US1064223A - Apparatus for separating gold and other metals from sand, &c. - Google Patents

Description

E. S. HOYT. APPARATUS ron SEPARATING GOLD AND OTHER METALS PROM SAND, Ao. 'APPLICATION FILED JUNEVZ, 190B. 150641,223.

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ArPLIoATIoN FILED JUNI: 2, 190e.

E. S. HOYT. A APPARATUS PoR SDPARA'TING GOLD AND OTHER METALS FROM SAND, am.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE Z, 1908.

Patented June 10,1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

if iiiwrriin STATES PATE-Nr .,oiiFICE. i

EznA s. Hora', or sAN LUTIS oBISrO. CALIFRNIA.

APPARATUS ron snrAaArING GOLD Aim o'rnna METALS rnom s ANi), op.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, EznA S. HoY'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Luis Obispo,- iii the county of San ,Luis Obispo, State of California, have invented a new andluseful Apparatus for Separating Gold and'other Metals from Sand, &c., of which the following is a specification.

A AThis invention relates` especially to means for separating gold from gold bearing sand or gravel, pulp, mill tailings, Sac., althou the principle ofthe invention is applicable in other connections.

The main object of the invention is to provide means for handling a large quantity of material, for separation of gold therefrom,.

at minimum expense.

. Another important object of the invention is to provide for practically complete recovery of the flake or iiour gold -iii the sand, pulp land tailings.

Another object of coi/ery, of` the iine gold `and of the coarse gold;

Another object of the invention is to prolar case, according to the requirements of thematerial being treated.

Another object of the invention is toprovide in Vconnection with such a multiple unit separating apparatus, special distributor means which will supply the ore and `water successively to the umts, dividing the ore between theseveral units in a continuousr and` automatic manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for automatic regulation and control of the ore and water supply to the w3-faja: in Fig- 2L-w Fig.. 4 is a lplan of a' .screen and movable slide valveor gate for controlling lthe passage of the material to- .tlieseparators Fig. 5- is a vertical longiunits. 4

-In the-.accompanying drawin sp1-#Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus. ig longitudinal section of the separating units at the line 4of division between the fine and ,the coarse gold separating parts of the ma.-

chine.v Fig.- 3 isa transversesection on line tudinal section thereof. Fig; 6 is azplan of the receiving end portion of a modified form of the-apparatus. Fig. 7 is a vertical sec.-v

the inventionis to provide in a single machine for successive ref Speciiioation of Letters Patent. Patented June 10, 1913,

j Application led June 2,1908. Serial No. 436,265.

.1, 2, arranged in pairs in two parallel rows,

each row comprising a first set or plurality of units 1 for treatin the iiner material and a second set of umts 2 for treating the coarser material. A launder or vflume 3 extends hetween the two rows of separators gh and somewhat above the level .of the same, f

said fiume having openings along its course l in -its bottom, there being one o ning for each pair of separator units, and die or gates 4 are provided at these openings for controlling the passage of material there.- t-hrough, a screen 5 being provided .over each slide valve or gate.` Said slide valveor gate discharges onto a distributing means 6' for conveying the material to the upper end of ide valves .the respectivo units, and said unitsdischarge onto any suitable means such as umes or troughs 7 extending along` each i side of the machine. All of the above part-s. are arranged .on and supported by a suitable iframe 8.

The :fiume 3 is providedwith su pleinen tary side Awalls 10 spaced from t-e inside walls 11 of thel Hume-3 by spacing .blocksl I or partitions 12, thus dividing the space between the walls 10, ilinto pockets or couipartments 13 which communicate with the main Hume '3 through openings 14 in the in- Bide walls 11. Screens i9 extend over openings 14. Water feed regulating pipes 15 extend and fit in openings 16 in the bottom of -the compartments 13, said pipes being opened at each end and havin ,an opening 17 in the side `through ,whic pass theretlirough, said water discharging through the :bottom of the pipe onto the distributing means .6. Each pipe 15 lis vertif" vcally slidabie `in the opening 16 so .as to `enable the' ilevel of the water inlet .opening 17 tov be adjusted according to the requirements,

water can i and is provided with slidable gates or closures 18 for the opening 17, to regulate the walter supplyto the ritiie units.

