Improvements in or connected with the Production of Purple Ore Bricks or Blocks suitable for use in Blast or Equivalent Furnaces for the Production of Iron, and for other purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 19th June, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 18th Mar., 1892-Accepted, 23rd Apr., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Production of Purple Ore
Bricks or Blocks suitable for use in Blast or Equivalent
Furnaces for the Production of Iron, and for other purposes.
1, HENRY BIRD, of South Down House, near Plymouth, in the County of
Devon, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has mainly for its object the production of bricks or blocks made,
more especially, of "purple-ore" (or equivalent ore) resulting from the common
process of the extraction of the copper contained in burnt cupreous sulphur ores
by the wet method, and which shall be suitable for use in blast and other
furnaces for the production of iron; and also for other purposes as bricks or
blocks.
In the condition
According to this invention the purple ore is ground in a mill.
in which it is thrown into the mill the ore, although it usually contains a certain
proportion of water, is apparently in a dry, sandy condition, but under the action
of the rolls as the ore is ground it becomes wetter and wetter in appearance until
it is in the state of a slurry. The purple-ore as freshly thrown out of the tanks,
commonly contains too much moisture, but after standing about 24 hours it
usually contains the required amount of water, but in some cases in dry weather
it is desirable to add a little water in the mill to bring the ore into a state of
slurry.
The slurry is run or tipped into moulds, and heated, (say upon a hot floor).
When the material has set sufficiently hard to allow of the moulds being removed,
the bricks or blocks may be turned on their sides to facilitate their drying. By
this drying, the bricks or blocks will become sufficiently hard to bear handling.
They are then kilned in a kiln. They may be first subjected to a gentle heat
to drive off the remaining moisture, the temperature being then increased until they
are white hot or of a bright red, at which they are kept for, say about 20 to
30 hours. They are left to soak for about another 20 to 30 hours, and then allowed
to cool slowly. When cool they will be found more or less hard according to the
temperature to which they have been subjected, and the degree of fineness to which
the ore has been ground.
One apparatus by which these briquettes or blocks may be produced consists
of: An edge runner mill with heavy rolls, which may be placed at such an eleva-
tion as to admit of the slurry running direct into a barrow or waggon. This barrow
or waggon may consist of a light iron or steel body suspended between two wheels
in such a manner that it can be easily conveyed with a charge of some cwts. by a
boy to the moulds and its contents tipped into them.
The moulds may consist of a frame divided into spaces or moulds. If the
divisions separating the moulds be made taper it facilitates the removal of the
frame when the ore has set. The frames have ears or handles or equivalent devices
to enable their being lifted easily.
The bricks are dried on a floor constructed of iron or other metal plates of
convenient size, and square or equivalent shape, and having flanges and channel
pieces, or equivalently arranged, so as to allow of their expansion and contraction
without permitting the escape of the steam by which they are heated. These
plates are supported on pillars or other supports at the corners, forming a hollow
space into which either live or exhaust steam or other heating fluid is allowed to
play. Instead of the plates with flanges and channel pieces, plates with rebated
joints resting on dwarf walls may be used. In either case the floor should be laid
with a fall to allow of the water draining away. Floors may also be used

page_text: constructed of hard bricks or tiles heated by either steam, or the products of
combustion.
The kiln used for burning may be any ordinary kiln suitable for burning fire or
building bricks, provided it is of a type that can be heated to a high temperature.
The Hoffman type of kiln is a suitable one. A very good arrangement is a
combination of two or more kilns of the down draft Staffordshire description, so
connected that the waste heat from one kiln may be used for drying and treating.
the fresh briquettes or blocks contained in another.
In addition to the use of the 'bricks or blocks produced by this process for use
in blast or other furnaces for the production of iron, they may be used for paving
or in building construction, and in engineering works, and also for ballasting
vessels, and for other purposes.
This invention is not confined to the particular manner herein specified of
carrying it out, or any particular temperatures or durations of time during which
the several sub-processes are subjected to the treatments specified; and it may be
used in part or in whole. Nor is it confined to the particular construction of
apparatus specified.
Dated this 18th day of June 1891.
CHEESBROUGH & ROYSTON,
15, Water Street, Liverpool, Applicant's Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Production of Purple Ore
Bricks or Blocks suitable for use in Blast or Equivalent
Furnaces for the Production of Iron, and for other purposes.
I, HENRY BIRD, of South Down House, near Plymouth, in the County of Devon,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
66
This invention has mainly for its object the production of bricks or blocks of
"purple ore" resulting from the common process of the extraction of the copper
contained in burnt cupreous sulphur ores by the wet method, or from other washed
cupreous sulphur ores, or equivalent ores, and which shall be suitable for use in
blast and other furnaces for the production of iron; and also for other purposes as
bricks or blocks.
According to this invention the ore is ground in a mill, the condition in which it
is thrown into the mill, although it usually contains a certain proportion of water,
being apparently dry and sandy. I have found, however, when it is under the
action of rolls, and being ground, it becomes wetter and wetter in appearance and
eventually is brought to the state of a slurry.
