IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SULPHUROUS AND ARSENICAL PYRITES CONTAINING COPPER AND TIN
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Pengilly, of No. 35, Church Street, Falmouth,
in the County of Cornwall, Mining, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SULPHUROUS AND ARSENICAL PYRITES
CONTAINING COPPER AND TIN."
Sealed the 12th June 1866, and dated the 16th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Pengilly at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou the 16th
December 1865.
I, CHARLES PENGILLY, of No. 35, Church Street, Falmouth, in the County
of Cornwall, Mining Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SULPHUROUS AND ARSENICAL
PYRITES CONTAINING COPPER AND TIN," to be as follows:-
upper
1 employ two furnaces of any convenient lengths, but I prefer the
one to be about ten feet long and the lower one about forty feet long. The
upper furnace is arranged-at the end of the lower in such a manner that the
ores treated in the upper one may be heated by the fire from the lower one,
and so as to admit of the ores being let down into the lower furnace at the
end farthest from the fire-place. The ores as obtained from the mines I
introduce into the upper furnace, and by a mechanical contrivance they are
continually stirred without admitting any more cold air than is absolutely

page_text: necessary to sublime the volatile sulphur. The ores from this furnace I let
into the lower one at the end farthest from the fire-place, and by a mechanical
contrivance continue to stir and turn them until they arrive at the end near
the fire-place, or until the whole of the arsenic is sublimed; this furnace is so
arranged as to contain four charges from the upper one, each charge being in
a separate stage of the process. Over or near the fire-place I have a boiler
containing water, which I keep at 180° or 200° Fahrenheit. The ores freed
from the sulphur & arsenic I draw out of the furnace into shallow granite
cisterns of a circular form, at the same time introducing the water at 180° to
200° Fahrenheit, and crush the ores in the water to a powder by a revolving
granite wheel; the water flowing from the cisterns I filter, and precipitate the
copper in the usual way; should there be tin in the refuse I extract it by the
usual methods.
The improvements I claim are,-
1st, the utilization of the volatile sulphur found in all arsenical orcs in
large or small quantities.
2nd, the manufacture of the arsenic direct from the ores without subliming
a second time, as is now done.
3rd, by admitting charges at various times, so as to have the ores under
treatment in the various stages of the process, the sulphur and arsenic can be
entirely sublimed without deteriorating the quality of the arsenic.
And, 4th, when the ores are freed from the sulphur aud arsenic by being
crushed in water at from 180° to 200° Fahrenheit, the whole of the copper is
dissolved without the addition of acids or the reducing the ores to an
impalpable powder before being introduced to the furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Pengilly in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
PENGILLY, of No. 35, Church Street, Falmouth, in the County of Cornwall,
Mining Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Pengilly, Her special licence that I, the said Charles

page_text: Pengilly, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Pengilly, 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, 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 SULPHUROUS AND ARSENICAL PYRITES CONTAINING COPPER AND
TI," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Pengilly,
iny executors or 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 Charles Pengilly, 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:-
1 employ two furnaces of any convenient lengths, but I prefer the upper
one to be about ten feet long and the lower one about forty feet long. The
upper furnace is arranged at the end of the lower in such a manner that the
ores treated in the upper one may be heated by the fire from the lower que,
and so as to adinit of the ores being let down into the lower furnace at the
eud farthest from the fire-place. The ores as obtained from the mines I
introduce into the upper furnace, and by a mechanical contrivance they are
continually stirred without admitting any more cold air than is absolutely
necessary to sublime the volatile sulphur. The ores from this furnace I let
into the lower one at the end farthest from the fire-place, and by a mechanical
contrivance continue to stir and turn them until they arrive at the end near
the fire-place, or until the whole of the arsenic is sublimed; this furnace is so
arranged as to contain four charges from the upper one, each charge being in
a separate stage of the process; or, provided the ores to be operated upon do
not contain sufficientsulphur materially to affect the sublimation of the arsenic,
I substitute for the two furnaces above named the ordinary rotating tin calciner,
the fumes from which I pass through a hot tube of iron,clay, or other material
some distance from the calciner, and I claim to do the same by the fumes
passing froin the two furnaces above named, the object being the more effectual
separation of all foreign matter from the arsenic. Over or near the fire-place
I have a boiler containing water, which I keep at 180° to 200° Fahrenheit.

page_text: The ores freed from the sulphur and arsenic I draw out of the furnace into
shallow granite cisterns of a circular form, at the same time introducing the
water at 180° to 200° Fahrenheit, and crush the ores in the water to a powder
by a revolving granite wheel; the water flowing from the cisterns I filter, and
precipitate the copper in the usuay way; should there be tin in the refuse I
extract it by the usual methods.
The improvements I claim are,-—
1st, the utilization of the volatile sulphur found in all arsenicalores in large
or small quantities.
2nd, the manufacture of the arsenic direct from the ores without subliming
a second time, as is now done.
3rd, by admitting charges at various times, so as to have the ores under
treatment in the various stages of the process, the sulphur and arsenic can be
entirely sublimed without deteriorating the quality of the arsenic.
And, 4th, when the ores are freed from the sulphur and arsenic by being
crushed in water at from 180° to 200° Fahrenheit the whole of the copper is
dissolved without theaddition of acids or the reducing the ores to an impalpable
powder before being introduced to the furnace.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Pengilly, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHARLES PENGILLY. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named Charles Pengilly, in
the presence of
JOHN GRIFFITHS TRENERRY,
of No. 1, Nicholas Street, in the City and
County of Bristol, Attorney-at-law and
Solicitor, and a Commissioner to ad-
minister Oaths in Chancery in England.