AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING METALS AND SALEABLE PRODUCTS FROM ORE!AL
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Davenport Whelpley and Jacob Jones Storer,
of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the
United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING METALS AND SALEABLE PRODUCTS FROM ORE!
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Davenport Whelpley
and Jacob Jones Storer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th May 1866.
We, JAMES DAVENPORT WHELPLEY and JACOB JONES STORER, of Boston, in
the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING METALS AND SALEABLE
PRODUCTS FROM ORES AND MINERALS, ADAPTED PARTICULARLY TO THE REDUCTION
OF SULPHURETS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in, first, the simultaneous heating, oxidizing, and
lixiviating finely powdered ores in a water furnace, whereby the constituents
of the said ores capable of the reaction at the degree of heat employed become
soluble salts.
Second, causing great rapidity in the process of "cementation" or sub-
stitution of one metal for another in a saline solution, by giving to the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: precipitating metal and solution a comparatively rapid relative motion in the
presence of heat.
Third, the metallization of a reducible protoxide by passing dry sulphurous
acid over such protoxide strongly heated.
Fourth, constructing a furnace for lixiviating, containing the following
parts: A tower whose intérior is in the form of a frustum of a cone
resting on its base; a horizontal flue divided into communicating chambers
by partial partitions; two or more fire-boxes, or an annular fire-box at the
top of the tower, so constructed as to throw a plunging flame into the head of
the said tower; a trough of water at the bottom of the tower and chambers
in which the lixiviation is effected, one or more settling tanks exterior to the
tower and chambers, but connected with the water bottom of the furnace so
as to provide a means of circulation for the solution, and furnished with steam
tubes for extra heat if required. One or more spray chambers connected with
settling tubs to wet down and collect the dust and gases of the air passing
through the furnace; a propeller working in the trough to maintain the
circulotion, a conductor beyond the first spray wheel having chambers for the
collection of the acids which have been absorbed by the spray, and resting
upon arches in a water bottom to allow the solid matters being readily raked
out.
Fifth, feeding the ore floated on air by means of a fan blower into the head
of the furnace, balancing the draft of the furnace by employing at the same
time an exhaust fan or draft wheel to draw air out of the furnace, and giving
to the said draft wheel sufficient power to deliver the additional volume
occasioned by heat, and the formation of gases in the furnace.
Sixth, feeding the ore and fuel to the fan by means of an apparatus which
will not allow coarse material to enter inside the case of the said fan.
Seventh, the elimination of sulphurous gas from the air passing through
the furnace by feeding oxide of copper or other analogous protoxide in com-
pany with the sulphurets into the head of the furnace.
Eighth, providing inspection and cleaning holes in the sides of the tower
and chambers, and arranging the feed pipe of the furnace telescopically, so
that it may be opened and the furnace cleaned and yet will not leak when
closed.
Ninth, the employment of the property of variable solubility at different
temperatures in connection with continuous currents of air passing over the
surface of a solution to speedily obtain crystals of a salt.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Davenport Whelpley and Jacob Jones Storer in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we JAMES
DAVENPORT WHELPLEY and JACOB JONES STORER, of Boston, in the County of
Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Lettera
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Davenport Whelpley & Jacob Jones Storer, Her special license
that we, the said James Davenport Whelpley & Jacob Jones Storer, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Davenport Whelpley & Jacob Jones Storer, our 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 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS POR OBTAINING METALS
AND SALABLE PRODUCTS FROM ORES AND MINERALS, ADAPTED PARTICULARLY TO THE
REDUCTION OF SULPHURETS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James Davenport Whelpley and Jacob Jones Storer, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our 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 inimediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Davenport Whelpley and Jacob
Jones Storer, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention is of a process for reducing metals from sulphurets and
analogous minerals, and incidentally manufacturing the mineralizing elements
of the ore into valuable and salable commoditics; and of the machinery to be
used in said process.
Our Invention may be stated to be, first, the simultaneous heating, oxidizing,

page_text: and lixiviating finely powdered ores in a water furnace, whereby the consti-
tuents of the ore capable of the reaction at the degree of heat employed become
soluble salts.
Second, causing great rapidity in the process of "cementation" or sub-
stitution of one metal for another in a saline solution by giving to the pre-
cipitating metal and to the solution a comparatively rapid relative motion in
presence of heat.
Third, the metallization of a reducible protoxide by passing dry sulphurous
acid over such protoxide strongly heated.
