CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF COPPER MINERALS
Year: 1851

page_text: ALL
THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTONIO
DE SOLA, of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain, 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 Twenty-fourth day of
December, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Antonio de Sola, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Antonio de Sola, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as J, the said Antonio de Sola, my exors, adñiors, and 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, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF COPPER
MINERALS," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad; in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Antonio de
Sola, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the 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

page_text: 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
Antonio de Sola, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
The said Invention consists of a novel process for the treatment of copper
minerals, in which process an e'ectro-galvanic battery is used. If the ore to
be treated does not contain sulphur, it must be mixed, after it has been
perfectly freed from extraneous matters, with a quantity of sulphur pro-
portionate to the quantity of metal contained in the ore; it must then be
exposed to the heating action of a reverbatory furnace at a great heat; it
should remain there twenty-four hours at least; this being accomplished, the
If the ore
ore has been transformed into a sulphate ready to be treated.
be sulphureous, it should, after being slightly triturated, be calcined in the
reverberatory furnace; but if it be found to be mixed with pyrite of iron even
in a small quantity, it must then be calcined in the open air, and without
trituration; but for this calcination to be perfect, it must be of long duration;
the ore is left to burn itself till the excess of sulphur it contains, and which
feeds the combustion, has disappeared.
METHOD OF TREATMENT.
The works must be established in a sloping place, so that the waters made
use of may run off with greater facility from one basin to another; the size
and number of the basins will necessarily vary with the quantity of ore to be
treated; supposing the works to be on a small scale, they would be composed
of seven basins placed in the following order: four at the upper part, rather
close to each other, being about twelve feet wide, twenty-four feet long, and
three feet deep; in these basins the calcined ores are to be placed with
the water which is used to dissolve them. Two other basins are placed at the
lower part beneath the basins here above described, at such a height that the
saturated water in the first basins may easily flow into them; the dimensions
of these two basins are the same as for the other four. These basins are for
the purpose of containing the waters till they become perfectly clear; I there-
fore call these "settling basins." The water escapes from these basins through
openings made at about nine inches above their bottom, so that the water may
not carry off the sediment; the waters flow into a seventh basin, situated

page_text: beneath the preceding ones, and in which the electric battery is established.
This basin or receiver must be about six feet deep, and may be called "the
basin or receiver for precipitation." The basins must be made of wood, brick,
or stone work, or any other suitable materials, but they must be substantial,
and lined inside with wood, so that they may be coated with asphalt, and thus
made proof against the action of the acids they will have to contain. At about
nine inches from the bottom of the first-mentioned or dissolving basins is
a trelliced flooring, so as to allow the saturated waters to flow more easily, the
bits of ore thus not obstructing the passage.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE BATTERIES.
;
The electro-galvanic or voltaic batteries are formed of a plate of copper,
brass, or lead; to this plate, and lengthways, are attached six thin copper wires,
of about eighteen inches long; these wires are bent alternately in the shape of
an are on each side of the plate, from which they are about five inches distant,
and are terminated with hooks, which must all be all at the same level, and
about two inches beneath the edge of the plate, where they must be fixed
with copper nails; these plates should be about twenty-seven inches long and
about twenty broad; they must be placed vertically in the precipitating basin,
either lengthways or broadways, in the manner found to be most suitable and
convenient, and rows about eighteen inches wide are thus to be formed, and
in such a manner that the conducting wires of each plate be facing one
another, leaving in its centre a space of about nine inches. These plates being
so placed as to be in contact with each other and side by side. The quantity of
iron plates or sheets that are thought requisite are then put in, being placed
in grooves having wooden trellices; these are fitted in the rows above
mentioned, and the plates are in this way kept firm, which may also be
steadied by wedges. Upon the hooks of the points of the conducting wires is
laid another copper wire, which may be of one or several pieces, taking care
that this wire be in perfect contact with the hooks; on this wire are to hang
strips of copper, brass, or lead, from about five to seven inches wide; they must
be folded in half and as long as possible, without, however, letting them touch
the bottom; they are to be placed facing one another in the rows. It is
necessary now and then to put in a fresh quantity of iron pieces, as this metal
is greatly worn by the cementation of the copper, and at last the electric fluid
does not evolve freely for want of a sufficient quantity of iron; but in cleaning
the batteries this is easily remedied; by adding more iron, the other metal
scarcely wears out.

