CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FOR SMELTING AND IN SMELTING ORES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES CONTAINING CERTAIN METALS, OR IN EXTRACTING SUCH METALS FROM SUCH ORES AND SUBSTANCES
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARISTIDES
FRANKLIN MORNAY, of Ashburton House, Putney Heath, in the County of
Surrey, Esquire, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of
March now last past, 'did give and grant unto me, the said Aristides Franklin
Mornay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full
power and authority, that I, the said Aristides Franklin Mornay, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FOR SMELTING AND IN
SMELTING ORES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES CONTAINING CERTAIN METALS, OR IN
EXTRACTING SUCH METALS FROM SUCH ORES AND SUBSTANCES," in part communi-
cated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad, and in part the discovery of i
the said Aristides Franklin Mornay; in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Aristides Franklin Mornay, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said. Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Aristides Franklin Mornay, do hereby declare that the said-Invention is fully
described and ascertained as follows-(that is to say):-
The Improvements in Preparing for Smelting and in Smelting Ores and
other Substances containing certain Metals, or in Extracting such Metals from
such Ores and Substances, consist,―
First, in Preparing for Smelting, that is to say:-I cause the table on which
the ores and other substances containing metals are to be washed or concen-
trated, which is at present a fixture, to be so constructed that it may be
agitated by an alternate motion in the direction of its length, so as to separate
by its own motion, aided only by the customary flow of water without the inter-
ference of manual labour, as at present practised, the component part of the
ores or other substances containing metals that are to be subsequently smelted
according to their several respective specific gravities. This agitation or
alternate motion of the washing table may be effected by the application of
any convenient motive power, either a water wheel or steam engine, or any
other power which, as well as the construction of the table itself, it is unneces-
sary particularly to describe, as any millwright or other person qualified to
erect the machinery now in use will readily be able to construct a table to be
agitated as above described, and apply the requisite motive power. I shall,
however, in order that this part of the Invention may be clearly understood,
and without difficulty be carried into effect, describe one single mode by which.
the agitation or alternate motion of the washing table may be effected, of
course not intending to confine myself to this precise means or peculiar con
struction, nor to the dimensions set forth, but describing it merely as an
example, viz-A convenient size table for most descriptions of ore is about
sixteen feet long, and five feet six inches wide, constructed of smooth deal
boards, placed transversely, and nailed upon a frame of timber, which is
suspended within another strong frame of timber, consisting of four upright
posts, standing about eight feet high, firmly fixed in the ground, and held in
their position by beams of timber, which connect them together. This frame
must be just long and wide enough to allow the free motion of the table.
The table is suspended by four chains or rods, placed at the four angles like
the sieve of a mustard mill. The two chains at the. head of the table are
affixed to the upright posts of the outer frame, and thereby keep that end of
the table always at about the same height, that is to say, a few inches below
the edge of the slope over which the feed of ore and the flow of water are
supplied; but the two chains or rods at the lower end of the table are made
made fast to an horizontal beam, which moves up and down in grooves in the

page_text: two upright posts of the outward frame, at the lower extremity of the table, and
can be elevated or depressed by a lever to which it is attached, the other arm
whereof reaches the upper end of the table. The centre of motion of this
lever is upon a beam affixed to the outer frame, and the arm to which the
table is suspended is about one foot in length. This simple mechanism affords
an opportunity of varying the angle of inclination or slope of the inclined plane
of the table, a circumstance of the greatest importance, as the table may thus
be adjusted accurately, without loss of time or labour, to that precise inclina-
tion which best suits the description of ore or other substance under mani-
pulation; and it is obvious that. this angle must depend upon the relative
difference of specific gravity in the heterogeneous components of the ore or
other substance, and is most easily determined by the superintendant of the
operation by elevating or depressing the lever until he attains the point where
the separation of the different component parts of the substance on the table
is most readily and completely effected. A trough is placed under the edge
of the lower end of the table to receive the water which flows over the table
constantly, and where the matter carried down by the water is partly deposited.
When full it overflows, and the matter, still suspended in the water, is
ultimately deposited in channels and reservoirs prepared for that purpose, and
which must be more or less extensive according to the greater or less diffi-
culty of separating the valuable part of the ore or substance from the useless
matter. Within. about three feet of the lower end of the table a slit is
cut quite across the table and through the boards, about two inches wide.
While the table is at work this slit is filled with a slip of wood, and is covered
by a flap of leather nailed along one of its edges to the board above the slit.
When the operation is finished the slip of wood is removed, and the flap of
leather is pushed down so as to hang in the slit. The valuable materials
collected on the table are then swept and washed down through the slit
into another trough placed under it. The motion is given to the table by
means of a beam, which is placed horizontally at the head of and in a
line with the table, in such a position as, being impelled forward by means
of a crank. or other connection with the motive power, it propells the table
in the direction from the head to the lower end, and being drawn back
again by the same power more rapidly than the table can swing back, when
the table returns it strikes against the end of this beam at the moment when it
is about to propel the table forward again, and this shock, repeated at every alter-
nate motion of the beam, produces the desired effect of separating the various
substances operated upon, according to their relative specific gravity. The
moveable or shaking table is fed with pounded ore, in the same way as the

