US1033302A - Method of feeding endless-belt ore-concentrators and apparatus therefor. - Google Patents

Description

Patented July 23, 1912.

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APPLICATION FILED NOV.13,' 1911.

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METHOD OF FEEDING ENDLESS BELT ORE GONGENTRATORS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0.,WASHINGTON. D. :4.

P. s. CARD.

T ORE GONGENTRATORS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR. APPLICATION I'ILEDNOV. 13, 1911.

Patented July 23; 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHBET 2.

METHOD or BEDDING ENDLESS BBL COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH Co.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK S. CARD, F DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM OF RITTER & BITTER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1912.

Application filed November 13, 1911. Serial No. 659,926.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK S. CARD, a cit-izen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver andState of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Feeding Endless-Belt Ore-Concentrators and Apparatus Therefor; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a method of feeding material to the concentrating surface of the endwise traveling belt of an ore concentrator, and also to a simple form of apparatus for feeding the material to the concentrating surface of the traveling belt in accordance with my invention.

Generally stated, the method of feeding material to the concentrating surface of the traveling belt consists in delivering the material to the surface of the belt in a stream which periodically moves in unison with the traveling belt, the area of impingement of the stream upon the surface of the belt being periodically shifted in a direction opposite to that in which the belt is traveling, the material being thus delivered upon a series of spaced localized areas of the belt surface.

In the drawings chosen for the purpose of explaining my invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure 1 is a plan view of a well known form of endless belt ore concentrating apparatus provided with feeding devices which are adapted to deliver both the pulp and the clear water to the concentrating surface of the belt in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail view partly in elevation and partly in section, showing the manner of mounting and operating the pulp and water feeding devices; Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but illustrating the relative positions assumed by the feeding devices when the streams of material which are being fed to the surface of the belt have reached the limit of their travel toward the concentrates discharge end of the machine; Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section illustrating the means for shifting the movable feed devices in a direction opposite to that in which the belt travels; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view illustrating a deflector having a corrugated surface; and Fig 7 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of the concentrating surface of the endless belt.

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur.

I will now proceed to describe my invention more fully, so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may practise the same.

For the purpose of explaining my inven tion I have illustrated in the drawings devices for feeding the pulp and clear water to the endwise moving surface of an endless belt concentrator of well known form. This form of concentrator, as shown in the drawings, may be generally described as consisting of an endless belt 1 which is provided with marginal flanges 1 and which passes over rotatable drums 2 and 3 journaled in the opposite ends of a frame l. The upper surface of the drum 2 is somewhat higher than that of the drum 3 at the tailings discharge end of the apparatus, so that the upper surface of the belt is inclined upwardly from the drum 3 to the drum 2. The drum 2 is driven continuously to cause the belt 1 to travel slowly around the rollers. The well known form of driving mechanism for the drum 2 shown in the drawings consists of a belt pulley 5 to which is secured a cone pulley 6 that drives a shaft 7 by means of a belt 8 that passes around a pulley 9 which is adj ustably secured to the shaft 7. The shaft 7 is provided with a worm 10 by which the gear 11 is driven, the latter being journaled upon a shaft 12 and being rigidly secured to the flanged gear 13, the function of which will be explained later, said gear 13 being also journaled upon the shaft 12 and being provided with an inwardly projecting lug or finger 1 which is adapted to engage and drive aradially extending driving arm or finger 15 that is rigidly secured to the shaft 16 to which the belt carrying drum 2 is attached.

The means commonly employed for feeding the pulp and the clear water to the upper surface of the traveling belt are a pulp feed box 17 and a water feed box 18 each of which is supported upon the frame 4 and extends transversely of the belt substantially across its entire width.

The apparatus thus far described is well known and typifies generally ore concentrating apparatus of the traveling belt type. When thus organized the pulp from the feed box 17 is continuously fed to the surface of the belt 1 in a uniform stream, which, as the belt moves continuously under the feed box, is delivered uniformly over the entire surface of the belt. The streams of clear water issuing from the pipes 19 of the water box 18 are similarly distributed over the entire surface of the belt as the latter travels slowly around the drums 2 and 8. It will be seen that the ore when thus directly fed to the belt 1 from the feed box immediately flows toward the lower end of the belt as soon as it has been deposited thereon, the

