CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN TREATING ORES, AND SEPARATING PROM THEM THE METALS WHICH THEY CONTAIN
Year: 1845

page_text: .. TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
POLRINGHORNE,' the younger, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of September, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Polkinghorne, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Polkinghorne, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Polkinghorne,
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 "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING ORES, AND SEPARATING PROM THEM THE METALS WHICH
THEY CONTAIN;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I; the
said James Polkinghorne, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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 had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Polkinghorne, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and
by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention has reference to the ores of tin, and has for its object to
encrease the yield and improve the quality of the tin obtained therefrom; and
the manner in which I treat the ores with a view to the said object is as
follows: I first pulverize the ore, then wash it, and afterwards calcine it, all
according to the processes ordinarily followed for these purposes. From the
calcining furnace I take the ore, while it is yet hot, and plunge it into cold
water, in which I allow it to remain for a few minutes; I then take it out of
the water and further cleanse it by repeated washings; I next make a paste
of the cleansed ore by mixing up with it a saline solution, composed of about
seven parts by weight, in twelve of muriate of soda (common salt), about two
aid a half parts of muriatic acid (spirit of salt); and about.two and a half parts of
a solution of sulphate of iron, preferring that which is obtained by the decom-
position of the iron by dilute sulphuric acid; and the addition of water; about
ten gallons of the saline solution to a ton weight of the ore will generally be
found sufficient. I leave this paste to work for from three to six or seven
days, lengthening or shortening the period according to the greater or less
quantity of foreign matters contained or supposed to be contained in the ore.
I then break up, 'agitate, and wash the paste in a tossing machine of the im-
proved form represented in the sectional elevation, Figure 1, and plan, Figure 2;
hereunto annexed: A is a cistern filled with water to the dotted line a, a; B
a vertical shaft, which turns in a socket in the bottom of the cistern, and carries
four radiating blades C, C; D, a horizontal rod, which rests in bearings d, d,
raised from the sides of the cistern A, and carries a bevil wheel E; which
works into another bevil wheel F, on the top of the shaft B G-is a handle;
by which a rotary motion is given (by manual or other power) to the hori
zontal rod D, and a like motion communicated to the vèrtical shaft B; His
fly wheel; is a tap, through which the water is withdrawn from time: to
time. The foreign matters mixed with the tin are mostly dissolved in the
water, and carried off along with it, while the tin falls by itself in a highly.
purified state to the bottom of the vessel. The tin is then removed from the
tossing machine, and mixed with a flux, composed of soda ash and culm, in
the proportions of about two hundredweight the soda ash, and: from four .to
seven hundredweight of the culm to one ton of the ore, after which the métál
is to be smelted in the usual way.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,―
First, the general system of treating tin ores, in the combined series of
processes of which the same consists, as before described.
Second, the method of immersing the ore, as it comes hot from the calcining
furnace, in cold water, as before described, whether employed as part of the
said general system, or of any other system or method of treating such ores.
Third, the use of the saline solution before described, to facilitate the sepa-
ration of the tin from the foreign matters with which it is intermixed, whether
employed as part of the said general system, or of any other system or method
of treating tin ores.
Fourth, the use of a combination of soda ash and culm as a flux in the
smelting of tin ores.
And, fifth, the employment of the improved tossing machine, before described,
in the treating of tin ores.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Polkinghorne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.