IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEAD, TIN, TUNGSTEN, COPPER, AND ZINC, PROM ORES AND SLAGS AND OTHER PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THEIR ALLOYS WITH OTHER METALS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
JOSEPH FRANCOIS DUCLOS DE BOUSSOIS, of Clyne Wood Works, near Swansea,
Engineer and Metallurgist, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of June, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edouard Joseph Francois Duclos de Boussois, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Edouard Joseph Francois
Duclos de Boussois, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edouard Joseph Francois Duclos de Boussois, my exors, adñiors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF LEAD, TIN, TUNGSTEN, COPPER, AND ZINC, PROM ORES AND SLAGS AND OTHER
PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THEIR ALLOYS WITH OTHER METALS;" in'
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I; the said Edouard Joseph
Francois Duclos de Boussois, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled 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
Edouard Joseph Francois Duclos de Boussois, do hereby declare that the
nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My improvements consist,-
First, when the ores above mentioned, and slags, and other products, are
heated in blast furnaces, in constructing the apparatus's in which the ores,
slags, and other products are heated in such manner as to ensure the complete
condensation of all metallic fumes produced during the smelting process, by
using such arrangements applied to the top of the furnace as will permit the
introduction of the charge of materials, fuel, and flux without allowing any
escape of the gases, and thereby the gases produced during the treatment are
caused to pass by means of an eduction pipe placed in or near the upper part
of the furnace into a series of chambers, where the volatile particles of metal
will be deposited, but taking care to force the gases through water after leaving
the last chamber in such manner as to insure the perfect deposition, by washing,
of all the particles of metals and other substances which might otherwise have
been carried away by the draft or blast. This process will be better under-
stood by a reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed, numbered 1, 2, 3, and
the following description of the mode of working or treating, that is to say:
The ores,.
when ground to the size of a fourth or third part of an inch, are
mixed in the following proportions with quick lime, that is to say, two and
a half hundredweights of quick lime, or thereabouts, for every ton of ore. The
quicklime is slacked thin, and mixed with the ore in the same manner and
consistence as cominon mortar. It is then laid on heated floors between two
inches and two and a half inches thick, and cut as soon as spread in parallelo-
grams of the same size as common bricks are generally made. The floors are
then kept hot for twenty-four hours, or thereabouts, when it will be found that
the mixture has acquired sufficient solidity to remove the rough bricks so pro-
duced to the kiln, where calcination of them is to be effected. The doors through
which the bricks have been piled being closed and luted, a fire is kindled on
the grate of the kiln furnace until the mass becomes of a dark red heat. The
ashpit door, to which air slides are fixed, is closed hermetically, as well as the
fire door, and the admission of the fresh air is thus controlled to keep the mass
of ore burning to the same temperature, which is also better effected by the
regulation of the draft of the escaping products of the combustion, by means
of dampers placed on the eduction flues. It is found in practice, when the

page_text: first combustion is over, that it is. advantageous to light another fire at a
rather increased temperature, and thus more completely obtain the expulsion
of the sulphur contained in the ore by the repetition of the above-described
treatment. The ores, in lumps not exceeding two inches square, may be
calcined in prismatic kilns with double grates, with the same arrangement of
the kiln described necessary for the regulation of the draft, and when
sufficiently calcined may be taken at once to the blast furnace. The ore thus
calcined is charged with sufficient quantity of coal, or coke, or charcoal, in
such proportion, as the calorific power of the fuel and refractibility of the ores
will best allow, and which is best ascertained by práctice; and also a proper
quantity of lime or other flux is to be added, as the chemical composition of
the ore will require. The charge is put into the furnace in such a manner
as to avoid the escape of any volatile product other than through the
chamber.of condensation. The working of the furnace is the same as that
followed in the working of iron ore, taking care to work with a highly heated
blast, and with closed breast, endeavouring to obtain a slag highly charged
with lime, by which means the reduction of the metallic oxides is more
completely insured, and their carburation; as far as iron is concerned, more
certainly obtained. In the case of the treatment of copper ore the mixture of
cast iron and copper thus obtained is tapped out as common cast iron, in the
most advantageous shape for the refusion, and the operation is thus conducted
with great economy of labor and combustible matter, without any interrup-
tion. The pigs of mixed metals thus obtained are melted in a cupola
(Figure 3), and the melted metals are, by a disposition which keep them at a
high state of temperature, allowed to separate by difference of gravity, the
copper precipitating under the cast iron, both of which are tapped at various
levels; the cast iron thus containing one half or one quarter per cent. of.
