A MEANS OF CONDENSING AND COLLECTING THE SULPHUROUS AND METALLIC VAPOURS WHICH ARE EVOLVED IN THE TREATMENT BY HEAT OF ALL KINDS OF ORES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES LEJEUNE,
of North Place, Cumberland Market, Middlesex, Manufacturing Chemist, 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 Fourth day of November, in the fifth year of Her reign, did for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jules
Lejeune, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I
the said Jules Lejeune, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Jules L'ejeune, 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 "A MEANS OF CONDENSING AND COLLECTING THE SULPHUROUS AND
METALLIC VAPOURS WHICH ARE EVOLVED IN THE TREATMENT BY HEAT OF ALL KINDS
OF ORES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Jules Lejeune, should 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
Jules Lejeune, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
It is easy to understand, and at first sight, that it is not possible to arrive at
the results announced in the title without the concurrence of several branches
of art and of science, which considered in an isolated manner would be so
many specialties, but which in that particular case combine and form a distinct
specialty. On the other hand, the machines, furnaces, various constructions,
chemical and other operations of which I am going here to give the Drawings
and the descriptions, cannot be considered in their form or application as precise
or definite, for they ought all to be modified according to the localities, the
scarcity of the combustible, the nature of the mineral, &c.; therefore, for the
security of my rights to the application which I make in the treatment of all
mineral substances of the principles, without defining the means of application,
which may vary infinitely, on the other hand, to the propriety of the apparatus
constructions, furnaces, defined by the Drawings and their descriptions, in order
that no application to the treatment of any mineral substance whatever can be
made, and to any end, it is proposed that I should put the results of my
labors under the protection of a Patent. The new and the old principles of
which I make the application to arrive at the results announced in the title are
six in number and by the aid of steam, videlicet:-The passage under water
of. vapour separated or mixed with the smokes of fire-places. Second, the use
of a vapour spout as a means of suction. Third, the action of currents one
upon the other and upon the surrounding air. Fourth, a close furnace for the
operations of roasting, boiling, sublimating, gassification, &c. Fifth, the decom-
position of sulphurous acid by sulphuretted hydrogen. Sixth, a furnace with
winding chimnies, alternately used shut and open.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Drawing No. 1 is the description of a furnace for the continued process of
grilling without any contact with fire, for ores containing sulphur, arsenic, or
any other volatile matter, whose expansion in the atmosphere may occasion
nuisance or loss of produce; also for the gathering of the useful gas therein.
Figure 1 is a strong iron lining one quarter of an inch thick, provided with
four fire-places added thereto for the flame to go through. ..Figure 2 is a cross
section of the masonry work, in the middle of which is the descending tunnel

page_text: of a chimney. At the top of the masonry work there are four smaller
chimneys, winding snail-like on the conical part of the work. The iron lining
that is applied on this work lies on the angular parts A, A, A, A, and completes
up the passage of the flame issuing from above the four hearths. Figure 3 is
a cross section of the finished furnace. B is a strong iron mill hopper, filled
up with ores, the lower end of which is kept shut up by two small doors, which
stays a chain, the higher end of which is fixed to a flexible bar that is moved
when the cover C is brought down. The press-down sides of this cover run
into a circular groove filled with water, by which means the charge may be
introduced without any vapours escaping. Ore is spread on the iron lining,
and fills up the whole space D, E, when going round the four fire-places F, F.
Figure 4 is an outside view of the finished furnace. G, G, G, are the hearths.
The fourth one is not shewn, being on the opposite side. H, H, are the
openings through which the grilled ore is taken off. I, I, is a circular masonry
worked one foot higher from the base of the furnace, with the inclination of
ten grades to form round the furnace a basin always provided with water, the
level of which is from two to three inches above the openings H, H, and of
course hinders the going in of external air and the going out of the brought
forth gas that passes off through a pipe J to a condensation chamber, to be
described in the Fourth Drawing. Figure 5 is a plan of the said furnace.
K is a tunnel that is in communication with an aspiring chimney.
Drawing. No. 2 is the description of a furnace to be used for the same
purpose as Drawing 1, but with this difference, that the new one is to be
intermittingly loaded instead of having a continual load. Figure 1 is the
section of a plan of this furnace taken on a level with the ground. A, A, A, A,
are four descending chimneys, terminating at B in an opening which leads to a
high chimney. Figure 2 is a cross section of the building. Figure 3 describes
the passages for the flame of the four hearths C, C, C, C, to pass into. The
flame reaches the centre of the plan, but after passing over equal to one and a
half circumference of the area of the furnace, and from the centre, it is carried
to one of the four descending chimneys after another equal running over
through the adjoining passage. These passages are made up with bricks, seen
by the flat sides, and laid standing, their lower part sinking into the paving
ground of the said passages, and their top projecting out six inches high,
forming small or partition walls to the passages. The form of the top of
these bricks is of a cone, so that the bricks, whose external surface is the
bed of the furnace and internal one is a ceiling to the passages, resting only
on the edge of these cones, allow of being put in contact in a wider surface
with the flame. A furnace constructed in such manner, with an underwarmed

