AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING AND OXIDIZING METALLIC ORES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, of New York City, in
the County and State of New York, and United States of America,.
Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING
AND OXIDIZING METALLIC ORES."
Sealed the 11th July 1865, and dated the 19th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th January 1865.
I, MELCHOR BELTZHOOVER MASON, of New York City, in the County and
State of New York, and United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING
AND OXIDIZING METALLIC ORES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to eliminate from auriferous, argentiferous,
or other metallic ores any sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus, or antimony contained
therein, and to oxidize the baser metal thereof.
For this purpose I subject the ore, either pulverized or in lumps, and in a
raw and cold condition, to the action of inflamed hydrogen and carbonic acid
gases tempered with steam, always introducing the ore into that part of the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: An
reducing chamber of my apparatus in which the temperature is the lowest,
and removing it therefrom at or near the point of most intense heat.
excessive degree of heat in any portion of the ore chamber is prevented
by admitting steam thereto in any suitable manner.
I prefer to generate my hydrogen and carbonic acid gases by the decom-
position of steam and atmospheric air within a suitable fire chamber, which,
although distinct from the chamber for containing and treating the ore in
my apparatus, is so connected and combined therewith as that the gases
shall freely escape in an intensely heated or inflamed state from this fire
chamber into the said ore chamber.
In carrying my process into practical operation any form of apparatus
having a suitable reducing chamber connected with a gas-generating and fire
chamber may be used. When, however, the ore to be desulphurized and
oxidized is in lumps I prefer to use an upright ore chamber having an
outwardly flaring form, so as to be larger at the top or feeding end than at
the bottom, whence the ore is discharged. This upright chamber may be
constructed directly over the fire chamber, partially enclosing the same, so
that the gases generated therein shall pass directly into the bottom of the ore
chamber at a very high temperature, and thence force their way up among
the ore, permeating its entire mass, and while gradually heating the same
effect its desulphurization and oxidation. If the ore to be treated be in
a pulverized state I contemplate passing it through a revolving cylinder
arranged in a nearly horizontal position, and through which the inflamed
gases shall pass in a direction contrary to that in which the ore is moving.
I contemplate the admission of atmospheric air, either in a cold or heated
state, into my ore chamber, as well as into the fire chamber of my apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MELCHOR
BELTZHOOVER MASON, of the City of New York, in the County and State
of New York, and United States of America, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the 28th year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, Her special license that I, the
said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Melchor Beltzhoover Masou, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING AND
OXIDIZING METALLIC ORES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of
one of them, 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 Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, 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:-
The object of my Invention is to eliminate from auriferous, argentiferous,
or other metallic ores any sulphur, arsenic, or phosphorus contained therein,
and to oxidize the baser metal thereof.
For this purpose I subject the ore, either pulverized or in lunips, and in a
raw and cold condition, to the action of highly-heated hydrogen and carbonic
acid gases tempered by steam, always introducing theore into that part of my
apparatus herein-after described in which the temperature is the lowest, and
removing it therefrom at or near the point of most intense heat.
I prefer to generate hydrogen and carbonic acid gases for my improved
process by the decomposition of steam and atmospheric air within a suitable
fire chamber, which, although distinct from the chamber for containing and
treating the ore, is connected and combined therewith, so that the gases may
freely pass from the former into the latter in an intensely heated state.
In carrying my process into practical operation I contemplate the use of
any form of apparatus having a suitable reducing chamber connected with a
distinct gas-generating and fire chamber. When, however, the ore to be
desulphurized and oxidized is in lumps I prefer to use an upright ore chamber
having an outwardly flaring form, so as to be larger at the top or feeding end
than at the bottom, whence the ore is discharged, and which shall be con-
structed over and around a suitable fire or combustion chamber; but if the

page_text: ore be in a fine or pulverized state it would have a tendency to become
packed in an upright furnace, and I therefore contemplate passing it when in
that condition through a revolving cylinder arranged in a nearly horizontal
position, and through which the inflamed gases shall pass in a direction
contrary to that in which the ore is carried.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings illustrate the form of
apparatus adapted to the treatment of ores in the lump, Figure 1 being a
vertical section through the centre of said apparatus, Figure 2 a similar
section drawn at right angles to the first in the line x, x, of Figure 1, and
Figure 3 a horizontal section through the upper portion of the upright ore
chamber in the line y, y, of Figure 1.
