IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CALCINATION AND OXIDATION OF CERTAIN METALLIC, MINERAL, AND METALLURGICAL COM- POUNDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Astley Paston Price, of Margate, in the County of
Kent, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CALCINATION
AND OXIDATION OF CERTAIN METALLIC, MINERAL, AND METALLURGICAL COM-
POUNDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME."
Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 27th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
27th October 1854.
I ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CALCINATION AND OXIDATION OF CERTAIN METALLIC, MINERAL, AND METALLURGICAL
COMPOUNDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME," to be as
follows:
My improvements consist in the employment of retorts or tubes placed
horizontally or inclined, and heated externally, and so constructed as to be
capable of revolving, by which arrangement the metallic, mineral, metallur-
gical, or other products or compounds therein contained are kept in constant
agitation, and the oxidation or calcination is thus most readily effected.
My improvements further consist in the employment of highly heated air,
and of highly heated steam, singly or combined, for effecting the oxidation and

page_text: calcination of the products and compounds above mentioned in connection
with my above described apparatus, or any modifications thereof. What I
wish to be understood under the name of metallic, mineral, or metallurgical
products or compounds are, the metallic and earthy sulphurets, antimoniurets,
and arseniurets, alloys of oxidizable metals, or oxidizable metals or metallic
oxides, or compounds of the metallic oxides.
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
27th April 1855..
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 Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Astley Paston 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 agree 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CALCINATION AND OXIDATION OF CERTAIN METALLIC, MINERAL, AND
METALLURGICAL COMPOUNDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE
SAME," 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 what 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 immediately 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: My said Invention consists in the employment of tubes or retorts placed hori-
zontally or inclined, which are so constructed and arranged that the materials
to be calcined or oxidized may on being placed therein be subjected to the
required temperature necessary to effect their calcination or oxidation, and that
a current of atmospheric air or of steam, or of the two conjointly, may, either
at their ordinary or at an elevated temperature, be admitted into the interior
of the retorts or tubes in which the substance to be calcined or oxidized is
contained. The retorts or tubes are so arranged as to be capable of revolving,
and their contents may during such revolution be kept in agitation, and so
present a large exposed surface to the action of the oxidizing agent, by which
arrangement their calcination or oxidation is more readily effected than by the
method and arrangements which are now generally employed. The retorts or
tubes may be of any convenient size or form, and they may be divided by one
or more partitions, arranged either longitudinally or in any other suitable
manner. They may also be entirely or partially open at their extremities, or
they may be partially closed, and the air or steam be admitted through suitable
inlet pipes, or other arrangements, and the products resulting from oxidation
or calcination are carried off by suitable outlet pipes, or by other arrangements
than those shewn in the Drawings, and are conducted in such a manner as to
be capable of being thereafter utilized. It will also be obvious that the retort
or tube may be constructed so as to revolve either with or without a spindle,
or by means of a wheel or driving bands or chains, or by other mechanical
arrangements, differing in detail from the arrangements shewn in the Drawings.
These and other modifications may obviously be adopted; but what I parti-
cularly wish to be understood as constituting my Invention is, the constructing
of retorts or tubes capable of revolving, in which retorts or tubes, by the
application of external heat, and the admission internally of atmospheric air or
steam during such revolution, the calcination or oxidation may be effected.
The tubes or retorts may be constructed of wrought or cast iron, or of fire clay,
fire bricks, or other suitable materials; or the iron tubes may be coated or
lined with fire brick, fire clay, or any other substances that may be capable of
protecting the metal from the action of the heat, or from the action of those
compounds which may be calcined or oxidized therein.
And in order that my said Invention may be more properly understood, I
shall now proceed to describe and refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of my Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical
section of one form of revolving retort, having the ends closed and supported

