Arrangement of Furnaces for that Purpose.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Nov., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 1st Aug., 1888
Comptete Specification Accepted, 7th Sept., 1888
Arrangement of Furnaces for that Purpose.
We, HENRY BOWES SCOTT of Broadway Chambers, Westminster in the County
of Middlesex Engineer and WILLIAM GENTLES of St. Helens in the County of
Lancaster, Metallurgist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to bo as
follows:-
In the smelting of copper and lead ores, as usually practised, the material is
treated in successive furnaces becoming refined by stages. From each of these
furnaces the fused material is tapped and allowed to cool and set into pigs, and these
pigs have in each successive furnace to be melted again, thereby entailing a great
waste of heat and great labour in transporting the pigs and charging them into the
furnaces. This invention relates to an arrangement of the furnaces and a method of
operating whereby much of the cost of fuel and labour is economised. For this
purpose we place in a central position a cupola where the ore is first fused preferably
with a hot blast. From the cupola the fused material flows continuously into a well
whence a large portion of the slag overflows and is skimmed leaving the somewhat
purified material collecting in the well below. From time to time this is tapped into
one or other of a set of spouts which radiate from the well towards furnaces where
the first stage of refinement is effected. From these furnaces again the partially
refined material is tapped into spouts leading to furnaces for farther refining. In this
way as material already in a fused condition is charged into the successive furnaces
there is little heat wasted in bringing the material up to the refining temperature,
and as the fused material flows by gravity from one place to another there is no
labour wasted in lifting, moving and depositing pigs. At the bottom of the spouts
mentioned above we provide a number of shallow conical recesses in which portions
of the metal collect as the fluid runs over them. The contents of these recesses when
the spouts are empty, are removed as solid lumps each having a cap or button of
metal adhering to it.
Namamber 1987
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in the Smelting of Copper and Lead Ores and
Arrangement of Furnaces for that Purpose.
We, HENRY BOWES SCOTT of Broadway Chambers Westminster in the County of
Middlesex Engineer and WILLIAM GENTLES of St. Helens in the County of Lancaster,
Metallurgist 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 :-
In the smelting of copper and lead ores as usually practised, the material is treated
in successive furnaces becoming refined by stages. From each of these furnaces the
fused material is tapped and allowed to cool and set into pigs, and these pigs have in
each successive furnace to be melted again, thereby entailing a great waste of heat
and great labour in transporting the pigs and charging them into the furnaces. This
invention relates to an arrangement of the furnaces and a method of operating
whereby much of the cost of fuel and labour is economised.
A is a
The accompanying drawing represents an arrangement according to our invention
of copper smelting furnaces by which we operate in the following manner.
cupola which is charged with the ore and the necessary fuel and fluxes, and has its
contents subjected to a forced hot oxydising blast, the blast being heated by means
of regenerative stoves, one of which is shewn at B. From the cupola A the molten
metal along with the slag and other impurities is run off into the well C which
gradually becomes filled, the slag rising to the surface of the molten mass.
clean slag is run off into slag trucks one of which is shewn at T, and the rich
skimmings are returned to the cupola.
The
When the well C is full of metal, the blast of the cupola is slackened, and the well
is tapped. The stream of metal flows along an inclined shoot D into the smelting
furnace E the bed of which is below the level of the well C. As the molten material
reaches the furnace E at a high temperature, comparatively little fuel is required and
little time is lost in giving it the heat necessary for treatment in E, by which the
material is rapidly concentrated to 75 or 80 per cent. The product or regulus is then
run by an inclined shoot F into the roasting furnace G, which is at a still lower level,
and in this furnace the concentration is carried up to a higher degree, exceeding
95 per cent. of pure copper.
The material still in a fused condition is run still by an incline shoot shoot H into
the refining furnace I where the treatment is completed. It will be seen that by thus
arranging the furnaces at successively lower levels, so that the fused material can run
by gravitation from each to the next, all the labor of charging and discharging the
furnaces by hand is avoided, and as each receives its charge nearly at the heat
required for treatment in it, the consumption of fuel required for reheating in the
usual way is almost entirely dispensed with. In the course of each of the inclined
shoots D, F and H there is a conical mould or pot M, or there may be several of
these in which the heavier metals, such as lead, silver or gold are intercepted. These

page_text: sink to the bottoms of the moulds and appear as small buttons or caps which can be
separated from the casts which, when they are solidified, are removed from the
moulds. Although the drawing shews only a single line of furnaces extending from
the cupola A, it is to be understood that there may be several such lines radiating
in various directions from the cupola, as the nature of the available space may
permit.
There may also radiate from each of the other furnaces, as for example from E
lines of those beyond it, the capacity of each being made such that it can supply
more than one set of those which come next in order.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The arrangement of cupola, well, smelting roasting and refining furnaces in line
at successively lower levels, each connected to the next in order by an inclined shoot,
so that molten material flows by gravitation at high temperature from each to the
next, thus avoiding consumption of fuel for reheating and expenditure of labor for
charging and discharging.
2. In combination with the inclined shoots for running the molten material from
furnace to furnace, conical moulds or pots for interception of such metals as subside
from the general mass.
3. The herein described continuous process for smelting and refining copper, by
fusing ore with a hot oxidating blast in a cupola, collecting the fused material in a
well and removing slag and skimmings, running the fused material by gravity to
smelting, roasting and refining furnaces and treating it in these successively.
Dated this 31st day of July 1888.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.