page_text: soil, measuring a thirty feet diameter, about seven: hundred feet square, will
have not more than sixteen feet square in contact with the flame running over
through the passage. Figure 4 shows the form of the brick-made bed, the
parts of which are joined and strongly tied together with an iron band of four
parts, annexed by strong pegs. Figure 5 is a view of the outside of the finished
frame.
Drawing 3 shews the building ground plan section and hydraulic uncom-
pound tunnel of a condensation blast furnace, for the fusion of. ores grilled.in
one of the two above furnaces (Drawings Nos.. 1 and.2),.or in any other way,
whether reduced by a single fusion, such is the case for the sulphury. lead: ore.
Figure 1 is a cross section of the said furnace, that is the same as the: high
furnace used in iron works. It varies but. from its top; named bawler, whence
a winding chimney falls back, and down along the furnace; carrying the products.
of the combustion and metallic. dust,. which it drags along into the hydraulic
tunnel (Figure 2), shewn at the side bottom of this chimney.. Joined to the
orifice of the bawler is an inclined. plane made shup up; with: two doors; when
one is opened the other should be closed; and vice versa. In the space between
these two doors is put the load of ore and coals to be introduced into the
furnace; after that the door. A is lowered, the B is raised; and the load falls
down in the furnace. Figure 3 shews the finished building. Figure 4 shows
its ground plan, shewing the ends of the bellows.
Drawing 4 is the longitudinal section of a boiler (Figure 2) joined to a
reverberatory furnace (Figure 1) in the common way; the fusing or roasting of
ores are of the same nature as copper ore. The flame of this furnace, before
it arrives at the chimney A, passes under and around the boiler; when the temn:
perature of the water in the boiler is raised enough to supply with vapour, the
damper B is shut up, the cock C is opened, a jet of steam is thrown into the
pipe D, and produces a continued vacuum within the cast-iron box: E. (Figure
8), the pulling out of the hearth holding on through the pipe F, at: the same
time when the vacuum draws up through the pipe the sulphury hydrogen gas
given out by the grilling ores mixed with coals in one of the above furnaces
(Drawings Nos. 1 and 2), when the products of the said grilling have gone
through the condensation chamber, where they were carried: through the pipe i,
to deposit there the sulphur and arsenic contained: therein, this last being: but
sublimate during the operation of grilling. The box. E-contains a.quantity. of.
water the level of which is shewn by the dotted lines. The sulphuret hydrogen.
gas, and the sulphurous acid resulting from the combustion of particles of:
sulphur during the fusion; come together under. the water, and during their.
passing under this liquid resolve themselves recriprocally; the oxigen of the

page_text: sulphurous acid becomes water when mixed with the hydrogen of the sul-
phury hydrogen gas; and the sulphur of both these gases is dissolved and
carried away with the arsenious acid by a stream settled in the box coming in
at J, and going.out at K, at the same time as the mixture of atmospheric air of
oxide of carbon, of carbonic acid, and of azot, in consequence of the decomposi
tion of air by the combustion, is forced out through the pipe D. Figure 5 is
the ground plan of the furnace. Figure 6, a view of the box or chamber E.
Figure 7 shews a view of the condensation chamber divided into two parts if
applied to the intermittant furnace (Drawing 2), and but in one, if to the con-
tinual furnace (Drawing 1.). Figure 8 is an iron door to be fixed to or taken
off the end L of the condensation chamber.
Drawing No. 5. Figure 1 of this Drawing shows a cross section of the same
blast furnace as described (Drawing 3) for condensation. Its descending
chimney falls down into an hydraulic compartment of a tunnel, from whence a
vacuum is produced; in the last of these compartments the products of com-
bustion under water, from one to the other, bringing into this liquid all the
soluble gas contained therein, and all the metallic dust that reaches the bottom,
and which the arrangement of the tunnel affords means to take away through
the arched openings above, which is the level of water. Figure 2 is the same
arrangement for the reverberating furnace as described in Drawing No. 4.
Figure 3 shews the use of one of the grilling furnaces (Drawings No. 1 and 2),
to avoid any nuisance in copper works, without any change to the arrangement,
the reverberatory furnaces used therein, or to the tall chimneys into which are
brought through an hydraulic tunnel the smoke of the several fusion furnaces.
The hydraulic tunnel A, A: this horizontal passage has a communication
with the high app
chimney. B, C, shews part of the intermittent furnace
(Drawing No. 2). D is the pipe i, of that drawing through which the
products of the grilling go in the condensation chamber E, escaping by the
pipes F, F, and are forced away through these pipes by the vacuum produced
in G, by a jet of steam that forces them mixed with vapour on the surface of
the water of the tunnel; then they with the products brought from the fusion
furnaces thereto by the cross channel H, H, H, H, H. Then the sulphury
hydrogen a product of the grilling furnace, and sulphurous acid a product of
the fusion furnace, meeting together, resolve themselves reciprocally under the
influence of water vapour at the same time as the arsenious acid gets con-
densed with the vapour, into the water that fills the tunnel. This water also
retains the metallic particles carried by the pulling out before their reaching
without any
noxious influence from
the tall chimney that takes out but
gas,