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the apparatus specially designed for treating
pulverized or disintegrated ores, Figure 4 being a longitudinal section drawn
centrally through the same, and Figure 5 a transverse section through the
ore cylinder in the line z, z, of Figure 4. A similar fire and gas-generating
chamber may
be used with both forms of apparatus specified. This fire
chamber A is constructed with a grate B over an ash-pit C in the usual
manner; the grate, however, being fitted with one or more hollow and per-
forated grate bars a, Figure 2 (or with equivalent pipes or tubes), which are
connected with a steam generator. Suitable draft openings are provided for
'the admission of atmospheric air into the fire chamber, and exit or eduction
apertures e, e, e, e, are formed in the sides or top of said chamber A, through
which the gases generated therein pass freely out directly into the ore chamber
of the apparatus.
In the furnace illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings the chamber
D for containing the ores is constructed over and around its fire and gas-
generating chamber A, so that the inflamed gases passing out from the latter
will be evenly and uniformnly diffused into the bottom of the former beneath
the mass of ore. After permeating the entire mass of the ore in their upward
flow, and taking up in their course the sulphur, phosphorus, or arsenic, and
simlutaneously oxidizing the antimony and the copper, iron, or other baser
metal in the ore, these gases pass out from the chamber D, through the
openings w, w, w, w, near the top thereof into the encircling exit flue P, from
whence they may be conducted to a proper condensing apparatus, or made
useful in heating the steam generator. The ore to be treated is fed into the
chamber D through a door in its top.
In constructing my apparatus for the treatment of pulverized ores I enclose
the fire and gas-generating chamber A by a flue chamber D', into which pro-
jects the lower end of a revolving cylinder E, as illustrated in Figure 4 of the

page_text: Drawings. In this instance, where a revolving cylinder is employed to
accomplish my purpose, the cylinder, of any suitable length, and which I
purpose to make of metal and to line interiorly with fire-brick or other non-
conducting substance, is placed in a slightly inclined position upon supporting
wheels or rollers M,M, and kept in position thereon by means of side friction
wheels N, N, as seen in Figure 5. This cylinder E (Figures 4 & 5) is fitted
with interiorly projecting lifts or ledges s,s,s,s, fixed at equal distances apar
upon its inner periphery, either spirally along its length or longitudinally in
straight lines, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. Its lower end is entirely
open and projects into the flue chainber D1, and its upper end is also open
and receives a projecting plate K, which serves as a continuation of the
inclined floor of a supplying chamber H. This chamber H contracts and
terminates in a flue or chimney R, as seen in Figure 4, and a hopper L is
placed in its roof for the admission of fresh ore into the apparatus. The ore
falling into the chamber H from the hopper L will pass immediately down
into the cylinder E, and being caught and lifted up by the projections s,s, in
the revolutions of the cylinder will not only be kept constantly agitated, but
be made to pass steadily on towards the lower end of the cylinder, and be
finally delivered therefrom into the flue chamber D', and thence, by means of
the outlet O, entirely discharged from the apparatus, as seen in Figure 4.
This revolving chamber E need not necessarily be perfectly cylindrical in form,
but may be made octagonal or otherwise polygonal in section. To prevent
an excessive degree of heat in any part of my apparatus, and guard against a'
fusion of the ores, I admit steam thereinto through suitable delivery pipes k,k,
which I usually place near the eduction apertures of the gas-generating fire
chamber, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 4 of the Drawings. I regard the
use of steam as an auxilliary element to be an important part of my process.