A iioatin .drag or deector plate l-20fisI hinged onpivoted in the ilume 3 as by-means ofa rock shaft 21 journaled in the side wal-1S 11 .of same iiume, -the said drag extending K from and'secured to .said rock shaft and having its forward end bent or shaped to present a forwardly and downwardly inclined face or lip 39 to the water and material traversing the flume, this port-ion of the drag being directly over the discharge slide valve or gate 4, so that the flume serves to concentrate the flow and scour, and to maintain a definite head and quantity ofwater at the gate independent of temporary variations in the supply.

The discharge slide valve or gate 4 consists of a sliding plate movable longitudinally on a seat or stationary plate `22, the said two plates having transverse slots or openings 23, 24, which register when the gate is fully open and can be brought out of register by moving the slide plate 4 to close the gate, this operation. being effected by a lever 25 on a rock shaft 26 and an arm 27 thereon connected to the plate 22. A spring 30 tends to draw the gate to closed position, this movement being arrested by an adjustable stop 42, which 1s set for`the proper delivery of fluid, so that when it is desired to flush the gate, the lever can be pulled to open position and allow a full run of water through the gate, clearing the gate. On then releasing the lever the gate is pulled to normal position by the spring. The valve late 4 and its seat plate 22 are arranged 1n a recess 29 in the bottom of the flume 3 so that they are somewhat below the general course of the water in the fiume, and the screen plate 5 is placed at the to of said recess flush with the bottom of tlie flume, said screen plate having openings 31 of a snliicient size to permit the passage therethrough of material of a ineness suitable for the operation of the riflies. The aforesaid partsnamely, the gate and the screen, are located at the mid-width of the fiume yand the bottom of the flume dips upon each Side toward the mid-width of the fiume so that there is a constant tendency of the material to settle or wash to the middle and onto the discharge screen and gate. The fiume 3 inclines continuously from its upper to its lower end, the successive riflle units 1, 2, being at successively lower planes and the side walls of the fiume converge from the upper toward the lower end. The gates 4 and their seats 22 are horizontally arranged, and the screens 5 extend horizontally over the valve plates 4, the said screen plate being flush at the, side of the rear end with the A.bottom of the flume and extending at a level mid-width toward each side and comprising four diverging port-ions leading to two assuciated riflies or separator units 1 or 2 on one side and to corresponding units 1 or 2 on the other side of the apparatus.

Each of the separator means l may c0nsist of a bottom plate 37 extending between side plates 35 resting on stringers 36, saidv bottom plate 37 being preferably formed of a sheet metal stamped or pressed to form a series of wells or depressions 38, these wells being separated by a plane or fiat portion of the plate 6 and each well having its side walls or faces converging downwardly. Between side Walls 35 extend deflectors or baffle plates 40, said deflectors extending obliquely downward into the wells 38.

The riflle units 2 are similar in construction to units 1, but are of larger dimensions, as regards the depth of the passages allowed for the water and material, and thel height and distances of the deiiectors, etc., being so proportioned that they are adapted to operate with, and separate, material of larger size than is supplied to the riffle units 1, and the screens over the gates for. the riflle units 2 are made with larger perforations than' with the screens for riflie units 1, as shown in Fig. 2.

The operation is as follows :-Gold bearing or metal bearing sand or gravel, pulp or mill tailings, etc., is sluiced into the flume 3 by any` suitable means, and owing to the inclinatien of said flume the material travels longitudinally in the fiume passing successively over the discharge gates 4. The screens 5 of the respectivedischarge gates are perforated in such manner that the smaller particles or components of the material pass thro-ugh the first set of screens and deliver onto t-he first set of rifles or' material passing the'flume is finally cleared of all the finer material and the succeeding screens 1n the flume are perforated 1n such manner to allow a coarser grade of material. y

to pass therethrough, these screens taking successive portions of such material until this coarser grade is in turn completely rey' moved from the body Vof material passing.

