improvements in the Treatment of Retractory Sulphide Ores.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 16th July, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 16th May, 1899-Accepted, 17th June,
1899
improvements in the Treatment of Retractory Sulphide Ores.
I, FRANCIS ELLERSHAUSEN, of 24, Green Street, Blackfriars, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
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This invention relates to improvements in the treatment of refractory sulphide ores
containing lead and zinc and has for its object to provide an improved method of
smelting such ores in an ordinary cupola or blast furnace.
According to my invention I introduce the ore, together with a charge of coke,
into the furnace in the usual manner and to prevent the accretion of the zinc fumes
formed, which would choke up the furnace, I arrange in connection with the latter
a fan or other suitable means for drawing off the said fumes which can then be
collected in any suitable manner.
The metallic lead from the ore is run off in the usual manner
Improvements in the Treatment of Refractory Sulphide Ores.
I, FRANCIS ELLERSHAUSEN, late of 24, Green Street, Blackfriars, now of Broad
Street House, New Broad Street, in the City of London, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention refers to the treatment of refractory sulphide ores containing
inter alia lead and zinc whereby the ores are smelted and practically all the metals
obtained.
Many attempts have been made to smelt sulphide ores in a raw or unroasted
condition but I believe that all such attempts have been unsuccessful.
In the course
of smelting refractory ores such as contain a large amount of zinc in proportion to
the lead, I have found that the cause of the previous failures to successfully smelt
these refractory sulphide ores is that with the furnaces and exhaust and blast devices
hitherto used the zinc forms accretions in the furnace and that in a short time the
furnace becomes choked and will no longer do its work.
In smelting such refractory ores in an ordinary cupola furnace such as used for lead
smelting I have discovered that in order to successfully smelt these refractory sulphide
ores it is necessary in addition to the ordinary blast to use an exhaust connected to
the down cast of the cupola sufficiently powerful to prevent the formation in the
furnace of the zinc accretions. I find that when I use an exhaust of this power I have
Price T

page_text: no trouble in smelting this class of ore with the ordinary amount of fluxes and fuel.
To prevent accretions it is necessary that the exhuast should be a powerful one.
By way of example I find that I can successfully prevent accretions with a cupola
containing a charge of about two tons, the refractory sulphide ore in which contains
on an average twenty per cent. of zinc and twenty per cent. of lead the internal
diameter of the cupola being about three feet six inches with a down cast pipe of
about two feet internal diameter and a fan or exhauster advantageously in the form
of a framework mounted on a shaft and having blades the whole rotating in a fixed
casing; the diameter of the exhauster being about ten feet and its width about three
feet and the said fan being driven at the rate of about three hundred revolutions per
minute.
I am aware that fans or their equivalents have been used to draw off fumes from
furnaces of many kinds prior to the date of my Patent and therefore make no claim
to the use of fans for such a purpose per se, but for the purposes of my invention I use
a fan or exhauster sufficiently powerful to prevent any accretions in the furnace. This
fan I keep cool and free from accumulation of fumes by water played into it. The
gases (sulphurous acid, lead and zinc fumes etc.,) drawn off by the fan I condense,
collect and separate by any of the well known methods.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improved process of smelting refractory sulphide ores in an ordinary cupola
or blast furnace consisting in the use together with the ordinary blast of an
exhaust sufficiently powerful to prevent any zine accretions forming in the furnace.
1000
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.