LEAD, a metallic chemical element; its symbol is Pb (from the Lat. plumbum), and atomic weight 207.10 (O = 16). This metal was known to the ancients, and is mentioned in the Old Testament. The Romans used it largely, as it is still used, for the making of water pipes, and soldered these with an alloy of lead and tin. Pliny treats of these two metals as plumbum nigrum and plumbum album respectively, which seems to show that at his time they were looked upon as being only two varieties of the same species. In regard to the ancients’ knowledge of lead compounds, we may state that the substance described by Dioscorides as μολυβδαίνα was undoubtedly litharge, that Pliny uses the word minium in its present sense of red lead, and that white lead was well known to Geber in the 8th century. The alchemists designated it by the sign of Saturn ♄.
Occurrence.—Metallic lead occurs in nature but very rarely and then only in minute amount. The chief lead ores are galena and cerussite; of minor importance are anglesite, pyromorphite and mimetesite (qq.v.). Galena (q.v.), the principal lead ore, has a world-wide distribution, and is always contaminated with silver sulphide, the proportion of noble metal varying from about 0.01 or less to 0.3%, and in rare cases coming up to 12 or 1%. Fine-grained galena is usually richer in silver than the coarse-grained. Galena occurs in veins in the Cambrian clay-slate, accompanied by copper and iron pyrites, zinc-blende, quartz, calc-spar, iron-spar, &c.; also in beds or nests within sandstones and rudimentary limestones, and in a great many other geological formations. It is pretty widely diffused throughout the earth’s crust. The principal English lead mines are in Derbyshire; but there are also mines at Allandale and other parts of western Northumberland, at Alston Moor and other parts of Cumberland, in the western parts of Durham, in Swaledale and Arkendale and other parts of Yorkshire, in Salop, in Cornwall, in the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire, and in the Isle of Man. The Welsh mines are chiefly in Flint, Cardigan and Montgomery shires; the Scottish in Dumfries, Lanark and Argyll; and the Irish in Wicklow, Waterford and Down. Of continental mines we may mention those in Saxony and in the Harz, Germany; those of Carinthia, Austria; and especially those of the southern provinces of Spain. It is widely distributed in the United States, and occurs in Mexico and Brazil; it is found in Tunisia and Algeria, in the Altai Mountains and India, and in New South Wales, Queensland, and in Tasmania.
The native carbonate or cerussite (q.v.) occasionally occurs in the pure form, but more frequently in a state of intimate intermixture with clay (“lead earth,” Bleierde), limestone, iron oxides, &c. (as in the ores of Nevada and Colorado), and some times also with coal (“black lead ore”). All native carbonate of lead seems to be derived from what was originally galena, which is always present in it as an admixture. This ore, metallurgically, was not reckoned of much value, until immense quantities of it were discovered in Nevada and in Colorado (U.S.). The Nevada mines are mostly grouped around the city of Eureka, where the ore occurs in “pockets” disseminated at random through limestone. The crude ore contains about 30% lead and 0.2 to 0.3% silver. The Colorado lead district is in the Rocky Mountains, a few miles from the source of the Arkansas river. It forms gigantic deposits of almost constant thickness, embedded between a floor of limestone and a roof of porphyry. Stephens’s discovery of the ore in 1877 was the making of the city of Leadville, which, in 1878, within a year of its foundation, had over 10,000 inhabitants. The Leadville ore contains from 24 to 42% lead and 0.1 to 2% silver. In Nevada and Colorado the ore is worked chiefly for the sake of the silver. Deposits are also worked at Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Anglesite, or lead sulphate, PbSO4, is poor in silver, and is only exceptionally mined by itself; it occurs in quantity in France, Spain, Sardinia and Australia. Of other lead minerals we may mention the basic sulphate lanarkite, PbO·PbSO4; leadhillite, PbSO4·3PbCO3; the basic chlorides matlockite, PbO·PbCl2, and mendipite, PbCl2·2PbO; the chloro-phosphate pyromorphite, PbCl2·3Pb3(PO4)2, the chloro-arsenate mimetesite, PbCl2·3Pb3(AsO4)2; the molybdate wulfenite, PbMoO4; the chromate crocoite or crocoisite, PbCrO4; the tungstate stolzite, PbWO4.
Production.—At the beginning of the 19th century the bulk of the world’s supply of lead was obtained from England and Spain, the former contributing about 17,000 tons and the latter 10,000 tons annually. Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Russia and the United States began to rank as producers during the second and third decades; Belgium entered in about 1840; Italy in the ’sixties; Mexico, Canada, Japan and Greece in the ’eighties; while Australia assumed importance in 1888 with a production of about 18,000 tons, although it had contributed small and varying amounts for many preceding decades. In 1850 England headed the list of producers with about 66,000 tons; this amount had declined in 1872 to 61,000 tons. Since this date, it has, on the whole, diminished, although large outputs occurred in isolated years, for instance, a production of 40,000 tons in 1893 was followed by 60,000 tons in 1896 and 40,000 in 1897. The output in 1900 was 35,000 tons, and in 1905, 25,000 tons. Spain ranked second in 1850 with about 47,000 tons; this was increased in 1863, 1876 and in 1888 to 84,000, 127,000 and 187,000 tons respectively; but the maximum outputs mentioned were preceded and succeeded by periods of depression. In 1900 the production was 176,000 tons, and in 1905, 179,000 tons. The United States, which ranked third with a production of 20,000 tons in 1850, maintained this annual yield, until 1870, when it began to increase; the United States now ranks as the chief producer; in 1900 the output was 253,000 tons, and in 1905, 319,744 tons. Germany has likewise made headway; an output of 12,000 tons in 1850 being increased to 120,000 tons in 1900 and to 152,590 in 1905. This country now ranks third, having passed England in 1873. Mexico increased its production from 18,000 tons in 1883 to 83,000 tons in 1900 and about 88,000 tons in 1905. The Australian production of 18,000 tons in 1888 was increased to 58,000 tons in 1891, a value maintained until 1893, when a depression set in, only 21,000 tons being produced in 1897; prosperity then returned, and in 1898 the yield was 68,000 tons, and in 1905, 120,000 tons. Canada became important in 1895 with a production of 10,000 tons; this increased to 28,654 tons in 1900; and in 1905 the yield was 25,391 tons. Italy has been a fairly steady producer; the output in 1896 was 20,000 tons, and in 1905, 25,000 tons.