The materiall discharged ,from the endofy the flume will contain only gravel and'other coarse material and may be passed to any suitable 'means for further treatment, if.

desired. -The material is thus subjected successively to the action of ner and coarser Nscreens for removing successively finer and coarser grades `of the material, so that each ritile will have a uniform grade or tneness of material to operate upon, this being preferable for Vthe eective operation of the rifiles. Especially will these screens and concentrating flume take the black sand and gold from gravel, etc., passing the concentrates (black sand and gold) over the rifesdwhere the gold is separated from black san l It will be understood that'more than two I sets or grades of screens may be used'if desired. In each set or grade of screens there `are a plurality 'of gates taking successive portions of the material of the corres onding grade and distributing it to di erent riiiles'or separator units, so that the amount apportioned to each unit 4will be in exact correspondence with its capacity. While the material is being supplied to the ritlles in this manner, a corresponding detiniteI amount of water is supplied to the riiiies by means of the pipes 15, the closures 18 A for said pipes beingy adjusted to permit exactly the proper amount of water to flow to each ritile in correspondence with the amount of material supplied to the riiie and l, with the Vcapacity of the ritile. The drag 20 forms a yieldingv obstruction in the path of the material inthe flume, so that the ma-l terial andthe -water are held down toward ,the screen, thereby producing adamming up the material and water at the screen so that an extrahead of `say about 3 inches lis provided, and the consequent increase in depth of the water at this point acts in the first' Q place' vto increase the pressure, driving.V the material through the screen,vand in the second place, by 'increasing the cross section,- acts to retard the How 'over the screen, giv- 'ing more time for" the material to pass -throu'gh'the perforations of the screen. The

forward bottom edge or lip 39` of the drag 20 extends 'straightcrosswise of the flume,

and' acts in conjunction with the central dip of-the'tlume -to concentrate the How at the oscreen'so as to kee the screen clean. The said'idrag also, by olding back the water, maintainsa sutlicient supply or 'head of watei` -abve the gate to insure delivery of water throught e openingsy 14 into the 9:packets or compartments 13 for supplying thazfiles-throu h'the water feed regulatin?,l pi" '15. oreover, in case of temporaryv; vuctuato'n in the watersupply, these floatsby backin' up the water maintain a suiiicient head or' the uniform. operation of the riiesduiing 'the Zuctuation.

'The material-discharged onto each pan or distributingplate- 6 passes therefrom, to-

gether with 'the walter-coming' through the g5 water feed regulating',pipes 15, Aonto the.

A Water through the' rimes.

