IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR CALCINING COPPER ORES AND OTHER ORES AND METALS."
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Price Struvé, of Cwm Avon, Taibach,
South Wales, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
FOR CALCINING COPPER ORES AND OTHER ORES AND METALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Price Struvé
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th May 1867.
I, WILLIAM PRICE STRUVÉ, of Cwm Avon, Taibach, South Wales, Esquire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES FOR CALCINING COPPER ORES AND OTHER ORES AND METALS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention bas for its object improvements in furnaces for calcining
copper ores and other ores and metals.
The furnace consists of four containing walls enclosing a space; two hori:
zontal partitions passing across this space form a chamber within it in which.
the ore or metal to be roasted is placed. There is a fire-place at one end of the.
furnace, and the heated products of combustion from the fire pass by passages..
from the fire-place into flues over and under the chamber; these flues are
enclosed at the top and bottom respectively by other horizontal partitions, and
the heated products having travelled to the further end descend. into return
flues at the bottom of the furnace chamber, and so pass into an, underground
passage leading to the chimney. The roasting chamber thus. does not com-

page_text: municate with the flues, there may, however, be an opening from the one to
the other provided with a valve or damper. The roasting chamber is charged
with ore or metal by means of suitable shoots or passages passing through
the top and capable of being closed air-tight, so that little or no air may
enter the roasting chamber. The sulphur and matters volatilized are con-
ducted by a suitable passage at the end into a condensing chamber. The
material when it has been roasted can be discharged from the roasting
chamber by raking it through openings leading into a vault under the
furnace,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Price Struvé in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PRICE STRUVÉ, of Cwm Avon, Taibach, South Wales, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Price Struvé, Her special licence that I, the said William
Price Struvé, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Price Struvé, my executors, administrators, and 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR CALCINING COPPER ORES AND OTHER ORES AND
METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Price
Struvé, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Price Struvé, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces for calcining
copper ores and other ores and metals.
The furnace consists of four containing walls enclosing a space; two hori-
zontal partitions passing across this space form a chamber within it in which
the ore or metal to be roasted is placed. There is a fire-place at one end of
the furnace, and the heated products of combustion from the fire pass by
passages from the fire-place into flues over and under the chamber; these
flues are enclosed at the top and bottom respectively by other horizontal
partitions, and the heated products having travelled to the further end descend
into return flues at the bottom of the furnace chamber, and so pass into an
underground passage leading to the chimney. The roasting chamber thus
does not communicate with the flues, there may, however, be an opening from
the one to the other provided with a valve or damper. The roasting chamber
is charged with ore or metal by means of suitable shoots or passages passing
through the top and capable of being closed air-tight, so that little or no air
may enter the roasting chamber. The sulphur and matters volatilized are
conducted by a suitable passage at the end into a condensing chamber. The
material when it has been roasted can be discharged from the roasting
chamber by raking it through openings leading into a vault under the
furnace."
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 is a transverse section of a
calcining furnace constructed according to my Invention; Figure 3 is a hori-
zontal section taken at the line 1, 1, Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a side view
of the upper part of the furnace.
a, a, is the fire-box with its fire-bars a', a¹; b, b, are flues passing from the
fire-box under and over the retort or roasting chamber c; the flues b open into
a descending flue e, which for convenience is open at the top, but the opening
is covered over when the furnace is at work. The flue e opens into a horizontal
flue fleading into the underground chamber g, which passes to the chimney.
The retort or roasting chamber c has openings c¹, c¹, at the top by which the
charge is raked into it; these openings are covered over during the roasting
operation, and whilst one charge is roasting another is spread on the top of

page_text: the chamber c, and so receives a preparatory warming; c, c, are openings in
the sides of the retort or roasting chamber c, through which the rabbles are
inserted to rake over the charge from time to time; these openings are fitted
with doors by means of which the admission of air to the charge in the retort
or roasting chamber may be regulated; c, c, are openings in the bottom of
the retort or roasting chamber c, through which, when the roasting is com-
plete, the charge is raked out into the vaults h, h, below the furnace when it
is left to cool; the openings c³, c³, are covered over whilst the roasting is in
progress; i is a flue in connection with the retort or roasting chamber c, by
which the sulphur fumes and gases are conducted away; in the vertical part i'
of this flue the fumes and gases may be condensed by a shower of water from
the trough k; the water and uncondensible gases are led away by the passage l.
The chamber c is maintained at a red heat, and the roasting is continued
usually from 6 to 12 hours, as heretofore.
In witness whereof I, the said William Price Struvé, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the
year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven:
WILL. P. STRUVE.
(L.S.)