CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF METALLI- FEROUS SUBSTANCES, AND THE MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Hollway at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 19th July 1877.
JOHN HOLLWAY, of the Firm of Hollway Brothers, of 7, Jeffrey's Square, in
the City of London. "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF METALLI-
FEROUS SUBSTANCES, AND THE MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
The primary object of this Invention is the utilization of scoriæ, residues, ores,
and metalliferous substances generally.
It is well known that enormous accumulations of scoriæ and residues containing
valuable metals exist in various places, and that in many cases these have remained
commercially useless, owing to the cost of extracting the valuable metals when
present only in small quantities, and to the difficulty of usefully employing ferreous
alloys, which would result from smelting them. Many of these scoriæ and residues
contain a large per-centage of iron, together with smaller per-centages of more
valuable metals; this is notably the case in scoriæ resulting from ancient metallur-
gical operations. For example, at the Rio Tinto Mines, in Spain, ancient scoriæ
and residues from modern workings exist, containing iron, copper, and small
per-centages of other metals, and these residues are being daily augmented and are
not utilized.
As another example of metalliferous substances that could be utilized by the
same process, I would instance ores containing iron and small per-centages of more
valuable metals, also minerals containing metals which cannot at present be
economically extracted.
As further examples I would cite burnt ore of cupreous pyrites after it has been
treated for the production of sulphuric acid, and any metalliferous refuse from ore
washings. As such burnt ore does not generally contain much silica, I would smelt
it preferably with siliceous refuse from copper ore washings, adding the necessary
fluxes; thus whilst providing silica to form slag, the per-centage of copper would be
increased in the product by any copper reduced from the aforesaid siliceous refuse.
The product would be an alloy of iron and copper. I propose to smelt such
metalliferous substances in an ordinary or other blast furnace with suitable fluxes,
adding, if desired, other substances, and thus obtain ferreous alloys. In some cases
metals would be reduced separately from the ferreous alloys, such as lead, and in

page_text: other cases the metals could be collected as sublimates, such as oxides of zinc, lead,
and arsenic.
In the foregoing I have proposed to smelt these metalliferous substances without
any special preparation in the ordinary manner; I would however preferably
pulverise and mix them with the necessary fluxes and carbon, and form cement, or
coke them into lumps or blocks convenient for smelting; I may mention as some of
the advantages of so doing,-
Firstly. The disintegration of the various materials employed renders it possible,
if desired, partially to separate, classify, and treat the heavier metals by themselves,
also to remove objectionable matter by washing or other means; it also renders the
reduction more facile, owing to the particles of oxides or metalliferous substances
being brought into direct contact with carbon, and the silica being also brought into
similar direct contact with the bases necessary for fusion; hence a smaller quantity
of metal is lost in the slag.
Secondly. The various substances can be arranged in the mixture, so that
deficiency or excess of any of the constituents can be compensated, and in this way
specific alloys can be produced containing desired proportions of various metals.
Another object of my Invention is to use these alloys for the deposition of copper
and other metals from solutions thereof, obtained either naturally or artificially at
mines, or by the wet processes for the extraction of metals. I thus utilize the iron
contained in the alloys for precipitation, obtaining simultaneously the copper and
other valuable metals from the alloys; together with the copper and other metals
from the solutions, iron replacing the metals in solution.
When solutions containing copper or other valuable metals are not readily avail-
able, the iron could be dissolved out of these alloys by a solution of percloride of
iron, and the alloyed metals in this manner liberated.
I also propose by my process to produce specific alloys for particular purposes.