IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING COPPER ORES;
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JONS, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present 'most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date 'ät
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of January, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Jons, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Jons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said James Jons, my executors, administrators, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMELTING COPPER ORES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
James Jons, by an instrument in writing under my hand and "seal, par-
ticularly 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 Her 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
e 』
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Jons, do hereby declare that the nature of my said. Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
For the purpose of effecting my improved process, I in the first place use
a cupola furnace with a powerful blast, similar in its general construction to
those commonly used by iron founders, but with the following additions and
improvements, which are shewn in the accompanying Drawings:-
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of my improved cupola and its
appurtenances. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in the line A, B, of Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 is a transverse section in the line C, D, of Fig. 1. The hearth or bottom
a, a, of the cupola is built of brick or stone in the usual manner, but round its
exterior surface I fix plates of iron or other metal b, b, in segments or squares
as may be desired. This metallic casing is put together in such a way that
any part of it may be removed without displacing the whole according as it
may be required to gain access to the interior of the furnace. I have openings
or holes for the purpose of tapping, so as to admit the egress of the scoria and
the regulus, the former c at an elevation of about two feet above the latter d.
Above these plates and resting upon them I erect the body or shaft of the
cupola e, e, which in the inside is built of brick or stone, but on the outside is
surrounded by pipes or compartments of iron or other substances, as at f, f, so
as to admit a copious circulation of water or other refrigerating fluid over and
about the masonry; or any part thereof, of which the interior of the cupola is
formed, the design being to keep the outside of the cupola at a low tem-
perature in order to obviate the necessity of frequent repairs. The head or
top of the cupola is supported by pillars rising from the base, and is provided
with an opening g for the supply of the ore, opposite to which opening is the
vent or flue h, h, for the outlet of the vapours arising in the process. This flue
is connected with a chamber or tower i, i, or other convenient erection, in
which are deposited the substances rising from the cupola in a state of subli-
mation or vapour. The precise. form of this deposit chamber i, i, is not
important, neither the materials of which it is composed; but to facilitate the
deposition of the vaporised substances I place in the chamber a quantity of
material having smooth surfaces, and so situate as not to prevent the proper
draft of the cupola. This material may consist of flags, slates, nodules of stone,
or of other convenient substance, so as best to facilitate the condensation of the
fumes of the metallic products liberated during the smelting; and the rule in
placing them is to offer to the vapour as large an extent of surface as is
consistent with the proper draft of the furnace. This deposit chamber may be

page_text: placed at such a distance from the copola as may be convenient for the
premises, and it may be of a size and shape according to the pleasure of the
proprietor, or he may have one or more as he may desire, as at j, j. A suffi-
cient quantity of water must be constantly supplied to the interior of this
chamber by the pipes k, k, so as to keep it cool and to wash down the deposited
substances which are collected in a receiving vessel 7, 7, at the bottom. The
operation or process of smelting copper ore by this cupola is conducted as
follows: the ore having been roasted or calcined in convenient lumps, similar
to those used in obtaining sulphurous or sulphuric acid, is introduced into
the cupola, with such proportions of coke, lime, silex, or other flux as
the nature or quality of the ore may require, in order to effect a perfect
fusion. The mass being melted is allowed to accumulate in the bottom
of the cupola until it rises to nearly the height of the tuyre pipes m, m,
when the upper hole c of the metallic casing before described is tapped, and
the scoria or slag is allowed to run out. This outlet I denominate the "slag
tap," and it is used during the process to let off the scoria or slag in a state of
fusion from the surface of the copper regulus, which, from superior gravity,
falls to the bottom of the furnace as soon as it is separated from the mass.
When the process has been sufficiently continued, and the scoria let off at the
slag tap c at such times and in such quantities as the quality of the ore and
flux may require, the lower hole d in the metallic casing before described (and
which I call the regulus tap) is tapped or opened, and the copper regulus run
off into pigs, and afterwards treated in the usual manner for obtaining metallic
copper. In this process it is necessary that care should be taken not to
reduce the iron to a metallic state, but to retain it in the condition of a
vitreous fluid, so that the regulus of copper may the more readily separate
from it. In the course of these operations, and usually in six or eight days, or
sooner, if the process is not conducted with attention and success, a portion of
the iron, partly in a metallic state, and partly in combination with copper and
various substances, deposits at the bottom and on the sides of the cupola in
the state of a hard incrustation, which it is necessary to remove. This is done
by taking out one or more of the metallic plates as may be required, so that
access may be conveniently obtained to the interior of the furnace and the
deposited substance removed, without the necessity of pulling down and
reconstructing the whole. This metalliferous substance contains with other
substances iron and copper, and I separate them by means of one or other of
the following methods. The mass is subjected to the action of muriatic or
sulphuric acids, so as to dissolve the iron it may contain. Of the solution I
make muriate or sulphate of iron according to the acid employed, and the

page_text: residuum, consisting of copper in combination with other substances, is further
treated as regulus of copper. The second mode is as follows:-The substance
to be operated upon is placed in a reverberatory or puddling furnace, is there
raised to a powerful heat, after which it is taken out in convenient portions,
and subjected to a strong pressure, the effect of which is to retain the iron, and
to cause the copper, in combination with earthy and other matters, to exude
from the mass.
Having described the nature of my Inventions, I claim as my exclusive
discovery,
1..
First, the construction of a cupola or furnace for smelting copper, having
metal plates on the outside of the masonry of the hearth, with holes at
different elevations for tapping or running off the iron scoria or slag, and the
regulus of copper separated or subsiding therefrom.
Second, the use or employment of a refrigerator placed at the outside of the
masonry of the cupola, whether consisting of a case or box, adapted to contain
the cold. liquid, and embracing the external surface of the shaft of the cupola
or part thereof, or of pipes for the conveyance of the cooling fluid round the
whole or any part of the cupola, or of the application of cooling liquid by
injection, infiltration, or otherwise, to the external surface of the cupola or any
part thereof.
11-
Third, the use of a chamber, tower, chimney, or other erection or compart-
ment for the deposit of the vapourizable products arising from the cupola
during the process, and of the employment of substances to be placed in this
chamber, having surfaces for condensing the fumes of the furnace, the deposit
from which is washed down by water and collected in the receiving vessel
below.
and
Fourth, the smelting of copper in a cupola so as to separate in one operation
the copper regulus from the ferriginous and earthy constituents of the copper
ore by means of the greatest portion of the iron being kept in a state of scoria
or slag, which permits the copper regulus by subsidence to be obtained..
Fifth, the treatment of the subsidiary incrustation afore-mentioned with
acid solvents, so as to separate the iron from the copper, and also the employ,-
.ment of pressure on this substance when in a hot state, so as to effect the
separation of the copper.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jons, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day. of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
JAMES (L.B.) JONS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventh day of July, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid James Jons came before our Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of July, in the year above written.