IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND SMELTING OF CERTAIN ORES OR COMPOUNDS OF TIN, AND OF TIN, AND OF CERTAIN ALLOYS THEREOF
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Astley Paston Price, of Margate, in the County of
Kent, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
AND SMELTING OF CERTAIN ORES OR COMPOUNDS OF TIN, AND OF TIN, AND OF
CERTAIN ALLOYS THEREOF."
Sealed the 7th January 1859, and dated the 16th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1858.
I, ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT AND SMELTING OF CERTAIN ORES OR COMPOUNDS OF TIN, AND OF TIN,
AND OF CERTAIN ALLOYS THEREOF," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the mixing of certain ores or compounds of tin,
such as oxides of tin or metallic tin, or certain alloys thereof, when in a state
of division, either with or, without the application of heat with bituminous
coal, or with coal or carbonaceous matter and bituminous coal, or with coal
and carbonaceous matter. and pitch, tar, asphalte, or bitumen, or other
bituminous material, or with mixtures thereof, such materials, when not in a
fluid state, being by preference employed in a state of division, and subjecting
such mixtures either alone or in combination with suitable fluxes to the action
of heat, or to a heating, or to a distillatory, or to a coking process, either in
a partially closed distillatory apparatus, or in any suitable coking oven or
coking apparatus.
My improvements further consist in the subjecting of all such, or of any of

page_text: such before-mentioned mixtures to pressure for the purpose of binding and of
solidifying the same, such pressure being applied either with or without the
previous application of heat; the said mixtures after pressure may be subjected
to a heating, distillatory, or coking process, as above mentioned.
My improvements further consist in the admixture of suitable fluxes with
the lastly herein-before nientioned mixtures, or any of them; and subjecting
the same to pressure and to the action of heat, as herein-before mentioned.
My improvements further consist in the employment of all such pressed or
coked, or pressed and coked mixtures in conjunction, if necessary, with suitable
fluxes, such fluxės being introduced at any stage of the preparation or employ-
ment of such mixtures in the manufacture of tin, or of certain alloys of tin,
either in a cupola, blast, reverberatory or any other suitable smelting furnace,
or in retorts or tubes, or closed or partially closed reducing apparatus.
My improvements further consist in the manufacture and obtaining of tin
and of certain alloys of tin from such mixtures, or any of them, during the
heating, coking, or distillatory processes, herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Astley Paston Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
.15th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ASTLEY
PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent; Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-cight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Hér heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Astley Pastón Price, Her special license that I, the said Astley Paston Price,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said -Astley
Paston Price, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agrée
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
Íslands, and Isle of Man, an. Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND
SMELTING OF CERTAIN ORES OR COMPOUNDS OF TIN, AND OF TIN, AND OF CERTAIN
ALLOYS THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Astley
Paston Price, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: wbat 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Astley Paston Price, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My improvements consist in the preparation and treatment, of ores of tin,
calcined or oxidised ores of tin, of artificially prepared or manufactured oxides
of tin, or of tin, or of certain alloys thereof, when occurring in a finely
divided condition, and especially of those ores of tin which have been subjected
to a process of calcination or oxidation, either with or without the previous or
subsequent treatment with acids or alkalies, in order that tin or alloys thereof
may be obtained therefrom in a cupola blast furnace, or in any reducing or
smelting furnace or apparatus, such ores or calcined or oxidised orcs when in
the fine state of division to which it is desirable and necessary to reduce them,
before and in the dressing of the ore, being in that state not well adapted, or
their use is attended with difficulty and inconvenience when employed for
treatment in such cupola, blast, or similar furnace, or in a reducing furnace
or other apparatus for the purpose of obtaining metallic tin therefrom. The
ores of tin, or the calcined or oxidised ores, or the artificially prepared oxides
of tin, when intimately mixed with carbonaceous or other matters, as herein-
after described, are more economically and advantageously employed in the
manufacture of tin than when treated in the manner and by those processes
now generally adopted.
The ores of tin, or ores of.tin after having been subjected either to a process
of calcination or oxidation together, with or without the previous or sub-
sequent treatment with.acids or alkalies, or the artificially prepared oxides of
tin, or substances or products containing artificially prepared oxides of tin or
metallic tin, or alloys thereof in a state of division, are combined or mixed
with bituminous coal, or.coking coal, or with carbonaceous matter and bitu-
minous coal, or other bituminous matter, such as pitch, tar, asphalte, or
bitumen, or mixtures thereof, or are mixed with any or with all of the before
mentioned bituminous, tarry, or pitchy substances, and are subjected to the
action of heat, either in a partially closed distillatory apparatus, or in any
suitable heating or coking apparatus in order that a coke or a coked material
or a partially coked material may be obtained.
My improvements further consist in the combining and mixing such before
mentioned ores, calcined or oxidised ores of tin, or ores otherwise treated as

