IM- PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO ROASTING OR CALCINING COPPER AND OTHER ORES CONTAINING SULPHUR AND ALSO REGULUS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Spence, of Newton Heath, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO ROASTING OR CALCINING COPPER AND OTHER ORES
CONTAINING SULPHUR AND ALSO REGULUS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 3rd July 1868, and dated the 7th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Spence at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th January 1868.
I, PETER SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO ROASTING OR CALCINING COPPER AND OTHER
ORES CONTAINING SULPHUR AND ALSO REGULUS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to roasting or calcining ores containing sulphur
and regulus in a furnace similar to that for which Letters Patent were.
granted to me, dated November 28th 1861, No. 3002, or to other
furnaces, in which the heat is admitted to a chamber beneath the said.
ores, and consists in the use of instruments which travel in the furnace

page_text: in order to stir the material, and also to bring it gradually forward to
the end at which it is discharged.
In carrying out my Invention I propose to use a bar armed with
instruments similar to a ploughshare doubled, and which by moving
forward through the disintegrated material turn it over into furrows,
and then on the return motion another shape of the instruments turn
back the said material, and at the same time carry a portion of it
forward to the delivery end of the furnace. I also propose to cause
the aforesaid raking instruments to remain inoperative for a period in
order to allow them to cool. In order to obtain these movements
ordinary mechanism may be employed; but I propose to use a separate
steam engine provided with gearing which brings an arm into contact
with the slide valve apparatus when the rakes have moved forward and
backward, thereby reversing the motion of the engine and shutting off
the steam. I also use a supplementary cylinder to drive a train of
gearing carrying a pin which when the rakes have remained at rest
ȧcts against a lever and opens the steam to the driving engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Peter Spence, Her special license that I,
the said Peter Spence, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Peter Spence, 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 therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of.
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO ROASTING OR CALCINING
COPPER AND OTHER ORES CONTAINING SULPHER AND ALSO REGULUS, AND IN

page_text: APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition, amongst others,
that I, the said Peter Spence, by an instrument in writing under my.
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Spence, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to roasting or calcining orcs containing sulpher
and also regulus in a furnace similar to that for which Letters Patent
were granted to me, dated July Third, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one, No. 1695, and November Twenty-eight, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one, No. 3002, or to other furnaces in which the
heat is admitted to a chamber beneath the said ores, and consists in the
use of instruments which travel in the furnace in order to stir the
material, and also to bring it gradually forward to the end at which it
is discharged.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents in longitudinal section
a portion of a furnace with my improvement adapted, and Fig. 2 is a
cross section thereof.
The bed of the furnace is at a, in which are mounted two rails b;
upon these rails are wheels c mounted loosely upon axles which are
attached to a frame d; to this frame is bolted a bar e carrying on its
under side a rack fand resting upon rollers, one of which is shewn at g;
but there are several placed at intervals, carried by any suitable bearings,
the length of the bar e being such as not to pass off the innermost of
the said rollers when the frame d is at the back end of the furnace. The
frame d carries two rows of instruments h, h', which project downward
nearly to the bed of the furnace, and the two rows are so placed that
an instrument in one row is opposite to a space in another; at Figs. 3
and 4 they are shewn detached, the latter shewing their horizontal
section, and it will be seen that on one side they are pointed and on the
other flat. At is the fire-place, and at k the chamber, through which
the products of combustion pass, and by means of which the furnace
becomes heated. At is one of a series of doors extending at intervals

page_text: along each side of the furnace, as described in the Specifications of my
former Patents aforesaid, and at the front of the furnace is an inclined
shute n, through which the material passes when calcined. The ore
having been first ground or otherwise brought into a state of fine division
is fed across the furnace through one of the doors at the back thereof,
and motion is communicated by means of the shaft and pinion m to
the rack, whereby the frame d will be caused to advance towards the
back of the furnace; the instruments h moving in the direction of the
arrow, Fig. 4, the pointed parts will therefore advance through the
material, and their curved bottoms, seen in Fig. 3, acting as ploughshares
will stir and turn the material over. When the frame has reached the
back of the furnace the motion of the shaft m is reversed, and the
frame d with its instruments travels towards the front of the furnace,
and the flat parts of the said instruments will now therefore act against
the material, a portion of which will be carried forward. The frame d
and its stirrers is now in a highly heated state, and in order to allow
it to cool the motion of the shaft m is arrested, so that the apparatus
may remain stationary for a period, and as it is now over the shute n it
receives the current of air passing through the same.
When the desired
cooling has been effected, say, (in four or five minutes,) the shaft m is
again put in motion and the operations above described are repeated.
The charge above described is repeated at the back end of the furnace
about every hour, and I find the said charge may be about one-and-
a-half cwt. for a furnace thirty-two feet long and six feet wide, the
speed of the rakes being about two minutes from the front of the furnace
to the back and back again, and as the above-mentioned charging
continually goes on for each said hour a portion of the material
is carried forward each time by the flat part of the rakes, and is
ultimately delivered through the shute n, but as such portions are
continually falling off the rakes they are only carried forward through
short spaces at each raking, and they therefore only gradually make
their way to the delivery end.
I have above described my Invention so far as regards the essential
character thereof, namely, the method of stirring the material and of
gradually bringing it to the delivery end of the furnace.
The mechanical means of causing the forward and backward motion
of the rakes may be varied to a considerable extent, as will be evident to
all competent mechanics; but I will now point out an arrangement