copper, and the copper from twenty to twenty-five per cent. of iron, which is
allowed to run out of the cupola in an air furnace, when it is kept at a 'high
temperature further to allow the more complete, separation of the metallic
copper from the cast-iron; and the proportion of that metal left mixed with
the copper is further separated by means of the usual mode followed in the
refining of black.copper, in the furnace where it has been tapped out of the
cupola, taking care to apply to each of the furnaces used in this treatment the
condensing chambers previously described. Thus, by the ores being heated as
above in the large kilns (described in Drawing Number 1), a large proportion.
of the coal and labor required in the ordinary treatment are economized, and
the sulphurous acid gas and sulphuric acid formed in the operation, irretrievably
lost in the ordinary method, are made applicable to the manufacture of sulphur.

page_text: or sulphuric acid; also the ore, when sufficiently calcined, are treated so as to
reduce the metallic oxides they contain in a blast furnace, with chambers of
condensation and feeding apparatus, as seen in Drawings Number 2, the
chambers being calculated to ensure the collection of any volatile produce
that the ores treated may contain, and the mixture of iron and other metal is
submitted to fusion and liquidation in a cupola, as may be seen in the Drawing
Number 3.
:. My improvements consist, secondly, when the ores above mentioned, shags,
and other products, are not treated in blast furnaces after such preparation as
would render them soluble in acid if they were not so by their mineralogical
nature. They are submitted to the reiterated action of muriatic, sulphuric, or
other acid, as the case may require. They are precipitated and isolated
according to their respective qualities, in such manner and by such reagents
as the case may require, and will be explained hereafter. And, in order more
clearly to point out the manner in which my improvements in such manufac
ture can be best carried on, I will now proceed to give a detailed description
of the improvements in the treatment of each metal, with the same respecting
the alloys that can be produced, viz., as regards the manufacture of lead, either
from ores, slags, or other products. When they are in that chemical state
known by the name of oxides, carbonates, silicates, phosphates, arseniates, I
proceed to the conversion or reduction of such substances in a furnace; of the
description of those now in use, into metallic lead, employing the action of a
blast upon the combustible used, by which means the required temperature is
obtained; taking care during the process to prevent any access of the air
except such as may be supplied from the blast apparatus. The operation
must be conducted in such a way as may best ensure the full command of the
gases escaping, in order to submit them to the condensation process before
described. When the process is conducted in a blast furnace, the ores, slags,
or other products are mixed with such quantity of fuel as is necessary to
produce the temperature required for the reducing of the ores, slags, or other
products to a metallic state, and causing the métal obtained to be smelted and
separated by the use of such fluxes as are generally used by smelters to free
the slag from any metal they may contain, and which is better performed by
the process in this Specification before described, as the condensing apparatus
before described enables the smelter to increase the temperature of his furnace,
and thereby the quantities of its fluxes, which hitherto could not be done
without a considerable increase in the loss of the metal.
When the process
or treatment is conducted in an air or reverberátory furnace the grate or fire-
place should be arranged in such manner as not to allow the introduction of

page_text: any other air than that supplied by the blast engine, and the same care should
be taken in the treatment as regards the mixture of any required fluxes.