page_text: aforesaid, or artificially prepared oxides of tin, or substances or products
before named when in a state of division, together with fluxes suitable or
necessary to effect the fluxing of the earthy and other foreign matters con-
tained in the ores of tin, or in the aforesaid artificially prepared oxides of tin,
substances, or products before mentioned with bituminous coal or other mate-
rials as aforesaid, which may be necessary to form a coke or coked material,
when such mixture or mixtures are subjected to a coking, heating, or dis-
tillatory process.
+
The method I prefer when the before mentioned bituminous and other
matters are not in a fluid state is to employ them in a state of division, and to
mix and incorporate the same with the ores of tin, calcined or oxidised ores of
tin, or otherwise prepared ores of tin, or with the artificially prepared oxides
of tin, substances or products before mentioned, and either together with or
without the suitable flux or fluxes before mentioned, and to submit such
mixture or mixtures either to a coking or distillatory process in retorts, or in
suitable coking apparatus, in order that a coke, or coked, or partially coked
material may be obtained.
When the before mentioned bituminous materials are employed in a fluid
state, they may be incorporated or mixed with the carbonaceous or other
bituminous matter, together with the ores, or the ores calcined, oxidised, or
otherwise prepared, or the artificially prepared oxides of tin, substances, or
products as before mentioned, when the same are by preference in a heated
'condition, which will be found materially to facilitate such admixture.
The proportions which I find in practice to answer are one part in bulk of
the ores, or of the calcined or oxidized ores of tin, or those ores which have
been otherwise treated, or the aforesaid artificially prepared oxides of tin,
substances, products, or fluxes before mentioned, with two parts in bulk of
bituminous coal, but these proportions vary with the quality of the coal.
When carbonaceous matter and bituminous coal, or bituminous or tarry or
pitchy matters are employed, then the proportions may be varied according
to the several materials used, the object being that a coke or coked material
may be obtained capable of being advantageously employed for the purpose of
obtaining tin by the several methods before mentioned or by methods similar
"thereto.
My improvements further consist in the employment and treatment of the
several cokes or coked materials obtained as herein-before described, either
alone or in conjunction with other fuel fluxes or adjuncts in a cupola, blast, or
other suitable smelting or reducing furnaces or apparatus, for the purpose
of obtaining metallic tin or alloys of tin therefrom, as is well understood.

page_text: My improvements further relate to the treatment and employment of
the before mentioned cokes or coked materials obtained as herein-before
described, for the manufacture of tin, in the reducing apparatus retorts, or in
other reducing apparatus which may be adopted or which are capable of being
employed in order to effect the reduction or smelting of tin.
My improvements further consist in mixing or incorporating, with or with-
out the application of heat, the ores of tin, prepared ores, or the compounds
and products before mentioned, or metallic tin when in a state of division,
with bituminous coal, or with coal or carbonaceous matter and pitch, tar,
asphalte, or bitumen, or with pitch, tar, asphalte, or bitumen or other bitu-
minous matter or material or mixtures thereof, such materials when not in a
fluid state being employed as aforesaid, by preference in a state of division,
and subjecting such mixtures to pressure in suitable apparatus, as is well
understood and employed in the preparation and consolidation of fuel, in
order that the materials or any of the mixtures before mentioned may be
consolidated and solidified; such operation of compression may be performed
either with or without the previous application of heat or with application of
heat during such compressing operations. The said materials after having
been submitted to compression may be subjected to a heating, distillatory, or
to a coking process in any suitable heating distillatory or coking apparatus,
in order that a coked or a partially coked material may be obtained, or
the pressed material may be directly employed for the purposes herein
mentioned.
My improvements further consist in the admixture of suitable fluxes with
the before mentioned ores of tin, calcined ores of tin, or ores of tin otherwise
prepared, or artificially prepared oxides of tin or compounds of tin as aforesaid,
together with the before mentioned carbonaceous or bituminous, tarry, or
pitchy materials; in manner as aforesaid, which after having been subjected
to pressure or compression, either with or without the previous application of
heat during such compressing operations, may be subjected, as before men-
tioned, to a heating, coking, or distillatory process, in order that a coked or
partially coked material may be obtained, or the consolidated and pressed
materials may be employed direct for the purposes herein mentioned.
The proportions in which the materials may be mixed vary considerably
with the nature of the carbonaceous and bituminous or binding character of
the adjuncts employed, the admixtures and proportions of the carbonaceous,
bituminous, pitchy, and other binding materials to be mixed with the ores
calcined or otherwise prepared ores of tin, or with the artificially prepared
oxides of tin or metallic tin or alloys thereof, being such that after having

page_text: been mixed and incorporated, either with or without the application of beat,
by preference with such application, and after having been submitted to
pressure, the consolidated mass shall be in such a state as to permit of its
being directly employed for the purposes hereafter mentioned, or of sufficient
solidity and consistency to admit of its being submitted to a coking, heating,
or distillatory operation or process, and that such resulting coked or partially
coked material shall possess sufficient solidity or consistency to be advan
tageously employed for the purposes and in the manner herein mentioned.
My improvements further consist in the employment, if necessary, with the
addition of fuel, of all such pressed, or pressed and coked, or partially coked
or carbonized materials, either combined with suitable fluxes, as before
mentioned, or in conjunction with suitable fluxes, for the smelting or reducing
of tin either in the reducing apparatus generally employed or in any apparatus
-capable of being employed for effecting such reduction, and also for the
smelting or reduction and the obtaining of tin or of alloys of tin in any
suitably arranged blast, cupola, or other suitable furnaces, for the purposes of
obtaining metallic tin. The ores of tin herein alluded to and referred to are
those ores which occur as oxides and such ores of tin which on being subjected
to a process of calcination or oxidation, the compounds of tin therein contained
are or may be converted into oxides of tin.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I hereby declare that what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the preparation and treatment of ores of tin and of
.ores of tin which have been subjected to a process of calcination or oxidation,
or which have been otherwise treated and prepared, as herein mentioned, of
artificially prepared oxides of tin, alloys of tin, and of metallic tin when in a
state of division, in the manner and for the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I; the said Astley Paston Price, bave hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE.
(L.S.)