IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Gravelly Hill, near Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED
FOR THIS PURPOSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th June 1873.
I, ALEXANDER PARKES, of Gravelly Hill, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS
TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
In the Provisional Specification lodged by me on the 13th of May
last, No. 1736, I described a process of manufacturing metallic alloys,
more especially of copper and manganese, by exposing to a moderate
heat for a considerable length of time a mixture of copper and manganese
ores, or preparation of these metals in a powdered state, together with

page_text: carbon. The metallic alloy is thus obtained in minute globules, which
are afterwards melted either alone or with other metals.
According to my present Invention I employ for carrying out the
above process vertical retorts, which are charged from the top and emptied
at the bottom.
For heating the retorts I employ by preference a gas furnace, in which
case the lower ends of the retorts are below the bottom of the furnace;
or if other forms of furnaces are used the lower ends of the retorts are
arranged to be below the furnace bars or bottom, so that the bottom of
the retorts can readily be removed without interfering with the retorts
themselves.
In charging the retorts a quantity of carbon is first introduced into
the retort to fill up its lower part which is not sufficiently heated; the
mixture of ores or metallic preparations and carbon is then introduced.
In place also of using oxides or carbonates of copper I employ barilla |
or native copper in a state of fine division, or deposited copper melted
and granulated, or other granulated copper, or copper alloy, or pre-
cipitated copper.
The oxide, carbonate, acetate, or chloride of copper may also be used
together with metallic copper, granulated or in fine division.
Cyanide of potassium or chloride of barium may also be used as
fluxes.
In place also of employing anthracite as the reducing agent I employ
graphite, either alone or with other carbonaceous matter.
Alloys of manganese with chromium, tungsten, or titanium, in
combination with iron, copper, or nickel, may also be produced as above
described.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, 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 Alexander Parkes, Her special license
that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
Parkes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Parkes, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me and dated the 13th of
May last, No. 1786, I described a process of manufacturing metallic
alloys, more especially of copper and manganese, by exposing to a
moderate heat for a considerable length of time a mixture of copper and
manganese ores, or preparation of these metals in a powdered state
together with carbon. The metallic alloy is thus obtained in minute
globules, which are afterwards melted either alone or with other
metals.
According to my present Invention I employ for carrying out the
above process vertical retorts, which are charged from the top and
emptied at the bottom.
For heating the retorts I employ by preference a gas furnace, in which
case the lower ends of the retorts are below the bottom of the furnace;

page_text: 'or if other forms of furnaces are used the lower ends of the retorts are
arranged to be below the furnace bars or bottom, so that the bottom of
the retorts can readily be removed without interfering with the retorts
themselves.
In charging the retorts a quantity of carbon is first introduced into
the retort to fill up its lower part, which is not sufficiently heated;
the mixture of ores or metallic preparations and carbon is then
introduced.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section of
the furnace I employ.
a, a, are two parallel side walls, which with the walls at the ends
surround a space which is enclosed at the top by an arch; b is an
horizontal partition dividing the space into two parts, the upper is the
fire chamber and the lower is a cave, which can be entered by doorways.
The retorts c, which are set in an upright position in the fire chamber,
open at their lower ends into the cave. The fire chamber is suitably
constructed to sustain a high heat, and it may be provided with a casing
of sheet iron.
The retorts are of fire-clay or of clay and plumbago. At their upper
ends they are provided with a loosely fitting cover of similar material,
and at their lower ends within the cave, where they are not exposed to
heat, they are provided with closely fitting metal covers similar to those
of gas retorts. The gas is admitted into the fire chamber of the furnace
at its ends by the passages d, d, and close to these passages are air
passages e, e, by which air is drawn from the cave to effect the com-
bustion of the gas. The gas is generated in gas producers, such as are
commonly employed in the manufacture of gas to be used as the fuel of
gas furnaces; f, f, are covers at the top of the fire chamber, which are
removed for the purpose of charging the retorts. The retorts are emptied
into the cave, the bottom cover of the retort is removed when the
process is complete, and the charge falls into an iron box provided to
receive it. The box is kept covered until the charge is cold.
To produce an alloy of manganese and copper, in place of using oxide
of copper according to the Specification of my former Patent, I employ
barilla or native copper in a state of fine division, or deposited copper
melted and granulated, or other granulated copper or copper alloy, or
precipitated copper..

page_text: The oxide carbonate, acetate, or chloride of copper may also be used
together with metallic copper granulated or in fine division.
Cyanide of potassium or chloride of barium may also be used as
fluxes. Thus, for example, to produce an alloy of manganese and
copper I take from 150 to 200 lbs. of black oxide of manganese in a
state of fine division, 100 lbs. of copper in a metallic and finally divided
or granulated state, and 150 lbs. of carbon; anthracite coal ground to
powder is preferred. These materials, when intimately mixed, may form
the charge for the retorts, but I prefer to add about ten parts of cyanide
of potassium or chloride of barium as a flux, and also about thirty parts
of chloride of copper, the presence of copper in this form I find to hasten
the process.
The charge should be submitted to a full red heat for from 4 to 8
hours, and then for two hours or thereabout the retorts should be raised
to a white heat. The charge is then drawn. If the process has been
properly conducted the alloy will be found diffused in globules through-
out the mass. It is important that the heat should not be raised so high
as to cause the alloy to form a mass at the bottom of the retort. The
granules of alloy are separated from the rest of the charge by sieves or
otherwise as stated in the Specification of my former Patent herein-
before referred to, and they may if desired be remelted and cast into
ingots.
In a manner similar to that in which I make alloys of copper with
manganese, I make alloys of iron (with or without manganese) with
chromium, tungsten, and titanium. Mixtures of oxides of chromium or,
tungsten with peroxide of iron or hæmatite or magnetic ore when thus
treated furnish valuable alloys.
In each case the proportions may be eighty parts of iron oxide to
20 parts of the oxide with which it is associated.
Titanic iron orc is also a suitable natural mixture containing iron and
titanium.
In cases where the ore contains a larger proportion of titanium than
twenty per cent. I add to it peroxide of iron to make up the deficiency
of iron. Oxide of manganese may in each case be added; ten to twenty
per cent. will be a suitable proportion. The proportion of powdered
anthracite coal which I mix with these metallic oxides and ores is, say

page_text: ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)