Fourth, constructing a furnace for lixiviating, containing the following
elements: A tower in interior form the frustum of a cone resting on its base;
a horizontal flue divided into communicating chambers by partial partitions;
two or more fire-boxes, or an annular fire-box at the top of the tower, so
constructed as to throw a plunging flame into the head of the tower; a trough
of water at the bottom of the tower and chambers, in which the lixiviation is
effected; one or more settling tanks exterior to the tower and chambers. but
connected with the "water bottom" of the furnace so as to provide a circula-
tion for the solution, and furnished with steam tubes for extra heat if required;
one or more spray chambers connected with settling tubs to wet down and
collect the dust and gases of the air passing through the furnace; a propeller
working in the trough to maintain the circulation; a conductor beyond the
first spray wheel constructed with chambers for the collection of acids which
have been absorbed by the spray, and resting upon arches in a water bottom
to allow of solid matters being readily raked out.
Fifth, feeding the ore floated on air by mean of a fan blower into the head
of the furnace, balancing the draft of the furnace by employing at the same
time an exhaust fan or draft wheel to draw air out of the furnace, and giving
to the draft wheel sufficient power to deliver the additional volume occasioned
by heat, and the formation of gases in the furnace.
Sixth, feeding the ore and fuel to the fan by means of an apparatus which
will not allow coarse material to enter the case of the fan.
Seventh, the elimination of sulphurous gas from the air passing through the
furnace by feeding oxide of copper or other analogous protoxide in company
with the sulphurets into the head of the furnace.
Eighth, providing inspection and cleaning holes in the sides of the tower
and chambers; arranging the feed pipe of the furnace telescopically so that
it may be opened and the furnace cleaned and yet will not leak when closed.
Ninth, the employment of the property of variable solubility at different
temperatures in connection with continuous currents of air passing over the

page_text: surface of a solution to speedily obtain crystals of a salt, and an apparatus for
effecting the same.
Metals seldom are found in nature pure. Gold, silver, copper, and
platinum are perhaps the only, certainly the most notable exceptions. More
usually they appear as combinations with other metals, or as binary com-
binations with non-metallic substances, or as insoluble salts. The most generally
diffused combination is that with sulphur, sometimes as an insoluble salt, like
gypsum, more usually as a binary compound called a sulphuret; but even the
sulphurels are seldom of a simple character. Pyrites, the most common of
all, is frequently a double sulphuret of iron and copper; or if it be a simple
one, it contains mingled with it, either mechanically or otherwise, gold or
other metal. Galena (sulphuret of lead) is almost invariably a sulphuret of
silver also, to an extent sufficient to render the extraction of silver profitable.
To work an ore properly we should be able to make of every constituent
part a salable commodity, and if possible the expenses of working should be
paid by the sale of those constituents of the ore, except the matrix, which we
wish to drive away to get the most valuable results. Thus the iron and
sulphur of the gold ores of Colorado should be sufficient in amount if properly
collected to pay the cost of working, leaving the precious metal to bear the
expense of mining only. In order to do this we must have an apparatus
which shall give us, economically and on a large scale, the results or nearly the
results of laboratory practice.
The methods heretofore in use for the reduction of metals from ores are of
two classes, the dry and the wet. In the dry method the mineral is roasted
and smelted, with or without fluxes and reagents, in contact with air, until the
chemical equivalents which mineralize the metal to be reduced are clminated,
leaving either the metal or a regulus behind.
We have all heard of the Bessemer process for making steel from cast
iron. Now if we take a refractory carthen pot, put into it a metallic
sulphuret with a suitable flux, liquify it by sufficient heat, and through a
tuyere inserted to the bottom of the crucible blow a sufficient quantity of air,
the air will act successively on the oxidizable equivalents in the order of their
affinity for oxygen at the temperature employed. By this means the sulphur
and other impurities may be completely eliminated. This would be the
typical "dry method." In Swansea, Wales, in the copper works in America,
and in Germany, modifications of the dry method are used.
The English
process, as practised in Wales, Cornwall, at Baltimore, in Boston, differs from
the above application of the Bessemer process only in the apparatus used, the
numerous heatings the ore undergoes, and in the fact that the oxygenation is

page_text: superficial and not in the body of the ore. The mineral broken to fine gravel
size is spread upon the floor of a reverberatory furnace, and heated and
stirred, and taken out and re-broken, and again and again worked over, so
many as eight successive roastings being frequently given to one batch of ore.
In Germany two modifications of the process are in use. In one the ore
is piled with fuel into a heap, and set on fire. It burns slowly and con-
tinuously, often for three months in the open air, until the larger part of the
sulphur is burned out; or it may be loosely piled in the open air, and allowed
slowly to oxidize by the action of the atmosphere, and so the process of
atmospheric roasting will last three years.
