IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF COPPER PYRITES AND IRON ORES TO FREE THEM WHOLLY OR PARTLY FROM EARTHY OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Richardson Francis, Member of the Firm
J. C. Richardson & Co., Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan,
Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
COPPER PYRITES AND IRON ORES TO FREE THEM WHOLLY OR PARTLY FROM
EARTHY OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS."-A communication from abroad by
Francois Alexandre Hubert La Rue, of the City, District, and
Province of Quebec Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Richardson Francis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd May 1878.
I, JOHN RICHARDSON FRANCIS, Member of the Firm J. C. Richard-
5 son & Co., Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF COPPER PYRITES AND IRON ORES TO FREE THEM WHOLLY OR PARTLY
FROM EARTHY OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS," a communication to me from abroad

page_text: by Francois Alexandre Hubert La Rue, of the City, District, and
Province of Quebec, Canada, to be as follows:—
The object of the Invention is to separate quartz, shales, silicious, or
other extraneous earthy matters from copper pyrites and iron ores so as
to concentrate them, by which means they are rendered more suitable
for the subsequent processes by which the metal is extracted, and
besides this there is economy in carriage, and ores hitherto deemed too
poor for ordinary processes can be utilized.
The Invention consists in pulverizing the ore to a powder and then
roasting it by any of the ordinary methods for roasting ores, though this
process may sometimes be dispensed with. The ore so pulverized and
roasted when required is then mixed with a small quantity of pulverized
carbon, such as common coal, anthracite, or charcoal, or other reducing
material, and the mixture of ore and carbon is then introduced into
suitable vessels, closed or partially closed, such as muffles, retorts, or
other similar vessels, or into suitable furnaces, and heated for a certain
period of time, such period of time being subject to variations, according
to the quality of ore operated upon, such heat in all cases being intense
enough to insure at least a partial reduction of the iron ore, which then
becomes magnetic; and when copper pyrites are treated this iron so
made magnetic remains in combination with the copper ore.
Instead of carbon other reducing agents, such as carbonaceous or
hydro-carbonaceous gases, may be used in any convenient furnaces.
The iron ore rendered magnetic by the process above described, and in
the case of copper pyrites still intimately combined with the copper and
mixed with the carbon quartz, silicious, or other foreign ingredients, is
operated upon by a magnetic or electro-magnetic apparatus, and while
passing through the machine the magnetic material, which in the case
of copper pyrites (composed of iron and copper) is separated entirely or
in part from the earthy or other foreign material, which ores are thus
concentrated and ready for subsequent treatment to extract the
metals,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, t
filed by the said John Richardson Francis in the Great Seal Paten
Office on the 15th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RICHARDSON FRANCIS, Member of the Firm of J. C. Richardson & Co.,
Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Richardson Francis, Her special license
that I, the said John Richardson Francis, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Richardson Francis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with and no others, from time to time and at all times thercafter
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 IN THE TREATMENT OF COPPER PYRITES AND IRON ORES TO
FREE THEM WHOLLY OR PARTLY FROM EARTHY OR EXTRANEOUS MATTERS," a
communication to me from abroad by Francois Alexandre Hubert
La Rue, of the City, District, and Province of Quebec, Canada, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Richardson
Francis, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Richardson Francis, 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, that is to say :—
P 17
T

page_text: variable proportions of sulphurets of copper and iron with quartz, shales,
silicious, and other carthy material, and also the economical purification
and concentration of all other kinds of iron ore which are not naturally
magnetic. By this new and improved process and method the copper
and iron contained in the sulphurets or pyrites and other iron ores are
separated from the quartz, shales, silicious, and other foreign material.

page_text: heat in all cases being intense enough to ensure at least a partial reduc-
tion of the iron ore which then becomes magnetic.
Instead of carbon in the form of coal, anthracite, charcoal, or peat,
all other carbonaceous or hydro-carbonaceous substances may be used
for operating and producing such partial reduction and rendering the
ore magnetic, and for that object liquid or gascous hydrocarbons may
be also used.
After the treatment above described the iron ore in the pyrites and
the other iron oros (as before stated) becomes magnetic, and the wholo
of the material after having been subjected to the said treatment is
operated upon by a magnetic apparatus (similar to that known as La
Rue's magnetic separator) or electro-magnetic apparatus, and in this way
the copper ore, intimately combined with the iron ore which has been
rendered magnetic, is separated from the forcingn or earthy materials,
and the same result is obtained with other iron ores which are thus
separated from the non-magnetic material, and are thereby concen-
trated.
I do not claim as part of my Invention the roasting of copper pyrites
or of iron orcs, nor the use of any special vessels or furnaces to be used
in the process apart from process as a whole.
Having now particulary described and ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or put
into practice, I have to state that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein-before described, but what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
Firstly. The heating together of a mixture of copper pyrites or iron
ores, not previously or naturally magnetic, with pulverized carbon or
other carbonaceous or hydrocarbonaceous agents, solid or liquid, or the
treating of such ores with gaseous fuels in order to render them magnetic
so as to be capable of treatment by a magnetic or electro-magnetic
separator, substantially as herein-before described.
Secondly. The separation of magnetic ores from non-magnetic material
by a magnetic or electro-magnetic apparatus when such ores have been
previously treated, substantially as herein-before described to render them
magnetic.

page_text: Thirdly. The process of treating copper pyrites and iron ores (not
naturally magnetic) and of operating upon them by magnetic or electro-
magnetic apparatus to separate such ores from extraneous substances,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Richardson Francis, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.