IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF IRON AND SULPHUR
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Lowthian Bell, of the Washington
Chemical Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF IRON
AND SULPHUR."
Sealed the 17th January 1853, and dated the 17th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Lowthian
Bell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Peti-
tion, on the 17th November 1852.
I, ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL, of Washington Chemical, Works, New-
castle-upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF IRON AND
SULPHUR" to be as follows:-
. I treat a certain substance known as tank residuum or soda-makers'
waste with iron, by which I obtain a sulphuret of iron. To effect
this I employ a furnace, and, although I do not confine myself to any
particular form of furnace, the one I prefer is urged by a blast and
of the same principle as those commonly used for the reducing and

page_text: the melting of iron. Into the furnace I introduce, along with
proper fuel, the soda-makers' waste, together with an ore of iron or
any other suitable substance containing that metal; and on keeping
up in the furnace a temperature easily commanded, the iron, uniting
with sulphur contained in the soda-makers' waste, runs down as a
sulphuret of iron, which from its greater specific gravity separates
from the slag produced by the lime and earthy impurities. After
this both are run out of the furnace. The proportions of soda-makers'
waste and the substance containing the iron will vary with the
richness of the latter in metal, and in case the ore or other material
employed does not contain a sufficiency of earthy matter to serve as
a flux, this may be added, varying in nature according to circum-
stances, and in a way well understood in metallurgical operations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Lowthian Bell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL, of the Washington Chemical Works, New-
castle-upon-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her inost Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Lowthian Bell,
Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Lowthian Bell, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac
Lowthian Bell, 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 law-
fully 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 TREATMENT OF CERTAIN
COMPOUNDS OF IRON AND SULPHUR," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said Isaac Lowthian Bell, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Isaac Lowthian Bell, 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):
That whereas there is largely produced in the manufacture of
carbonate of soda a certain substance well known to soda-makers
under the name of tank residuum, or soda-makers' waste, which
residual substance consists principally of sulphur and lime, with
more or less of sulphur united to calcium, the metallic base of lime.
And there is also produced at works where iron pyrites is used
for the manufacture of sulphuric acid burnt pyrites or pyrites refuse
containing a large proportion of peroxide of iron.
Now my Invention consists in treating this tank residuum with
oxide of iron, so as to obtain sulphuret of iron; and as the cheapest
oxide of iron I can at present procure is this burnt pyrites or pyrites
residuum I shall confine myself entirely to it in the following detail
of my mode of proceeding.
I have a furnace similar in form and principle to the well-known
blast furnace used in the smelting of iron urged by a blast of either
cold or heated air. This furnace I load with fuel as practised
commonly in what is technically called "blowing in" an ordinary
blast furnace for smelting iron, and when it is suitably filled I in-
troduce portions of the tank residuum, burnt pyrites, and fuel, much
in the same way as practised in smelting iron, except that the tank
residuum and burnt pyrites are used instead of limestone and iron
ore, the result being the union of inore or less of the sulphur con-
tained in the tank residuum with more or less of the iron contained
in the burnt pyrites; which resulting compound of sulphur and
iron, or, as I shall hereafter call it, "factitious pyrites," fuses and

page_text: runs down into the bottom or well of the furnace, and at the saine
time the lime of the tank residuum combining with the silica and
aluinina furnished by the burnt pyrites or present from other sources
forms a readily fusible slag, which also runs down to the bottom or
well of the furnace, and being of less specific gravity collects above
the "factitious pyrites." After a sufficient time the furnace is
tapped, when the factitious pyrites flows out first, and the slag
In this manner
runs out afterwards, as in the smelting of iron.
the operation proceeds, the furnace being continually charged with
fresh materials, and tapped from time to time as it becomes necessary.
In case the burnt pyrites, tank residuum, and fuel do not
themselves contain a sufficiency of silica and alumina to form the
lime of the tank residuum into a slag, I add some material as a flux
to supply these carths, such as common clay, basalt, burnt bricks,
or other suitable substance.
The proportions of tank residuum, burnt pyrites, and earthy flux
(when the latter is required) are easily adopted by any one ac-
quainted with the management of a blast furnace; the principle
being obviously to use tank residuum, burnt pyrites, and flux in
such proportions as to have sufficient iron to take up all the sulphur
of the tank residuum, and sufficient earthy matter to fuse all the lime
of the tank residuum into a slag.
But, as a guide to those unaccustomed to iron smelting, I may
state that I have found these proportions, -
Moist tank residuum as it comes from the
soda vats
-
Burnt pyrites
Clay or burnt bricks
answer well.
-
three parts
by
three parts
weight,
one part
:
In the same way the quantity of fuel employed may vary, but in
this particular the proper working of the furnace may be judged of
by the appearance of the slag; for when the fuel is too little a portion
of oxide of iron escapes reduction, and passing off into the slag
gives it a very dark color, on the appearance of which more fuel

page_text: must be added till the slag is freed, or nearly freed, from oxide of
iron.
Having thus detailed the nature of my Invention, and the mode
in which it may be carried into operation, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to burnt pyrites as a source of
oxide of iron, or to an iron blast furnace as the mode of fusion. But
I claim as my Invention the fusion of tank residuum with oxide of
iron, either in the way described, or otherwise, so as to obtain
sulphuret of iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Lowthian Bell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
WILL. CHATER, Sol,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
I. LOWTHIAN BELL. (L. s.)