Metallurgy.
The extraction of the metal from pure (or nearly pure) galena is the simplest of all metallurgical operations. The ore is roasted (i.e. heated in the presence of atmospheric oxygen) until all the sulphur is burned away and the lead left. This simple statement, however, correctly formulates only the final result. The first effect of the roasting is the elimination of sulphur as sulphur-dioxide, with formation of oxide and sulphate of lead. In practice this oxidation process is continued until the whole of the oxygen is as nearly as possible equal in weight to the sulphur present as sulphide or as sulphate, i.e. in the ratio S : O2. The heat is then raised in (relative) absence of air, when the two elements named unite into sulphur-dioxide, while a regulus of molten lead remains. Lead ores are smelted in the reverberatory furnace, the ore-hearth, and the blast-furnace. The use of the first two is restricted, as they are suited only for galena ores or mixtures of galena and carbonate, which contain not less than 58% lead and not more than 4% silica; further, ores to be treated in the ore-hearth should run low in or be free from silver, as the loss in the fumes is excessive. In the blast-furnace all lead ores are successfully smelted. Blast-furnace treatment has therefore become more general than any other.
Three types of reverberatory practice are in vogue—the English, Carinthian and Silesian. In Wales and the south of England the process is conducted in a reverberatory furnace, the sole of which is paved with slags from previous operations, and has a depression in the middle where the metal formed collects to be let off by a tap-hole. The dressed ore is introduced through a “hopper” at the top, and exposed to a moderate oxidizing flame until a certain proportion of ore is oxidized, openings at the side enabling the workmen to stir up the ore so as to constantly renew the surface exposed to the air. At this stage as a rule some rich slags of a former operation are added and a quantity of quicklime is incorporated, the chief object of which is to diminish the fluidity of the mass in the next stage, which consists in this, that, with closed air-holes, the heat is raised so as to cause the oxide and sulphate on the one hand and the sulphide on the other to reduce each other to metal. The lead produced runs into the hollow and is tapped off. The roasting process is then resumed, to be followed by another reduction, and so on.
A similar process is used in Carinthia; only the furnaces are smaller and of a somewhat different form. They are long and narrow; the sole is plane, but slopes from the fire-bridge towards the flue, so that the metal runs to the latter end to collect in pots placed outside the furnace. In Carinthia the oxidizing process from the first is pushed on so far that metallic lead begins to show, and the oxygen introduced predominates over the sulphur left. The mass is then stirred to liberate the lead, which is removed as Rührblei. Charcoal is now added, and the heat urged on to obtain Pressblei, an inferior metal formed partly by the action of the charcoal on the oxide of lead. The fuel used is fir-wood.
The Silesian furnace has an oblong hearth sloping from the fire-bridge to the flue-bridge. This causes the lead to collect at the coolest part of the hearth, whence it is tapped, &c., as in the English furnace. While by the English and Carinthian processes as much lead as possible is extracted in the furnace, with the Silesian method a very low temperature is used, thus taking out about one-half of the lead and leaving very rich slags (50% lead) to be smelted in the blast-furnace, the ultimate result being a very much higher yield than by either of the other processes. The loss in lead by the combined reverberatory and blast-furnace treatment is only 3.2%.
In Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and latterly the United States, the reverberatory furnace is used only for roasting the ore, and the oxidized ore is then reduced by fusion in a low, square blast-furnace (a “Scottish hearth furnace”) lined with cast iron, as is also the inclined sole-plate which is made to project beyond the furnace, the outside portion (the “work-stone”) being provided with grooves guiding any molten metal that may be placed on the “stone” into a cast iron pot; the “tuyère” for the introduction of the wind was, in the earlier types, about half way down the furnace.
As a preliminary to the melting process, the “browse” left in the preceding operation (half-fused and imperfectly reduced ore) is introduced with some peat and coal, and heated with the help of the blast. It is then raked out on the work-stone and divided into a very poor “grey” slag which is put aside, and a richer portion, which goes back into the furnace. Some of the roasted ore is strewed upon it, and, after a quarter of an hour’s working, the whole is taken out on the work-stone, where the lead produced runs off. The “browse,” after removal of the “grey” slag, is reintroduced, ore added, and, after a quarter of an hour’s heating, the mass again placed on the work-stone, &c.
In the more recent form of the hearth process the blocks of cast iron forming the sides and back of the Scottish furnace are now generally replaced in the United States by water-cooled shells (water-jackets) of cast iron. In this way continuous working has been rendered possible, whereas formerly operations had to be stopped every twelve or fifteen hours to allow the over-heated blocks and furnace to cool down. A later improvement (which somewhat changes the mode of working) is that by Moffett. While he also prevents interruption of the operation by means of water-jackets, he uses hot-blast, and produces, besides metallic lead, large volumes of lead fumes which are drawn off by fans through long cooling tubes, and then forced through suspended bags which filter off the dust, called “blue powder.” Thus, a mixture of lead sulphate (45%) and oxide (44%) with some sulphide (8%), zinc and carbonaceous matter, is agglomerated by a heap-roast and then smelted in a slag-eye furnace with grey slag from the ore-hearth. The furnace has, in addition to the usual tuyères near the bottom, a second set near the throat in order to effect a complete oxidation of all combustible matter. Much fume is thus produced. This is drawn off, cooled and filtered, and forms a white paint of good body, consisting of about 65% lead sulphate, 26% lead oxide, 6% zinc oxide and 3% other substances. Thus in the Moffett method it is immaterial whether metal or fume is produced, as in either case it is saved and the price is about the same.