Another German method is to sift through the top of a reverberatory
furnace finely powdered ores, which drop upon obstructing oblique shelves to
retard the fall, and passing through the flame are oxydized and fused, and
collect as a matt on the sole of the furnace. This process is rapid, but less
certain than the other, and is used mostly for the formation of sulphuric acid.
In any event all the subdivisions of the dry method" are two:-I. Slow
roasting of coarsely broken ores. II. Rapid roasting of finely powdered ores.
In the dry method" we require to break and comminute the ore at each
successive heating, in order to obtain the full action of the atmosphere upon
it, and at the conclusion of each heating we have an intractible matt, just as
we did before we commenced it. This led metallurgists to consider if there
were no way to avoid this difficulty, and developed the "wet method," which
consisted in washing the ore at the conclusion of each heating, partly to
render it friable, and avoid the expense of breaking, and partly to dissolve
out of it soluble salts that might have formed during the atmospheric
roasting. Such were the plans of Bankart and Monnier in Europe, and
upon this principle a recent American method proceeds, which heats the
matrix of the metal intensely, and then plunges into water or prepared
chemical baths. These carlier "wet methods," though steps in the right
direction, do not proceed far enough.
The most expeditious means to reduce a metal from ores in which it is
combined with sulphur and other analogous volatilizable impurities, is to
form those portions of the ore which are capable of the reaction into soluble
salts, and at once lixiviate.
Our prezess is the lixiviation of incandescent sulphurous ores hot imme-
diately after rapid roasting in presence of heat and oxygen. And to avoid
merely superficial action we pulverize the ore to be treated so finely that the
action which on coarser pieces would be superficial penetrates throughout the
particle. To do this we require machinery specially devised for the purpose,

page_text: carefully arranged with reference to the intended result, and also for the
employment of certain subsidiary processes which facilitate the working of
the furnace.
In the Drawings Fig. 1, (Sheets 1, 2, and 5), is a longitudinal vertical section
of the water furnace with its conductor and spray wheels; Fig. 2, Sheets 3
and 4, is a plan of the same, the settling tank and tubs; Fig. 3, is a longitudinal
vertical section of the settling tank; Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section of the
horizontal flue or chambers, water exit, and settling tank; Fig. 5 is a vertical
cross section of the tower and fire-boxes; Fig. 6 is a plan of the fire-boxes and
top of the tower; Fig. 7 is a section of the crystallizing vat; Fig. 8 is a
vertical section of precipitating tub.
A wedge-shaped trough with rounded bottom about 20 inches in diameter is
first constructed, about four feet wide at its top, and two and quarter feet deep,
to contain the "water bottom" and "pool" of the furnace. A cross section of
this is shown at L, Fig. 4, and a longitudinal section at L, Fig. 1. Over this
trough we erect a furnace, consisting of tower and horizontal flue. The tower
should be from ten to twenty feet high, in general interior form a truncated
cone, and about three feet in diameter at the top near the crown, and four or
five feet in diameter near the bottom. It connects with the horizontal flue,
as shown in Fig. 1. The horizontal flue is arched, as shown in Fig. 1,
Sheet 1, at R, and divided into precipitating chambers by partitions T from
the spring of the arches R downward, but not reaching the water bottom,
and P from within the water bottom upward, but not reaching the crown of
the arches, so that the course of the horizontal flue is serpentine, as shown by
the arrows, Fig. 1. The sides of the chambers where the arrows point
upward is called the "rise," and where they point downward the "drop" of
the chambers. Inspection holes K of sufficient size to allow the introduction
of a scraper or hose to clean or wash the interior of the furnace are made, as
shown in Fig. 1, and are closed with fire-brick, soapstone, or other suitable
material. At the junction of the sides of the chambers and tower with the
sides of the trough are side openings k, beveled downward on their lower
edge to allow of cleaning the bottom and sides of the trough. The trough
communicates with outer tanks by water entrance O, and water exit Q. A long
propeller or conveyor M supported on four journals, one at each end, and two
intermediate is placed in the axis of the rounded part of the trough and is
revolved by band N. Around the top of the tower are four fire-boxes I,
forming a Greek cross, with a voided circular centre, and at the re-entering
angles of the cross are the springs of the cap of the furnace, which is dome-
shaped. The fire-boxes connect with the interior of the tower by arched

page_text: Blues J, their arches forming groins with the arch of the dome.