page_text: fixed table now in use, and a sheet of water is in like manner made to flow
over the surface.
Secondly, the Improvements in Smelting. These consist-in-the-application
of a blast furnace in lieu of the reverbrating or air furnace, and which is
constructed and used as herein-after described, that is to say:-The form of
the furnace internally is a prism of four sides, twelve feet high, and about three
feet wide at the back, three feet deep from front to back, and about two feet
eight inches in width in front. It is lined at the back and sides with fire
bricks, to the thickness of from fourteen to twenty inches, set in loam. The
masonry, without the lining, may be about three feet thick on the sides and at
the back, and may be of any form, but I prefer to construct them on a
rectangular basis. I generally build them in pairs; that is to say, uniting two
of the side piers into one of double the width, and leaving a passage on the
outward side of each pair of furnaces, to enable the workman to pass con-
veniently from the front to the back of the furnaces. I place one wide
chimney, of a pyramidal shape, over both furnaces, and of the height of about
ten or twelve feet above the top of the furnaces. Arched doorways are left
open in one side of the chimney, either at the back or front of the furnaces,
through which they are fed with the substances to be smelted, the fuel, and any
flux that may be required. A strong floor is erected at a level of about two feet
six inches below the top of the furnaces, on the same side as the arched door-
ways upon which these substances are placed, ready to be projected into the
furnace when at work. The front of the furnace itself is left open when first
constructed, and is afterwards bricked up with fire bricks to the thickness of a
single brick, or about four inches, resting on a broad iron bar placed across
the open front, at about four feet from the bottom of the furnace, and ulti-
mately the portion below the bar is likewise bricked up in a similar manner
when the furnace is about to be used. This front is thus divided into two
portions by the iron bar, to afford an opportunity of taking out the lower
division, and repairing it without interfering with the upper part at any
moment during the process, either to free the furnace from any clinker that
may have been formed accidentally, or for any other purpose. The blast is
admitted at the back of the furnace by one or more tuyeres, and an arch is
constructed in the back wall to decrease its thickness where the blast is
admitted. In front of the furnace, and immediately in contact with its face, a
hearth is constructed, of loam and ashes, or small coak or charcoal, of the
depth of about nine inches, the whole width of the furnace, and two or three
feet broad. The edges of this hearth are supported by three upright plates of
iron or slabs of stone. From the inner edge of the hearth the bottom of the

page_text: furnace slopes upwards from front to back, at an angle of about fifteen or
twenty degrees, and is constructed, like the hearth, of loam and ashes, firmly
beaten together, and may be paved with fire stone, like the bottom of iron
furnaces. The tuyeres to admit the blast are placed about twenty inches
above the highest edge of the bottom, which is at the back of the furnace.
Two or more channels are constructed under ground, in the foundations of the
furnace, to allow of the escape into the atmosphere of the steam formed from
the damp of the earth by the heat of the fire. Without these channels the
At the bottom of the thin front wall
furnace might be liable to be blown.up.
of the furnace, on a level with the upper surface of the hearth, two holes are
left near the middle of the width of the furnace, and very near to each other,
and which penetrate quite through the front wall, and are each of them about
three inches wide, and four inches high. When about to operate with this
furnace, the two holes above mentioned are stopped up with clay or loam, and
one or more basins, about one foot in diameter, are scooped out in the hearth
to the right and left of the two holes, coke and lighted shavings and wood are
thrown into the furnace, and a gentle blast is given to warm the furnace
gradually; then, if copper ore be to be smelted, a certain quantity of the one,
say half hundredweight, in the raw state, that is to say, without previous
roasting or calcining, is thrown in from the top of the furnace, upon the ignited
coke, and immediately afterwards a further supply of coke is added, and even a
small quantity of raw coal, merely with a view to economy; then again ore
and fuel in the same succession, until the furnace be full to the top; mean-
time a part of the charge will have been smelted, and one of the holes above
described having been opened by removing the stopping, the melted matter
will flow out, and will be received in one of the basins in the hearth. The melted
matter will consist of slag and metal, as it is sometimes called in English, or stein,
as iti s called in German, which is chiefly composed of copper, sulphur, and some
iron. In the basin this stein will be deposited, and the slag will flow over into
a channel, from which the workman will remove it as it sets. The furnace, being
of the height described, and it may be constructed of still greater elevation where
ores or substances containing much sulphur are to be operated upon,
holds a
larger quantity of ore above the blast or melting point, exposed to a heat suffi-
cient to desulphurise the ore in lieu of roasting or calcining it. The quantity
of fuel to be used will be indicated by the extent of the dark tuyere or nose, as
it is called by the Germans, which is formed immediately before the blast.
This dark tuyere ought always to be about eight inches long, in a furnace of
the size described. If too much fuel be used, the dark tuyere will be too
short, and vice versâ; it is to be observed also, that if the blast be too feeble,

page_text: the dark tuyere will not be formed, or, when formed, it will melt again and
disappear. The state of the dark tuyere is to be constantly observed by the
workman, to guide him in his process; should the materials in the furnace be
at any time refractory and difficult to bring into fusion, the usual addition of
fluor spar as a flux will assist the operation. When-the-basin-in-the-hearth-
is nearly full of metal or stein, the hole on that side must be stopped again,
and the other be opened to suffer the melted matter to flow into the other
basin while the first basin is being emptied. This operation is performed in
the following manner:-The slag which covers the surface quickly. sets by
cooling, and is removed in a cake by means of an iron fork at the end of a
pole or long wooden handle; but the metal or stein is rather slower in setting;
it does set on its surface, however, in a few minutes, and the workman
removes successive layers or thin cakes, in the same manner as he did the
slag. The process goes on without cessation night and day, the furnace being
continually fed from above, and the smelted materials flowing into the basins
of the hearth below. The metal or stein may afterwards be calcined and
refined in the usual or any other mode. If galena lead ore be the ore to be
reduced, I proceed in the same way, but I add cast iron to absorb the sulphur,
either in small fragments, or granulated by having been poured into water
on issuing from the high furnace where it was smelted, as may be most
economical.
In witness whereof, I, the said Aristides Franklin Mornay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.