The ore, as freshly thrown out of the tanks at the copper works, usually contains
too much moisture, but after standing for about 24 hours it mostly contains the
required amount of water and this is the state in which it is usually sold to iron
works; but in some cases in dry weather it may become desirable to add a little
water in the mill to bring the ore into a state of slurry.
The slurry produced as above described is run or tipped into moulds, and heated,
say upon a hot floor.
When the material has set sufficiently hard to allow of the
moulds being removed, the bricks or blocks may be turned on their sides to facilitate
their drying. By this drying, the bricks or blocks will become sufficiently hard
to bear handling."
They are then kilned in a kiln. They may be first subjected to a gentle heat to
drive off the remaining moisture, after which the temperature is increased until
they are white hot or of a bright red, at which they are kept for, say about
46 hours. They are left to soak for about 20 to 30 hours, and then allowed to
cool slowly. When cool they will be found more or less hard according to the

page_text: temperature to which they have been subjected, and the degree of fineness to which
the ore has been ground.
One apparatus by which these briquettes or blocks may be produced consists
of: An edge runner mill with heavy rolls, which may be placed at such an
elevation as to admit of the slurry running direct into a barrow or waggon. The
waggon may suitably consist of any known convenient kind but preferably one
having a light iron or steel body suspended between two wheels in such a manner
that it can be easily conveyed with a charge of some cwts. by a boy to the moulds
and its contents tipped into them.
The moulds may consist of a frame divided into spaces or moulds. The divisions
separating the moulds may be made taper to facilitate the removal of the frame
when the ore has set. The frames have ears or handles or equivalent devices to
enable them to be lifted easily.
The bricks are dried on a floor constructed of iron or other metal plates of
convenient size, and square or equivalent shape, and having flanges and channel
pieces, or equivalently arranged so as to allow of their expansion and contraction
without permitting the escape of the steam by which they are heated. These
plates are supported on pillars or other supports at the corners, forming a hollow
space into which either live or exhaust steam or other heating fluid is allowed to
play. The floor should be laid with a fall to allow of the water draining away.
Floors constructed of hard bricks or tiles heated by either steam, or the products
of combustion, may be used if desired.
The kiln used for burning may be any ordinary kiln suitable for burning fire
or building bricks, provided it is of a type that can be heated to a high
temperature.
The Hoffman type of kiln suitably modified is a convenient one. Or, a very
good arrangement is a combination of two or more kilns of the down-draft
Staffordshire description, so connected that the waste heat from one kiln may
be used for drying and treating the fresh briquettes or blocks contained in
another.
In addition to the use of the bricks or blocks produced in this process for
use in blast or other furnaces for the production of iron, they may be used for
other purposes for which they would be useful and suitable.
This invention is not confined to the particular manner herein specified of
carrying it out, or the particular temperature or duration of time of treatment to
which the bricks or blocks are subjected; nor is it confined to the particular
construction of apparatus specified.
In the drawings which serve to illustrate this invention, I give some views
of suitable apparatus which may be conveniently used in carrying out the
invention.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 a sectional elevation, and Figure 3 a cross
section, illustrating a multiple mould in which the slurry is cast and formed into
bricks.
Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5 a sectional elevation, of a drying floor suitable
for use in connection with this invention; and
.
Figure 6 is a plan, Figure 7 a section, and Figure 8 a detail, shewing the form
of plates of this floor and the mode in which they are arranged; whilst Figure 9
is a plan of the joint bearer for the plates, also shewn in Figure 8.
Figure 10 is an outside elevation, Figure 11 a sectional plan, and Figure 12 a
cross section, of a suitable kiln for burning the dry bricks or blocks herein
described.
With reference to the drawings, the mould or frame a shewn in Figures 1 to 3, is
of wood in parts suitably bolted together, said parts being tapered as shewn so as to
allow of the bricks or blocks being easily removed.
The drying floor shewn in Figures 4 to 9, consists of a number of plates 6 having
all round them a flange b', and channels c open at each end, said ends being
bevelled at the angle of 45. In these channels the flanges 6' of the plates lie. The

page_text: channels are supported on pillars or supports d.
When the channels c are laid
upon their supports with their angle ends closely together, the plates bare placed
down upon them, the flanges & fitting within the channel, but the channels are so
arranged that the flanges of the plates do not touch each other, and have room to
expand and contract, as shewn in Figure 8.
The floor is shewn provided underneath it with a number of heating fluid
pipes e communicating with a main fat one end of the floor, and having con-
nected with it a supply pipe g. The heating fluid supplied through these pipes
may be steam (superheated if desired) from, say, the exhaust of a steam engine,
or from another source; or it may be heated air or other gases. If steam be
used the condensed vapour may be carried off by suitable pipes or drains as will
be understood.
The floor is made on an incline so that any water that may come away from the
slurry will flow away.