In smelting at once in the same blast-furnace ores of different character, the old use of separate processes of precipitation, roasting and reduction, and general reduction prevailing in the Harz Mountains, Freiberg and other places, to suit local conditions, has been abandoned. Ores are smelted raw if the fall of matte (metallic sulphide) does not exceed 5%; otherwise they are subjected to a preliminary oxidizing roast to expel the sulphur, unless they run too high in silver, say 100 oz. to the ton, when they are smelted raw. The leading reverberatory furnace for roasting lead-bearing sulphide ores has a level hearth 14-16 ft. wide and 60-80 ft. long. It puts through 9-12 tons of ore in twenty-four hours, reducing the percentage of sulphur to 2-4%, and requires four to six men and about 2 tons of coal. In many instances it has been replaced by mechanical furnaces, which are now common in roasting sulphide copper ores (see Sulphuric Acid). A modern blast-furnace is oblong in horizontal section and about 24 ft. high from furnace floor to feed floor. The shaft, resting upon arches supported by four cast iron columns about 9 ft. high, is usually of brick, red brick on the outside, fire-brick on the inside; sometimes it is made of wrought iron water-jackets. The smelting zone always has a bosh and a contracted tuyère section. It is enclosed by water-jackets, which are usually cast iron, sometimes mild steel. The hearth always has an Arents siphon tap. This is an inclined channel running through the side-wall, beginning near the bottom of the crucible and ending at the top of the hearth, where it is enlarged into a basin. The crucible and the channel form the two limbs of an inverted siphon. While the furnace is running the crucible and channel remain filled with lead; all the lead reduced to the metallic state in smelting collects in the crucible, and rising in the channel, overflows into the basin, whence it is removed. The slag and matte formed float upon the lead in the crucible and are tapped, usually together, at intervals into slag-pots, where the heavy matter settles on the bottom and the light slag on the top. When cold they are readily separated by a blow from a hammer. The following table gives the dimensions of some well-known American lead-furnaces.
| Locality. | Year. | Tuyère Section. | Height, Tuyère to Throat. |
| In. | Ft. | ||
| Leadville, Colorado | 1880 | 33 × 84 | 14 |
| Denver, Colorado | 1880 | 36 × 100 | 17 |
| Durango, Colorado | 1882 | 36 × 96 | 12.6 |
| Denver, Colorado | 1892 | 42 × 100 | 16 |
| Leadville, Colorado | 1892 | 42 × 120 | 18 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | 1895 | 45 × 140 | 20 |
A furnace, 42 by 120 in. at the tuyères, with a working height of 17–20 ft., will put through in twenty-four hours, with twelve men, 12% coke and 2 ℔ blast-pressure, 85-100 tons average charge, i.e. one that is a medium coarse, contains 12-15% lead, not over 5% zinc, and makes under 5% matte. In making up a charge, the ores and fluxes, whose chemical compositions have been determined, are mixed so as to form out of the components not to be reduced to the metallic or sulphide state, typical slags (silicates of ferrous and calcium oxides, incidentally of aluminium oxide, which have been found to do successful work). Such slags contain SiO2 = 30-33%, Fe(Mn)O = 27-50%, Ca(Mg, Ba)O = 12-28%, and retain less than 1% lead and 1 oz. silver to the ton. The leading products of the blast-furnace are argentiferous lead (base bullion), matte, slag and flue-dust (fine particles of charge and volatilized metal carried out of the furnace by the ascending gas current). The base bullion (assaying 300 ± oz. per ton) is desilverized (see below); the matte (Pb = 8-12%, Cu = 3-4%, Ag = 13-15 of the assay-value of the base bullion, rest Fe and S) is roasted and resmelted, when part of the argentiferous lead is recovered as base bullion, while the rest remains with the copper, which becomes concentrated in a copper-matte (60% copper) to be worked up by separate processes. The slag is a waste product, and the flue-dust, collected by special devices in dust-chambers, is briquetted by machinery, with lime as a bond, and then resmelted with the ore-charge. The yield in lead is over 90%, in silver over 97% and in gold 100%. The cost of smelting a ton of ore in Colorado in a single furnace, 42 by 120 in. at the tuyères, is about $3.
The lead produced in the reverberatory furnace and the ore-hearth is of a higher grade than that produced in the blast-furnace, as the ores treated are purer and richer, and the reducing action is less powerful. The following analysis of blast-furnace Refining. lead of Freiberg, Saxony, is from an exceptionally impure lead: Pb = 95.088, Ag = 0.470, Bi = 0.019, Cu = 0.225, As = 1.826, Sb = 0.958, Sn = 1.354, Fe = 0.007, Zn = 0.002, S = 0.051. Of the impurities, most of the copper, nickel and copper, considerable arsenic, some antimony and small amounts of silver are removed by liquation. The lead is melted down slowly, when the impurities separate in the form of a scum (dross), which is easily removed. The purification by liquation is assisted by poling the lead when it is below redness. A stick of green wood is forced into it, and the vapours and gases set free expose new surfaces to the air, which at this temperature has only a mildly oxidizing effect. The pole, the use of which is awkward, has been replaced by dry stream, which has a similar effect. To remove tin, arsenic and antimony, the lead has to be brought up to a bright-red heat, when the air has a strongly oxidizing effect. Tin is removed mainly as a powdery mixture of stannate of lead and lead oxide, arsenic and antimony as a slagged mixture of arsenate and antimonate of lead and lead oxide. They are readily withdrawn from the surface of the lead, and are worked up into antimony (arsenic)—tin-lead and antimony-lead alloys. Liquation, if not followed by poling, is carried on as a rule in a reverberatory furnace with an oblong, slightly trough-shaped inclined hearth; if the lead is to be poled it is usually melted down in a cast-iron kettle. If the lead is to be liquated and then brought to a bright-red heat, both operations are carried on in the same reverberatory furnace. This has an oblong, dish-shaped hearth of acid or basic fire-brick built into a wrought-iron pan, which rests on transverse rails supported by longitudinal walls. The lead is melted down at a low temperature and drossed. The temperature is then raised, and the scum which forms on the surface is withdrawn until pure litharge forms, which only takes place after all the tin, arsenic and antimony have been eliminated.
Silver is extracted from lead by means of the process of cupellation. Formerly all argentiferous lead had to be cupelled, and the resulting litharge then reduced to metallic lead. In 1833 Pattinson invented his process by means of which practically all the Desilverizing. silver is concentrated in 13% of the original lead to be cupelled, while the rest becomes market lead. In 1842 Karsten discovered that lead could be desilverized by means of zinc. His invention, however, only took practical form in 1850–1852 through the researches of Parkes, who showed how the zinc-silver-lead alloy formed could be worked and the desilverized lead freed from the zinc it had taken up. In the Parkes process only 5% of the original lead need be cupelled. Thus, while cupellation still furnishes the only means for the final separation of lead and silver, it has become an auxiliary process to the two methods of concentration given. Of these the Pattinson process has become subordinate to the Parkes process, as it is more expensive and leaves more silver and impurities in the market lead. It holds its own, however, when base bullion contains bismuth in appreciable amounts, as in the Pattinson process bismuth follows the lead to be cupelled, while in the Parkes process it remains with the desilverized lead which goes to market, and lead of commerce should contain little bismuth. At Freiberg, Saxony, the two processes have been combined. The base bullion is imperfectly Pattinsonized, giving lead rich in silver and bismuth, which is cupelled, and lead low in silver, and especially so in bismuth, which is further desilverized by the Parkes process.