heavier metallic particles of the pulp settling to the bottom and resting upon the surface of the belt and the lighter pulp constituents arranging themselves thereon in the order of their specific gravities. The heavier and more valuable particles of the ore which have thus become stratified on the surface of the moving belt below the pulp feed box 17 have a sufficient frictional hold upon the moving belt to cause them to cling to and travel with the latter so that they are gradually conveyed up grade toward the higher end of the traveling belt. Upon passing under the stream of pulp that is being fed to the belt from the pulp feed box 17 the stratification of this material is destroyed to a considerable extent and some of the heavier and more valuable particles of the ore are again washed down tot 'ard the lower end of the belt. Those valuable particles which, after stratification, are car ried upwardly by the belt 1 and which are not again washed down by the stream of pulp impinging upon the belt, are carried forwardly under the water feed box 18 which is constantly delivering clear water to the surface of the belt for the purpose of washing off the lighter and worthless constituents of the pulp. In passing through the stream of wash water which is being delivered from the water box the stratification of the materials on the surface of the belt is further disturbed and a considerable proportion of the valuable particles which it is desired to save is again washed back toward the lower or tailings discharge end of the moving belt. This constant and continuous disturbance of the stratification of pulp particles on the surface of the belt greatly impairs the efliciency of the concentrating apparatus, since it results not only in permit ting valuable particles to find their into the tailings but also permits worthless particles to become entangled in the heavier pulp particles and to be carried along with the latter and delivered with the concentrates. By my method of feeding a concentrator of this type, however, the stratification of the pulp particles on the surface of the belt remains substantially undisturbed after having once taken place.

A simple form of apparatus which may be conveniently used for feeding material in accordance with my invention to the concentrating surface of an endless belt concentrating apparatus is illustrated in the drawings. As shown, such device may consist of a reciprocating frame 20 which is interposed between the endless belt 1 and the feed boxes 17 and 1S and which is provided with inclined deflectors or feeding devices 21 and 22 that are adapted to receive the material from the pulp feed box 17 and water feed box 18, respectively. The reciprocating f ame 20 is preferably formed of angle irons 23, 24-, 25 and 26 which may be riveted together, the angle irons 24 and 25 being preferably parallel and spaced. apart a distance somewhat greater than the width of the belt 1. These angle irons 24land 25 thus form a convenient support for the deflectors 21. and 22, the lower end of each deflector being arranged to rest upon the inwardly extending flanges of the angle irons and the upper ends of the deflectors being supported from the flanges of the angle irons, as by means of simple blocks 27 and 2S.

Secured to the ends of the angle irons 23 and 26 and extending parallel with the sides of the traveling belt 1 are rack bars 29 and 30. At its forward end the rack bar 29 rests upon the flanged mutilated gear 13 which is secured to the worm gear 11 by which the belt is driven asheretofore described. At its rear end the rack 29 rests upon and meshes with a flanged. pinion 81 which is rigidly secured to a transversely extendin shaft 32 that is journaled in a bracket 33 that is supported upon the framework of the machine. The rack bar 30 011 the opposite side of the open frame 20 is supported at one end and meshes with a flanged 34 which corresponds to the flanged pinion 31 and which is likewise rigidly secured to the transversely extending shaft 32. The forward end of this rack bar may be conveniently supported on a flanged gear wheel 35 which is journaled in a bracket 36 that may be bolted to the machine frame.

F or the purpose of causing the frame 20 and deflectors 21 and 22 carried thereby to quickly move toward the lower end of the traveling belt after they have executed their movement toward the higher end of the belt in unison with the travel of the latter, as will presently appear, a torsion spring 37 may be employed, one end of said spring being secured. to the shaft 32 and the other end thereof being secured to a portion of the bracket 83, as shown in Fig. 5. The extent of movement of the reciprocating frame 20 under the driving influence of the torsion spring 37 may be limited by Steps 38 extending upwardly from the stringers or timhers forming the base of the apparatus and, if desired, the rearward movement of the frame 20 may be guided and gradually checked by means of parallel guide bars 39 and adjustable leaf springs 10, said guide bars and leaf springs being connected to the upper ends of the stops 38 so as to receive the ends of the rack bars 29 and 30 between them. The leading ends of the cushioning springs 40 are preferably bent outwardly so as to insure the entrance of the rack bars between them and the adjacent guide bars 39, and the cushioning pressure of the fiat springs 40 against the faces of the rack bars may be conveniently efiected by connecting each of said springs to its stop 38 by means of the bolts 41 and A2, the adjustment of the springs being effected by turning the bolts l2 as will be readily understood.

