An Improved Process for Treating Complex and Refractory Ores and Materials, and Obtaining the Metals and Pigments therefrom.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Apr., 1894-Accepted, 2nd June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process for Treating Complex and Refractory Ores and
Materials, and Obtaining the Metals and Pigments therefrom.
I, JOHN WESLEY HALL of Broadmead, Bristol, in the City and County of
Bristol, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to the treatment of complex, and refractory ores,
mainly those containing lead and zinc with or without the precious metals, and also
to the treatment of materials, other than ores, containing either lead or zinc, or
both, with or without other metals.
'
My invention has for its objects to obtain the metals from such ores and to
manufacture pigments therefrom.
:
Hitherto it has been difficult or impracticable to smelt such ores without great
loss and waste. I have found by experience that if such ores are subjected to a
strong blast (preferably hot) upon an open Scotch hearth or other suitable furnace
and the fumes drawn into a brick settling tower, chamber or other suitable recep-
tacle and thence carried through sheet iron tubes or other cooling media into
strainers made of suitable textile fabric, that the ores can in this way be success-
fully and economically dealt with.
In carrying out this process I find that the precious metals are largely concen-
trated in the metallic lead formed, while such quantity as is sublimed over I find
mostly settles in the settling chamber. This rich settlement or fume can easily be
dealt with and the metals extracted therefrom.
In dealing with certain ores I find it advantageous to add to the charge lead
material in order to facilitate the extraction of the precious metals.
The fumes and slags from this process are next dealt with in a cupola furnace
which is most advantageously constructed with a firebrick flue some twenty feet
more or less long leading from its top to the settling tower. The fumes are then
drawn through sheet iron pipes or other suitable coolers and forced through screens
of textile fabric as before mentioned.
In dealing with certain classes of ore 1 find it more economical to dispense with
the Scotch bearth furnace and feed the charge direct into the cupola furnace.
If necessary the zinc and lead and other metals may be sublimated separately by
exposing the ore to first a low temperature and subsequently to a higher tempera-
ture. The resulting fumes may be utilized as pigment or reduced to their
metallic forms.
The fume containing the lead zinc and other metals can be treated afterwards
either by manipulation in a furnace or by any other suitable process in order to
extract the various metals therefrom.
The complex fume can be used for the purposes of a pigment.
In dealing with materials other than ores I find that it is often advantageous to
subject the charge to a low heat on the Scotch hearth when I obtain in the well a
larger or smaller proportion of the metal direct. In these cases I take the mass
that is left after the draining process is complete and charge it direct to the cupola
furnace and treat the same substantially as herein before set forth. I either utilize
the resultant fume as a pigment, or else subject it to further treatment for the
extraction of the metals.
Dated this 3rd day of July 1893.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process for Treating Complex and Refractory Ores and
Materials, and Obtaining the Metals and Pigments therefrom.
I, JOHN WESLEY HALL, of Broadmead, Bristol, in the City and County of
Bristol, Merchant, 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 :-
My invention relates to the treatment of ores, more especially ores of a complex
and refractory character, and mainly those containing lead and zinc with or
without the precious metals or other metals, and also to the treatment of
material other than ores containing either lead or zinc, or both, with or without
other metals.
My invention has for its object to obtain the metals from such ores and materials
and to manufacture pigments therefrom. Hitherto it has been difficult or imprac-
ticable to smelt complex and refractory ores without great loss and waste.
I have
found by experiment that such ores can be successfully and economically dealt with
by subjecting them to a strong blast (preferably hot) upon an open Scotch hearth
or other suitable furnace and drawing the fumes containing the volatilized metals
by a fan or otherwise into a brick or other settling tower, chamber or other recep-
tacle, and thence through sheet iron tubes or other cooling media into strainers
made of suitable textile fabric. I may utilize the metallic fumes so obtained directly
as a pigment or I may further treat the same to obtain a white pigment or to extract
the metals therefrom. The aforesaid method of treating ores constitutes my
improved process.
In carrying out this process I find that the precious metals are mostly conceu-
trated in the metallic lead formed, while such proportion as is sublimed over chiefly
accumulates in the settling chamber. This rich settlement or fume can easily be
dealt with and the metals extracted therefrom.
In dealing with ores rich in silver and gold or either, but poor in lead, I find it
advantageous to add lead material to the charge in order to facilitate the extrac-
tion of the precious metals.
The slags resulting from ores treated by the above described process and in some
instances the fumes also are further treated in a cupola furnace. This furnace is
most advantageously constructed with a fire-brick flue some twenty feet more or
less long leading to a settling tower or to settling towers to which the resulting
fumes are conducted. Such fumes obtained by this second smelting operation are
drawn from the settling tower or towers through sheet iron pipes or other suitable
coolers and forced through screens of textile fabric as described with reference to
the first smelting operation.
In dealing with certain classes of ore especially those poor in the precious metals,
I find it more economical to dispense with the Scotch hearth furnace and feed the
charge direct into the cupola furnace.
If necessary the zinc and lead and other metals may be, to a large extent,
sublimated separately by exposing the ore first to a low temperature and subse-
quently to a higher temperature. The resulting fumes may be utilized as pigment
or reduced to their metallic forms.
The fume obtained by my improved process containing the lead, zinc and other
metals can be treated afterwards either by manipulation in a furnace or by any
other suitable process in order to extract the various metals therefrom.
The complex fume can be used for the purposes of a pigment.
In dealing with materials other than ores I find that it is often advantageous to
subject the charge to a low heat on the Scotch hearth when I obtain in the well a
larger or smaller proportion of the metal direct. In these cases I take the mass

page_text: that is left after the draining process is complete and charge it direct to the cupola
furnace and treat the same substantially as hereinbefore set forth. I either utilize
the resultant fume as a pigment or else subject it to further treatment for the
extraction of the metals.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown diagrammatically by way of
example apparatus for carrying out my improved process.
Figure 1 indicates the apparatus for the first treatment of the ore in the Scotch
open hearth furnace.
Figure 2 shows similar apparatus but with a cupola in lieu of the Scotch open
hearth furnace.
A, Figure 1, is the Scotch open hearth furnace; B is the brick settling chamber;
C is a sheet iron pipe leading to the fan D. E is a room containing the
strainers e, e which are made of textile fabric; f, fare sheet iron hoppers.
F, Figure 2, is the cupola; G is the brick flue thereof leading to the settling
tower H; i, i are cooling pipes; I is a fan, the delivery pipe K of which commu-
nicates with the straining room such as E Figure 1.
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 :-
1. The hereindescribed process for, or method of, treating ores and other
materials for obtaining metals and pigments therefrom, and the modifications.
thereof, substantially as described.
2. For carrying out the said process, apparatus such as described and shown in
Figure 1 and in Figure 2 of the drawings.
D
11f Anni 1804
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.