Apparatus for Collecting, Condensing, and Purifying the Fumes arising from Metallic Ores during Pro- cess of Roasting, Smelting, &c.
Year: 1843

page_text: Apparatus for Collecting, Condensing, and Purifying
the Fumes arising from Metallic Ores during Pro-
cess of Roasting, Smelting, &c.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DICKINSON STAGG, of Middleton in Teesdale, in the County of Durham,
Manager of Smelting Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
three, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Dickinson Stagg, my exors,
adiiors, and assigns, Her special license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Dickinson Stagg, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Joseph Dickinson Stagg, my exors, admors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED PLAN
FOR COLLECTING, CONDENSING, AND PURIFYING THE FUMES OF LEAD, COPPER, AND
OTHER ORES AND METALS, AND ALSO THE PARTICLES OF SUCH ORES AND METALS
ARISING OR PRODUCED FROM THE ROASTING, SMELTING, OR MANUFACTURING THEREOF;
AND ALSO THE NOXIOUS SMOKE, GASES, SALTS, AND ACIDS, SOLUBLE AND ABSORBABLE
IN WATER, GENERATED IN TREATING AND WORKING SUCH ORES AND METALS;" in

page_text: which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph
Dickinson Stagg, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Dickinson Stagg, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in causing the fumes of lead, copper, and other ores and metals, and
also the particles of such ores and metals arising or produced in the roasting,
smelting, or manufacturing thereof, and also noxious smoke, gases, salts, and
acids generated in treating and working such ores and metals, to pass into or
through water contained in an air-tight cistern or vessel, the upper part of such
vessel or cistern above the water therein being kept continuously exhausted by
mechanical means of the air and vapours passing into such cistern or vessel. And
in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Joseph Dickinson Stagg,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing on the
margin hereof, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
When the fumes and particles of lead, copper, and other ores and metals,
and likewise noxious smoke and gases, salts, and acids evolved in their treat-
ment, are made to pass sufficiently deep or often into or through water con-
tained in a cistern or vessel, the said fumes and particles are arrested, the
noxious smoke is purified, and certain soluble and absorbable gases, acids, and
salts are held in solution in the same. I attach to the flue or chimney, into
which are conducted the fumes, gases, &c., produced at the mill or manufactory,
a strong air-tight cistern or vessel, of suitable dimensions and of convenient
length to allow as many partitions as may be found necessary or useful to be
arranged, two or three feet apart, inside. This cistern or vessel may be con-
structed of wood or other suitable materials, and sufficiently strong to resist the
external pressure of the atmosphere when there is an exhaustion or rarefaction
of the air inside. To within two or three feet of the bottom of this cistern or
vessel reaches a pipe of corresponding size to the flue or chimney, and descend-
ing into the water contained in such cistern, and to which said flue or chimney
the pipe is closely and securely connected. The air-tight cistern or vessel is
filled with water (admitted by pipes with cocks, or other ordinary means) to a
sufficient depth to properly condense and purify the fumes that have to pass
into or through the same. To an opening in the lid or top of the cistern or

page_text: vessel, and at the further end thereof, I unite a pipe, which is connected with
one or more air pumps or exhausting machines, to be worked by a water wheel,
steam engine, or other power. On the air pumps or other exhausting machines
being set in motion, a portion of the air in the pipe connecting the air pumps
or other exhausting machines with the cistern or vessel and on the top of the
water in the air-tight cistern or vessel, is abstracted, whereupon the remaining
air in the cistern or vessel becomes so rarefied that the air or smoke in the
chimney or flue connected with the pipe that reaches into the water at the
bottom of the cistern or vessel rushes into and through the water in the said
cistern or vessel. The atmospheric pressure depresses the water in the pipe
during the action of the air pumps or other exhausting machines, and thus a
passage is obtained for the fumes, &c., which continue to rush up through the
water to supply the air or smoke drawn away from the top thereof by the air
pumps or other exhausting machines; by these means the valuable and arrest-
able fumes and particles, noxious smoke, and also the soluble and absorbable
salts, acids, and gases are detained in the water, and an amply sufficient draught
is also created to clear the mill or manufactory of noxious smoke, &c., generated.
The rushing of air, smoke, fumes, &c., to supply what the air pumps or other
exhausting machines draw off, causes a very considerable motion in the water,
and the dashing and spray consequent thereon very materially aid the washing,
condensation, and purifying of such fumes, &c. Also this artificial method of
creating a draught or current in tho chimney or flue leading from the mill or
manufactory is found to overcome the difficulty frequently experienced in
attempts to arrest the fumes emitted from the open or blast hearth, which are
more liable to return into the mill or manufactory on meeting with any check
than those discharged from close or reverberatory furnaces. To enable the
fumes, &c., to be drawn through less depth of water in the cistern or vessel, or
with a view to their more perfect condensation and purification, and obtaining
the fumes of different degrees of quality, it is advisable to have in the cistern or
vessel a number of partitions at suitable distances for the descent and ascent of
the fumes, &c. These partitions must alternately reach from the bottom of the
cistern to within such a distance of the top thereof as will allow a proper space
for the passage of the smoke, &c., and from the top of the cistern to within a
like distance of the bottom thereof. Two of these partitions form one com-
partment, up one space of which, the fumes, &c., ascend through the water and
descend down the other. As many of these compartments may be made, or
being made, have water in, as may be found requisite, and likewise the depth
of water must be regulated so, that nothing but purified vapours and gases that
are unabsorbable or not soluble in water may pass into the air pumps or other

page_text: exhausting machines.
When this is the case it will be found that the water
in the cistern or vessel becomes highly charged with metallic and other par-
ticles and products which otherwise would have escaped into the atmosphere
and have been lost. The purified vapours and such gases, &c., as are unabsorb-
able or not soluble in water, passing from the cistern or vessel into the air
pumps or other exhausting machines, are forced therefrom into an eduction
pipe (d) or flue. The water in the air-tight cistern or vessel, when sufficiently
saturated, can be run off by cocks or man-holes inserted into the sides or ends
of the said cistern or vessel, and conducted by troughs into reservoirs and there
allowed to remain in a tranquil state to enable the insoluble fumes or particles
to subside or settle. When these are settled the clear water can be run off
the deposit, and such deposit can be resmelted or treated in the usual way; and
whatever valuable salts, acids, or other products are held in solution in such
water can be collected in another reservoir, and the water treated by evapora-
tion or other ways for their recovery.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
(a) the flue or chimney conducting smoke from mill or manufactory to the
air-tight cistern. (b, 1,) the down pipe reaching into the cistern. (b, b,) the
several compartments in the cistern. (c) the air pump or cylinder bored true
inside. (d) the eduction pipe conveying off the unabsorbable gases and
purified vapours. (e, e,) pipes with cocks to convey water into the cistern.
(s)
a cock whereby the water in cistern, when sufficiently saturated, is
run off.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not claim any
of the machinery or apparatus shown, nor do I confine myself to the details
thereof. But what I claim is the mode of collecting, condensing, and puri-
fying the fumes of lead, copper, and other ores and metals, and also the
particles of such ores or metals, and also the noxious smoke, gases, salts, and
acids, soluble or absorbable in water, generated in treating and working such
ores and metals, by causing them to pass into water contained in an air-tight
vessel or cistern, the upper part of which, above the water therein, is kept
exhausted by air pumps or other suitable machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Dickinson Stagg, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
year of
JOSEPH DICKINSON (L.S.) STAGG.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Joseph Dickinson Stagg came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Joseph Dickinson Stagg came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.