IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ZINC, COPPER, TIN, AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
Low, of Roseberry Place, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth
day of November, in the eleventh year of the reign of Her present Majesty
Queen Victoria, Her said Majesty did grant unto me, the said Charles
Low, my exors, admors, and assigns, the sole privilege of making, using, exer-
cising, and vending a certain Invention therein, intituled "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ZINC, COPPER, TIN, AND OTHER METALS," within England,
Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, for the
term of fourteen years from thence next ensuing; in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said Charles Low, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent. And whereas I have disclaimed that
part of the title of the said Invention which is contained in the words
"zinc," "tin, and other metals" and have caused a memorandum of such

page_text: Disclaimer, dated this Third day of May, to be entered with the Clerk of
the Patents of England, pursuant to the Statute in that case made and
provided.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Low, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of applying a combination of oxide of manganese,
plumbago, nitrate of potash, soda, or lime, and carbon, in the manufacture of
copper. And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood,
I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
It is well known that in manufacturing copper from its ores that the ores
are roasted, and then melted in a suitable furnace and again roasted, and
again melted until the process is finished, as is well understood and practised.
Now, I have discovered that if a compound of the materials above mentioned
be in the furnace when the melted matters are in the progress of their manu-
facture into copper, that the time of bringing about the desired result is
reduced; the slag so obtained contains less copper, and a saving of fuel is
effected. The manner in which I prefer to carry on my Invention is as
follows: I well mix the four ingredients above mentioned in the state of
powder or otherwise in the following proportions; oxide of manganese (black
oxide of commerce) forty-two parts; plumbago eight parts; nitrate of potash
(or, it may be, nitrate of soda or lime) two parts; and of carbon (preferring
anthracite coal or wood charcoal) fourteen parts. On the first melting of the
ores, and when the whole charge of a furnace is completely melted, for every
ton of the charge I take twenty-five pounds of the above mixture or combi-
nation, and throw the same on to the melted matters, and cause the whole
to be well worked or rabbled, and it will be found that the process is materially
quickened, the combination of materials acting as a flux in separating the
metal, and the slag will rise to the surface more fluid and contain less copper
than is usually the case. The slag is to be skimmed off, and another twenty-
five pounds of the combination or mixture is to be applied as before, and the
mass under process well rabbled, and the slag again skimmed off, when a
further quantity of the mixture or combination of materials above mentioned
is to be added, and the working conducted as above explained, and so on
till the workman, judging as heretofore, considers the metal to have arrived
at a sufficiently forward state, when he will run off the charge and carry it
through its subsequent process, as when working according to the ordinary.
means of making copper. But in some ores the metal will not be brought so

page_text: forward by the first melting as with other ores; in which cases, in the next
melting the employment of the combination or mixture above mentioned is
again to be used. And I would state, that although I have described the
use of my Invention to commence with the first process of melting the ore,
I do not confine myself thereto, I however believe that to be the best means
of carrying my Invention into practice; but whether the process be resorted
to in the first or other meltings the process will be advanced and benefitted,
and I believe in most cases the copper produced will be found of better quality
than when made according to the ordinary process of manufacturing copper
from copper ores.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would observe, that although I have
been particular in giving the exact proportions of the four materials used by
me, I do not confine myself to these proportions, so long as a combination
thereof be employed in a furnace with melted products in the manufacture of
copper. And I would wish it to be understood that what I claim is, the
combined use of oxide of manganese, plumbago, nitrate of potash, soda, or
lime, and carbon, in the manufacture of copper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Low, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-eight.

page_text: King William the Fourth, entituled "An Act to amend the Law touching
Letters Patent for Inventions."
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Charles Low 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.
Enrolled the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-eight.