page_text: vegetation or animal living. The valve to be seen into the pipe D, is to shut
up this pipe during the intermittent furnace being filled again, and the shutters
g, g, are for the purpose of cleaning out the pipe P.
Drawing No. 6 shews a set of hydraulic bellows to supply the blast furnace
with the air that may be wanted for its use. A (Figure 1) is an iron
cylinder divided into four equal spaces; it has on both its ends tail pieces
divided in the same manner, through which goes away the air, brought into
every space by means of longitudinal openings cut on cylinders surface. Both
the tail pieces are provided with a pulley, in which it is affixed the curved edge
of a iron cylnder; hemp is rolled round the pulley, and maintained there by an
iron band, provided with strong pegs to hinder the air escaping, which comes
and fills the cylinders. An iron axle goes through the cylinder A, and both its
ends rest on bearings B, B. A notched wheel gives rotatory movement to the
cylinder that is placed in water, as high as the level D, D. At every quarter
of revolution the cylinder forces down under the liquid a quantity of air that
can only pass to the tail pieces to go under the vertical cylinders thereof; having
no weight out, its pressure balances the column of water, that is to say, of the
water from the axle to the level D in the vessel, so that the air can only
escape out of the cylinder below the axle. Figure 2, is a plan of the cylinder.
Drawing 7 is a longitudinal section of an Archimedes screw, whole axle-
tree inclines by* degrees. This screw's pipe or cover is pressed down to
form a trapezium or a lessened cone, that gives a way to the pipe A. The
screw is fixed in a chamber filled with water as far as the pointed line B. The
mouth of the chamber is closed up with an iron plate or other convenient
means, which in either case is provided with an opening to give a way into a
pipe. The pipe A is provided, when out of the masonry work of the chamber,
with a descending pipe C, and farther with a bent pipe filled with mercury in
its cavity; when the screw has rotation motion communicated to it by any
convenient power in the contrary way to that to raise water, it carries down
under water at every revolution a quantity of air, that and spreads itself in the
space where is the end of the pipe A, and escapes off through this pipe. The
vacuum produced, in the room, between the level of water and the ceiling of
the ditch, draws by the pipe D, and causes the pulling out of a furnace,
wherein are ores containing some volatile particles which are detained during
their passing through the water. This preparation was used long ago in
France, and in the Black Forest, as a blowing machine; I, of course, do not
claim it for my property as the Inventor, except only in its application to the
going under water of the vapour that produce ores.
.

page_text: Drawing No. 8 shews the bellows nozzle. The central pipe A is the main
pipe of the nozzle, through which air brought from a reservoir reaches the
furnace. This central pipe passes a few inches into a cylindrical or conical
pipe B, the diameter of which is twice that of A', and that is wider in C,
forming a small circular chamber round the pipe A. C is provided in its
lower part with a screw covering the screw top of a protection pipe D. The
small chamber is bored around with four or six holes, whose diameter and
inclination are in proportion with the dimensions of the nozzle of the bellows.
The pipe A is in its remaining length protected by the pipe D, which meets
with the cock E; the cock being opened, air is forced into the pipe B. This
quantity of air that goes out of the pipe A is doubled when going through B,
by the quantity which enters in through the small chamber openings. F is a
diaphragm to keep the pipe A up in the middle of B. It is to be seen plain
in F¹.
To give an example of the manner of operating and of obtaining the results
announced, I will here describe the treatment of two different minerals, the
sulphur of lead and the pyrites of copper.
TREATMENT OF THE SULPHUR OF LEAD.
The mineral is grilled in the furnace represents Drawing 5, Figure 2; the
register of the chimney being shut, and the vapour thrown into horizontal tube
or rather inspiration commences and continues in the direction of the arrows,
in the whole extent of the condensation apparatus, into which come by the
tube A the products of the combustion, drawing with them the metallic
particles and the gases released from the sulphur of lead, of which both one
and the other are absorbed by the water of the condensation or stream goes
in and goes out constantly or intermittently of each of its compartments. This
water dissolves the sulphurous acid, and condenses the vapours and metallic
particles which are dissolved at the bottom of the condensators, and which are
taken from them through their open part on the opposite side, and the gases
resulting from the combustion are thrown out of them with the vapour, which
passes by the horizontal tube. On coming out of this furnace the mineral is
carried into the blast condensation furnace, represented by Figure of the same
Drawing. The fire of this furnace is kept active by the blowing apparatus
represented by the Drawings 6 or 8. The mineral mixed with the coal is
placed as before mentioned in the description of the Drawing on the inclined
plane A of the furnace, between the two doors B and C. The door B is
lowered, the door C is raised, and the charge falls into the furnace without its
being able to disengage itself from vapour. In the lower part of the furnace