The lower
part of the flues J is made by the fire-bridge, curved on its upper surface, as
drawn Fig. 1, and in its horizontal section a quadrant, minus the width of the
groined spring of the flue and dome arches. There are inspection and draft
doors in the fire-boxes over the level of the fires, two conical inspection holes
in the cap of the furnace, and a cylindrical opening for the chimney in the
centre of the dome. This pipe immediately above the furnace is constructed
as a telescopic tube G sliding over the chimney F, flanged at the bottom, and
raised and lowered by chains, as shown in Fig. 1, so that a cleaning tool or
hose ray be introduced. The chimney F opens to the external air, and the
draft is downwards. It has a valve to close the draft, and is entered on the
side by pipe E, which supplies air and floated fuel, ore, and fluxes to the
furnace. This pipe E is the peripheral exhaust of a fan blower A about three
feet in diameter, with sheet steel fans 10" X 5", and making about 2,000
revolutions a minute. The fan blower is supplied with air from two pipes E'
entering at its centre, and thence extending downwards, opening at the
bottom to receive air. These pipes are somewhat smaller at the bottom than
where they enter the fan case, being enlarged at where the pipes from the
feed hoppers C enter the supply pipes E. One of the feed hoppers C contains
the finely powdered ore to be acted on, the other the fuel and fluxes similarly
powdered. Each hopper is furnished at its bottom with the apparatus B,
described in our Specification for "an "improvement in the use and applica-
tion of fuel, and of chemical reagents to eliminate its impurities, or those of the
substances it is to heat," consisting of a revolving brush and discharging bar,
which scatters the dust in the track of the air blast before entering the fan
blower. At the opposite extremity of the horizontal flue from the tower are
two openings from the chamber, conducting into the central openings in the
case of a draft and spray wheel of the kind described in our Specification for
"Apparatus for Removing Dust and Gases from Air. which we call Com-
bined Draft and Spray Wheel." This wheel is to carry a greater body of air
than the fan blower A at the opposite end of the furnace, and discharges the
air, spray, and dust passing through it into spray chamber Y, which has a
bottom hat its origin as high as the axis of the wheel, and inclining away
from it. Upon this the condensed spray and matters it has wetted down fall,
and are conducted from the spray chamber by a pipe a into the settling tubs,
the second of which has a perpendicular partition extending from its upper
edgo towards the bottom, by which the solid matters are thrown down. From
thus tub there is an overflow c into the water chamber of the spray wheel, and
a fourth overflow conveys superfluous water from the spray box to the furnace

page_text: trough.
wheel, and a pipe
This apparatus is
As some of the spray is carried off in the form of steam a supply
pipe d furnishes fresh water to the second tub to preserve the constant level
of the water into which the spray arms dip. This wheel is supplied with
water only, and is called the "wetting wheel." The spray chamber has a
man-hole, by which it can be entered and cleaned, and opens into a con-
ductor Z divided by precipitating partitions into chambers n, with rise and
drop. This conductor rests upon piers set in a trough of water deeper than
the height of the piers, and wider than the conductor, so that the bottom of
the conductor is the water surface, and the solid matters precipitated in the
conductor can be raked out between the piers. The conductor has a swinging
door opening to the outer air, and thus balancing the draft of the wetting
and chemical wheels. At the extremity of the conductor is placed another
draft and spray wheel carrying the same or nearly the same body of air as the
wetting wheel, and at the same rate. This wheel is supplied with chemicals
either mingled with or dissolved in the spray it furnishes, and if introduced
dry they can be fed into the case of the dash arms by means of the apparatus
represented in Fig. 1, consisting of a hopper, revolving brush, or fluted
cylinder, to regulate the amount fed into the case of the
leading from the hopper to the case of the spray wheel.
shown at m, in Fig. 1. This wheel is called the "chemical wheel" or "lime
wheel." Outside of the chambers and at a level somewhat lower than 'the
trough forming the "water bottom" and "pool" is the settling tank U, into
which flows the water that has been used in the furnace.
pulp driven from the water bottom by the conveyor is deposited, and the
water thus purified is conducted by return conduit or water entrance Q Fig. 1
and Fig. 2, back into the furnace; p is a steam pipe to keep the water supplied
to the chemical wheel constantly agitated, and. if it be desired to introduce
steam into the furnace it can be alone through a tuyere inserted at r, Fig. 2.