page_text: which I have had in use and have found to answer the purpose, referring
for this purpose to Figs. 5 and 6, the former being a side view and the
latter a plan of a pair of engines and other parts which may be used.
separately for each furnace, or for two or more. At 1, 2, are two steam.
cylinders communicating motion by their piston rods to the crank
shaft 3, upon which there is a pinion 4 taking into a wheel 4* which is
on the shaft m, the same as that denoted by the same letter of reference.
in Fig. 1. Upon the crank shaft 3 is a bevil 5 taking into another 6
upon a shaft mounted in a bearing 7, and this shaft is provided with a
worm 8 in gear with a worm wheel 9 mounted on a shaft 10; on this
shaft is a tappet 11, which at intervals, as will be described, arrives in
contact with a pin 12 projecting from a lever 13 turning loosely upon
the shaft 10, and the said lever 13 also carries another projecting pin 14
situate beneath the ordinary excentric rod 15 which at its end is con-
nected to the valve rod by the usual gab motion 16. The steam pipe
for the cylinders is at 17 provided with a stop tap 18, upon which is
mounted a lever 19, 19*, the end 19* thereof being pressed in the
direction of the arrow by a spring 20, and the said end 19* is jointed so
as to be capable of turning against the force of the said spring in one
direction. Adjoining the steam cylinders 1, 2, is a supplementary small
steam cylinder 21, the piston of which is constantly going and com-
municates motion to a crank 22, on the shaft of which is a worm 23
taking into a wheel 24, which then drives the train of clockwork 25, 26,
27, 28, on the last of which there is a projecting pin 29 arriving at certain
times in contact with the lever 19. According to the positions of the
parts shewn the rakes are proceeding from the front to the back of the
furnace and have nearly reached that position, they having been driven
forward by the wheel on the shaft m. The tappet 11 will therefore soon
arrive in contact with the projecting pin 12, and when that takes place
the said lever will be turned over until the weight thereon has passed
the vertical line, after which it will fall over and bring the pin 14 to
bear against the excentric rod 15, which by turning upon the rocking
lever 30 will shift the position of the gab motion 16, and thus reverse
the engines, there being a lever 13 and pins 12, 14, for each of the two
driving steam cylinders; the driving wheels will now revolve in the
contrary direction, and the rakes will travel back towards the front of
the furnace, carrying with them, as before described, a portion of the
material. When this has been effected the lever 31 on the shaft 10
(and which is now moving in a direction contrary to the arrow) will

page_text: arrive in contact with the lever 19*, thereby causing the stop-tap 18 to
be turned and the steam to be shut off; the motive power being thus
arrested the rakes will remain at the front and colder end of the furnace
a sufficient time to cool, and that period is determined in the following
manner: It has been stated that the small cylinder 21 is constantly
supplied with steam, and the train of gearing 23 to 28 is therefore
constantly revolving, and the numbers of teeth are so arranged that
when the rakes have been allowed to remain stationary a certain time
a pin 29 upon the wheel 28 arrives in contact with the lever 19, thereby
turning the stop tap so as to open it and admit steam to the cylinders
1, 2; when this is done the tappet 11 will at the same time again
arrive against the pins 12, but on the side thereof opposite to that above
mentioned, the levers 13 will therefore be turned back into the position
shewn, thereby removing the pins 14 from the excentric rods 15 and
allowing them to fall and again reverse the engine, so that the rakes will
now be moved to the back of the furnace, and thus the operation con-
tinues. When the lever 37 turns back after having shut off the steam
the spring joint of the lever 19* allows it to pass.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, as applied to such furnaces as aforesaid, and for
the purpose above set forth, the use of stir, g and raking instruments
travelling in the furnace.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Spence, have unto set my
hand seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.