When my improved apparatus is in operation superheated steam (or aqueous
vapor in any form) escaping in fine jets from the tubular bar or bars a in the
grate of the fire chamber (or from suitable tubes or pipes, the equivalents of
said hollow bars) into the actively ignited fuel placed therein will by its
decomposition, in connection with the carbon of the fuel and the draft of
atmospheric air passing into the furnace, rapidly generate both hydrogen and
carbonic acid gases at a very high temperature. These intensely heated gases
conducted in a powerful current through the ore chamber D or cylinder E
will, together with a small proportion of atmospheric air and the steam subse
quently admitted, work their way among and permeate the entire mass of ore,
and while gradually heating the same will also accomplish its desired desul-
phurization and oxidation. As in this improved process hydrogen gas, whose

page_text: chemical affinity for sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus, &c. is such as that it will
take up these substances when brought into contact therewith in a free state,
is made the active agent in heating the ore and setting free the impurities
therein, it is evident that the disengagement of each atom of either sulphur,
arsenic, phosphorus, or antimony from the ore by heat is immediately
followed by its conversion into a sulphuretted hydrogen gas, arsenicated
hydrogen gas, &c., as the case may be, and that the first atoms which are
disengaged at a low temperature will be separated and carried off from the
furnace in a gaseous state before they can become fixed or fused by the higher
temperature, which subsequently sets free the remaining atoms. While the
sulphur and other chemical impurities in the ore are thus liberated and
carried off by the hydrogen gas, the carbonic acid gas and other oxidizing
agents also passing through the ore attack and oxidize the baser metals
present, leaving them in that condition for future treatment.
Although I prefer to generate the hydrogen and carbonic acid gases
which I employ in my process in an open fire chamber in the manner
described, I do not limit myself, in carrying out my Invention, to any
specific manner of generating them, as they may be made equally efficient
in use when obtained by other means.
I contemplate agitating and treating pulverized ores in an oscillating or
vibrating chamber so arranged with a series of inclined shelves therein as that
that the ore may fall from the one to the other, and be thus exposed to a cur-
reut of the gases herein-before specified, but I regard such an apparatus as the
equivalent only of the revolving cylinder which I have particularly described.
1 disclaim the direct application of steam in the calcination or roasting of
argentiferous or other metallic ores for the purpose of expelling sulphur there-
from when said ores are previously heated in a furnace or retort, as described
in the Patents obtained in England by Julian E. D. Rodgers in January 1813
(No. 9586), and Andrew G. Hunter in 1860 (No. 192), for in my process I
rely upon the inflamed gases alone for heating the ores; neither do I claim
the use of merely carbonic oxide in any form as an agent in my process, nor
the use of air or steam, or any mixture of air and steam, for the separation
of sulphur from metallic ores when the air, steam, or mixture of air & steam
is forced through and among fused ores or sulphurets, for I deem it
essential to the success of my process that a fusion or even excessive heat
of the ores and sulphurets be avoided.
But having now fully described my Invention, and the means of giving it
practical operation, what I claim therein as new is, the improved process as
described for removing sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus, or antimony from

page_text: auriferous, argentiferous, or other metallic ores, and of oxidizing the same
by treating them with hydrogen and carbonic acid gases and other specified
agents, substantially in the manner herein set forth.
I claim also as a part of my improved process the admission of steam
into the chamber wherein metallic ores are heated, desulphurized, and
oxidized by the action of hydrogen and carbonic acid gases, substantially
in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
I claim also the within-described forms of apparatus for the treatment
of metallic ores when constructed, combined, and arranged substantially in
the manner hercin-before specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Melchor Beltzhoover Mason, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of May,
A.D. 1865.
Witness,
DAVID A. BURR,
Barrister,
MELCHOR BELTZHOOVER MASON. (L.S.)
Washington, D.C.