hen the concentrating apparatus is in operation the upper drum 2 around which the endless belt l passes rotates in unison with the mutilated gear 13 with which the rack bar 29 cooperates. As the pitch line of the mutilated gear 13 is the same diameter as that of the drum 2 which produces the travel of the belt 1, the rack bar 29, and with it the frame 20 and deflectors 21 and 22 mounted thereon, moves forward in the direction of travel and at a speed corresponding to that of the belt. As the rack 29 moves forward it causes the flanged gear wheel 31 to revolve, thus energizing the torsional spring 37 which surrounds and is secured at one end to the shaft 32 to which the gear wheel 31 is rigidly secured. When the mutilated gear 13 revolves slightly beyond the position shown in Fig. 1 the teeth at the forward end of the rack bar 29 are released from the teeth of the gear wheel 13 whereupon the torsion spring 37 causes the shaft 32 and attached gear wheels 31 and 34: to rotate, thus driving their corresponding rack bars 29 and 30 and causing the attached frame 20 and deflectors 21 and 22 mounted thereon to be quickly moved rearwardly until the ends of the rack bars engage the stops 38, as shown in Fig. 3. As will be readily understood the continued rotation of the mutilated gear 13 again causes the frame 20 to be drawn forward in unison with the movement of the traveling belt and when the parts again reach the positions shown in Fig. 4 the operation just described is repeated. As the deflectors 21 and 22 are by these means thus periodically caused to travel forwardly uniformly with the belt 1 and to be quickly moved rearwardly at intervals, the pulp and dressing water, which do not fall from the boxes 17 and 18 directly onto the belt but which fall upon the deflectors and thence upon the belt, are delivered across the belt in streams which are carried forward in unison with the belt and periodically shifted rearwardly to new positions of delivery to the belt. The rearward motion of the frame 20, being quickly executed, substantially prevents the delivery of any material to the surface of the moving belt 1 during the rearward movement of the frame 20 and deflectors 21 and 22 mounted thereon. If desired, the surface of either or both of the deflectors 21 and 22 may, as shown in Fig. 6, be formed with corrugations 21 extending parallel to the direction of travel of the reciprocating frame 20. Such a corrugated surface insures uniform delivery of the material to the belt across the full width of the deflectors.

The general method of feeding as carried out by the apparatus hertofore described may be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 7 of the drawings. In this diagrammatic view each of the spaces between adjacent dotted lines aa, 79-42, 0c, cZ-cZ, e-e, represents the distance that the moving belt and the streams of material being delivered thereto move forwardly in unison, the lines a;a, bb, cc, etc., therefore, also representing the successive locations where the streams of material impinge upon the surface of the belt. Thus, if the belt 1, as shown in Fig. 7, is slowly moving toward the left, the streams of pulp and clear water delivered from the lower edges of the cleflectors 21 and 22 impinge on the belt along the lines cZ-cZ and cc, respectively, and move forwardly with the traveling belt for a distance equal to the space between adj a cent dotted lines. Atthe end of their forward travel the streams are shifted or caused to execute a comparatively quick retrograde movement, the impingement of the pulp upon the surface of the traveling belt being shifted rearwardly to the new location represented by the line 6-6 and that of the clear water being correspondingly shifted to the new location indicated by the dotted line cZ-d. These successive forward movements and comparatively quick retrograde movements of the streams of material recur periodically.

I claim:

1. The method of feeding material to the moving concentrating surface of an ore concentrating apparatus, which consists in delivering the material to the concentrating surface in a stream which periodically moves forwardly in unison with the concentrating surface and periodically shifts rearwardly with respect to the concentrating surface.

2. The combination with the moving belt of an ore concentrating apparatus, of rollers around which said belt passes, a feeding device for delivering material to the concentrating surface of said belt, means for causing said feeding device to move in unison with said belt during its travel around said rollers, and means for causing the place of impingement on the belt of the material delivered thereto by the feeding device to periodically shift its position with respect to the rollers about which said belt passes.

3. The combination with the moving belt of an ore concentrating apparatus, of a feeding device for delivering material to the surface of said belt, means for moving said feeding device in the direction of travel of the adjacent surface of the belt for a predetermined distance in a predetermined time, and means for moving said feeding device an equal distance in the opposite direction in a less interval of time.

4. The combination with the moving belt of an ore concentrating apparatus, of rollers around which said belt travels, means movable toward and from the said rollers in the direction of length of the belt for feeding pulp to the concentrating surface of said belt, and means movable in the direction of length of the belt for feeding dressing water to the concentrating surface of said belt.

5. The combination with the moving belt of an ore concentrating apparatus, of rollers around which said belt passes, a pulp feed box, a dressing water feed box, a deflector interposed between said pulp feed box and said belt, a deflector interposed between said dressing water feed box and said belt, and means for simultaneously reciprocating said deflectors in the direction of length of the belt so as to change their positions with respect to said rollers.

6. The combination with the moving belt of an ore concentrating apparatus, of a pulp feed box, a dressing water feed box, a deflector interposed between said pulp feed box and said belt, a deflectointerposed between said dressing water feed box and said belt, a reciprocating frame upon which said deflectors are mounted, means including a rack and pinion for moving said frame in one direction, and means including a spring for moving said frame in the opposite direction.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK S. CARD. lVitnesses J. L. FRAZIER, NORMAN FAILING.

Copies of this patent mav be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents- Washington, D. C.

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