IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN ALLOYS OF TIN
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 TREATMENT OF
CERTAIN ALLOYS OF TIN."
Sealed the 15th December 1854, and dated the 22nd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1854.
I, ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF CERTAIN ALLOYS OF TIN" to be as follows:-
My improvements have for their object the treatment of certain alloys of
tin and gold, or of tin containing gold and silver with copper or lead, in such a
manner as to obtain commercially valuable products, and to separate there-
from the precious metals therewith alloyed, which may be subsequently treated
by suitable processes, so as to be rendered useful products in the arts.
My improvements consist, firstly, in subjecting certain alloys of tin and
gold, such as and more particularly that known in commerce as Australian
auriferous tin, to the action of hydrochloric acid, so as to dissolve the entire
or the greater proportion of the tin, which solution of chloride of tin may by
evaporation and crystallization be rendered suitable to be employed in the arts,
or it may be converted into any other useful salt or product. The residue,
after the action of hydrochloric acid, will contain gold mixed sometimes with a
certain amount of tin, and should the alloy previously have contained such
metals as copper, silver, or lead, then they will in part or entirely be also

page_text: found in the residue; and if arsenic, antimony, or tungsten have been present,
then they will likewise be contained in the residue. Now, the gold may be
separated from this residue by boiling the same with nitro-hydrochloric acids,
and it may be separated from solutions so obtained by means of proto-sulphate
of iron, oxalic acid, or by any other suitable method.
The silver remaining as chloride of silver, after the separation of the gold by
means of nitro-hydrochloric acids, may be reduced in the ordinary manner by
means of metallic zinc or iron, and sulphuric acid or the chloride of silver may
be dissolved out by means of ammonia, or by any of the known solvents of
chloride of silver, or may be otherwise treated. The copper existing in solu-
tion may be precipitated by means of iron. Should lead have been present in
the alloyed tin, that portion which has been dissolved may be separated from
solution by means of sulphuric acid.
My improvements further relate to the treatment of tin containing gold, as
aforesaid, with nitro-hydrochloric acid, so as to obtain a useful product, known
in the arts as nitro-muriate of tin, or bi-chloride of tin, and to separate and
obtain the gold contained in the said auriferous tin. The tin containing gold
is dissolved in a mixture of nitro-muriatic acids, and sufficient hydrochloric
and nitric acids are to be employed as to convert the amount of tin dissolved
into bi-chloride of tin. Should any of the gold have been dissolved during
the operation, then a solution of proto-chloride of tin is to be added until the
same is precipitated, or metallic tin may be dissolved in the solution in such
quantity as to effect the precipitation of the gold. The gold, either remaining
undissolved, or precipitated either as purple of cassius or otherwise, may, after
separation from the solution of bi-chloride of tin, be dissolved in nitro-hydro-
chloric acids, or in any other solvent, and may be precipitated from solution by
means of a suitable reducing agent, such as proto-sulphate of iron. Should
any silver have existed in the alloy or mixture, the chloride of silver remaining
may be separated, as before mentioned, and any lead that may exist in
solution may be separated, as before mentioned, by means of sulphuric acid;
or the residues containing tin and gold, either together or alloyed or mixed
with copper, silver, or lead, may be fused with sulphide of antimony, in a
manner similar to that for separating tin from gold, and the resulting alloy may
be treated by any of the known or suitable methods for separating antimony
and gold, either alone or alloyed with silver, copper, or lead; or the residues
containing gold may be otherwise treated.
My improvements further relate to the treatment of tin alloyed or mixed.
with gold or silver with nitric acid, so as to convert the tin into an available
product, binoxide of tin, and in subsequently treating the binoxide of tin thus

page_text: formed with nitro-hydrochloric acid, or with chlorine in solution, so as to
dissolve the gold remaining with the binoxide of tin; and the solution of gold
thus separated from the larger proportion of the oxide of tin may be precipi-
tated either by means of a solution of proto-sulphate of iron, oxalic acid, or
otherwise. The silver existing in solution in nitric acid may be precipitated
as chloride of silver by means of hydrochloric acid; any lead that may be in
solution may be precipitated by means of sulphuric acid.
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
22nd December 1854.
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-second day of June, 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, adininistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN ALLOYS OF TIN,"
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 1, the said Astley Paston Price, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My improvements have for their object the treatment of certain alloys of tin
and gold, or of tin containing gold and silver with copper or lead, in such a
manner as to obtain commercially valuable products, and to separate there-