The effect of the two processes on the purity of the market lead is clearly shown by the two following analyses by Hampe, which represent lead from Lautenthal in the Harz Mountains, where the Parkes process replaced that of Pattinson, the ores and smelting process remaining practically the same:—
| Process. | Pb. | Cu. | Sb. | As. | Bi. | Ag. | Fe. | Zn. | Ni. |
| Pattinson | 99.966200 | 0.015000 | 1.010000 | none | 0.000600 | 0.002200 | 0.004000 | 0.001000 | 1.001000 |
| Parkes | 99.983139 | 0.001413 | 0.005698 | none | 0.005487 | 0.000460 | 0.002289 | 0.000834 | 0.000680 |
The reverberatory furnace commonly used for cupelling goes by the name of the English cupelling furnace. It is oblong, and has a fixed roof and a movable iron hearth (test). Formerly the test was lined with bone-ash; at present the hearth Cupelling. material is a mixture of crushed limestone and clay (3:1) or Portland cement, either alone or mixed with crushed fire-brick; in a few instances the lining has been made of burnt magnesite. In the beginning of the operation enough argentiferous lead is charged to fill the cavity of the test. After it has been melted down and brought to a red heat, the blast, admitted at the back, oxidizes the lead and drives the litharge formed towards the front, where it is run off. At the same time small bars of argentiferous lead, inserted at the back, are slowly pushed forward, so that in melting down they may replace the oxidized lead. Thus the level of the lead is kept approximately constant, and the silver becomes concentrated in the lead. In large works the silver-lead alloy is removed when it contains 60-80% silver, and the cupellation of the rich bullion from several concentration furnaces is finished in a second furnace. At the same time the silver is brought to the required degree of fineness, usually by the use of nitre. In small works the cupellation is finished in one furnace, and the resulting low-grade silver fined in a plumbago crucible, either by overheating in the presence of air, or by the addition of silver sulphate to the melted silver, when air or sulphur trioxide and oxygen oxidize the impurities. The lead charged contains about 1.5% lead if it comes from a Pattinson plant, from 5-10% if from a Parkes plant. In a test 7 ft. by 4 ft. 10 in. and 4 in. deep, about 6 tons of lead are cupelled in twenty-four hours. A furnace is served by three men, working in eight-hour shifts, and requires about 2 tons of coal, which corresponds to about 110 gallons reduced oil, air being used as atomizer. The loss in lead is about 5%. The latest cupelling furnaces have the general form of a reverberatory copper-smelting furnace. The working door through which the litharge is run off lies under the flue which carries off the products of combustion and the lead fumes, the lead is charged and the blast is admitted near the fire-bridge.
In the Pattinson process the argentiferous lead is melted down in the central cast iron kettle of a series 8-15, placed one next to the other, each having a capacity of 9-15 tons and a separate fire-place. The crystals of impoverished lead which fall Pattinson process. to the bottom, upon coaling the charge, are taken out with a skimmer and discharged into the neighbouring kettle (say to the right) until about two-thirds of the original charge has been removed; then the liquid enriched lead is ladled into the kettle on the opposite side. To the kettle, two-thirds full of crystals of lead, is now added lead of the same tenor in silver, the whole is liquefied, and the cooling, crystallizing, skimming and ladling are repeated. The same is done with the kettle one-third filled with liquid lead, and so on until the first kettle contains market lead, the last cupelling lead. The intervening kettles contain leads with silver contents ranging from above market to below cupelling lead. The original Pattinson process has been in many cases replaced by the Luce-Rozan process (1870), which does away with arduous labour and attains a more satisfactory crystallization. The plant consists of two tilting oval metal pans (capacity 7 tons), one cylindrical crystallizing pot (capacity 22 tons), with two discharging spouts and one steam inlet opening, two lead moulds (capacity 312 tons), and a steam crane. Pans and pot are heated from separate fire-places. Supposing the pot to be filled with melted lead to be treated, the fire is withdrawn beneath and steam introduced. This cools and stirs the lead when crystals begin to form. As soon as two-thirds of the lead has separated in the form of crystals, the steam is shut off and the liquid lead drained off through the two spouts into the moulds. The fire underneath the pot is again started, the crystals are liquefied, and one of the two pans, filled with melted lead, is tilted by means of the crane and its contents poured into the pot. In the meantime the lead in the moulds, which has solidified, is removed with the crane and stacked to one side, until its turn comes to be raised and charged into one of the pans. The crystallization proper lasts one hour, the working of a charge four hours, six charges being run in twenty-four hours.
