>A design and interpretation company, currently working on a project
>involving the interpretation of Nenthead lead mine and village in Cumbria,
>are seeking information on the Rozan de-silvering process. The process is an
>improvement on the Pattinson Process, on which they have sufficient
>information, and they are looking any material either illustrating or
>explaining the process.
>
>Please copy replies to Annie Walsh at "Image Makers" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Peter
>
Further to previous comments, it is probably worth adding that although the
labour and fuel costs involved in the Rozan Process were lower than those of
the Pattinson Process, Rozan seems not to have been widely adopted in north
east England - the birthplace of the Pattinson Process - although the Rozan
Process may have been used at the Elswick (Newcastle) Lead Works from 1874.
The Parkes Process for desilverising lead - also called the Zinc Process -
seems to have become more popular.
This process was patented by Alexander Parkes of Birmingham in 1850, whereby
refinable Lead was melted and Zinc added, the mixture being stirred it until
the Zinc melted. Silver dissolves easily in Zinc, and consequently a
molten alloy of Zinc and Silver floated to the surface of the melt, where it
solidified. This was skimmed off with a perforated ladle and the Zinc and
the Silver were separated by distillation. The Parkes Process had
superseded the Pattinson Process in north east England by the 1890s.
For an account of the Parkes Process and methods of distillation see 'The
Metallurgy of Argentiferous Lead' by M. Eissler (1891).
Stafford M Linsley
Lecturer in Industrial Archaeology
The University
Newcastle upon Tyne
England
NE1 7RU
Tel. 0191-222 6795
|