page_text: from the precious metals therewith alloyed, which may be subsequently treated
by suitable processes, so as to be rendered useful products in the arts.
My improvements consist, firstly, in subjecting certain alloys of tin and gold,
such as and more particularly that known in commerce as Australian auriferous
tin, to the action of hydrochloric acid, so as to dissolve the entire or the greater
proportion of the tin; which solution of chloride of tin may, by evaporation
and crystallization, be rendered suitable to be employed in the arts, or it may
be converted into any other useful salt or product. The residue, after the
action of hydrochloric acid, will contain gold mixed sometimes with a certain
amount of tin; and should the alloy previously have contained such metals as
copper, silver, or lead, then they will in part or entirely be also found in the
residue; and if arsenic, antimony, or tungston have been present, then they
will likewise be contained in the residue. Now, the gold may be separated
from this residue by boiling the same with nitro-hydrochloric acids, and it may
be separated from solutions so obtained by means of proto-sulphate of iron,
oxalic acid, or by any other suitable method. The silver remaining as chloride
of silver, after the separation of the gold by means of nitro-hydrochloric acids,
may be reduced in the ordinary manner by means of metallic zinc or iron and
sulphuric acid, on the chloride of silver may be dissolved out by means of
ammonia, or by any of the known solvents of chloride of silver, or may be
otherwise treated.
Should lead have been present in the alloyed tin, that portion which has
been dissolved may be separated from solution by means of sulphuric acid.
My improvements further relate to the treatment of tin containing gold, as
aforesaid, with nitro-hydrochloric acid, so as to obtain a useful product, known
in the arts as nitro-muriate of tin, or bi-chloride of tin, and to separate and
obtain the gold contained in the said auriferous tin. The tin containing gold
is dissolved in a mixture of nitro-muriatic acids, and sufficient hydrochloric
and nitric acids are to be employed as to convert the amount of tin dissolved
into bi-chloride of tin; should any of the gold have been dissolved during the
operation, then a solution of proto-chloride of tin is to be added until the same
is precipitated, or metallic tin may be dissolved in the solution in such quantity
as to effect the precipitation of the gold.
The gold, either remaining undissolved or precipitated, either as purple of
cassius or otherwise, may, after separation from the solution of bi-chloride of
tin, be dissolved in nitro-hydrochloric acids or in any other solvent, and may
be precipitated from solution by means of a suitable reducing agent, such as
proto-sulphate of iron; should any silver have existed in the alloy or mixture,
the chloride of silver remaining may be separated as before mentioned; and

page_text: any lead that may exist in solution may be separated, as before mentioned,
by means of sulphuric acid; or the residues containing tin and gold, either
together or alloyed or mixed with copper, silver, or lead, may be fused with
sulphide of antimony, in a manner similar to that for separating tin from gold,
and the resulting alloy may be treated by any of the known or suitable
methods for separating antimony and gold, either alone or alloyed with silver,
copper, or lead; or the residue containing gold may be otherwise treated.
My improvements further relate to the treatment of tin alloyed or mixed
with gold or silver with nitric acid, so as to convert the tin into an available
product, binoxide of tin, and in subsequently treating the binoxide of tin thus
formed with nitro-hydrochloric acids, or with chlorine in solution, so as to
dissolve the gold remaining with the binoxide of tin, and the solution of gold
thus separated from the larger proportion of the oxide of tin may be precipi-
tated, either by means of a solution of proto-sulphate of iron, oxalic acid, or by
means of metallic tin, or otherwise. The silver existing in solution in nitric
acid may be precipitated as chloride of silver by means of hydrochloric acid; any
lead that may be in solution may be precipitated by means of sulphuric acid.
Or any of the residues containing gold, from which the whole or the greater
proportion of tin has been separated by the action of hydrochloric acid, or
nitric & hydrochloric acids, may be alloyed with lead, and the lead be
separated, together with other impurities, by cupellation, as is well under-
stood.
In carrying out this Invention, when hydrochloric acid is employed as a
solvent for the tin, vessels similal to those now used in the manufacture of
chloride of tin may be employed; when mixtures of nitric and hydrochloric
acids are employed, or when nitric acid alone is used to convert the tin into
binoxide of tin, stoneware or other suitable vessels may be substituted.
What I claim as my Invention is, the subjecting of auriferous tin to those
processes herein described, in order to obtain for commercial purposes the
commercially valuable products herein mentioned, and to separate and obtain
the gold and silver that may be therein contained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Astley Paston Price, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)