A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF RECOVERING COPPER AND ZINC FROM LIQUIDS WHICH HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED TO DIP OR PICKLE ARTICLES MADE OF BRASS OR OTHER ALLOYS CONTAINING COPPER AND ZINC
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Webster, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF RECOVERING COPPER AND ZINC FROM LIQUIDS WHICH HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED
TO DIP OR PICKLE ARTICLES MADE OF BRASS OR OTHER ALLOYS CONTAINING
COPPER AND ZINC."
Sealed the 21st April 1859, and dated the 14th December-1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Webster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th December 1858.
I, JAMES WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METHOD OF RECOVERING COPPER AND ZINC FROM LIQUIDS WHICH HAVE BEEN
EMPLOYED TO DIP OR PICKLE ARTICLES MADE OF BRASS OR OTHER ALLOYS CONTAINING
COPPER AND ZINC," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of articles of brass or other alloys containing copper and
zinc, the said articles are frequently immersed in acid liquids, called dipping
liquid or pickle, for the purpose of cleansing them of scale or oxide. The said
liquids thereby become charged with copper and zinc. The evaporation of the
liquid yields a considerable quantity of impure copper salt, or by immersing
iron in the liquid the copper is precipitated in the metallic state; but by
neither of these methods can the whole of the copper and zinc be obtained
separate and in a pure state.
..My Invention consists in precipitating metallic copper from the-saturated

page_text: By this method of treating the said
metallic state, while the solution on
The whole of the zinc originally
dipping liquid by means of metallic zinc.
liquid all the copper is precipitated in the
evaporation yields crystals of zinc salt.
contained in the solution, as well as that dissolved during the precipitation of
the copper, is obtained by the evaporation of the liquid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
.greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Webster, Her special licence that I, the said James
Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Webster, 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 "A
NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF RECOVERING COPPER AND ZINC FROM LIQUIDS WHICH
HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED TO DIP OR PICKLE ARTICLES MADE OF BRASS OR OTHER ALLOYS
CONTAINING COPPER AND ZINC," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Webster, 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 James Webster, 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 :-
In the manufacture of articles of brass or other alloys containing copper and

page_text: zinc, the said articles are frequently immersed in acid liquids, called dipping
liquids or pickle, for the purpose of cleansing them of scale or oxide. The said
liquids thereby become charged with copper and zinc. The evaporation of
the liquid yields a considerable quantity of impure copper salt, or by immersing
iron in the liquid the copper is precipitated in the metallic state; but by
neither of these methods can the whole of the copper and zinc be obtained
separate and in a pure state.
My Invention consists in precipitating metallic copper from the saturated
or partially saturated dipping liquid or pickle by means of metallic zinc. By
this method of treating the said liquid all the copper is precipitated in the
metallic state, while the solution on evaporation yields crystals of zinc salt.
The whole of the zinc originally contained in the solution, as well as that
dissolved during the precipitation of the copper, is obtained by the evaporation
of the liquid.
My Invention is especially applicable to the recovery of the copper and zine
which have been dissolved in acid liquids or pickles that have been used to dip
or cleanse articles made of brass; but my Invention is also applicable for
recovering the copper and zinc from acid liquids or pickles that have been used
to dip or cleanse articles made of other alloys in which copper and zinc are
constituents.
I prefer to carry my Invention into effect by the arrangement of apparatus
represented in the accompanying Drawing. The dipping liquid or pickle
from which the copper and zinc are to be recovered is pumped from the tub a
by means of the pump 6 into the vat or cistern c; and I place in the said
liquid, in the vat or cistern c, metallic zinc, either in strips or in a granulated
state. By this treatment all the copper in the said liquid is precipitated in the
metallic state. I keep excess of metallic zinc in the vat or cistern c, so as
completely to precipitate the copper from the liquid, and to facilitate the pre-
cipitating of the copper, I stir the liquid in the vat c occasionally. After the
precipitation of the copper, I allow the liquid to rest, and the greater part of
the copper falls to the bottom of the cistern c. After the precipitation of the
copper, the liquid in the vat c consists of a solution of zinc, containing also a
small quantity of metallic copper in suspension. By drawing the said liquid
from the vat c to the vat d, and allowing it to remain for a time in the said
vat d, the particles of metallic copper will subside. The zine salt in solution
is drawn from the vat or cistern d to the furnace or boiler e, where; by the
evaporation of the said solution, all the zinc which was originally in the dipping
liquid, as well as that used for precipitating the copper, is recovered in the form
of crystals of zinc salt. By the method described and illustrated, the whole of

page_text: the copper contained in the liquid operated upon is obtained in the metallic
state, and the solution which contains the zinc originally contained in the
liquid, as well as that dissolved during the precipitation of the copper by being
evaporated, yields up the said zinc in the form of crystals of zinc salt.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention the new or improved method of recovering copper and zinc from
liquids which have been employed to dip or pickle articles made of brass or
other.alloys containing copper and zinc, herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, treating the said liquids with
metallic zinc, and thereby precipitating the copper contained in the said liquids,
the zinc in the said liquids, and that employed for precipitating the copper
being recovered by evaporation and crystallization.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Webster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord Que
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JAMES WEBSTER. (L.S.)