A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING COBALT AND MANGANESE F
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery
THEIR ORES
"
Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING COBALT AND MANGANESE FROM
communicated to him from abroad by Henri Herrenschmidt and Marmaduke
Constable both of Sydney New South Wales.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th March 1883.
IMPROVED
PROCESS
FOR
EXTRACTING
COBALT
AND
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex "A NEW OR
MANGANESE FROM THEIR ORES [Communicated to him from abroad by Henri
Herrenschmidt and Marmaduke Constable both of Sydney New South Wales.]
"
According to this invention ores containing cobalt or manganese are treated
with sulphate of iron or a substance producing sulphate of iron, so that a reaction
takes place whereby the oxides of cobalt or manganese are converted into sulphates,
the sulphate of iron becoming converted into oxide. The sulphates thus produced,
being washed out, can be treated for reduction or re-conversion into oxides by any
known process..
The reaction above stated may be best effected in the moist way by adding
sulphate of iron to the crushed ore and sufficient water to make the whole a slime
which is to be boiled for about half an hour. After settlement the solution is
decanted and the residue washed to remove such sulphates as may remain in it.
Boiling may be dispensed with, but in that case the reaction occupies much longer
time, about twenty four hours.
According to another method, the sulphate of iron may be added as a salt to the
crushed ore and the whole subjected to heat in a furnace. After cooling, the
sulphates are washed out.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th September
1883.
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the county of
Middlesex "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING COBALT AND
MANGANESE FROM THEIR ORES A communication to me from abroad by Henri
Herrenschmidt and Marmaduke Constable, both of Sydney, New South Wales.
"
This invention consists in the use of sulphate of iron, or any substance or
compound which will form sulphate of iron for the purpose of extracting the
oxides of cobalt and manganese from their ores in the form of sulphates, in which
form they are easily converted into oxides by old and well known processes. The
theory of this process is to decompose the sulphate of iron in the presence of the
ores containing the oxides of cobalt and manganese or either of them, so that
the sulphate of iron shall be converted into oxide of iron and the oxides of cobalt
and manganese into sulphates, in which condition the sulphates are washed out,
and reconverted into oxides.
'In practice, the following mode of procedure is preferred:-The ore must first
be crushed or ground very fine and its percentage of oxides of cobalt and man-
ganese ascertained. Sufficient quantity of sulphate of iron is then added to
convert the said oxides into sulphates. The ore, if not wet crushed, should have
.sufficient water added to it to make it into a slime. In this condition it is boiled
for half an hour in any suitable vessel, by which time the whole of the oxides will
have been converted into sulphates and held in solution by the liquor in which the
slime has been boiled. This solution is therefore decanted, and the thick residue
of all remaining solution is washed, so as to remove all trace of said sulphates, and
these solutions are then treated with any of the well known materials for recon-
verting said sulphates into oxides. If the slime is put into cold water and allowed
to remain there, say for 24 hours, the most of the oxides will have been converted
into sulphates, but this makes the process tedious, and is not so efficacious as when
the slime is boiled.
Again, instead of boiling, the sulphate of iron in the shape of a salt may be
mixed with the dry crushed ore and heated in a furnace until the double
decomposition above referred to has taken place, that is until the sulphate of iron
has been converted into an oxide of iron, and the oxides of cobalt and manganese
into sulphates of the same. These sulpbates may then be washed out with cold
water and precipitated in the form of oxides as before.
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, I
would have it understood that the above described process only relates to the
extraction of the oxides of cobalt and manganese froin their ores in the form of
sulphates, in which. form they are easily convertible into oxides by old and well
known chemical processes, but I claim :-
The use of sulphate of iron or any substance or compound which will form
sulphate of iron for the purpose of extracting the oxides of cobalt and manganese
from their ores, in the manner substantially as herein described and explained.
In Witness whereof, I, the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Thirteenth day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-three.