page_text: +
by an internal spindle; and Figure 2 is a corresponding front elevation of the
same, shewing a pair of retorts. The retorts A are cast or made with a series
of internal supporting or strengthening arms B, through the central bosses of
which arms is passed the carrying spindle or shaft C, which is supported at
each extremity by the standard D, D, and works in the bearings E. Each
retort is rotated slowly by a pair of endless driving chains F, F, which pass
round the two ends of the retort and over a pair of driving pullies G, G, fast
on the over-licad driving shaft H, which may receive motion from any suitable
prime mover through the spur wheel T, keyed thereon. The retorts are
heated by the furnace J, which communicates by suitable side flues K with
each retort; the heat and flame after passing round the revolving retort escape
by the passage L to the chimney. The retorts are charged with the material
to be treated through the upper one of the two feeding doors M, M, and when
charged, à current of heated air or steam, or both combined, is forced into and
through the retort, and over the material contained therein through the inlet
pipe N. The products of oxidation or calcination are carried off by an outlet
pipe O at the opposite end of the retort. Both these pipes are fitted with
metallic packing at P, for the purpose of allowing the shaft C to pass through
them, and work steam and air tight therein. When the process of oxidation or
calcination is completed, the materials are withdrawn or discharged through the
discharging doors Q, Q, the lower one of the two being employed.
Figure 1 on Sheet 2 of my Drawings represents a longitudinal section of
another modification of revolving retort, and Figure 2 is a corresponding trans-
verse section of the same. In this arrangement the system or mode of actuating
or rotating the retort, shewn on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, may be employed,
but the internal spindle or shaft is dispensed with, the retort rotating upon and
being supported by a set of anti-friction rollers or pulleys A, A, fitted into
suitable boxes, which are built in with the brick-work surrounding the retort.
The ends of the retort are closed, and the materials are introduced by the
feeding doors B, B, and withdrawn through the discharging doors C, C, at the
opposite end of the retort. The heated air and steam is admitted through
the inlet pipe D, and escapes with the products, arising from the process of
oxidation or calcination by the outlet pipe F.
Figure 3 represents a 'longitudinal section of a portion of a tube or retort
placed horizontally, and arranged to be heated externally. The ends of this s
retort are made spherical and open, and a free current of air allowed to pass
through it during the process of calcination or oxidation, the products being
allowed either to escape into the atmosphere, or into a hood or outlet pipe A,

page_text: as sheyn at Figure 4; the spindle B passing through a stuffing, box C, as
herein-before described, and illustrated on Sheet 1 of my Drawings. The
material may be supplied and withdrawn. through the hinged doors D, D, and
E, E, which are shown more clearly in the end elevation, Eigure 5.. This
retort is represented as being driven by pinions F, F, gearing into the spur
wheels G, G, fitted on to the ends of the retort: In some cases the heated
air and steam-may be admitted into the retort through a hollow perforated
shaft, and carried off by a suitable outlet pipe or hood; or the products may.
be carried off by a hollow perforated shaft, and. the air and steam. admitted by
a suitable inlet pipe. Figure 6 represents a longitudinal vertical section of
one end of a retort, made partly open at the extremities and, fitted with a
hood; and, Figure 7 is an end elevation of the same with the hood. removed.
The retort is fitted internally with a flange or shoulder, A, having doors B
formed therein. A large door C is also fitted into the hood D, and, when the
retort is either to be charged or emptied, the outer door. C is opened, and
also one of the inner ones, B, when the material may be introduced or with-
drawn with facility. The heated air, and steam is, introduced through the
pipe E, and enters the retort by. the large central aperture F; the same
arrangement being adopted at the other end for allowing, the products of
oxidation and calcination to be collected, such products entering a hood and
passing off by a pipe, similar to the pipe E.,
Figure 8 represents another arrangement of retort, having three divisions
A, A, suitably arranged inside, and running the entire length, or nearly so, of
the retort. These divisions have each a raised flange or lip B cast upon them
at each extremity, and are fitted with moveable doors C, C, to prevent the
materials from falling out during the rotation of the retort; "the material to be
treated is placed in each of the divisions, and during the process of calcination
or oxidation is; by the revolution of the retort, constantly agitated and exposed
to the increased surface of the oxidizing agent.
These divisions may be
encreased or diminished, or otherwise modified, according to circumstances.
The whole of the revolving retorts herein-before described may either be
fitted with or without spindles or internal shafts. Where no supporting shaft is
employed, the retorts will be supported on anti-friction rollers, as shewn.
will be obvious that numerous arrangements may be adopted for rotating
the retorts; but I wish it to be distinctly understood that I lay no claim to,
neither do I confine myself to, any particular arrangement for actuating or
rotating such retorts, nor to any particular construction or arrangement of
doors therein, so long as the main features of my Invention be adhered to,
It

page_text: viz, that of employing externally heated revolving retorts or tubes for the
purposes of calcination and oxidation.
The metallic, mineral, metallurgical, or other products or compounds which
with others may with advantage be subjected to the process of calcination
or oxidation in the before-mentioned revolving retorts or tubes, are some
of the metallic, mineral, and earthy sulphurets, antimoniurets and arseniurets,
the oxides or compounds of the metallic oxides, oxidizable metals, or their
oxidizable oxides.
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 would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but 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 employment for the purposes herein-before mentioned of revolving tubes
or retorts heated externally, and so arranged as to admit into their interior air
or steam highly heated, or otherwise free from the products arising from the
combustion of the fuel employed in the heating of such revolving retorts or
tubes, or of their contents, and to allow of the exit of the products of the
oxidation or calcination.
In witness whereof, I, the said Astley Paston Price, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)