IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING COPPER FROM ORES
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
TROUGHTON, of Leicester Street, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the second year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Nicholas
Troughton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Nicholas Troughton, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Nicholas Troughton, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING COPPER
FROM ORES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Nicholas Troughton, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Nicholas Troughton, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked 5
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention relates, first, to certain improved construction of retorts and
furnaces for calcining ores in the process of obtaining copper..
Secondly, to a mode of smelting copper ore by means of blast.
And, thirdly, my Invention relates to a mode of obtaining copper by obtaining 1
the same by dissolving that metal by sulphuric acid.
And in order to give the best information in my power, I will proceed to
explain the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the section of a series of retorts arranged and con- 1
structed according to my Invention for calcining copper ores; and Figure 2 is
a section, on a larger scale, of part of a retort, by which the manner of putting
together of the parts will more readily be understood.
I would here remark, this part of my. Invention is an improved construction
of retorts for roasting and calcining copper ore, where such calcining is per- a
formed by external heat in place of calcining in reverberatory furnaces wherein
the heat and flame of the fuel comes directly, in contact with the matters
under operation. At the same time I would remark that I am aware that it
is not new to roast or calcine copper ores by means of retorts or such like
vessels externally heated, but the using of retorts for such purposes as heretofore:
practised has been, by means of retorts, moulded of the size required in one
piece or in one complete vessel, and although such description of retorts are
found more advantageous than the reverberatory furnaces for such processes,
yet the difficulty and consequent cost of making sufficiently large vessels or
retorts of clay in one piece is one objection to their being brought generally
into use. Now, the object of this part of my Invention is to construct the
retorts of several pieces, by which not only is much expence saved, but larger
retorts may be constructed with ease. And I prefer that such retorts should
be formed of a series of fire tiles, each being a parallelogram, but this is not
essential, but I believe will be found the best construction both in respect to
first cost and for after repairs, and such retorts will be found to offer much
less substance of matter to be kept heated in acting on. a given quantity of

page_text: ore than when separate and distinct retorts, each moulded and formed into
one vessel, are used; at the same time retorts may be advantageously made by
moulding a series of parts of retorts as at Figure 3, which being joined end
to end with fire-clay will maké excellent retorts, but at a cost greater than
those hereafter.explained, both as to their structure and setting, to be acted
on by the heat from proper furnaces or fire-places. The retorts shown at
Figures 1 and 2 are composed of a series of fire-tiles or slabs. a, a, a, are
the slabs or tiles which constitute the bottoms of the retorts; b, b, are the
tiles or slabs which constitute the upper surfaces or tops of the retorts; and
c, c, are the slabs which are placed vertical and produce the sides of the retorts.
The back ends of these retorts are closed by similar tiles or slabs, having each
a hole through for the passage of the vapours evolved from the ores, such
vapours being received and conveyed in any desired direction, and being thus
separated from the products of combustion may be separately acted on
according to either of my former Patents if desired, or the products may be.
evolved into the atmosphere; and it will be found that the mode of treating
copper ore in furnaces such as are above described, considerable saving of fuel
will result, and the ore may be more evenly roasted or calcined. In working
with those retorts I usually discharge the contents, and recharge each retort
every six hours, and I so arrange that the retorts should be drawn at dif-
ferent times and in such manner that supposing there to be. twelve retorts, I
draw two every hour, taking care that they are as distant from each other as
possible; by this arrangement the retorts are not so much cooled down as if
two, three, or more neighbouring retorts were drawn at once and then charged.
The front ends of the retorts are closed by means of tiles or doors having a
small opening in each of them, through which atmospheric air may pass to
the ore under operation, or these holes may be closed or partially closed by
'clay or other means according to the object required. The retorts are
charged through the hoppers above, which have proper slides to close the
openings into the retorts, the quantity charged into each retort being sufficient
to cover the lower surface thereof to the extent of about two to three inches,
and the ore is to be raked from time to time to change the surfaces. The
retorts are kept to a moderate-red heat...
I will now proceed to describe the second part of my. Invention, which
relates to another arrangement of apparatus or furnace for calcining or
roasting, but in this instance the ore is subjected to the direct action of the
products of combustion, and the ore is so acted on, that one portion is being
treated in the calciuing furnace in a similar manner to the ordinary working of