It is absolutely necessary for the success of the Parkes process that the zinc and lead should contain only a small amount of impurity. The spelter used must therefore be of a good grade, and the lead is usually first refined in a reverberatory Parkes process. furnace (the softening furnace). The capacity of the furnace must be 10% greater than that of the kettle into which the softened lead is tapped, as the dross and skimmings formed amount to about 10% of the weight of the lead charged. The kettle is spherical, and is suspended over a fire-place by a broad rim resting on a wall; it is usually of cast iron. Most kettles at present hold 30 tons of lead; some, however, have double that capacity. When zinc is placed on the lead (heated to above the melting-point of zinc), liquefied and brought into intimate contact with the lead by stirring, gold, copper, silver and lead will combine with the zinc in the order given. By beginning with a small amount of zinc, all the gold and copper and some silver and lead will be alloyed with the zinc to a so-called gold—or copper—crust, and the residual lead saturated with zinc. By removing from the surface of the lead this first crust and working it up separately (liquating, retorting and cupelling), doré silver is obtained. By the second addition of zinc most of the silver will be collected in a saturated zinc-silver-lead crust, which, when worked up, gives fine silver. A third addition becomes necessary to remove the rest of the silver, when the lead will assay only 0.1 oz. silver per ton. As this complete desilverization is only possible by the use of an excess of zinc, the unsaturated zinc-silver-lead alloy is put aside to form part of the second zincking of the next following charge. In skimming the crust from the surface of the lead some unalloyed lead is also drawn off, and has to be separated by an additional operation (liquation), as, running lower in silver than the crust, it would otherwise reduce its silver content and increase the amount of lead to be cupelled. A zincking takes 5-6 hours; 1.5–2.5% zinc is required for desilverizing. The liquated zinc-silver-lead crust contains 5–10% silver, 30-40% zinc and 65-50% lead. Before it can be cupelled it has to be freed from most of the zinc, which is accomplished by distilling in a retort made of a mixture similar to that of the plumbago crucible. The retort is pear-shaped, and holds 1000–1500 lb of charge, consisting of liquated crust mixed with 1-3% of charcoal. The condenser commonly used is an old retort. The distillation of 1000 ℔ charge lasts 5-6 hours, requires 500–600 ℔ coke or 30± gallons reduced oil, and yields about 10% metallic zinc and 1% blue powder—a mixture of finely-divided metallic zinc and zinc oxide. About 60% of the zinc used in desilverizing is recovered in a form to be used again. One man serves 2-4 retorts. The desilverized lead, which retains 0.6–0.7% zinc, has to be refined before it is suited for industrial use. The operation is carried on in a reverberatory furnace or in a kettle. In the reverberatory furnace, similar to the one used in softening, the lead is brought to a bright-red heat and air allowed to have free access. The zinc and some lead are oxidized; part of the zinc passes off with the fumes, part is dissolved by the litharge, forming a melted mixture which is skimmed off and reduced in a blast-furnace or a reverberatory smelting furnace. In the kettle covered with a hood the zinc is oxidized by means of dry steam, and incidentally some lead by the air which cannot be completely excluded. A yellowish powdery mixture of zinc and lead oxides collects on the lead; it is skimmed off and sold as paint. From the reverberatory furnace or the kettle the refined lead is siphoned off into a storage (market) kettle after it has cooled somewhat, and from this it is siphoned off into moulds placed in a semi-circle on the floor. In the process the yield in metal, based upon the charge in the kettle, is lead 99%, silver 100+%, gold 98-100%. The plus-silver is due to the fact that in assaying the base bullion by cupellation, the silver lost by volatilization and cupel-absorption is neglected. In the United States the cost of desilverizing a ton base bullion is about $6.
Properties of Lead.—Pure lead is a feebly lustrous bluish-white metal, endowed with a characteristically high degree of softness and plasticity, and almost entirely devoid of elasticity. Its breaking strain is very small: a wire 110th in. thick is ruptured by a charge of about 30 ℔. The specific gravity is 11.352 for ingot, and from 11.354 to 11.365 for sheet lead (water of 4°C. = 1). The expansion of unit-length from 0°C. to to 100°C. is .002948 (Fizeau). The conductivity for heat (Wiedemann and Franz) or electricity is 8.5, that of silver being taken as 100. It melts at 327.7°C. (H. L. Callendar); at a bright-red heat it perceptibly vapourizes, and boils at a temperature between 1450° and 1600°. The specific heat is .0314 (Regnault). Lead exposed to ordinary air is rapidly tarnished, but the thin dark film formed is very slow in increasing. When kept fused in the presence of air lead readily takes up oxygen, with the formation at first of a dark-coloured scum, and then of monoxide PbO, the rate of oxidation increasing with the temperature.
Water when absolutely pure has no action on lead, but in the presence of air the lead is quickly attacked, with formation of the hydrate, Pb(OH)2, which is appreciably soluble in water forming an alkaline liquid. When carbonic acid is present the dissolved oxide is soon precipitated as basic carbonate, so that the corrosion of the lead becomes continuous. Since all soluble lead compounds are strong cumulative poisons, danger is involved in using lead cisterns or pipes in the distribution of pure waters. The word “pure” is emphasized because experience shows that the presence in a water of even small proportions of calcium bicarbonate or sulphate prevents its action on lead. All impurities do not act in a similar way. Ammonium nitrate and nitrite, for instance, intensify the action of a water on lead. Even pure waters, however, such as that of Loch Katrine (which forms the Glasgow supply), act so slowly, at least on such lead pipes as have already been in use for some time, that there is no danger in using short lead service pipes even for them, if the taps are being constantly used. Lead cisterns must be unhesitatingly condemned.
The presence of carbonic acid in a water does not affect its action on lead. Aqueous non-oxidizing acids generally have little or no action on lead in the absence of air. Dilute sulphuric acid (say an acid of 20% H2SO4 or less) has no action on lead even when air is present, nor on boiling. Strong acid does act, the more so the greater its concentration and the higher its temperature. Pure lead is far more readily corroded than a metal contaminated with 1% or even less of antimony or copper. Boiling concentrated sulphuric acid converts lead into sulphate, with evolution of sulphur dioxide. Dilute nitric acid readily dissolves the metal, with formation of nitrate Pb(NO3)2.
Lead Alloys.—Lead, unites readily with almost all other metals; hence, and on account of its being used for the extraction of (for instance) silver, its alchemistic name of saturnus. Of the alloys the following may be named:—
With Antimony.—Lead contaminated with small proportions of antimony is more highly proof against sulphuric acid than the pure metal. An alloy of 83 parts of lead and 17 of antimony is used as type metal; other proportions are used, however, and other metals added besides antimony (e.g. tin, bismuth) to give the alloy certain properties.
Arsenic renders lead harder. An alloy made by addition of about 156th of arsenic has been used for making shot.
Bismuth and Antimony.—An alloy consisting of 9 parts of lead, 2 of antimony and 2 of bismuth is used for stereotype plates.
Bismuth and Tin.—These triple alloys are noted for their low fusing points. An alloy of 5 of lead, 8 of bismuth and 3 of tin fuses at 94.4°C, i.e. below the boiling-point of water (Rose’s metal). An alloy of 15 parts of bismuth, 8 of lead, 4 of tin and 3 of cadmium (Wood’s alloy) melts below 70°C.
Tin unites with lead in any proportion with slight expansion, the alloy fusing at a lower temperature than either component. It is used largely for soldering.