riiie or separator unit 1 or 2, the material and water passing onto the bottom plate 37 and being caught by the first detlector 40 .so that a -small'quantity of water is accumulated back of the'deector, and the water and material pass down into the well or depression 38 under a small definite head of water, say about two inches.` The ,water andmaterial thus pass downwardly on top of the body of mercury 41', at thebot-tom of they well or depression 38, with a definite velocity normal to the' surface of the mercury. .The inclination of the bottom plate and the dimensions of the well and of the deflector are suchthat the velocity of the water in passing over the body of mercury is not sutiicient to disrupt the mercury or to overcome the lsurface tension of the mercury. As the material, together with' the water, encounters the defle'ctor and is deiectedl downwardly, an eddying action results which separates the masses of thematerial so that `each individua-l particle `ofy sand, etc., is separately suspended in the water, and this condition is maintained during the entire passage of the material an'd Alll of the materials s0 suspended' in the water are heavier than'the water, and as the combinedl body of water and material passes downwardly onto the body of mercury, andis thendetlected by the body of mercury,` the heavier ma- .terials willtend to continue in their down-A loof `ciiic gravity of the material and therefore isgreatest Vin the case of heavy metals, such as gold, etc. Each particle of solid -material thus produces at a point where it strikes t-he mercury lsu'rface,'a localized static pressurel normal to the surface which tends to drive the particle or body into the mass of mercury, and by properly proportioning the in-l clinations and dimensions of the parts, the static pressure so operating to force the solid particles into the mercury, against the resistance oieredv by .the surface' tension thereof, can be made such that'only ma- 120 terials of a specific gravity greater than a certain amount, will penetrate the mercury. For example, in case ofblack sand containing gold and other heavy metals, the pro port-ions will, Vbe such that the momentum imparted tothe 'black sand will not be suiii` cient to enable it 'tp break through the skin V ofthe mercury, butin case of gold and other metals', heavier than black sand, the momentum will be sucieutltg .cause th metal tolan penetrate the body of mercury, and be amalgamated therein or to be either retained therein, free milling gold will under such circumstances be amalgamated in the mercury, and gold which is so coated or constituted as not to be capable of being amalgamated in mercury, will by virtue of its -greater specific gravityand its downward velocity pass to the bottom of the mercury and be there retained. As the material and water pass successively to the wells or depressions of the riflies, a further amount of the heavy metal is taken out at each step treatment of the coarser grade of material by the second set of riiiles, this being necessary in order to avoid packing of the rifiie by the passage thereinto of a grade of material finer than is adapted to the conditions of velocity, etc. at that riilie. In this connectionit may be stated that the principle of forcing the heavier particles into the body of mercury by virtue of their momentum, provides a partial but not perfect compensation for variation in size, for the larger the size of a particle of a definite specific gravity, the greater will be its mass and therefore its momentum, for the definite velocity in the rifiie; and the area of the particle and of the surface of mercury which has to be opposed and broken by the particle alsoincreases with the size of the particle,but not in the same proportion as the mass. It is therefore important to segregate the material into grades of different fineness so that each grade of material can be worked in a rifie with a velocity or static head approximately proportioned to the size of the particles.

In some cases, particularly where -a low grade of material is being worked, it is desirable to subject the material to preliminary concentration before it passes to the distributing fiume 3; For this purpose a supplementary or preliminary concentrating fiume is provided as shown in Figs. 6 to 8, said supplementary fiume 43 extending over the top of the fiume 3 and resting thereon or on intermediate'members 44. Said members 44 are inclined toward the center of the distributing flume 3 and at their outer ends extend upwardly to support the bottom of the concentrating fiume 43. The bottom of said concentrating flume also inclines toward the mid-width thereof and has upwardly extending side walls 45 and inner sidewalls 46 forming pockets or compartments 47 communicating with the body of the flume by openings 48 in said inner side walls.

A series of openings provided with gates 52 and screens 53 similar to the gates 4 and screens 5 above described, are provided along the course of the fiume 43, and for each screen a floating deflector plate or drag 54 is provided, hinged in the upper fiume and extendingover the corresponding screen, the lower or rear end of this deiiector plate being formed to present a surface oblique to the direction of motion of material in the fiume. Theopenings 48 in the inner side walls 46 of the upper flume 43 are located between the level of the screens 5 and the-deflectors 54 so that the water passing down the up er fiume and encountering said deiiectors will be forced partly through said openings 48, the latter being protected by screens 58 to prevent gravel, etc. from being carried through into the 'Water supply pockets A47. From each water supply pocket 47 a pipe 59 leads through the bottom of said pocket downwardly into the space beneath the upper fiume, said pipes discharging onto the intermediate members 44 aforesaid.

l/Vater supply pipes 60 are preferably provided at each gate for clearing the space between the gate 52 and they screen 53 above the same. The lower fiume 3 and the `riiie units are as above described. In the operation of this form of the invention, the material supplied into the upper fiume 43 is carried downwardly in the same over the successive screens 53. Any material which is tool large to pass through the screens is simplycarried along and discharged at the lower end. Light material, even if small venougigh to pass through` the screens, is

mostly carried forward by the entraining actlon of the water and discharged at 'the lower end of the upper flume, but such of4 the heavymat-erial as is small enough to pass through the screens is discharged through the screens and gates into the lower or distributing fiume 3 where it is acted upon as above described. The supplementary or upper fiume thus provides for the initialconcentration and elimination of a large proportion of the waste material,

thus increasing the capacity of the distributing and rifiie means.

