RECENT I N V E N T I O N S . of the education chamber; chambers I for producing or heating the neutral (deoxidized) gases; flues L for conveying these neutral gases into the education chamber; and devices (valves 26) for governing their admission.
977,996. Method of Smelting and Refining Copper Ores and Compounds. RALPHBAGGLEY,Pittsburg, Pa. This is a method of extracting copper, gold, silver and other metals from ores, which consists in dissolving or melting ores that contain within themselves oxidizable elements, by sub-
Ry 1.
978,21I.
129
Art of Extracting Metals Electrolytically.
JAMES
HARTROBERTSON, New York, N. Y. This invention is directed to a novel method of extracting gold and other precious metals from their ores after they have been reduced in a very minute or finely powdered state, and it has for its objects, first, to provide a method of effecting this result in as simple, efficient and inexpensive a manner as possible; second, to devise a method of extracting gold when found in other than a metallic state (chlorids, for instance) by the agency of electrolysis and in such manner that the gold
m I
m mergence in a molten bath of matte and by the heat of oxidation produced by forcing air through the same, and eliminating the silica, alumina and lime, then separating the slag from the low-grade matte, then transferring the matte into a converter, oxidizing it therein, adding value-bearing silicious ore, and formI
Py 2.
is deposited on the cathode of the apparatus used in practicing said method. The electrolyte which is illustrated as submerging the anode and cathode when used in the process of extracting gold may be cyanid of potassium or of any other such equivalent materials as are used in the a r t of electrolytic methods of extracting valuable metals and the anode and cathode may be located in the body of the electrolyte in any preferred manner, or may be of any preferred material and construction or shape, such matters coming well within the skill of those versed in the electrolytic a r t generally, the essential feature being that they shall be so located as to readily remove the cathode for the
P
c
purpose of extracting the gold therefrom by fusion in the usual way. The cathode is illustrated in the drawing as being suspended from the conducting rod z by good conducting metallic hooks, --
ing thereby silicate of iron slags, and then eliminating residual oxidizable impurities by forcing air into the bath. The accompanying illustration shows apparatus in which the patentees method can be carried out.
9, 9.
The ore to be treated is first pulverized or ground to a fine powder and gradually fed into the electrolyte which is kept in an agitated condition or circulation by steam, hot air or gas issuing from the sources of supply, not shown, through the pipes 7 and 8. A relatively large amount of the powdered ore will remain in suspension while the liquid is in motion when it is placed in the vat and is simultaneously subjected to the action
130
T H E J O CRi'iAL OF I i V D U S T R I A L AND E N G I N E E R I S G C H E X I S T R Y .
of electricity, motion and heat until the major part of the metal is deposited on the cathode 3. 979,337. Manufacture of Steel. ALLEYXEREYNOLDS, London, England. This invention has for its object the economical production of steel ingots or castings of any desired analysis free from flaws. The patentee first produces a nearly pure iron free from foreign substances, and afterward, just previous to casting, alloy i t with certain materials. For the overcoming of the oxidation unavoidable during casting, the extent of which may be ascertained by experience, there is always added the necessary amount of highly exothermic acid and basic-flue-forming additions, in general silicon and manganese The process consists in producing a melted charge of iron containing iron oxid in a furnace, teeming and freeing the charge of slag, refining by reduction the slagless charge i n l a
Feb
~
1911
disengaged is absorbed by the metal of the vat, and the soda which i t contains becomes fused. As sonn as the vessel is full of liquefied soda the current is stopped floning in the heating circuit G and the apparatus is ready for nork. The production of sodium is initiated by passing a continuous
Fig. 2.
current, whose intensity is proportioned to the dimensions of the apparatus and under a pressure of about 5 or 6 volts, the resistance which the current experiences in traversing the bath causing the development of sufficient heat to maintain
Fig 3 .
second furnace teeming the refined charge and adding thereto melted alloys and a suitable flux heated in separate furnaces, and casting the charge into a mold. Means for the Electrolytic Manufacture of Sodium. PAULLEONHULIN, Grenoble, France. In order to set the apparatus in action the vessel .4is filled with caustic soda in fragments and the electric current is caused 979,497.
Fig.6.
Fig.1
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to traverse the conductor G ; the intensity of the current is regulated so as to bring the conductor to red-heat. The heat
the soda in the fused state. Under the electrolytic action of the current free oxygen is formed a t the anode and is disengaged at the surface externally of the separator E, while the hydrogen
