IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING CADMIUM AND CERTAIN COMPOUNDS THEREOF
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Astley Paston Price, of Margate, in the County of
Kent, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
CADMIUM AND CERTAIN COMPOUNDS THEREOF."
Sealed the 12th October 1858, and dated the 16th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1858.
I, ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
CADMIUM AND CERTAIN COMPOUNDS THEREOF," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in subjecting certain ores containing cadmium,
such as blendes or sulphurets of zinc, to suitable calcination in a suitable
calcining furnace with contact with air, in order that the sulphuret of cadmium
therein contained may be entirely or in part converted into sulphate of cadmium,
and the other metals into sulphates or oxides.
The sulphate of cadmium thus formed may be dissolved out by means of
water, or otherwise, and the cadmium may be separated therefrom by means
of metallic zinc, or by means of sulphuretted hydrogen or other suitable pre-
cipitating agents. Should the solution contain silver or copper, these may be
precipitated and separated by any suitable method before effecting the
precipitation of the cadmium.

page_text: My improvements further consist in subjecting certain sulphurets of zinc or
"blendes" containing cadmium to calcination, as aforesaid, and to what is known
as the salting process, namely, a calcination with the addition of salt or chloride
of sodium, or any other suitable chloride; I prefer common salt on account of
its cheapness. The soluble salt of cadmium resulting may be washed out with
water, and the cadmium may be separated therefrom, as before mentioned, or
the cadmium may be dissolved out together with the silver existing as chloride
with a hot solution of common salt, and after the separation of the silver
from the solution by means of metallic copper or any other suitable method,
the cadmium may be separated by means of sulphuretted hydrogen, or by
means of metallic zinc, or by any other suitable method.
Should it be desired to obtain cadmium from the sulphuret obtained as
aforesaid, the same may be dissolved in hydrochloric acid or nitric acid, or
mixtures of the same, or in diluted sulphuric acid, and the cadmium may be
precipitated by means of zinc or otherwise, as is well understood.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Astley Paston Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ASTLEY
PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Astley Paston Price, Her special license that I, the said Astley Paston Price,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Astley
Paston Price, my executors, administrators, or 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
OBTAINING CADMIUM AND CERTAIN COMPOUNDS THEREOF," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Astley Paston Price, 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

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Astley Paston Price, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My improvements consist in subjecting certain ores containing cadmium,
such as blendes or sulphurets of zinc, containing sulphuret of cadmium, to
suitable calcination, in a suitable calcining furnace in contact with air, in
order that the sulphuret of cadmium therein contained may be entirely or in
part converted in sulphate of cadmium, and the other metals into sulphates
or oxides.
The sulphate of cadmium thus formed may be dissolved out by means of
water or otherwise, and the cadmium may be separated therefrom by means
of metallic zinc, or by means of sulphuretted hydrogen or other suitable pre-
cipitating agents. Should the solution contain silver or copper,
these may be
precipitated and separated by means of metallic iron, or by any other suitable
method, before effecting the precipitation of the cadmium.
My improvements further consist in subjecting certain sulphurets of zinc
or blendes containing cadmium to calcination, as aforesaid, and to what is
known as the salting process, namely, a calcination with the addition of salt or
chloride of sodium, or any other suitable chloride. I prefer common salt on
account of its cheapness; the soluble salt of cadmium resulting may be washed
out with water, and the cadmium may be separated therefrom, as before
mentioned, or the cadmium may be dissolved out together with the silver
existing as chloride with a hot solution of common salt, and after the separa-
tion of the silver from the solution by means of metallic copper or iron, or any
other suitable method, the cadmium existing in solution may be seperated by
means of sulphuretted hydrogen, or by means of metallic zinc, or by means of
any other suitable method.
Should it be desired to obtain cadmium from the sulphuret obtained as
aforesaid, the same may be dissolved in hydrochloric acid or nitric acid or
mixtures of the same, or in diluted sulphuric acid, and the cadmium may be
precipitated by means of zine or otherwise, as is well understood, or the
sulphuret of cadmium obtained as before mentioned may be calcined and con-
verted into oxide, and this being mixed with carbonaceous or other suitable
reducing materials may be distilled in suitable vessels, as is well understood.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into

page_text: effect, I hereby declare that what I consider to be novel or original, and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the conversion by calcination and oxidation of the sulphuret
of cadmium contained in ores of zinc, as herein-before mentioned, into a
soluble salt of cadmium, from which cadmium or compounds thereof may be
obtained in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Astley Paston Price, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)