:
The foregoing process and apparatus is equally applicable to the condensing
of fumes produced in the refining of silver lead, and in the conversion of
lead into litharge. When the ores of lead, slags, or other products are in the
state of combination known by chymists and metallurgists by the names of
sulphurets, sulphites, or sulphates, they may either be calcined totally or
partially, as before described, or treated directly with such quantity of iron or
of iron ore, as most advantageous, as would be required to form during the
treatment above described a compound of iron and sulphur, with the assistance
of carbonaceous matter, and thereby reduce the lead to its metallic state, the
fumes which may be produced during the treatment being condensed in the
manner before described. As regards the manufacture of tin from its ores
commonly called black tin, by the application of either furnace, the condensing
apparatus before described being used, all the fumes now produced, and mostly
lost, will be condensed, and a larger quantity of earthy flux can be used, so as
to lessen the quantity of tin left in combination with the slag than is now done
by the usual treatment. When tin is to be obtained from slag the slag
should be treated in either of the furnaces here previously alluded to with
such a quantity of lime or limestone or other flux as will be sufficient to
displace the tin and other metals in combination with the slag. The alloy or
metal thus obtained will be dissolved in muriatic or sulphuric acid to obtain
such metal separately; and, in the first place, the tin and iron, if any, will be
dissolved; leaving nearly untouched any tungsten which may exist on the
product heated. The tin can be precipitated either into a metallic state by
the use of zinc, or to the state of sulphuret of tin by the use of sulphuret of
hydrogen, or the use of any other sulphurated bases. In the case of sulphuret
of tin the metallic tin can' be obtained from it by a proper calcination, and a
subsequent reduction of the oxides thereby obtained in the manner usually
practised, or according to the process here previously described. In the case
where sulphuric acid is used, when properly diluted, the iron alone will be
dissolved from the alloy, and the tin and tungsten existing in the alloy might
be fused together with the assistance of a proper alkaline or other flux, and
thus an alloy obtained which will be found of great utility in various
manufactures.
The foregoing treatment is applicable to obtain tungsten from tungstate of
lime. As regards the manufacture of tungsten from its ore called woolfran: ✓
This is to be treated and reduced by the use of an alkaline base, carbon and
sulphur, in a proper furnace or crucible at a high temperature, and the

page_text: product dissolved in muriatic or sulphuric acid. The tungsten is left in a
metallic state. An alloy may be obtained from the same ore by the use o
oxide of tin, copper, or iron with a proper reductible flax, from which alloy the
same metal may be produced in the same way by treating it with acid, as
before described. As regards the manufacture of copper from ores, slags, or
other products, I cause them to be converted to the state of carbonates o
oxides by, a proper, and preparatory calcination. They are then exposed in a
vessel arranged in such manner as to permit the introduction of the gases
under the mass capable of holding acid liquids to the constant or intermittent
action of sulphuric acid in the gazious state, or otherwise, in such manner as
to insure the greatest diffusion possible through the mass. The acid will
combine with the oxides of metals contained in the matters in treatment, and
the soluble sulphates formed will be dissolved and concentrated by the repeated
livigation of the mass, water being used in the first instance, until, by repeated
application over the mass, it become sufficiently, concentrated to permit the
precipitation of the copper from the sulphates obtained, either by means of
metallic iron, sulphuret of hydrogen, or others basiques sulphurets, after which
the copper can be converted into a merchatable state by either of the processes
hitherto known and practised, or by the use of the apparatuses here previously
described. The sulphates of metals left after the treatment can be concen-
trated and crystallized according to the manner usually practised. The best
manner of producing sulphuric acid, and which I prefer to employ, is the
following: I use a large, prismatic kiln, susceptible of holding from five to
ten or twenty tons of either sulphurets of iron, copper, 2 zinc, or other metals of
similar construction as those used in the calcination of ores, and such as I have
described in the Specification in a Patent granted to me for the manufacture
of zinc, and dated the Thirty-first day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight, and which Specification was inrolled on the Thirtieth day. of
November, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, with this modifica
tion, that the air is supplied and regulated by the action of a blast of air
produced at a pressure above that of the atmosphere. By this treatment,
when the ores are properly kindled, the regular production of sulphurous acid
gas is obtained. The temperature generated in this treatment is sufficient,
and may be used to decompose the nitrates from which the nitrous gas
necessary to form sulphuric acid, both sulphurous and nitrous gas being forced.
in the same pipe, and proper quantities of steam introduced, sulphuric acid
would be produced in a very economical manner. The generation of sulphuric
acid being thus established, it is forced by the steam and blast in a gaseous
state in the lower part of the vessel and under the mass of oxided ores in such

page_text: manner as to insure the greatest. contact with the oxides of metals; thereby
forming sulphates, as above described. As regards the manufacture of zinc,
in addition to the process described in the Specification above alluded to, I
would claim the use of the condensing apparatus above described, either applied
to blast, air, or reverberatory furnaces..