What' I claim is d l. The combination with a riffle unit, of a said opening, a gate beneath said screen controlling the flow through the screen, said gate being spaced from the screen, means for supplying water between the screen and gate, and means for conducting the material from the gate to the riiiie unit. A. u

2. The combination with a riiile unit, of a. distributing fiume having an opening in its n l n o distrlbutlng fiume having a concave bottom with an opening therein, a screen at ing at the bottom, saidiiume being inclined from end to end, a horizontal screen at said opening, 4one end of the screen being sub- A 'Stantially on a level with the bottom of the vflume and the other end of the screen being above such bottom a dist-ance corresponding to the drop of the fiume in the length of the screen, forming an opening between said Aend of the screen and the bottom of the ume, a gate beneath said screen, means for conducting material from the gate to Athe ing into the space between the 'screen and` the gate at the end farthest removedfrom the aforesaid open space to deliver a curf rent of water through said space.

4. The combination with an inclined flume', a horizontal perforated gate seat in the bottom thereof, a horizontalperforated lgate plate sliding on said gate seat, a horizontal screen above the gate and separated l therefrom, the space between the seat vand gate opening at one end onto the bottom of the fiume, and 'a water supply pipe opening into said space at the other end thereof to supply -a current of water through said ace.

5. The combination with a riiile unit, of. a iiume having a gate, said gate being adjustable to control the supply of material therethrough, means for ,conducting material from said gate tothe riiile unit, a screen for the gate, said screen being above the gate and located in the bottom of the fiume, a re atable water supply connection from t e flume at said gate discharging onto the rime unit, and delector means extending over said screen to confine the iiow of water toward the screen and to control the supply-of water from the flume `to the water supply connection, said deiector i being pivoted to the flume and extending from itspivotal point longitidinally over the screen and in a down-stream direction.

The combination with a riflle unit, of a flume having a gate in its bottom, a ioating .deflector in the flume over said gate, and

means forreceiving and conducting to the" riiiieunit, and water supply means extendritilt unit the material passing through the ga 7: The combination with a ritlie unit, of an lnclined flume having an opening, a screen 1n said opening and located at the bottom ofthe flume, a gate beneath said screen, means for conducting the material from the gate to the ritiie unit, and a deflector over said screen, said deflector being adjustably supported in the fiume to dam up the flume over the screen, whereby an additional head 1s provided o-ver the screen for forcing the material through the screen.

8. The combination with a riille unit, o'f a fiume having a gate for said riflle unit, a floating deflector extending longitudinally in the Hume above the gate, and separated from the gate to form a channel for the passage of water and material, and a regulatable water supply connection communicating with the flume at the side of' said channel, to receive water from the fiume, and

to deliver water to the ritiie unit.

9. The cdmbination with a riiiie unit, of a flume having an opening in its bottom for said ritlie unit, a screen for said opening, means for directing the material and water from said opening to the riile unit, and a deflector pivoted in the Hume at said gate and extending from its pivoted portion longitudinally of the flume over the gate in the down-stream direction of the Hume,

the down-stream end of said deiector being free to move vertically.

10. The combination of a flume having a.'

gate alon flume, a oating obstructing device extending above said gate to maintain a. definite head at the gate, and a separator unit supplied from the gate.

11. The combination with a series of riflle units, of a distributing Hume provided with gates for the respective ritlle units, anda concentrating fiume extending over the distributing flume and having a series of screens along its bottom to discharge onto the distributing flume, said concentrating flume beingprovided with lateral water discharge outlets, and intermediate members between the flumes to receive the water from said outlets and lead it to the distributing flume.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my of May, 1908.

EZRA S. HOYT. In presence of F. M. TowNsEND, A. P. KNIGHT, FRANK L. A'. GRAHAM.

its course, in the bottom of the loo hand at Los Angeles this 23rd day

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