IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ANTIMONY AND THE OXIDE OF ANTIMONY
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Brereton Todd, of Bissoe and Perran Smelting
Works, near Falmouth, in the County of Cornwall, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ANTIMONY AND THE OXIDE OF
ANTIMONY."
Sealed the 8th July 1862, and dated the 17th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Brereton Todd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
March 1862.
I, BRERETON TODD, of Bissoe and Perran Smelting Works, near Falmouth,
in the County of Cornwall, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ANTIMONY AND THE OXIDE OP
ANTIMONY," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in burning the sulphide of antimony or the oxy-
sulphide of antimony by throwing it on a fire in a furnace, or by mixing it
with a carbonaceous substance, and burning it in a crucible, retort, or furnace,
and causing the ascending vapours to pass with a current of air through flues
or condensers, by which process all the antimony contained in the ore will be
deposited in the said condensers or flues in the state of oxide, and the sulphur
volatilized in the state of sulphurous acid gas. To manufacture antimony the
oxide of antimony obtained in the flues and condensers by the above process

page_text: is to be mixed with a carbonaceous substance and alkali, and smelted in
crucibles or in a retort or furnace, so arranged that any fumes arising from
the process of reduction may pass into flues or condensers to be deposited.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent, filed
by the said Brereton Todd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th September 1862.
!
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRERETON
TODD, of Bissoe and Perran Smelting Works, near Falmouth, in the County
of Cornwall, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
"did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the-said
Brereton Todd, Her special licence that I, the said Brereton Todd, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Brereton
Todd, 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 ANTIMONY AND THE OXIDE OF ANTIMONY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Brereton Todd, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Brereton Todd, 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 state-
ment thereof, that is to say :--
This Invention consists in burning the sulphide of antimony or the oxy-
sulphide of antimony by throwing it on a fire in a furnace, or by mixing it
with a carbonaceous substance, and burning it in a crucible, retort, or furnace,
and causing the ascending vapours to pass with a current of air through flues
or condensers, by which process all the antimony contained in the ore will be

page_text: deposited in the said condensers or flues in the state of oxide, and the sulphur
volatilized in the state of sulphurous acid gas. To manufacture antimony the
oxide of antimony obtained in the flues and condensers by the above process is
to be mixed with a carbonaceous substance and alkali, and smelted in crucibles,
or in a retort or furnace, so arranged that any fumes arising from the process
of reduction may pass into flues or condensers to be deposited..
:
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
The most simple mode of working my Invention is, I believe, to use a
furnace built like a chimney, with a flue leading from the top of it to a set of
flues or condensing chambers. The door for charging the fuel and substance
containing the antimony ought to be about three feet from the ground, and
openings are to be left at each side at the bottom of the furnace for giving air
and drawing out the refuse. The furnace may be of any size, but I prefer
one of about.8 feet high, as the most convenient for working. I do not,
however, confine myself to the shape of the furnace or to the use of a furnace,
as my Invention may be carried out in various forms of furnaces. Crucibles
and retorts may also be employed in place of furnaces so long as the furnaces
or crucibles or retorts employed are in connection with flues or condensing
chambers, and the substance to be worked containing the antimony is mixed
with a carbonaceous substance.
To manufacture the oxide of antimony in a furnace such as is above
described, a fire is to be lighted therein with coke (which I prefer), and after
it has burnt.up to a red heat the substance containing the antimony is to be
gradually thrown on the fire, regulating the charge so as to allow only
sufficient air to pass through the furnace to keep up the combustion and carry.
off the vapours as they arise to the flues or condensers. The charging of the
substance containing the antimony is to be repeated from time to time as the
antimony oxide volatilizes, and the fire is to be kept at a regular height by the
addition of coke, as required. The refuse is to be drawn out at the bottom of
the furnace as soon as it has ceased to give off any smoke. After all the
substance containing the antimony is worked, the oxide of antimony will be
found deposited in the flues and condensing chambers connected with the
furnace.
Any sulphur that may have been associated with the substance worked will
have been carried off by the draught through the condensers either in the
state of sulphurous acid or bisulphide of carbon according to the heat of the
fire used.
In cases where the oxide of antimony obtained by the above or other process

page_text: requires to be purified and obtained in a white powder, I submit it to the above
described process. The oxide of antimony is converted into antimony metal
by ordinary means.
What I claim as my Invention is the production of the oxide of antimony
by the above described process, and also the purifying of the oxide of antimony
obtained by the above or other process, by volatilizing it in the manner above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Brereton Todd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
BRERETON TODD. (L.S.)