CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF SULPHUR FROM VARIOUS MINERAL SUB- STANCES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIAN
EDWARD DISBROWE RODGERS, of Upper Ebury Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Julian
Edward Disbrowe Rodgers, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Julian Edward Disbrowe Rodgers, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Julian Edward
Disbrowe Rodgers, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF SULPHUR FROM VARIOUS MINERAL SUB-
STANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Julian Edward Disbrowe Rodgers, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Julian Edward Disbrowe Rodgers, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the mauner in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements in the separation of sulphur from mineral
substances is founded upon the affinity of hydrogen for sulphur and oxygen
for certain metals. The improvements consists in conveying steam through
the furnace or retort during the operation of roasting or calcining mineral
sulphurets, previously reduced to coarse powder, the hydrogen of the water
or a certain portion thereof combining with the sulphur of the ore, and
forming sulphuretted hydrogen; and the oxygen previously in union with
hydrogen, combining with the metal, forming an oxide of the same metal.
In order to give every information in my power, I have in the accom-
panying Drawing shewn one method of carrying my Invention into effect;
but I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not intend to confine
myself to the form of apparatus therein shewn, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention, and must depend upon
circumstances and the ultimate object to be attained, in separating the sulphur
from the ore. I would merely observe, that I avail myself of that form of appa-
ratus which appears to be best adapted to the circumstances affecting the reduc-
tion of various kinds of ores, and such as in all cases will admit of the utmost
possible action of the steam upon the ore during the time it is undergoing the
process of calcination or roasting. When the object is to save the sulphur,
vessels or retorts should be used admitting the passage of the steam through
them, and so as to produce direct action upon the ore, but heated by fire from
beneath, as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, which represents a longitu-
dinal section of a retort A, into which the steam is admitted through the pipe B,
and the vapours pass out through the pipe D. The retort may be charged or
emptied by means of the door C, by which aperture the ore may also be
stirred with a rake or other instrument commonly used for that purpose, but
where the object is merely to expel the sulphur for the purpose of obtaining
the metal with which it is combined, as in the reduction of silver, copper, and
other ores, the steam may be conveyed through the usual calcining furnace,
the reverberatory form being preferred. The separation of the sulphur is
more readily effected if the ore be occasionally stirred, as a fresh surface is
exposed to the action of the steam. In the common method of calcination
a subsulphate is formed which precludes the expulsion of the whole of the
;

page_text: sulphur. This is obviated in my process, as in my experiments I have suc-
ceeded in completely separating the sulphur from the sulphurets employed,
and when operating upon iron pyrites from Cornwall I have obtained from
it a perfectly pure oxide of iron. As regards the collection of the sulphur, a
certain portion is usually simply expelled, and may therefore be condensed in
a chamber. That sulphur, however, which is separated in combination with
hydrogen may advantageously be treated in two ways: -
First, it may be at once burnt, or it may be collected in a suitable gaso-
meter and then burnt, the sulphurous acid thus obtained being converted into
sulphuric acid by any of the existing processes.
Second, the gas may be burnt in a limited portion of atmospheric air; the
bydrogen under these conditions alone enters into combination with oxygen,
while the sulphur is separated and condenses in a pure state.
I do not claim as part of my Invention the roasting or calcining the ore
by fire, nor do I claim the application of any particular form of apparatus to
be used in my process, either for the generation of steam or the calcination
of the ore, or for the collection of the sulphur. But I claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, the direct
application of the protoxide of hydrogen or water, which I prefer using in the
form of steam, in the calcination or roasting of the ores of silver, copper, iron,
zine, and all other metals or mineral substances with which sulphur is com-
bined, for the more complete separation of the sulphur from those metals or
mineral substances, and the sulphurous vapours thereby obtained may be
treated in any manner that may be considered most desirable.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julian Edward Disbrowe Rodgers, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight bunload and C 1