IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF OBTAINING COPPER FROM COPPER ORES
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
TROUGHTON, of Broad Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of December, in the sixth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Nicholas Troughton, His especial licence, full power, sole privilego
and authority, that I, the said Nicholas Troughton, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Nicholas Troughton, my exors, adñiors,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROCESS OF OBTAINING COPPER FROM COPPER ORES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Nicholas Troughton, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His 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
Nicholas Troughton, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
According to the ordinary process of obtaining copper from copper ores, it
has several times to undergo the operation of calcining or roasting in rever-
beratory furnaces, by which means the vapours produced by the fuel (which
heats the metal) mixes with the vapours generated by the application of heat
to the copper ores; and the combined vapours, after passing through the flues
and the chimney or shaft, go off into the atmosphere, by which means, and in
consequence of there being sulphur and other prejudicial matters contained in
the ores, the neighbourhood becomes materially injured, particularly so far as
relates to vegetable life. And in order to prevent such injurious effects in the
process of obtaining copper from ores containing copper, various means have
been resorted to; such, for instance, as passing the vapours from the furnace,
combined with vapours from the ore, over water contained in flues, and some
other instances it has been proposed to pass the combined vapours in flues,
down which minute jets or streams of water are caused to enter and mix with
the said vapours; and it has been proposed by some persons, though I believe
never carried into effect, in consequence of immense quantity or volume of
vapour which would have to be operated on, to cause the combined vapours
aforesaid to be forced through water by pumps or such like apparatus; but
none of these propositions have to any material extent prevented the pre-
judicial and injurious effects of the sulphurous and other vapours given off
from the ores containing copper being for the most part permitted to pass
into the atmosphere. Now the object of my Invention is to prevent the
vapours from the fuel of the furnace mixing and combining with those
which are evolved from the ores containing copper, and causing those
vapours which rise from those ores to be brought in contact with and bo
washed or acted on by water, by which the sulphur and other prejudicial
matters are for the most part caused to be separated from such vapours
previously to their passing into the atmosphero, and it is by preventing the
vapours of the fuel in the furnace combining or mixing with those evolved
by the ores containing copper that the quantity of vapours which have to be
operated on are comparatively small, at the same time they are the only
vapours which contain and are for the most part constituted of sulphurous and
other injurious matters, for the coal from which the requisite heat is obtained for
carrying on the operation of calcination contains little matter which is pre-
judicial. At the same time I do not claim as my Invention the calcining of
ores containing copper, and thus separating the vapours of the fuel thereof
when the same is used uncombined with means or apparatus for washing, or

page_text: causing the vapours evolved from the ores containing copper to be acted on by
water, in order to condense and separate the sulphurous and other prejudicial
vapours therefrom; for I wish it to be understood that my Invention relates
to the operating on the vapours only which are separated from ores containing
copper, when the same has not been permitted to combine with the vapours
evolved from the fuel in the furnace.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. I construct a furnace having
a series of retorts or ovens set therein, similar to gas retorts, but made of
Stonebridge clay, or other suitable material, from one end of which passes a
tube to a common main for a series of such retorts, and I prefer that such
ovens or retorts should be capable of containing about three hundredweight.
These retorts are to be filled to the depth of about four inches at the ends
opposite to where the tubes to the common main are affixed by a tile or brick,
having a hole or opening two or three inches square for the admission of
atmospheric air, and the ore is from time to time to be turned over in order
to be acted on equally by the atmospheric air, but these holes may be more or
less closed by fire clay during the operation of calcining the ore, according to
the judgment of the workmen, and the sides or edges of these tiles or bricks
at their junctions with the retorts or ovens are to be stopped with fire clay,
and the chimney of the furnace has a damper by which the workman can
damp and regulate his fire in order to keep the heats of the retorts or ovens
to the proper temperature, which he will readily judge of by looking at the ore
through the openings formed in the tiles or bricks at one end of each retort or
oven, as has been before described. To the main pipe which receives the
vapours which arise from the ore contained in the retorts or ovens there is
applied an exhausting and blowing apparatus, such as are used at iron or
other works for blasting the furnaces; but it should be remarked, that whatever
be the construction or arrangement of such blowing and exhausting apparatus,
the materials of which the same is constructed should be such as are not
acted on prejudicially by the sulphurous and other vapours evolved from the
capper ore, such as lead. From such exhausting and blowing apparatus proceeds
a pipe which leads to and passes over the surface of a tank or reservoir kept
constantly supplied with fresh water; and from the pipe leading from the
blowing apparatus a series of small pipes proceed nearly to the bottom of the
reservoir or tank of water, and it will materially depend on the smallness of
these pipes, and the consequent smallness of the streams into which the vapours
are divided, which are fixed through them, that will determine the depth of
water in the tank; the more minute the streams of vapour the less depth

page_text: of water will be required for fully effecting the washing, condensing, and
separating of the sulphurous and other prejudicial vapours from those evolved
from the ores containing copper when under the operation being calcined.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would wish it to be understood that I lay
no claim to the various apparatus herein described, they forming no part of
my Invention when uncombined for the purpose of performing my improve-
ments in the process of obtaining copper from copper ores; and I would have
it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement berein
described, as the same may be varied, though from my present experience the
means described are the best I am acquainted with for carrying my Invention
into effect, which consist of operating on the vapours evolved from copper
ores passing from ovens or retorts, to which the requisite heat for calcination
is obtained, without permitting the vapours of the fuel to mix with those from
the ores) by water, whereby the sulphurous and other injurious matters are
condensed and separated, and not permitted to pass into the atmosphere, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Troughton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.