The water in the water bottom and settling tanks must be kept at a high
temperature in order that it may dissolve as much of the soluble salts formed
as possible, and to this end steam tubes may be placed in the settling tank to
heat it if it becomes necessary. Instead of the four fire-boxes described
with a groined dome over the head of the furnace the tower might be built
so as to substitute for the arched fire-boxes and dome of the tower an annular
fire-box, having the tower as the centre, and covered by a dome springing
from the outer circular wall of the fire-box; the objects being simply to
obtain a plunging flame from the fire-boxes into the head of the tower, and
naking a focus of combustion, these will be as well effected by one device
the other
In this tank the

page_text: To construct the furnace a foundation of timber and plank is laid, on which
will rest the trough; upon this rests the foundation S of the trough of solid
masonry laid in hydraulic cement and heavily buttressed at the sides to
obviate thrust and sustain the weight; above this the chambers and tower
are erected also of masonry lined with fire-brick and built with air spaces.
The chimney and pipes of the air and dust feed are of sheet metal, the fan
blower of iron and steel, the case of the wetting draft and spray wheel is of
brick below and soapstone or metal above, the upper part of it is made with
a slot to enable the wheel to be lifted out of its place to be repaired; this
case rests on a solid masonry foundation, as does also the spray chamber,
which is of masonry covered with copper-lined wood. The conveyor working
in the bottom of the trough is of wood, it is supported by strong timbers set
in the masonry and revolves on copper. The blades are faced with copper;
the belt which drives it is of rubber. The orc and coal hoppers may be of
wood or sheet metal. The settling tank is of masonry; the settling tubs of
wood. The wetting wheel must be made of copper. The conductor is of
wood and its chambers may be lined with lead to collect sulphuric acid. The
chemical wheel will be of iron. A plank platform V is to be laid over the
top of the precipitating chambers and over the coal and ore hoppers, which
will project upwards through it for convenience in feeding. The fire-boxes
are supported by plank and timber platform D, and all the masonry is
bound with iron. To set the furnace in operation the trough is filled with
water about three feet deep, so as to rise somewhat upon the sides of the
partitions P. That part of this wet hearth beneath the tower and first
chamber is called the "pool," and under the remaining chambers "the
water bottom; "fires are then started in the fire-boxes, the draft wheels set
in motion, and the furnace heated; ore and pulverized fuel are then fed in
through the fced hoppers C and delivered into the furnace through the
feed pipes by the action of the fan A. The advantages of feeding into
the air blast before it enters the fan are, that coarse material is surely preci-
pitated by gravity in opposition to the current of air, that the fuel and ore are
more perfectly mingled with the air; the fan works with less labor and can
never be loaded with more material than the blast can easily carry; the ore
and fuel are more easily supplied; and the advantage of using two hoppers
and feeding the different materials, fuel and ore, separately is that we can
change the ratio of ore and fuel at once and without trouble, and the ore
and fuel are more perfectly mingled with each other. We consider these
very important improvements. The ore and fuel pass into the head of
the furnace are fired by the radiation and the heat from the fire-boxes, drop

page_text: to the bottom of the tower and wind their way along the horizontal flue
towards the wetting wheel. Most of the solid material has by this time been
deposited, a large majority of it in the "pool." The air laden with gases and
some impalpable dust is carried through the wetting wheel to the spray
chamber, where it deposits all its dust, and the gas-laden air proceeds through
the conductor towards the chemical wheel, much of the spray and steam it
has brought over condenses in the chambers of the conductor, absorbing
sulphurous acid and changing to sulphuric acid. The remainder is carried to
the chemical wheel, where it is again wetted and supplied with alkaline
reagents, which completely purify the air from sulphurous gas & discharge it
into the atmosphere with very slight contamination, and that only of carbonic
acid. During all this operation the conveyor, moved by its belt, is revolving
in the trough below the "pool" and "water bottom," and pushing. forward the
solid matters to the "water exit," through which they are carried to the
An
settling tank and there subside, to be removed by pump or otherwise.
automatic transfer of water thus takes place through trough and settling tank.
The ingredients of the ore which on lixiviation are soluble are to be found in
solution, the insoluble portions are in the pulp of the settling tank and tubs,
from which they can be readily separated. No slag ever forms on the interior
walls of this furnace, first, because the inclined walls of the tower and the
arched and curved fire surfaces allow no chance for it to cling to them; and,
secondly, because most of it is precipitated in the pool at first entering the
horizontal flue or chambers. The whole interior may be washed clean by a
hose.