The two circles denoted in Figure 4 may represent diagrammatically the
trough of an edge-runner mill. This edge runner may be the same construction as
ordinary edge runners, except that the runners themselves are made especially
heavy in order to crush the purple ore sufficiently fine, or to a sufficient extent, as
to produce the result herein described.
The kiln shewn in Figures 10, 11, 12, is that generally known as the "Down-
draught Staffordshire Kiln;" and if two or more of these are used, they may be
so connected that the waste heat from one kiln in burning the bricks or blocks,
may be carried away and used for drying the fresh bricks or blocks contained in
another.
i
Referring to these figures, are the furnaces of the kiln, and j the apertures in
the floor through which the gases pass away from the kiln. The ore blocks or
bricks are shewn arranged in rows across the kiln as represented in Figure 11 and
designated 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, that is, they lie between the apertures; and the rows
are coupled together at suitable distances apart by bricks or blocks & which have
already been burnt. By this means, the tendency of the rows of bricks or blocks
to warp is diminished, and they are prevented from falling over and becoming
broken, which they otherwise would do.
I have found that the ordinary "Hoffman" kiln is not so suitable for burning
bricks or blocks, but it may be rendered suitable by providing it with external
fire-grates.
The process or operations according to which the practical carrying on of the
invention is effected, is substantially the same as that above described; that is to
say, the purple ore as it is usually sold or supplied containing from about
15 to 17 per cent. of moisture is first ground in the edge runners, in which operation
it becomes wetter and wetter until it is brought to the state of a slurry. When in
this condition it is run out into waggons or trucks of a suitable size such as of the
kind hereinbefore specified, and these trucks or waggons are then taken to the
moulds a upon the drying floor, and the slurry is tipped out of them into the moulds.
When the material has set sufficiently hard to allow of the moulds being removed,
they are removed by lifting upwards at each end by their handles a¹, and the
bricks or blocks are then turned on their sides on the drying floor, and there dried
for such a length of time as will render them sufficiently hard to bear handling.
When using the floor above described with reference to Figures 4 and 5, I have
found about 24 hours sufficient for this purpose.
The next stage in the process of manufacture is the kilning.
In the operation according to one mode of carrying out the invention, the bricks
or blocks being piled or stowed in the kiln in the manner described when using the
kiln set forth with reference to the drawings, are dried in the kiln for about
24 hours by slow firing; or, in the manner above mentioned, by passing through
the kiln the hot waste gases coming from another kiln under full heat and firing.
After this, full firing in the kiln takes place, and the bricks or blocks are subject
to a high temperature for about 46 hours, making a total of about 70 hours drying

page_text: and firing in the kiln and this I find to be a very suitable duration of treatment
when using the kind of kiln shewn. Then after this the burnt bricks or blocks are
allowed to soak in the kilns for about another 24 hours, the soaking being effected
by bricking up the fire grates. After this treatment the bricks or blocks are
cooled down (and this is done by letting air into the kiln), and may then be taken
out of the kiln and are then ready for use for making iron in blast furnaces or other
furnaces; or for other purposes for which they may be suitable.
The blocks or bricks produced by these treatments are thoroughly sound and
hard, and not liable to break up or crumble.
Sometimes in very hot weather say, when the ore before treatment had been
exposed to hot sun or otherwise heated, it may not contain sufficient moisture; in
which case, a sprinkling of water may be added to it, say when being ground, to
make up the deficiency. The quantity suitable for the purposes of this invention
which the ore should contain before or when grinding is about 15 to 17 per cent. ;
and this is the quantity which it ordinarily contains as it is sold to iron works or
has been out of the tank for about 24 hours.
If any free acid or copper exists in the ore, after washing, a little lime may
be used to neutralize it: this will prevent corrosion of the apparatus for treating
the ore.
When these ore blocks are used for making steel, manganese ore may be used
in combination with the purple ore; or, other suitable substances used in
metallurgical operations in dealing with iron ore may be used in combination
with it.
It will be understood, of course, that the forms in which the blocks are
produced is not confined to rectangular form, as they may be made in any desired
or suitable shape.
In the usual way of carrying out this invention, it will be observed that the
blocks or bricks are produced from the purple ore without admixture of any
and
extraneous matters, without the addition of any water. By this latter feature,
or
it will be obvious, the evaporation of water from the ore which has to be produced
is very small, and the result of this feature, together with the other treatments
specified, is that I am enabled to produce with the plaut herein described, a given
weight of bricks or blocks with the use of a very small weight of ordinary coal,
including the burning, and the production of steam used for grinding the ore and
heating the drying floor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
:―
The production or manufacture of hard or sound blocks or bricks from loose or
pulverulent purple ore (or equivalent ore), substantially in the manner and for the
purposes herein set forth.
CHEESBROUGH & ROYSTON, Fels. Chart. Inst. P.A.,
15, Water Street, Liverpool, Applicant's Agents.