“Pewter” (q.v.) may be said to be substantially an alloy of the same two metals, but small quantities of copper, antimony and zinc are frequently added.
Compounds of Lead.
Lead generally functions as a divalent element of distinctly metallic character, yielding a definite series of salts derived from the oxide PbO. At the same time, however, it forms a number of compounds in which it is most decidedly tetravalent; and thus it shows relations to carbon, silicon, germanium and tin.
Oxides.—Lead combines with oxygen to form five oxides, viz. Pb2O, PbO, PbO2, Pb2O3 and Pb3O4. The suboxide, Pb2O, is the first product of the oxidation of lead, and is also obtained as a black powder by heating lead oxalate to 300° out of contact with air. It ignites when heated in air with the formation of the monoxide; dilute acids convert it into metallic lead and lead monoxide, the latter dissolving in the acid. The monoxide, PbO, occurs in nature as the mineral lead ochre. This oxide is produced by heating lead in contact with air and removing the film of oxide as formed. It is manufactured in two forms, known as “massicot” and “litharge.” The former is produced at temperatures below, the latter at temperatures above the fusing-point of the oxide. The liquid litharge when allowed to cool solidifies into a hard stone-like mass, which, however, when left to itself, soon crumbles up into a heap of resplendent dark yellow scales known as “flake litharge.” “Buff” or “levigated litharge” is prepared by grinding the larger pieces under water. Litharge is much used for the preparation of lead salts, for the manufacture of oil varnishes, of certain cements, and of lead plaster, and for other purposes. Massicot is the raw material for the manufacture of “red lead” or “minium.”
Lead monoxide is dimorphous, occurring as cubical dodecahedra and as rhombic octahedra. Its specific gravity is about 9; it is sparingly soluble in water, but readily dissolves in acids and molten alkalis. A yellow and red modification have been described (Zeit. anorg. Chem., 1906, 50, p. 265). The corresponding hydrate, Pb(OH)2, is obtained as a white crystalline precipitate by adding ammonia to a solution of lead nitrate or acetate. It dissolves in an excess of alkali to form plumbites of the general formula Pb(OM)2. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the air when moist. A hydrated oxide, 2PbO·H2O, is obtained when a solution of the monoxide in potash is treated with carbon dioxide.
Lead dioxide, PbO2, also known as “puce oxide,” occurs in nature as the mineral plattnerite, and may be most conveniently prepared by heating mixed solutions of lead acetate and bleaching powder until the original precipitate blackens. The solution is filtered, the precipitate well washed, and, generally, is put up in the form of a paste in well-closed vessels. It is also obtained by passing chlorine into a suspension of lead oxide or carbonate, or of magnesia and lead sulphate, in water; or by treating the sesquioxide or red oxide with nitric acid. The formation of lead dioxide by the electrolysis of a lead solution, the anode being a lead plate coated with lead oxide or sulphate and the cathode a lead plate, is the fundamental principle of the storage cell (see Accumulator). Heating or exposure to sunlight reduces it to the red oxide; it fires when ground with sulphur, and oxidizes ammonia to nitric acid, with the simultaneous formation of ammonium nitrate. It oxidizes a manganese salt (free from chlorine) in the presence of nitric acid to a permanganate; this is a very delicate test for manganese. It forms crystallizable salts with potassium and calcium hydrates, and functions as a weak acid forming salts named plumbates. The Kassner process for the manufacture of oxygen depends upon the formation of calcium plumbate, Ca2PbO4, by heating a mixture of lime and litharge in a current of air, decomposing this substance into calcium carbonate and lead dioxide by heating in a current of carbon dioxide, and then decomposing these compounds with the evolution of carbon dioxide and oxygen by raising the temperature. Plumbic acid, PbO(OH)2, is obtained as a bluish-black, lustrous body of electrolysing an alkaline solution of lead sodium tartrate.
Tetravalent Lead.—If a suspension of lead dichloride in hydrochloric acid be treated with chlorine gas, a solution of lead tetrachloride is obtained; by adding ammonium chloride ammonium plumbichloride, (NH4)2PbCl6, is precipitated, which on treatment with strong sulphuric acid yields lead tetrachloride, PbCl4, as a translucent, yellow, highly refractive liquid. It freezes at -15° to a yellowish crystalline mass; on heating it loses chlorine and forms lead dichloride. With water it forms a hydrate, and ultimately decomposes into lead dioxide and hydrochloric acid. It combines with alkaline chlorides—potassium, rubidium and caesium—to form crystalline plumbichlorides; it also forms a crystalline compound with quinoline. By dissolving red lead, Pb3O4, in glacial acetic acid and crystallizing the filtrate, colourless monoclinic prisms of lead tetracetate, Pb(C2H3O2)4, are obtained. This salt gives the corresponding chloride and fluoride with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids, and the phosphate, Pb(HPO4)2, with phosphoric acid.
These salts are like those of tin; and the resemblance to this metal is clearly enhanced by the study of the alkyl compounds. Here compounds of divalent lead have not yet been obtained; by acting with zinc ethide on lead chloride, lead tetraethide, Pb(C2H3)4, is obtained, with the separation of metallic lead.
Lead sesquioxide, Pb2O3, is obtained as a reddish-yellow amorphous powder by carefully adding sodium hypochlorite to a cold potash solution of lead oxide, or by adding very dilute ammonia to a solution of red lead in acetic acid. It is decomposed by acids into a mixture of lead monoxide and dioxide, and may thus be regarded as lead metaplumbate, PbPbO3. Red lead or triplumbic tetroxide, Pb3O4, is a scarlet crystalline powder of specific gravity 8.6–9.1, obtained by roasting very finely divided pure massicot or lead carbonate; the brightness of the colour depends in a great measure on the roasting. Pliny mentions it under the name of minium, but it was confused with cinnabar and the red arsenic sulphide; Dioscorides mentions its preparation from white lead or lead carbonate. On heating it assumes a finer colour, but then turns violet and finally black; regaining, however, its original colour on cooling. On ignition, it loses oxygen and forms litharge. Commercial red lead is frequently contaminated with this oxide, which may, however, be removed by repeated digestion with lead acetate. Its common adulterants are iron oxides, powdered barytes and brick dust. Acids decompose it into lead dioxide and monoxide, and the latter may or may not dissolve to form a salt; red lead may, therefore, be regarded as lead orthoplumbate, Pb2PbO4. It is chiefly used as a pigment and in the manufacture of flint glass.