To illustrate the method of working ores and the manner of treating them
after being reduced to the condition of soluble salts we will take the example
of an ore of copper. Let us suppose that the furnace has been worked as
we have described, till the water in the trough and settling tank and tubs is
comparatively saturated with soluble salts. One method of proceeding would
The residue will consist of crystals of impure
be to evaporate to dryness.
sulphate of copper, which we render anhydrous by heat, and eliminate the
sulphuric acid by appropriate means, of course collecting and preserving the
We shall then have remaining oxide of copper, with a small per-
centage of impurity, which we can disregard. This oxide of copper becomes
valuable in a part of the process to be hereafter described; or we may reduce
it to the metallic state by roasting with a reducing flame on the floor of a
reverberatory furnace, or better by passing over and through it dry sulphurous
acid obtained by the roasting of the anhydrous sulphate, which will then give
off free oxygen and sulphurous acid, and the sulphurous acid passing over
same.

page_text: heated protoxide of copper, will absorb an equivalent of oxygen and become
sulphuric acid, which may be collected by any appropriate means, as by
passing it through or over water, while the protoxide will be reduced to
metallic form. Instead, however, of using heat to evaporate our sulphate
solution we economise our fuel by taking advantage of the variable solubility
of sulphate of copper in water of different temperatures. At the boiling point
we can dissolve about twice as much of the salt as at sixty degrees. It is
the capacity of the air for water that is an efficient agent in evaporation.
and if we constantly replace the stratum of saturated air by a stratum of
dry air we can evaporate any watery solution much quicker than by
boiling. So from a well in the corner of our tank we draw off the clear
liquid by means of a steam siphon or pump of wood, lead, copper, or
india-rubber, into shallow vats unitedly large enough to hold the entire
charge of, say, twenty-six tons of liquid. containing from ten to thirteen
tons of sulphate of copper in solution. These vats may be superposed on
each other with a passage for air between, and over the surface of the liquid
contained in them is drawn or forced from a large fan blower a blast of
air. This apparatus is represented in Fig. 7, in which F, B, is the fan blower,
and C, V, the crystallizing vats. The vats may be made of wood and should
be lined with asphalte, paper, or cloth. One-half or more of the sulphate of
copper will be thrown down in crystals by evaporation and cooling. This
method of crystalizing and evaporation is of course valuable whenever any
salt possesses variable solubility at different temperatures. The mother liquor
is now either drawn back into the furnace to be further charged by the
continuation of the process of lixiviating the ore by our method, or it is
transferred to the precipitating tub to be reduced to metallic copper by the
substitution of iron for copper in the proto sulphate (Ro. So3.)
The pre-
cipitating tub is a wooden vessel about three feet deep, and capable of containing
some ten tons of water. By reference to Fig. 8 its operation will be well
understood, P, t, is the tub. Around its interior is coiled a steam pipe,
preferably of lead, and within it is placed a disturber consisting of a
perpendicular shaft p, s, which revolves at about fifteen turns a minute. To
this shaft is fixed the disturber d, t, pierced with holes at the bottom
and sides, and carrying in its interior masses, fragments, or powders of iron
p, i. This apparatus is intended to produce a relative motion in the presence
of heat between sulphate of copper waters and metallic iron, by which the
metallic copper is thrown down in fine powder, the iron dissolved and sulphate
of iron remains in solution.
Any apparatus that will produce this relative motion of iron and sulphate

page_text: of copper water in presence of heat will produce this result which we claim
as our own discovery. The solution of sulphate of iron we may evaporate
and crystalize as we did that of sulphate of copper.
The metallic copper
thrown down is shovelled from the tank, washed, and is a marketable article,
being almost chemically pure. To prevent mistakes in the use of this
method we will state that iron filings and turnings wrought or sheet iron
are not desirable, scrap, cast, and broken pig iron are better, and the best of
all is "revived iron," as we call it, a powder to be obtained by reduction of
oxide of iron in powder by means of carbonic oxide, but the obtaining of which
chiefly we have not yet fully matured. We now return to the method of using
oxide of copper previously alluded to. In operating the water furnace as
described in the earlier part of this Specification we were obliged to use a
"chemical wheel" to save a portion of the sulphurous acid, and to prevent the
fumes of the furnace from passing into the atmosphere. By the following
method of employing oxide of copper we avoid this necessity and render the
chemical wheel little more than a simple draft wheel obtain sulphate of copper
as a product instead of gypsum or sulphate of an alkali or alkaline earth, and
thus reduce the cost of metallic copper still more by rendering more valuable a
product of the process. This oxide of copper obtained by the elimination of the
sulphuric acid from the sulphate is introduced into the air blast in conjunction
with the ore and fuel, and passes into the furnace; the result is that very
little or no sulphurous acid passes the wetting wheel, that the production of
sulphate of copper is increased, and that but a trifle of the oxide is found in
the furnace and then always in the last chamber which we wash into the trough
with a hose, after which it gives us no trouble and we find no further trace of
it. We take the reaction to be as follows:-The sulphuret in presence of
beat and oxygen becomes sulphurous acid which abstracts the oxygen from
the oxide of copper and forms sulphuric acid, and this at once combines with
an equivalent of oxide of copper just set free, and which has meantime com-
bined with an equivalent of oxygen in the air, and this equivalent of sulphate
of copper is dissolved in the water of the trough.