My improvements consist, thirdly, in the manufacture of alloys, which I
now claim as far as regard' alloys of tin with tangsten from the proportion of
sixty to ninety-five parts of the first with forty to five parts of the second,
which will produce a metal of great usefulness in many cases; as far as
regards alloying tungsten with copper in the above-described proportion; or
either of the usual alloys of tin and copper with a like proportion of tungsten,
as above described; as far as regards: the alloys of zinc and tin are concerned,
the proportion that I claim as. my Invention is ninety-five to ninety-seven
parts of the first with five or three parts of the second, which will render the
alloy produced preferable in many instances to ordinary zinc. All these alloys
are best produced by particular attention being given to the purity of the metals
employed. The modes of obtaining alloys are so well known that it is not
necessary to give any detailed description of the same other than they are.
obtained by fusing each relative proportion of the metals, as above described,
in a crucible furnace or other apparatus, with proper fluxes, as is well known
by ordinary metal workers. As regard the manufacture of alloys of zinc and
copper I find a very great improvement in the quality, and economy is
produced by the following process:-The ores of zinc being well and throughly.
calcined, and mixed with carbonaceous matters; are placed in muffles, crucibles,
or pots, in such manner as is practised for the production of zinc in the metallic
state, in volume nearly half, more or less, the capacity of the vessel, crucible,
or pot where the reduction is to be obtained, upon which a tray of the same
material as the vessel itself is placed in such manner as will fit exactly within
it. This tray is supplied with small apertures; to permit the volatilization. of
zinc, and combine with necessary quantities of feathered copper or other, 'as
will be required to form the alloy, preventing the contact of the ores of zinc and
flux with the copper during the reduction treatment; the vessel is closed, and
the process carried on as in the manufacture of zinc alone. The fumes of
zinc, when the reduction takes place, combine with the copper in a regular
and constant proportion, and the oxides of zinc escaping can be condensed, as
in the manufacture of zinc, which having ceased, the muffles are opened, the
divided alloy forms upon the tray, melted in a proper and well-known vessel, and
the process repeated. To this alloy a little tin, say three per cent., will be found
very beneficial. Of the alloy,so obtained another alloy containing four tenths

page_text: to five tenths of its weight of zinc may be produced by a subsequent addition
during the remelting of the alloy próduced in the first treatment of such
quanity of metallic, zinc as would be required to constitute an alloy of the
above-described proportion. This alloy may be obtained, as is well known,
direct from each metal. To this alloy the addition of three to five per cent. of
tin will give such properties as will render such triple compound highly superior
in its commercial and manufacturing application to any other alloy made simply
of zinc and copper.
What I claim as my Invention are my improvements in condensing the
fumes produced in treating lead ores, slag, or other products. "The same in
treating tin ores; also in treating copper ores; and also in treating zinc ores,
without any. claim to any apparatus bitherto used in such manufacture,
claiming, nevertheless, in the manufacture of the above metals and alloys,
the manner of using sulphuric acid as manufactured according to descriptions.
I claim the treatment of tin slags and other products, as above described.
I claim the treatment for the production of tungsten, as above described.
. I claim the invention of various alloys of metals in the proportions above
described...
"
. I claim, lastly, the manner of alloying zinc from its ores with copper, as
above described...
:
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Francois Joseph Du Clos de
Boussois, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day
of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-three.
EDOUARD JOSEPH FRANCOIS (L.S.) DUCLOS DE BOUSSOIS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Edward Joseph Francois Duclos de
Boussois, came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
äcknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.
.
Enrolled the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three..