page_text: such furnaces, at the same time the furnaces are so arranged that other ore is
going through a preparatory process of the heat which has passed away from
the ore which is undergoing the completing process of calcining.
Figure 4 represents an elevation, in section, of a furnace constructed
according to my Invention, and Figure 5 is a plan of the same,-in section; and
I would remark that this furnace for calcining copper ores may be heated by a
separate fire, to burn by blast or by draft, or the flue from the smelting furnace
may be conducted into the entrance of this furnace and the otherwise waste
heat of the smelting furnace thus brought into useful application for calcining
and roasting of copper ore or coarse copper; and this part of the Invention is
applicable whether it be applied to the furnace now under description, or to
the reverberatory furnace, or to the retorts herein-before explained, and will be
found a means of saving much fuel in the processes of obtaining copper from
copper ore. In Figures 4 and 5, a represents the furnace, which is shown
suitable for blast, and a constant supply of fuel is kept up in the chamber 6,
there being a closed cover with a sand joint; c is the bed or floor of the
furnace, on which the ore is spread in like manner to an ordinary reverberatory
furnace, and is stirred about on that floor by passing the ordinary rakes or
instruments through the openings d, d; and when the process has been
sufficiently carried on the ore is discharged through the openings c, e, those
openings at other times remaining closed by fire tiles or slabs slided over
those openings. The heat of the fire and flames thereof passing in contact
with the floor or bed c, also act on the roof f, and that roof becoming hot,
reverberates the heat on to the floor or bed, at the same time the heat which
passes through the roof heats the ore in the upper chamber g, and in addition
to such heat passing through the roof, the flame heat from the furnace, having
passed over the ore in the lower compartment of the apparatus, enters into
and passes over the ore in the chamber g, and in doing so heats the roof h of
the chamber g, and also the ore in the chamber g; and it will be seen that
there is a third chamber i; the heat therefore which passes through the
roof heats the ore laid in the chamber i. In working this arrangement of
calcining furnace or apparatus, when the charge is withdrawn from the lower
chamber the charge from the chamber g is to be raked into the lower chamber,
through the openings for that purpose, which at other times are covered with
fire tiles, as shewn in the Drawing; and the charge in the chamber i is to be
raked into the chamber g, and a fresh supply of ore charged into the
chamber i.
I will now proceed to describe the third part of my Invention, which relates

page_text: to a mode of smelting copper ore by means of blast of air forced into the fuel
to excite heat. The chamber of the furnace wherein the smelting takes place
is a reverberatory furnace of the ordinary construction, and the Invention only
relates to the mode of applying the heat of fuel, by means of blast, to the
smelting of the ore.
Figure 6 shews a section, in elevation, of a furnace constructed according to
this part of my Invention, and Figure 7 is a plan of Figure 6; and in place
of the requisite heat being obtained from the fuel by draft, it is obtained by
means of blast. a is the ash-pit, which is closed, but has an opening or doorway
to remove ashes; 6 is the fire-place, having an opening or doorway capable of
being well closed when at work; c is a damper, which can be more or less
closed to regulate the state of the fire. It will be evident that as the requisite
supply of atmospheric air is by means of blast, the heat may be retained in
the furnace in a more advantageous manner than when the requisite beat is
obtained by the draft of a high chimney, and wherein, in order to keep up the
high temperature required, there must be a considerable waste of heat in the
chimney kept up, in order to maintain the heat necessary for the smelting
process.
.
And in this case it will be evident, as above stated, that the heat having
been employed in the smelting furnace, must of necessity pass away at a
considerable temperature; and I therefore conjoin to the smelting furnace a
calcining or roasting furnace, that as little heat as possible may be lost.
I would remark that I can either employ cold or hot blast, and when I
employ anthracite coal as fuel I cause the air to be heated to at least five
hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, by any of the ordinary means now resorted to
for heating air for blasting iron furnaces, which being well understood do not
require description in this my Specification; and although I generally employ
rotatory blowers, such as are in common use for various purposes, for obtain-
ing the requisite blast of air to the smelting furnace in obtaining copper from
copper ore, yet I do not confine myself thereto, as other blowing machines
may be used; this part of my Invention not depending on the construction of
the blowing apparatus or machine employed, but to the mode of smelting copper
ore by means of blast.
I will now proceed to describe the fourth part of my Invention, which
relates to dissolving ores containing copper by the aid of sulphuric acid, and
precipitating the copper so obtained in solution by sulphuric acid by means of
iron as is well understood.
In carrying out this part of my Invention, I take well calcined ores

page_text: containing copper, and place them in a suitable vessel, by preference of lead,
and stir in diluted sulphuric acid, and in such manner that the ores under
operation shall be well covered with the liquor, and I agitate the same from
time to time, in order to cause the acid to come, in contact with all parts of tho
ore, and although this process may be performed advantageously cold, I prefer
to keep the materials under operation heated by steam or other heat, yet so
as not to injure the vessels in which the operation is performed.
The liquor is to be allowed to cool, and when settled to be drawn off, and
the copper is then to be precipitated by iron as is well understood, the
process of precipitation separately forming no part of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Troughton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-nine.
NICHOLAS (L.S.) TROUGHTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Nicholas Troughton came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.