One hundred and eighty-five pounds of finely pulverized charcoal fed through
the air blast and the head of the furnace and burned in aerial combustion
will sustain a column of an incandescence equal to that of a wind furnace or a
puddling furnace. The finely powdered ores of copper, however, do not
require so great a degree of heat. But if the ores contain bismuth, tellurium,
or titanium in any quantity the amount of floated charcoal or other
pulverized fuel must be very nearly 200 pounds per hour.
But every six
pounds of carbon require sixteen pounds of oxygen or eighty pounds of atmo-

page_text: spheric air for complete combustion, and for the salification and oxidizing of
the equivalents in the ore still greater quantities of air are required, so
that for a furnace whose tower is three feet in diameter at the dome,
four at the base, and eighteen feet high, we provide fans capable of throw-
ing from sixteen to twenty tons of air an hour, which will contain three
or four tons of oxygen. Our experience shows us that not more than half
the oxygen of the atmosphere is practically available for immediate com-
bustion, so that twenty tons of atmospheric air will give us but two tons of
available oxygen. This can readily be delivered to the furnace by the fan
blower A but as the sudden increase of heat causes a sudden and violent
expansion of the air as it enters the furnace we must make the capacity of
the draft and spray or exhaust wheels five or six times greater than that of the
fuel wheel; and as the air opening into the furnace is a circle of a foot in
diameter the succeeding flues are all made with at least a sectional area of
six superficial feet, and as a general rule the air openings should enlarge as
their distance from the focus of heat increases to allow for the expansion
by heat and the addition of several volumes of carbonic acid and other gases
With
generated by combustion and the action of the furnace on the ores.
good management the consumption of coal in the four fire-boxes ought not to
exceed 100 pounds of carbon an hour, and for the generation of steam and
the movement of the fans, draft wheels, and other incidental machinery of
the furnace 100 pounds an hour, or a ton and a quarter in twenty-four hours,
of good anthracite coal should suffice. With this quantity of fuel, namely,
four hundred pounds an hour, co-operating in these different ways it is pos-
sible, and even easy, to expel the sulphur from three and a half tons of
ten per cent. copper ore; for it is the conjoint action of the incandescence of
the ore in oxygen and its lixiviation in water or dilute acid co-operating at
the water line that gives its greater rapidity of action to this furnace and
process.
To estimate in advance how much ore can be lixiviated hot in a given timo
would be almost impossible. The elements to be considered are, the absolute
quantities in the ore to be treated, of sulphur, tellurium, arsenic, bismuth
lead, and copper, and other oxidizable equivalents; the temperature of the
water bottom in which, and not in the air, the process of lixiviation is effected
The quality of the fuel, the spongy charcoals; and lighter mineral coals giving
better results than other fuel, owing, doubtless, to more rapid combustion
the dryness of the atmosphere, for though steam is decomposed into com
bustible gases its effect is inferior to that of pure dry carbon; and the con
dition of the ores with regard to moisture must also be considered.
Thos

page_text: ores, too, which consist chiefly of iron and sulphur, like the Colorado gold
ores, give the best results, for the iron and sulphur are both combustible, and
the iron gives forth an intense heat while in combustion; and by no means
the least important element in calculating the value of the "water furnace"
as a metallurgic instrument will be the intelligence of the foreman and his
attention to his work. He can waste fuel at his option unless it is withheld
by the proprietors; but by making his wages depend on the quantity of ore
lixiviated and the value of the returns after deducting the cost of labor and
fuel consumed to accomplish it we can render him economical and careful, and
in well-managed works this rule will eventually obtain. The desulphurization
is very imperfectly and partially effected before the ore strikes the water,
although the whole tower and first chamber are filled with flame. Perhaps
one-fourth to one-half the sulphur may be separated by heat in the tower,
but from the instant the heated particle strikes the water its desulphurization
is complete. Ore caught in the air before reaching the water bottom must
be boiled in two baths of dilute sulphuric acid before complete separation of
metal and sulphur is effected, and this renders the dry method exceedingly
troublesome and expensive.
