IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING COPPER, SPELTER, AND OTHER METALS FROM ORES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEFFERIES, of Holme Street, Mile End, in the County of Middlesex, Metal
Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of July, in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Jefferies,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Jefferies, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Jefferies, 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 OBTAINING COPPER, SPELTER, AND OTHER METALS
FROM ORES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said William Jefferies, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Jefferies, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention relates, first, to a mode of obtaining copper from copper ore;
and, secondly, to a mode of obtaining zinc from ores. And in order that my
Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect I will
proceed to describe the processes pursued by me.
The modes of treating copper ores by roasting and smelting as at present
practised being well understood, and such being the case in respect to the
furnaces employed for smelting, it will not be necessary to enter into a par-
ticular description thereof in this my Specification, more particularly as my
improvements are confined to the smelting process, and I prefer that the ores
should be in the raw state in place of submitting them to roasting or calcining
previously to smelting; the ores may, however, be roasted or calcined before
submitting them to the process of smelting according to my Invention. And in
order to assist me in the description of the improved process of smelting I will
suppose that a smelting furnace has been at work according to the present
mode, and in place of continuing to charge and work the furnace as heretofore
I charge it with raw ore (or with calcined ore), and when the same is in a
melted state and has been well skimmed, I stir into the melted mass a quantity
of carbon or alkali (preferring carbon) ground into a fine powder, and I
continue to add such powder of carbon till the mass in the furnace becomes
dry and friable, and when the charge of the furnace is in this state I push it
towards the bridge. I then continue the heat until the mass is well melted;
I then tap the furnace and run off the metal into water, as is well understood,
leaving the slag in the furnace, and charge again, and treat the charge with
carbon or alkali as above described, and so on continuously; I
may, however,
remark that it is not necessary to tap and draw off the metal after each
charge, as two or three charges may be made and treated with carbon or
alkali before tapping and drawing off. The carbon I prefer for such process
is anthracite coal or charcoal, and when alkali is used I prefer common soda,
but I do not confine myself thereto. The metal thus obtained is to be
subsequently treated in the same manner as metal in a like state of forward-
ness when obtained and worked in the ordinary mode is now treated, all which
is well understood in obtaining copper from ores, and does not require any
description in this my Specification.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of my Invention, which
relates to a mode of melting zinc ores. The processes of obtaining zinc
from ores by roasting and smelting as at present practised being well
understood, it will not be necessary for me to enter into any description

page_text: thereof, my Invention relating only to the mode of smelting, and consists
in doing so in large ovens externally heated, in place of the small inverted
vessels or the retorts now used, by which means I am enabled to smelt
the ores on a large scale, and at very reduced expence, producing zinc of
most excellent quality. And in order to make this part of my Invention
readily understood I have annexed a Drawing to this my Specification, shewing
the construction of an oven and furnace suitable for carrying out this part of
my Invention, and by which I can treat three or four or more tons of ore
at one time, in place of having many small vessels or retorts in a furnace; and
from the upper part as well as from the lower part of such oven I have several
small pipes a, a, descending into water, contained in receivers b, so that when
distillation is going on the metallic zinc evaporated will pass down such pipes a
and be cooled. In constructing an oven for this purpose it is important that
the bottom and roof should be as thin as possible, to pass the heat freely
through the fire brick, and yet the bottom of the oven should be strong enough
to carry the charge of ore; and I make the fire bricks of which the oven is
constructed of a peculiar form, as is shewn in the Drawing. By this means the
bottom of the oven may be made of three-inch brick, and the arch or top of
the oven of two-inch brick, and by such means I am enabled to make a very
strong yet large oven and furnace suitable for the purpose of smelting zinc ore.
In working according to this part of my Invention, I will suppose that the
furnace and oven has been at work, and that the oven is ready again for having
a fresh charge; I take the ore, in the same state as usual when working with
the small vessels or retorts as now practised, and I mix with such ore about
five per cent. of small bituminous coal, and charge the oven as full as possible,
and then close the mouth, and lute the same with fire clay, and continue the
fire, and distillation will ultimately go on as when using small vessels or retorts,
the metal as it is distilled passing down by the various pipes into the receivers;
and it is important to remark that as there are several pipes to conduct off
the distilled metal, that none of those pipes should be left open to admit the
atmospheric air. When the charge has been worked off, the mouth of the
oven is to be opened, and the refuse remaining therein drawn out and a fresh
charge of ore immediately applied.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark that, although I have been
thus particular in describing the exact means as pursued by me in performing
my Invention, yet I do not confine myself thereto so long as the general
character of the different parts of my Invention or either of them be retained;
but what I claim as the first part of my Invention is, the mode of smelting

page_text: copper ores by treating the melted metal with carbon or with alkali, as above
described; and, secondly, I claim the mode of obtaining zinc from ores by
means of ovens as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jefferies, have hereunto set my
December in the