page_text: The ore being placed in the dissolving basins, they are filled with water
till the level rises about nine inches above the ore; the water is then left
for two days at the most, it may even be only left twenty-four hours.
The waters are afterwards made to run off into the settling basins, where
they remain till they become clear; when they are so they are made to fill
the precipitating basin so as to completely cover the batteries; in this state
the waters are soon decomposed, and after twenty-four hours all the copper is
precipitated; a small portion is deposited on the iron pieces of the battery or
batteries, and the remainder on the strips suspending on the conducting wires.
The latter portion is in the state of large filings, and is very superior in quality.
It is a sign that the waters contain no more copper when a piece of iron well
scraped, after being immersed in the bath during two or three minutes, is not
coated with copper; this being the case, the waters must be thrown away, and
the operation began afresh. It is not necessary to collect every day the copper
precipitated, but when this is done it is well to keep separate the large filings
precipitated by the battery or the batteries from the copper obtained by the
cementation of the iron pieces, the first being much purer; both are afterwards
placed in basins filled with water, which is renewed during five or six days,
to carry off the acid that may be remaining. The copper is afterwards melted
in reverberatory or cupel furnaces, and cast into ingots; it comes out quite
refined and fit for use.
The precipitating apparatus just described, and represented in the Drawing
annexed, both in section and plan, is susceptible of being constructed of a
variety of shapes; it may be formed of casks, the batteries being placed either
in a verticil or horizontal position, and separated by leather slides or grooves,
or by a cask of smaller diameter, with a leather bottom; the conducting wires
are so disposed as to allow them to dip in the copper solution, and the electro-
magnetic fluid is evolved by means of ordinary water, with an acid covering
the batteries; but the apparatus herein-before described is more simple, and
with it better results are obtained. The construction of the batteries may be
thus modified: a suitable number of copper bars are drawn of about one inch
thick, and of a length sufficient to be placed horizontally; the precipitating
basins thus forming within these basins the necessary number of couples or
braces, so as to have them filled up.
At first, two or three of those copper bars are laid down, and equally
separated from one another; directly on the bottom of the precipitating basin
above these copper bars as many other cast iron ones are laid across as is

page_text: necessary to leave a space of about eighteen inches betwixt one another.
Towards the extremities of these cast iron bars two or three of the former
copper ones must be laid, and also one is to be placed in the middle; thin lead
strips, three inches wide, are disposed in a similar manner as the cast iron
bars; over these lead strips other copper bars are disposed again, as the former
ones; over the latter new cast iron bars, and so on till a pile is formed as high
as the basin within which it is, taking care that the pile must be terminated
by lead blades or strips.
The four last bars must be longer than the other ones, and their extremities
must be bent upwards in the shape of a hook; care must be taken to have two
of them projecting out on each one of the four sides of the pile.
Four plates or sheets of lead, as high and wide as the pile itself, are to be
suspended on each of the projecting hooks, so as to surround the whole
battery.
Such a battery may be cleaned, fitted ready to work, and stopped easily,
and it evolves more abundant and powerful electro-galvanic fluid.
The basins for precipitation previously described may be replaced by
chambers made with sheets of lead fastened together by soldering, in the
angles the solder is covered up with one of the compositions which are used
to make joints, and are hardening by heat.
These chambers or receivers are placed on arched furnaces properly disposed
for size and solidity; the surrounding area being paved with bricks or flag
stones.
Within these receivers the batteries are established, and the water that they
contain is heated to the degree the most appropriate to work the mineral ore,
which is thus operated upon in half the time required in the cold receivers;
the copper deposit or filings is produced of a larger size and purer, besides
some other advantages that are to be found in this process of working.
All that has herein-before been described and illustrated by the annexed
Drawing, viz., the process of extracting copper from mineral ores," con-
stitutes my Invention; but the particular operations and arrangement of
apparatus which I claim are the following:-
First, the employment of a voltaic battery to separate the copper from
the ore.
Second, "the preparation of the mineral ores to render them fit for this
mode of operation."
Third,
the particular arrangement of basins or receivers for the pre-
cipitation of the metal, as has been herein-before described."
Fourth, "the arrangement of the voltaic battery in heated chambers or

page_text: receivers, in order to increase the power of the apparatus, and for hastening
the operation."
In witness whereof, I, the said Antonio de Sola, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Francis Beilby Alston,
the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand night bunload and five twe