IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING OR REDUCING COPPER AND OTHER METALS FROM THEIR ORES, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID IN OR BY SUCH PROCESSES
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Isham Baggs at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th September
1856.
I, ISHAM BAGGS, of Manchester Street, Argyle Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING OR REDUCING COPPER AND OTHER METALS FROM
THEIR ORES, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID IN OR BY SUCH
PROCESSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of certain processes and arrangements by means of
which the time which is now occupied in the smelting and reduction of copper
and other metals from their ores will be materially shortened, and the reduction
of the metals more readily effected; and also of certain arrangements whereby
the manufacture of sulphuric acid may in some cases be carried on in com
bination with the before-mentioned processes.
In the following observations I will take the case of copper, as an example,
for the purpose of explaining my Invention. The ore having been roasted or
calcined in the ordinary way, or ifconsidered desirable that preliminary process
having been dispensed with, 1 place, in the one case, the mass remaining after
the preliminary roasting or calcination has been effected, or, in the other, the
crude ore, together, when necessary, with a proper admixture of siliceous or
other proper material or materials, as a flux or fluxes, in a reverberatory
furnace, and submit the same to heat applied in the ordinary way until the

page_text: mass becomes fused or melted. The result of this process is, as in the
method now in use, that the silex or other flux combines with the oxide of
iron, if any, forming silicate of iron or slag, or some analogous compound,
which is to be skimmed off, as at present, and sulphuret of copper combined
with arsenic and other impurities. The silicate of iron or slag having been
skimmed off, as before mentioned, and the application of heat being continued,
I then pass into the mass remaining in the furnace jets of atmospheric air, or
of oxygen, or other suitable gaseous fluid or fluids, which may be hot or cold,
as may be found most advantageous, the samo being forced into the fluid metal
through tuyeres constructed of suitable material or materials, and arranged in
a convenient manner. By this process, the arsenic is volatilised in the form of
arsenious acid, and then condensed in the ordinary way, while the other
impurities are got rid of by oxydation. In this process the sulphur is evolved as
at present in the form of sulphurous acid gas, and with great rapidity. The
oxygen absorbed or taken up by the copper is got rid of, as in the methods now
practised, by the use or application of carbonaceous matter, aided by the
operation known amongst persons conversant with such matters as " poling,"
or by the use of some analogous process. In the preceding remarks I have
spoken of the same furnace as being used for the whole operation, but it may
be desirable to use two or more furnaces in succession; and in carrying my
Invention into practice various modifications of the processes above described
will be necessary with reference to the quality of the ores which may be
submitted to reduction.
With respect to other metals, some variations in matters of detail will be
necessary, the main feature, namely, the introduction of jets of air or gas into
the molten metal being preserved.
In the use of my Invention for the purposes above mentioned, the reduction
of metals from their ores will be effected in much less time than by the
methods now practised, while the cost of such reduction will be materially
lessened.
With regard to the manufacture of sulphuric acid, I employ the sulphurous
acid gas derived from the operations above mentioned for the preparation of
the former acid, imparting the necessary amount of oxygen thereto, either in a
leaden chamber, as in the present system, or by catalysis, or by any other proper
and convenient method.

page_text: ONAL SPECIF GATION left by Isham Baggs at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th September
1856.
I, ISHAM BAGGS, of Manchester Street, Argyle Square, in the County of
Middlesox, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING OR REDUCING COPPER AND OTHER METALS FROM
THEIR ORES, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC. ACID IN OR BY SUCH
PROCESSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of certain processes and arrangements by means of
which the time which is now occupied in the smelting and reduction of copper
and other metals from their ores will be materially shortened, and the reduction
of the metals more readily effected; and also of certain arrangements whereby
the manufacture of sulphuric acid may in some cases be carried on in com-
bination with the before-mentioned processes.
In the following observations I will take the case of copper, as an example,
for the purpose of explaining my Invention. The ore having been roasted or
calcined in the ordinary way, or if considered desirable that preliminary process
having been dispensed with, I place, in the one case, the mass remaining after
the preliminary roasting or calcination has been effected, or, in the other, the
crude ore, together, when necessary, with a proper admixture of siliceous or
other proper material or materials, as a flux or fluxes, in a reverberatory
furnace, and submit the same to heat applied in the ordinary way until the

page_text: mass becomes fused or melted. The result of this process is, as in the
method now in use, that the silex or other flux combines with the oxide of
iron, if any, forming silicate of iron or slag, or some analogous compound,
which is to be skimmed off, as at present, and sulphuret of copper combined
with arsenic and other impurities. The silicate of iron or slag having been
skimmed off, as before mentioned, and the application of heat being continued,
I then pass into the mass remaining in the furnace jets of atmospheric air, or
of oxygen, or other, suitable gaseous fluid or fluids, which may be hot or cold,
as may be found most advantageous, the same being forced into the fluid metal
through tuyeres constructed of suitable material or materials, and arranged in
a convenient manner. By this process, the arsenic is volatilised in the form of
arsenious acid, and then condensed in the ordinary way, while the other
impurities are got rid of by oxydation. In this process the sulphur is evolved as
at present in the form of sulphurous acid gas, and with great rapidity. The
oxygen absorbed or taken up by the copper is got rid of, as in the methods now
practised, by the use or application of carbonaceous matter, aided by the
operation known amongst persons conversant with such matters as "poling,"
or by the use of some analogous process. In the preceding remarks I have
spoken of the same furnace as being used for the whole operation, but it may
be desirable to use two or more furnaces in succession; and in carrying my
Invention into practice various modifications of the processes above described
will be necessary with reference to the quality of the ores which may be
submitted to reduction.
With respect to other metals, some variations in matters of detail will be
necessary, the main feature, namely, the introduction of jets of air or gas into
the molten metal being preserved.
In the use of my Invention for the purposes above mentioned, the reduction
of metals from their ores will be effected in much less time than by the
methods now practised, while the cost of such reduction will be materially
lessened.
With regard to the manufacture of sulphuric acid, I employ the sulphurous
acid gas derived from the operations above mentioned for the preparation of
the former acid, imparting the necessary amount of oxygen thereto, either in a
leaden chamber, as in the present system, or by catalysis, or by any other proper
and convenient method.