, though not pure or refined,
in which silver is in combination, and melt the same in the usual manner;
and when in a state of fusion I pour it into a vessel of cast iron, or other
material fit for the purpose, containing melted lead heated to a red heat or
nearly so; and I thereby mix the argentiferous copper with lead in those
proportions dependent on the quantity of silver in combination with the
copper which are found to be most favorable for the combination of the
silver with the lead by reason of its superior affinity thereto, and which are
well known to metallurgists. After such mixing has been accomplished, it is
found that the copper (with some portions of silver and lead in combination)
as it cools rises to the surface, and I take it off, when sufficiently cool, by tongs
or other mechanical contrivances, or by means of an iron plate made to fit or
nearly so the vessel which is used, which plate should be perforated with holes
and should be placed at or near the bottom of the vessel before the copper is
poured into it, and kept there till the mixture is effected and the copper par-
tially cooled, when it should be drawn up through the lead by means of one or
more handles fixed to it, and which rise above the melted mixture, by which
means the greater part of the silver and lead passing in a fluid state through
the perforations in the plate remain in the vessel, whilst the copper, with such
portions of silver and lead as may still be remaining in combination with it, is
taken out of the vessel, and should then be broken into pieces of a size con-
venient for the process of eliquation (such process being the exposure of the
compound metal to a heat sufficient to fuse the silver and lead, but not the
copper, so that the silver and lead in combination run off, leaving the copper
comparatively free from either metal). By my process, before described the
greatest portion of the silver is retained by the melted lead in the pot or vessel,
and thus separated from the copper without the further process of eliquation.
Whatever portions of silver and lead are retained in the copper so taken out
of the pot or vessel, I separate by eliquation by the process herein-after
described, that is to say-I place the compound metal of silver, lead, and
copper, whether obtained by the process before described, or by the method at
present in use, in tubes or retorts, which may be made of various forms and of
different materials, but I prefer them of cast iron, of the length of from two
feet six inches to three feet, and about six inches square, with a door or

page_text: covering at one end made to open and shut, with a small aperture in it for the
purpose of allowing the silver and lead to run out. These tubes or retorts
should be fixed in a furnace or oven, with a slope or inclination towards the
end to which the door or covering is affixed; together with the compound
metal, I put in a sufficient quantity of charcoal or other carbonaceous matter;
and after closing the door or covering, to prevent the admission of atmospheric
air, I apply, by means of the oven or furnace, sufficient heat (which should by
degrees be increased) to cause the silver and lead to flow out of the compound
metal, and to run into pans or other receptacles placed in front of each tube or
retort, by which means the oxydation and volatilization of the lead is in a great
degree prevented; and from the lead obtained by both or either of the
processes above described I separate the silver by the ordinary process of
cupellation.
I do not claim as my Invention the mixing of argentiferous copper with lead
or the separation of silver and lead, or either of them, from copper by means
of heat, or by the use of carbonaceous matter; but I claim as my Invention
the separation of silver and lead from copper by taking the copper from the
surface of the silver and lead as it rises and partially sets thereon while the
silver and lead are in a fluid state; and also the separation of silver and lead,
or either of them, from copper by eliquation in close vessels or retorts, so con-
structed and charged as to prevent the admission of atmospheric air during the
process to any extent which may interfere therewith by causing the lead to
be oxydized or volatilized. And such Invention being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, entirely new and never before used within that part of
Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I
do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Janion Nevill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Richard Janion Nevill came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, 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 Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.