CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CALCINING OR ROASTING AND SMELTING OR EXTRACTING METALS AND SEMI-METALS FROM VARIOUS KINDS OF ORES AND MATTER CONTAINING METALS OR SEMI-METALS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEFFERIES, of London Street, Radcliffe, in the County of Middlesex,. Brass
Manufacturer, send greeting..
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Jefferies, His especial
licence, that I, the said William Jefferies, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Jefferies, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CALCINING OR ROASTING
AND SMELTING OR EXTRACTING METALS AND SEMI-METALS FROM VARIOUS KINDS OF
ORES AND MATTER CONTAINING METALS OR SEMI-METALS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Jefferies,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His 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 in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Jefferies, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Improvements,

page_text: and the manner in which the same are to be carried into effect and produced,
are herein-after particularly described and set forth, that is to say:-
The ores or other matter containing-metals-or-semi-metals is, in the first
place, to be broken or crushed by stampers or rollers until it becomes so fine
as to pass a wire sieve of eight or ten holes in the inch; after which, instead
of introducing such pulverized ore or metal into a roasting oven or furnace
with a separate fire, I mix and incorporate the same with a sufficient quan-
tity of small coal or large coal which has been broken down, and I then
introduce the mixture thus formed into an ordinary coke oven which has been
previously heated in the ordinary way; and I cause the mixture to be coaked
in the same manner as if coal alone was-used, that is to say, by leaving. the
door or mouth of the coak oven open until all the flame has worked off, and
then closing and destroying all draught of air to prevent the further consump-
tion of the fuel. The charge is then to be drawn in the same way as if it
were common coak; and after cooling it is to be broken down into masses, of
a proper size for the smelting furnace, to which it is next to be carried, for the
purpose of smelting out the metal or semi-metal from the coak with which it
was before combined, and which becomes a part, or the whole of the fuel, to
be consumed whenever coke is used in the smelting furnace, which may be of
the ordinary construction for smelting or reducing the particular kind of ore
under treatment: In selecting the coals for the above process, those which
contain the least: quantity of sulphur are to be preferred; but as the quality
of coals, as well as of ores or matters containing metals for semi-metals, vary
in every district, and even in the same mine, it is utterly impossible to specify
the quantity or proportion of coals and ore or other metaliferous matter to be
used; but this will be readily ascertained by any competent workman who
has been accustomed to roasting by the former or usual processes, and cannot
be described in words; because; the completion of the roasting operation can
'only be determined upon by the appearance of the ore and of the flame and
fumes which arise from it in the furnace. The only rule which I can there-
fore give sis, that there sought rather to be a superabundance than a deficiency
of coal: mixed with the fore, because by such superabundance the full comple-
<tion of the calcining or iroasting process will be insured; and as nearly the
whole of the coal will be converted into coak to be afterwards used in the
smelting furnace, but little of the fuel will be wasted or improvidently
expended; nevertheless, the coke oven must not be closed, even though the
coals may be consuming, until it has been ascertained that the roasting has
been fully accomplished, by inspection of the flames and fumes. If, on -the
contrary, a sufficient quantity of coal has not been incorporated as aforesaid

page_text: with the ore or other matter, an additional quantity of coke must afterwards be
added during the operation of smelting. In the old or accustomed method of
roasting ores a separate furnace or oven and fire are always employed, and the
pulverized ore required to be constantly stirred on the hearth to expose every
part of it to the action of the fire, and prevent the top surface from running
or vitrifying, and thereby protecting what is underneath it from the flame.
Coak is also separately prepared for the smelting furnace without any useful
application of the heat produced in making it. But by my improvements as
above described both these operations are combined in one, thereby producing
a great saving in fuel and labor, as well as a more perfect and complete
operation; because, by the mixture of the pulverized ore with the small coal,
in the first instance, every part of that ore becomes exposed to the full action
of the fire, without any chance of its running together, and without its
requiring to be stirred or attended to in the oven, except only to watch for
the completion of the process of roasting, as ascertained by the discontinuance
of the flame, and appearance of the fumes, when the coak oven is to be closed
as usual.
By means of my said improvements the usual roasting fire is completely
saved, and the heat of the coak making employed in its stead, thus com-.
bining several operations into one with a more beneficial result; and it is
the right of so using and treating the various ores and matters containing
metals or semi-metals as aforesaid which I claim to be secured for my exclusive
benefit and advantage by my herein-before in part recited Letters Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jefferies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.