verb
definition
To refine by means of a cupel.
Examples of cupelled in a Sentence
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 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 in1850-1852through 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Siemens and Halske, essentially consists in the electrolysis of weak solutions with iron or steel plate anodes, and lead cathodes, the latter, when coated with gold, being fused and cupelled.
In the second, the lead button containing the gold or silver is cupelled and the resulting gold or silver button is weighed.