IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE ORES OF METALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND OF THE CARBONATES OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND OF THE METALS THEMSELVES: ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA AND ITS CARBONATES AND OF POTASS AND ITS CARBONATES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Stuart, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields,
Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE ORES OF METALS AND THEIR
PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND
OF THE CARBONATES OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND OF THE METALS
THEMSELVES: ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA AND ITS CARBONATES AND
OF POTASS AND ITS CARBONATES."
Scaled the 22nd March 1870, and dated the 25th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Stuart at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1869.
I, JAMES STUART, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields, Limehouse, in the
County of Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE ONES OF METALS
AND THEIR PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS,
AND OF THE CARBONATES OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND OF THE METALS
THEMSELVES; ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA AND ITS CARBONATES AND OF
POTASS AND ITS CARBONATES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in subjecting the ores of metals and their.
products, such as, for example, the roasted sulphides of the metals, to the

page_text: action of chlorides of sodium or of chlorides of potassium in conjunction
with silicates of alumina or compounds of alumina and silica at an
elevation of temperature, and either with or without the vapour of water.
I prefer to use as most convenient clay, felspar, or fullers earth. This is
done in retorts, ovens, reverberatory furnaces, or in any other convenient
way of applying heat. Through this treatment certain reactions take
place, chlorides of the metals in the ores under treatment are formed,
and aluminates or silicates of soda or potash are also formed. From the
chlorides so formed I manufacture the oxides or the carbonates of the
oxides of the metals, or the metals themselves, as may be desired. From
the aluminates or silicates of soda or potash so formed, soda or its
carbonates, or potash or its carbonates are obtained. The mode of
treatment to which the ores are subjected will be understood by taking
zinc ore as an example of all.
The mode of proceeding is as follows:-The ground ore, clay, and salt
are all intimately mixed, and being placed in retorts are heated to red-
ness and kept in that state for one hour or upwards. During this time
reactions take place and the chloride of sodium has parted with its
chlorine to the zinc, and thus forms chloride of zinc and silicates and
aluminates of soda. The chloride of zinc is then obtained in solution
by treating the mass with water, and from this solution the oxide is
thrown down by any of the usual agents, such as lime. The residuum
is mixed with lime and again heated to redness, by which the soda
is set free from the alumina and silica, and may be obtained by treat-
ment with water and evaporating to dryness. This mode of action is
followed with all ores.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Stuart in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES .3
STUART, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields, Limehouse, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said James Stuart, Her special licence
that I, the said James Stuart, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Stuart, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF THE ORES OF METALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS, AND IN THE MANU.
FACTURE OF THE OXIDES OF THE METALS, AND OF THE CARBONATES OF THE OXIDES
OF THE METALS, AND OF THE METALS THEMSELVES: ALSO IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SODA AND
ITS CARBONATES AND OF POTASS AND ITS CARBONATES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Stuart, my executors
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 James Stuart, 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:-
This Invention consists in subjecting the ores of metals and their
products, such as, for example, the roasted sulphides of the metals to the
action of chlorides of sodium or of chlorides of potassium in conjunction
with silicates of alumina or compounds of alumina and silica at an
elevation of temperature, and either with or without the vapour of water.
I prefer to use as most convenient clay, felspar, or fullers earth. This is
done in retorts, ovens, reverberatory furnaces, or in any other convenient
way of applying heat. Through this treatment certain reactions take
place, chlorides of the metals in the ores under treatment are formed,
and aluminates or silicates of soda or potash are also formed. From the
chlorides so formed I manufacture the oxides or the carbonates of the
oxides of the metals, or the metals themselves, as may be desired. From
the aluminates or silicates of soda or potash so formed soda or its

