IMPROVE- MENTS IN SMELTING AND TREATING CERTAIN METALS, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF FURNACES, AND THE MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE SAME; SUCH FURNACES AND MATERIALS BEING APPLICABLE TO THE TREATMENT OF METALS AND METALLIC COMPOUNDS, AND TO VARIOUS OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES OF A LIKE NATURE
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PARKES, of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Experimental Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of June,
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty,) in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Parkes, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Parkes, my
exors, admors, 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 Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SMELTING AND TREATING CERTAIN METALS, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND
MANUFACTURE OF FURNACES, AND THE MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE SAME; SUCH
FURNACES AND MATERIALS BEING APPLICABLE TO THE TREATMENT OF METALS AND
METALLIC COMPOUNDS, AND TO VARIOUS OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES OF A LIKE NATURE;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I; the said Alexander
Parkes, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in

page_text: writing, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled 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 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
Alexander Parkes, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say:
*
My said improvements consist, first, of an improved furnace to be em-
ployed when calcining the ores and compounds of copper and other metals.
Second, in a method of separating silver from lead.
Third, of improved compounds for the purpose of making bricks or other
formed articles for the construction of furnaces. .
Fourth, in the construction and arrangement of apparatus in furnaces to
facilitate the combustion of anthracite or stone coal by applying numerous jets
of steam.
First, in order to carry out my improvements in furnaces for calcining the
ores and compounds of copper and of other metals, I proceed as follows,
reference being made to the accompanying Drawing and marks:-I build a
circular furnace of any given dimension, one of twelve feet diameter I have
found to be a convenient size, and I place one or more floors therein, formed
of fire bricks, and laid as evenly as possible, so arranging the floors that the
whole floor shall be as equally heated as possible, and in case of a second floor
I allow the same, fire to pass under that also before it reaches the chimney.
The distance between each floor should be from three to four feet. In the
centre of this furnace and passing, through the floors I place a hollow shaft of
iron, having one or more arms a attached thereto also of iron, either solid or
hollow, and extending nearly to the outer wall, and placed horizontal within
one foot of each floor; into this arm a I fix at equal distances rakes or
prongs a', so as they will reach within about one inch of the floors. The hollow
shaft 6 is made to revolve in a centre bearing c, placed below the bottom of
the furnace and working in a collar d at the top of the furnace. By means
of bevil wheels or other arrangement this shaft is made to revolve slowly,
when the prongs or rakes a', fixed in the arms a, will agitate the whole of the
ore or compound that is first placed upon the floor or floors of the furnace at
each revolution. I prefer a speed of one revolution every two minutes. The
shaft being hollow is left open at the the top, and several apertures 6', arc
provided near the bottom so as to admit a free current of air to be constantly.

page_text: circulating through the whole length, by which means the iron is prevented
from being damaged by the fire and is kept cool at the end or axis. I am
aware that this object has been attempted by others before me, but it has been
done by having the floor made to revolve. What I claim therefore as this
part of my Invention is the employment of apparatus revolving over a fixed
floor in order to agitate the mass when undergoing the process of calcination,
and also I claim for such purposes the use of a hollow shaft of iron, with solid
or hollow arms, so constructed as to admit air to pass through them while in
motion.
Second, my improvements in separating silver from lead consist of the
following means:-Having the lead containing from 100 to 200 oz. of silver
in a melted state, in iron vessels by preference, I take to every ton of the lead
about one hundred weight of zinc, also in a melted state, and I pour the same
into the lead and agitate the whole for some minutes. I then allow it to
remain quiet, keeping the whole for a short time in a melted state, but at as
low a temperature as will keep the whole fluid. I then reduce the heat so as to
allow the zinc to crystallize or set, which it will do, forming the upper layer of
the mass; and having abstracted the silver from the lead, I then ladle out the
zinc and silver with a perforated ladle or other means.
As this proportion of zinc will abstract or combine with a much larger pro-
portion of silver than the above-mentioned quantity, I re-melt the zinc alloy
and use it with several quantities of lead until I find it saturated, or nearly so,
with silver. I have thus combined in the proportion of four to five hundred
ounces of silver with the quantity of zinc above named. In order to separate
the silver from the zinc alloy, I dissolve the zinc in muriatic or sulphuric acid,
diluted, by preference, with four to six times of water; the silver will remain
in a metallic state at the bottom of the vessels used for the purpose, and may
be collected and refined by any of the known methods.
Thirdly, my improved compounds for bricks are applicable to that class
known as fire bricks, or those which are required to resist high degrees of
heat. And in carrying out such improvements I select any natural quartzous
substance, preferring those which contain the greatest proportion of silex; and
I prefer to use such substances in particles of a size varying from one eighth
inch to one half inch in diameter. I usually take large pieces or stones, and
reduce them by suitable crushing rollers or other means, and pass them
through sieves to obtain the desired size, and I have found the larger such
particles can be combined together, so as to produce the desired form, the more
heat they will bear without fusion.

page_text: Having obtained such quartzous substance of the sizes required for the
purpose, I mix with them in a wet state from three to ten per cent. of either
slaked lime, ground sulphate of lime, or ground sulphate of baryta; the smaller
the proportion of such binding substance the better, and the necessary quantity
will be decided in a great measure by the size of the particles of quartz used.
I then "mould, dry, and fire them" by any of the usual means employed when
making bricks.
What I claim is, the combination of the sulphates of lime and baryta,
or carbonate or caustic lime, or either of them, with silex or quartzous
materials, to form bricks and other forms for the above fire purposes,
such bricks and other forms being particularly applicable in the construction
of furnaces for the treating of metals and other useful purposes of a like
nature.
Fourth, my improvements in the construction and arrangement of furnaces
has for its object the better combustion of anthracite or stone coal, and consists
in certain means of introducing steam through iron pipes or apparatus and
dispersing the same, by means of small openings therein, through or upon the
coal undergoing combustion.
I would state that I am aware that steam has before been proposed to be
used for this object by means of a pipes or jets; I do not therefore claim the
use of steam generally, but only the means hereafter described of dividing the
steam into numerous fine jets, by which the same becomes more readily de-
composed. The most convenient position to introduce the jets of steam will
depend upon the particular form of furnace to which the same may be applied,
and the perforated pipes or other apparatus are fixed so as to cause the steam
to pass through or upon the fire.
I prefer to use the steam from a high pressure boiler, and that it should
pass through openings of about one thirty-second of an inch in diameter. I
have found the most efficacious plan is to place the perforated pipes parallel
with and beneath the bars of the grate, so that the steam may impinge upon
the coal through the bars, the apertures being made about every six inches of
their whole length, and the pipes themselves from three to four inches apart,
and a cock or valve is used on the steam supply pipe to regulate the flow of
steam, and thus to enable the workman attending the fire to regulate the flow
of steam in a manner to ensure the best combustion.
By these means the construction of furnaces will be improved for the
treatment of metal and metallic compounds and various other useful purposes
of a like nature, that is, where heat is desired to be obtained by the burning

page_text: of anthracite or stone coal, and amongst others, this part of my Invention is
particularly applicable to steam boilers and other evaporating furnaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.