Lead chloride, PbCl2, occurs in nature as the mineral cotunnite, which crystallizes in the rhombic system, and is found in the neighbourhood of volcanic craters. It is artificially obtained by adding hydrochloric acid to a solution of lead salt, as a white precipitate, little soluble in cold water, less so in dilute hydrochloric acid, more so in the strong acid, and readily soluble in hot water, from which on cooling, the excess of dissolved salt separates out in silky rhombic needles. It melts at 485° and solidifies on cooling to a translucent, horn-like mass; an early name for it was plumbum corneum, horn lead. A basic chloride, Pb(OH)Cl, was introduced in 1849 by Pattinson as a substitute for white lead. Powdered galena is dissolved in hot hydrochloric acid, the solution allowed to cool and the deposit of impure lead chloride washed with cold water to remove iron and copper. The residue is then dissolved in hot water, filtered, and the clear solution is mixed with very thin milk of lime so adjusted that it takes out one-half of the chlorine of the PbCl2. The oxychloride comes down as an amorphous white precipitate. Another oxychloride, PbCl2·7PbO, known as “Cassel yellow,” was prepared by Vauquelin by fusing pure oxide, PbO, with one-tenth of its weight of sal ammoniac. “Turner’s yellow” or “patent yellow” is another artificially prepared oxychloride, used as a pigment. Mendipite and matlockite are mineral oxychlorides.
Lead, fluoride, PbF2, is a white powder obtained by precipitating a lead salt with a soluble fluoride; it is sparingly soluble in water but readily dissolves in hydrochloric and nitric acids. A chloro-fluoride, PbClF, is obtained by adding sodium fluoride to a solution of lead chloride. Lead bromide, PbBr2, a white solid, and lead iodide, PbI2, a yellow solid, are prepared by precipitating a lead salt with a soluble bromide or iodide; they resemble the chloride in solubility.
Lead carbonate, PbCO3, occurs in nature as the mineral cerussite (q.v.). It is produced by the addition of a solution of lead salt to an excess of ammonium carbonate, as an almost insoluble white precipitate. Of greater practical importance is a basic carbonate, substantially 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2, largely used as a white pigment under the name of “white lead.” This pigment is of great antiquity; Theophrastus called it ψιμύθιον, and prepared it by acting on lead with vinegar, and Pliny, who called it cerussa, obtained it by dissolving lead in vinegar and evaporating to dryness. It thus appears that white lead and sugar of lead were undifferentiated. Geber gave the preparation in a correct form, and T. O. Bergman proved its composition. This pigment is manufactured by several methods. In the old Dutch method, pieces of sheet lead are suspended in stoneware pots so as to occupy the upper two-thirds of the vessels. A little vinegar is poured into each pot; they are then covered with plates of sheet lead, buried in horse-dung or spent tanner’s bark, and left to themselves for a considerable time. By the action of the acetic acid and atmospheric oxygen, the lead is converted superficially into a basic acetate, which is at once decomposed by the carbon dioxide, with formation of white lead and acetic acid, which latter then acts de novo. After a month or so the plates are converted to a more or less considerable depth into crusts of white lead. These are knocked off, ground up with water, freed from metal-particles by elutriation, and the paste of white lead is allowed to set and dry in small conical forms. The German method differs from the Dutch inasmuch as the lead is suspended in a large chamber heated by ordinary means, and there exposed to the simultaneous action of vapour of aqueous acetic acid and of carbon dioxide. Another process depends upon the formation of lead chloride by grinding together litharge with salt and water, and then treating the alkaline fluid with carbon dioxide until it is neutral. White lead is an earthy, amorphous powder. The inferior varieties of commercial “white lead” are produced by mixing the genuine article with more or less of finely powdered heavy spar or occasionally zinc-white (ZnO). Venetian white, Hamburg white and Dutch white are mixtures of one part of white lead with one, two and three parts of barium sulphate respectively.
Lead sulphide, PbS, occurs in nature as the mineral galena (q.v.), and constitutes the most valuable ore of lead. It may be artificially prepared by leading sulphur vapour over lead, by fusing litharge with sulphur, or, as a black precipitate, by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a solution of a lead salt. It dissolves in strong nitric acid with the formation of the nitrate and sulphate, and also in hot concentrated hydrochloric acid.
Lead sulphate, PbSO4, occurs in nature as the mineral anglesite (q.v.), and may be prepared by the addition of sulphuric acid to solutions of lead salts, as a white precipitate almost insoluble in water (1 in 21,739), less soluble still in dilute sulphuric acid (1 in 36,504) and insoluble in alcohol. Ammonium sulphide blackens it, and it is coluble in solution of ammonium acetate, which distinguishes it from barium sulphate. Strong sulphuric acid dissolves it, forming an acid salt, Pb(HSO4)2, which is hydrolysed by adding water, the normal sulphate being precipitated; hence the milkiness exhibited by samples of oil of vitriol on dilution.
Lead nitrate, Pb(NO3)2, is obtained by dissolving the metal or oxide in aqueous nitric acid; it forms white crystals, difficultly soluble in cold water, readily in hot water and almost insoluble in strong nitric acid. It was mentioned by Libavius, who named it calx plumb dulcis. It is decomposed by heat into oxide, nitrogen peroxide and oxygen; and is used for the manufacture of fusees and other deflagrating compounds, and also for preparing mordants in the dyeing and calico-printing industries. Basic nitrates, e.g. Pb(NO3)OH, Pb3O(OH)2(NO3)2, Pb3O2(OH)NO3, &c., have been described.
Lead Phosphates.—The normal ortho-phosphate, Pb3(PO4)2, is a white precipitate obtained by adding sodium phosphate to lead acetate; the acid phosphate, PbHPO4, is produced by precipitating a boiling solution of lead nitrate with phosphoric acid; the pyrophosphate and meta-phosphate are similar white precipitates.
Lead Borates.—By fusing litharge with boron trioxide, glasses of a composition varying with the proportions of the mixture are obtained; some of these are used in the manufacture of glass. The borate, Pb2B6O11·4H2O, is obtained as a white precipitate by adding borax to a lead salt; this on heating with strong ammonia gives PbB2O4·H2·O, which, in turn, when boiled with a solution of boric acid, gives PbB4O7·4H2O.