page_text: the liquified matter separates itself into two parts, the bath of metal, and the
slag; the first runs out continually by an opening made at the bottom of the
bath, which is widened or made narrower at pleasure, as the occasion may
require, while the second runs out through an opening which the workman
takes care to keep open a few inches above the surface of the bath; the metallic
vapours drawn by the rapid passage of air driven from the tube in the furnace,
arises with it to the condensator into the compartment that is nearest to it; in
driving back the water to penetrate into the second, this resistance is over-
come without trouble, not only by the pressure under which the air of the
tubes is thrown, but also by its rarefication; in this case, however, if it is wanted
to avoid all pressure in the condensator, and afterwards in the furnace, the
same means should be employed as for the grilling furnace, by throwing
vapour into the tube which terminates the conduit, vapour which can be
obtained by modifying the shape of the furnace, so as to make the lost caloric
pass under a generator. It may be conceived that it would be very easy to
obtain the same results by putting at the back of this condensator any sort of
furnace, either if it worked by blowers or by inspiration; but I here repeat, I
take a Patent for the principles, without defining the means of application on
the one hand, and the apparatus, erections, furnaces, &c., defined by their
Drawings, in order that no application can be made to every thing that has
reference to mineral substances without exception.
TREATMENT OF SULPHUROUS MINERAL OF COPPER.
Pyrites is mixed with a.quantity of coal dust, which varies according to the
quality of the mineral; the mixture is placed in one of the two furnaces
represented in Drawings 1 and 2 ; supposing use to be made of the intermittent
furnace represented in Drawing 2, the charge is laid out on the mattrass of
the furnace, and the doors are placed; the opening being closed with clay, the
fire is lighted, and the hydrogen soon disengages itself from the coal mixed
with the mineral, combines itself at the production with the vapour of
the sulphur of pyrites to form sulphuretted hydrogen, which passes through
the tube D, of Figure 3, of Drawing No. 5, and gets in the chamber of con-
densation E, where arrive at the same time as the gas the arsenical vapours,
which there condense themselves, whilst the action of a jet of vapour of which
the tube be seen in G, draws the sulphuretted hydrogen gas F to throw it
mixed with vapour into the horizontal condensator where terminate the
chimneys, H, H, H, H, H, of the common furnaces, where all the operations
of the reduction of the mineral are performed, where it has gone through the
first grilling; this grilling being finished, the communication between the

page_text: furnace and the condensation chamber E is intercepted by shutting the valve
i, of the tube D; the fire of the fire-places is put out, and in two or three
hours the charge of the furnace is withdrawn in order to substitute there a
new one; from the first moment of the interception, a second furnace of the
same sort operates, and brings its gas by the tube F; the sulphuretted hydrogen
gas mixed with vapour of water meets in its course above the water of the
condensator the sulphurous acid drawn by the draft of the reduction furnaces,
these two gases combine to form water, and abandon the sulphur which con-
stituted them; this deposes itself in the water of the conduit with the arsenical
acid, and the gas resulting from the combustion deprived of hurtful substances
are carried out by the high chimney B; in certain circunstances the mineral
can be worked after the boiling in the furnace represented Drawing 4,
Figure 1; after which is seen a generator, which furnishes vapour to establish the
draft when the register is shut; the products of the combustion, and those which
disengage themselves from the mineral, arrive by the tube F, under the water
contained in the case E, Figure 3, by the side of the tube F, plunge the
tube G, by which arrives the sulphuretted hydrogen of the condensation
chamber L, recourse may again be had to the condensator of the Figure 2, of
Drawing 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Lejeune, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand sight hundred and forty tw
Inrolled the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-two.