AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING APATITE AND OTHER MINERAL PHOSPHATES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Montague Richard Leverson, of Number 66, Bishops-
gate Street Within, in the City of London, Solicitor and Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING APATITE AND OTHER
MINERAL PHOSPHATES."-A communication from abroad by Mr. John
Oliver, late of Paradise House, Kilburn, in the County of Middlesex,
now of Estramadura, in Spain, Chemist.
Sealed the 27th June 1865, and dated the 2nd January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Montague Richard Lever-
son at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd January 1865.
I, MONTAGUE RICHARD LEVERSON, of Number 66, Bishopsgate Street Within,
in the City of London, Solicitor and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING APATITE AND OTHER
MINERAL PHOSPHATES," to be as follows:-
It has been long known to geologists that many phosphatic ores are found
in large quantities mixed or contaminated with earthy and siliceous matter,
metallic oxides, and other impurities to such an extent as to render them
hitherto unavailable as a source of phosphorus or phosphatic compounds in
commercial or manufacturing operations.

page_text: The object of my Invention is to separate, as far as practicable, the
impurities from the phosphate of lime and other valuable phosphates present
by chemical means, and in order to effect this I prefer to break or crush the
ores by rollers or by stampers, or any convenient arrangement, and sepa-
rating the impurities or foreign matter by jigging, washing, and screening.
If the ores operated upon are of such a quality that the impurities present
cannot be sufficiently removed by the above means I then treat them with
mineral or organic acids, preferring hydrochloric, nitric, or sulphuric acids.
By thus treating them the whole of the phosphatic compounds present, or
nearly so, are rendered soluble, and easily separated from the insoluble
impurities by lixiviation, decanting, and draining. In submitting phosphatic
ores to the foregoing treatment I prefer selecting those ores which contain
such impurities as are insoluble or nearly so in the mineral acid employed.
Both the processes above described are specially applicable to the phosphatic
ores of Estramadura, in Spain. The soluble phosphatic compounds obtained
by the secondly-described process, I recover in suitable form for various
operations of commerce and manufacture by evaporation and precipitation,
but when it is desired to obtain the product free from lime, I treat the
solutions of phosphates with sulphuric or oxalic acid, free or in combination
with metallic or alkaline bases, according to the product required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Montague Richard Leverson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MONTAGUE
RICHARD LEVERSON, of No. 66, Bishopsgate Street Within, in the City of
London, Solicitor and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
tho said Montague Richard Leverson, Her special licence that I, the said
Montague Richard Leverson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Montague Richard Leverson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
tine to time and at all times. thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend within the United

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF TREATING CERTAIN
MINERAL PHOSPHATES AND OBTAINING PRODUCTS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURAL AND
MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS," communicated to me from abroad by Mr. John
Oliver, late of Paradise House, Kilburn, in the County of Middlesex, now of
Estramadura, in Spain, Chemist, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Montague Richard Leverson, 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 Montague Richard Leverson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
It is well known that in many cases the deposits of apatite and other
phosphates are largely combined with impurities, consisting principally of
silicious matters, schists, clay, and slate, the phosphates for the most part
being in a crystallized state, laminated or stratified with such impurities. It
is further well known that the acids ordinarily used in decomposing or
preparing other or more pure phosphates do not act, or act but slightly on
such impurities.
Now this Invention consists in the separation of such impurities more or
less perfectly by mechanical means and processes. With this object these
highly impure ores containing phosphates are crushed or ground, by which
the crystallized phosphates and the impurities will be broken apart, and the
constituents of the masses will be disintegrated so as to admit of the impurities
being removed from the crystallized phosphates by means of hand picking,
washing, and jigging. The phosphates may then be more readily acted on
by the proper acid. A workman, after a little experience, will be readily
enabled to judge as to the extent to which he is to carry on the mechanical
processes above described with each quantity of ore containing phosphates
before the more or less mechanically purified phosphates are treated with
acid.
In operating upon phosphatic ores with mineral acids as above mentioned, I
prefer using sulphuric, hydrochloric, or nitric acids. If operating with the
first, I prefer using about 98 lbs. of oil of vitriol (SO3 + H. O.) diluted to
any convenient specific gravity to 156 lbs. of tribasic phosphate of lime, but I

page_text: occasionally find it necessary to vary these proportions. By this method of
treating the class of mineral phosphates referred to, insoluble sulphate and
soluble bi-phosphate of lime are formed; the former product is precipitated
on the insoluble residue of the ores, and the latter solution of bi-phosphate of
lime is withdrawn from the decomposing and dissolving vessels by convenient
arrangements, and appropriated to the manufacture of phosphorus, phosphoric
acid, or other phosphatic compounds. If hydrochloric acid be employed to
separate the soluble phosphates from the insoluble impurities present in the
phosphates under treatment, I prefer using about 72 lbs. of hydrochloric acid
(H. Cl.), reduced to any suitable specific gravity, to 156 lbs. of tribasic
phosphate of lime, but I sometimes find it convenient to vary these propor-
tions according to the nature of the reaction desired, or to use a mixture of
minéral acids to effect the desired reaction. If I find it desirable to operate
upon the mineral phosphates under treatment with nitric acid, I prefer using
about 108 lbs. of nitric acid (N. O 5), of suitable specific gravity, to 156 lbs.
of tribasic phosphate of lime, and separate the soluble nitrates and phosphates
thus obtained, as already described.
The solutions obtained from the mineral phosphates operated upon as
described in the foregoing processes, I occasionally treat with free sulphuric
acid, to render the solvent acid employed in treating the ores available for
repeated operations, but I generally prefer to treat these solutions with
equivalent quantities of saline or organic substances, and by mutual decom-
position obtain commercial products of higher value.
In witness whereof, I, the said Montague Richard Leverson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
in the presence of
JNO. T. EASTWICK,
MONTAGUE R. LEVERSON.
(L.S.)
Clerk to Mr. Leverson,
66, Bishopsgate Street Within.