Lead silicates are obtained as glasses by fusing litharge with silica; they play a considerable part in the manufacture of the lead glasses (see Glass).
Lead chromate, PbCrO4, is prepared industrially as a yellow pigment, chrome yellow, by precipitating sugar of lead solution with potassium bichromate. The beautiful yellow precipitate is little soluble in dilute nitric acid, but soluble in caustic potash. The vermilion-like pigment which occurs in commerce as “chrome-red” is a basic chromate, Pb2CrO5, prepared by treating recently precipitated normal chromate with a properly adjusted proportion of caustic soda, or by boiling it with normal (yellow) potassium chromate.
Lead acetate, Pb(C2H3O2)2·3H2O (called “sugar” of lead, on account of its sweetish taste), is manufactured by dissolving massicot in aqueous acetic acid. It forms colourless transparent crystals, soluble in one and a half parts of cold water and in eight parts of alcohol, which on exposure to ordinary air become opaque through absorption of carbonic acid, which forms a crust of basic carbonate. An aqueous solution readily dissolves lead oxide, with formation of a strongly alkaline solution containing basic acetates (Acetum Plumbi or Saturni). When carbon dioxide is passed into this solution the whole of the added oxide, and even part of the oxide of the normal salt, is precipitated as a basic carbonate chemically similar, but not quite equivalent as a pigment, to white lead.
Analysis.—When mixed with sodium carbonate and heated on charcoal in the reducing flame lead salts yield malleable globules of metal and a yellow oxide-ring. Solutions of lead salts (colourless in the absence of coloured acids) are characterized by their behaviour to hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and potassium chromate. But the most delicate precipitant for lead is sulphuretted hydrogen, which produces a black precipitate of lead sulphide, insoluble in cold dilute nitric acid, less so in cold hydrochloric, and easily decomposed by hot hydrochloric acid with formation of the characteristic chloride. The atomic weight, determined by G. P. Baxter and J. H. Wilson (J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1908, 30, p. 187) by analysing the chloride, is 270.190 (O = 16).
The metal itself is not used in medicine. The chief pharmacopoeial salts are: (1) Plumbi oxidum (lead oxide), litharge. It is not used internally, but from it is made Emplastrum Plumbi (diachylon plaster), which is an oleate of lead and is contained in emplastrum hydrargeri, emplastrum plumbi iodidi, emplastrum resinae, emplastrum saponis. (2) Plumbi Acetas (sugar of lead), dose 1 to 5 grains. From this salt are made the following preparations: (a) Pilula Plumbi cum Opio, the strength of the opium in it being 1 in 8, dose 2 to 4 grains; (b) Suppositoria Plumbi composita, containing lead acetate, opium and oil of theobroma, there being one grain of opium in each suppository; (c) Unguentum Plumbi Acetatis; (d) Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Fortior, Goulard’s extract, strength 24% of the subacetate; this again has a sub-preparation, the Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutis, called Goulard’s water or Goulard’s lotion, containing 1 part in 80 of the strong extract; (e) Glycerinum Plumbi Subacetatis, from which is made the Unguentum Glycerini Plumbi Subacetatis. (3) Plumbi Carbonas, white lead, a mixture of the carbonate and the hydrate, a heavy white powder insoluble in water; it is not used internally, but from it is made Unguentum Plumbi Carbonatis, strength 1 in 10 parts of paraffin ointment. (4) Plumbi Iodidium, a heavy bright yellow powder not used internally. From it are made (a) Emplastrum Plumbi Iodidi, and (b) Unguentum Plumbi Iodidi. The strength of each is 1 in 10.
Applied externally lead salts have practically no action upon the unbroken skin, but applied to sores, ulcers or any exposed mucous membranes they coagulate the albumen in the tissues themselves and contract the small vessels. They are very astringent, haemostatic and sedative; the strong solution of the subacetate is powerfully caustic and is rarely used undiluted. Lead salts are applied as lotions in conditions where a sedative astringent effect is desired, as in weeping eczema; in many varieties of chronic ulceration; and as an injection for various inflammatory discharges from the vagina, ear and urethra, the Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutum being the one employed. The sedative effect of lead lotion in pruritus is well known. Internally lead has an astringent action on the mucous membranes, causing a sensation of dryness; the dilute solution of the subacetate forms an effective gargle in tonsillitis. The chief use of the preparations of lead, however, is as an astringent in acute diarrhoea, particularly if ulceration be present, when it is usefully given in combination with opium in the form of the Pilula Plumbi cum Opio. It is useful in haemorrhage from a gastric ulcer or in haemorrhage from the intestine. Lead salts usually produce constipation, and lead is an active ecbolic. Lead is said to enter the blood as an albuminate in which form it is deposited in the tissues. As a rule the soluble salts if taken in sufficient quantities produce acute poisoning, and the insoluble salts chronic plumbism. The symptoms of acute poisoning are pain and diarrhoea, owing to the setting up of an active gastro-enteritis, the foeces being black (due to the formation of a sulphide of lead), thirst, cramps in the legs and muscular twitchings, with torpor, collapse, convulsions and coma. The treatment is the prompt use of emetics, or the stomach should be washed out, and large doses of sodium or magnesium sulphate given in order to form an insoluble sulphate. Stimulants, warmth and opium may be required. For an account of chronic plumbism see Lead Poisoning.
Authorities.—For the history of lead see W. H. Pulsifer, Notes for a History of Lead (1888); B. Neumann, Die Metalle (1904); A. Rossing, Geschichte der Metalle (1901). For the chemistry see H. Roscoe and C. Schorlemmer, Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry, vol. ii. (1897); H. Moissan, Traité de chimie minerale; O. Dammer, Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie. For the metallurgy see J. Percy, The Metallurgy of Lead (London, 1870); H. F. Collins, The Metallurgy of Lead and Silver (London, 1899), part i. “Lead”; H. O. Hofmann, The Metallurgy of Lead (6th ed., New York, 1901); W. R. Ingalls, Lead Smelting and Refining (1906); A. G. Betts, Lead Refining by Electrolysis (1908); M. Eissler, The Metallurgy of Argentiferous Silver. The Mineral Industry, begun in 1892, annually records the progress made in lead smelting.