AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING MANGANESE ORES
Year: 1857

page_text: Sealed the 9th February 1858, and dated the 16th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1857.
I, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, do hereby declare the
5 nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING MANGANESE ORES,"
to bo as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in treating manganese
ores, and consists in subjecting black wad and similar ores of manganese to
the action of regulated heat as a preparatory. process, so as to lessen, or for
the most part remove, the quantity of water present in such ores.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Richardson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
tho said Thomas Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, 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 "Ax
IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING MANGANESE ORES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Richardson, 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 In-
vention, 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 Thomas Richardson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in treating manganese
ores, and consists in subjecting black wad and similar ores of manganese to
the action of regulated heat as a preparatory process, so as to lessen, or for
the most part remove, the quantity of water present in such ores.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed, more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The black wad and similar ores of manganese sometimes contain so much
water as to be valueless in their native state, have been found to contain
between 50 and 60 per cent. of water.
I take the ore as worked, and if necessary reduce it into small blocks or
pieces, which I then expose to a temperature of about 300° Fahrenheit, so as

page_text: to expel most of the water. The heat must never approach a dull red, as at
that temperature the ores part with their oxygen.
The most convenient arrangement for carrying out my Invention is similar to
that adopted for drying bricks known as the "drying flat," on which the pieces
of ore are spread to a depth of 6 or 8 inches. The workman turns over the
whole from time to time, breaking the larger pieces by a flat shovel as the
drying progresses. This drying flat may be heated by fuel of any kind, or by
waste heat from any sources.
This drying process may be carried out by exposing the ores to a current of
dry warm air, or to the waste heat of steam boilers, sulphur burners, or that
from hot water or steam pipes, but I prefer that first described. The ore
thus dried is fit for use for any of the purposes for which manganeso is
employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
Oue thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
THOMAS RICHARDSON. (L.S.)