page_text: carbonates or potash or its carbonates are obtained. The mode of
treatment to which the ores are subjected will be understood by taking
zinc ore as an example of all.
The mode of proceeding is as follows:-The ground ore, clay, and salt
are all intimately mixed, and being placed in retorts are heated to red-
ness and kept in that state for one hour or upwards. During this time
reactions take place and the chloride of sodium has parted with its
chlorine to the zinc, and this forms chloride of zinc and silicates and
aluminates of soda. The chloride of zinc is then obtained in solution
by treating the mass with water, and from this solution the oxide is
thrown down by any of the usual agents, such, for example, as lime.
The residium is mixed with lime and again heated to redness, by which
means the soda is set free from the alumina and silica, and may be
obtained by treatment with water and evaporating to dryness. This
mode of action is followed with all ores.
In order that the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed may be particularly described and
ascertained I now proceed to show the exact mode of treatment adopted.
I take two tons of zinc ore containing, say, about fifty per centum of
zinc; this ore I grind or crush to a fine powder and mix intimately
with one and a half tons of chloride of sodium and one ton of good dried
clay in powder, or the whole may instead be ground together; I next
place the mixture in convenient vessels such as retorts and heat the
whole to a bright redness; this heat I maintain for one or two hours
during which time the materials so treated act and react upon each other
and form new combinations, the mass becoming of a pasty consistency;
at the end of this time the reaction being completed the pasty mass is
withdrawn from the retorts and allowed to cool, and the heated retorts
are filled with fresh material; I then place the mass withdrawn from
the retorts in convenient vessels or tanks and run cold water upon
it and allow it to remain for a short time (about one hour will generally
be found a sufficient time); this dissolves out the greater portion of
the chloride of zinc. The solution thus made is then run out from the
bottom or lower part of the vessel into another tank, and I treat the
mass left with another supply of water in the same manner and run it
off as before, taking care that the liquid run off is bright and free from
debris as possible. A third supply of water may then be used, and this
last kept for use as the first supply of liquid on a fresh mass. To the

page_text: mixed liquids I then add (employing any suitable means to promote
constant agitation) sufficient chalk lime or other good lime to throw
down the zinc as oxide. The chalk lime or other lime I add in small
quantities at a time by passing it through a fine sieve, and I test a
little of the bright liquid occasionally with lime water to ascertain when
all the zinc is thrown down. When this end is effected I then allow
the liquid to settle and after running off the chloride of calcium solution
thus formed I wash the oxide with water, then collect it and dry it for
usc. To the residium left from the above quantity I then add ten
hundredweight or thereabout of good lime, intimately mixing the whole
and again keeping it at a bright red heat for about two hours in a
furnace or in retorts. By this means the soda is set free from the silica
and alumina. I withdraw the mass into water, mixing or stirring it
thoroughly in the water, and the solution of soda thus obtained I then
evaporate by boiling or otherwise to a sufficient dryness for use. Some
ores contain both zinc and lead, and in treating those ores I proceed
oxactly as above, but after extracting the zinc with cold water from the
mass I treat the residue with hot or boiling water with constant stirring.
This dissolves the chloride of lead, and this solution of lead I run off as
hot as possible into another tank and treat the mass the same way with
a second quantity of hot or boiling water. The mixed liquids being
allowed to cool the chloride of lead crystallizes and may be obtained in
the form of chloride for use, or the oxide or carbonate may be obtained
from the hot solution by any of the usual well known methods, or the
metal may be thrown down by zinc or iron. As this process is of value
for the treatment of ores of copper I proceed as follows:-If the ore be
in the form of sulphide I first subject it to the usual roasting process, I
then proceed as herein-before described for the treatment of zinc ore.
After the pasty mass is treated with water and the mixed liquids
obtained in a separate vessel I place scrap iron in the solution and allow
it to remain there until all the copper is thrown down in the metallic
state; this I then wash with water and collect it and fuse in the usual
way; or I throw down the oxide or carbonate by treating the liquid
with lime or chalk, as herein-before explained in throwing down the
oxide of zinc; I then collect the oxide or carbonate thus obtained and
dry it for use, treating the residuum with lime to obtain soda as above.
Ores containing gold I treat as next above described, and throw down
the gold in the metallic state by adding sulphate of iron solution to the
solution of chloride of gold and proceed as herein-before explained for

page_text: soda. Nickel ores, chrome and tin ores, and the ores of other metals
yielding soluble chlorides are all treated as above described, and
although I have given only chloride of sodium and clay as examples in
the mode of treatment, I follow the same method with the chlorides of
potassium and with felspar and with fullers earth.
I do not confine my process to one or two hours red heat or to any
particular time, although that time is the most effectual under ordinary
circumstances, nor do I confine myself to the above proportions of
materials although I find the above suitable in treating most of the
ores, still it will be obvious the quantities of chloride of sodium or
potassium and clay and other materials must be varied with advantage
accordingly as the ore contains a larger or smaller per-centage of metal.
These quantities the intelligent workman will have but little difficulty
in arriving at, and although the ores of the metals I treat as above may
be treated in the state of sulphides, still under ordinary circumstances I
prefer to roast the sulphides before treating them as above.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what 1
claim is, the treatment of the ores of the metals and their products, and
the manufacture of the oxides of the metals, and of the carbonates of
the oxides of the metals, and of the metals themselves, also the
manufacture of soda and its carbonates and of potass and its carbonates,
all as in the manner in this Specification described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Stuart, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.