No proper means have yet been found to reduce the ores to powder suf-
ficiently fine for this treatment save the mills invented by us and patented by
George Haseltine, of London, Civil Engineer, as a communication from the
Boston Milling and Manufacturing Company, September 29, A.D. 1864, and
none can be found save in a mill which pulverizes by the mutual attrition of
particles on each other. In the pulp of the settling tank and tubs of the
wetting wheel will be found silica, and generally alumina. oxide of iron,
chicfly magnetic, oxide or sulphate of lead, if the ore contained that metal,
perhaps oxide of zinc, though that metal will more usually be in the solution
as a sulphate. Gold will appear in metallic form in small particles brightened
by passing through the heated atmosphere and plunging into water or dilute
acid. Silver will always be in metallic form if the temperature be high enough.
In the solution of the tank and tubs will be found the sulphates of the soluble
metals present in the ore.
.
The action of the precipitating tub and its disturber, Fig. 8, is not
confined to salts of copper. The combined effect of heat and relative motion
of the solution and precipitating agent is quite marked in the case of bismuth
and silver. We may accelerate this action by passing electric or galvanic
currents through the liquid, attaching, for instance, plates of metal to the
disturbing tub and connecting them across by wires. In every case the
solution should be kept hot, never less than 200° Fahrenheit, and when

page_text: the precipitation of copper is effected by iron brisk ebullition is the best
condition of the solution. In this case the secondary current is of very slight
benefit.
Having thus described and set forth the nature of our Invention, and the
manner in which it is to be performed, what we claim as new and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is,-
First, the treatment of finely powdered ores as described by instantaneously
successive heating, oxygenation, and lixiviation in a water furnace, for the
purpose described.
Second, the treatment of solutions of metals for the purpose of obtaining
rapid precipitation of "cement" metal by giving to the precipitating metal
and to the solution comparatively rapid relative motion in presence of heat.
Third, the employment of dry sulphurous acid to reduce a heated metallic
protoxide.
"
Fourth, the construction of the water furnace, as described, consisting of
the following elements:-I., a tower in interior form the frustrum of a cone.
II., a horizontal flue divided into communicating chambers by partial par-
titions. III., two or more fire-boxes or an annular fire-box at the top of the
tower so arranged and constructed as to throw a plunging flame into the head
of the tower. IV., a trough of water to form the bottom of the tower and
chambers in which the immediate lixiviation of the heated and oxidized par-
ticles is effected. V., one or more settling tanks exterior to the tower and
chambers, but connected with the water bottom of the furnace, so that the
solution may circulate and deposit the "pulp" outside the "water bottom."
VI., one or more spray chambers connected with seitling tubs to wet down
and collect the dust and gases of the air passing through the furnace. VII., a
propellor or conveyor working in the trough of the water bottom to maintain
the circulation. VIII., a conductor beyond the first spray wheel constructed
with chambers as and for the purpose described, and having a water bottom
formed by resting the sides of the conductor on piers in a trough of water to
allow of solid matters being readily raked out between them, claiming such
elements each of them, when a constituent part of the furnace working by the
"wet method" upon finely powdered ores which have been roasted and
oxidized in aerial combustion.
Fifth, the employment of a fan blower to feed the ore floated on air into
the head of the furnace; of an exhaust fan or draft wheel to create a balanced
draft in the flues of the furnace, and made of sufficient superior power to
deliver the additional volume occasioned by heat and the formation of gases
in the furnace.

page_text: Sixth, the location of the feed hoppers for ore and fuel on the side of the
fan away from the furnace, as and for the purpose described.
Seventh, the employment of oxide of copper fed into the head of the
furnace at the same time with the sulphuret to be reduced, to eliminate the
sulphurous gas from the air passing through the furnace.
Eighth, the construction of the tower and chambers with inspection and
cleaning holes, as described, and the arrangement of the feed pipe F with a
telescopic slide G flanged as drawn to allow the introduction of cleaning
tools or a hose into the head of the furnace and prevent leakage when not
open.
Ninth, the employment of the property of variable solubility at different
temperatures in connection with continuous currents of air passing over the
surface of a solution as a manufacturing process in a large way to rapidly
obtain crystals of a salt, and the described apparatus consisting of a vat
covered by a flue connected with an exhaust fan to create the current of air,
the bottom of the flue being formed by the surface of the solution, substan-
tially as described.
In witness whereof we have hereto set our hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES DAVENPORT WHELPLEY.
(L.S.)
JACOB JONES STORER.
(L.S.)