US1246195A - Ore-treating apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PArnNT onirica.

HERBERT B. WALLING, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, ASSIGNOR T O WESTERN MINING & EXPLORATION COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF UTAH.

cnn-TREATING APrARATUs.

Speccaton of 'Letters Patent. PatQ/Ilted' NOV. 13,1917.

Application filed January 11, 1917. SerialNo. 141,848.

To aZZ whom t may concern:

`Be it lrnownvthat I, HERBERT B. WALLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ore-Treating Apparatus, of ,which the `following Ais a specification.

This invention relates to ore treating apparatuses, and more particularly to an apparatus for treating what is commonly termed free-milling ore.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus which will eX- tract the liner particles of gold from theore mixture thus avoiding lthe waste of these line particles which takes place in the ordinary form 0f apparatus in which the pulverized ore mixed with water is passed over an inclined plate or table. A further object is to to providean apparatus having means for causing the. mixture of pulverized lore and water to travel a Zigi/.ag or undulating path so as to thoroughly agitate the same and bring the nner particles of gold into intimate contact with the amalgamating plates. Further objects will appear from the detail description.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side View of the machine with one side removed,

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line'2-2 of Fig. l.

The body of the machine comprises the front plate 1, back plate 2, :and the side plates 3 and 4f. The side plate .et is removably secured'betweenend platesl and 2 by tie rods 5, vorin any other suitable manner.

The side plates 3 ands-lare of irregular .polygonal shape, the upper edge of each plate being inclined forwardly and upwardly.v A launder is secured through the front plate 1 adjacent lthe upper end thereof. This Alaunder is inclined downwardlyl and rearwardly and communicates, at its inner end, with a vertical trap or casing? adjacent the kupper end thereof. This casing communicateS'through its inner side, at a ,plane'below the inner end of launder 6, withn downwardly and Arearwardly inclined plate-supportingframe 8 the lower end of which-communicates with the trough 9 communicating Ywith a vertically extending casing l0 similar to casing ,7, adjacent the upper end thereof. ,All oppositely inclined frame ll similar to dframe 8 communicates withthe 'interior of casing 1,0 at its Vupper end at .a plane vbeneath the lower .end .of frame 8, and at. its lowerfendwwith a similar vertical casing `12 adjacenttheiupper end thereof. A dischargeV trough 13 ,communica-tjes Vwith the vinteriorV ing or `plate l5 `of sheet copper is ,secured about the same over transverse rounded strips 16 secured to the sides lof partition member 14. A similar plate .17 is secured `to the inner face ofthe front wally of casing 7, being secured over the strips 1S. A plate Q19 is secured lto the inner face ofthe back wall ofthe casing lover :the strips 20, this plate being also of corrugated construction. The plate l'is provided at the center of each depression with a transversely .extending and horizontally disposed mercury cup 21, similarcups 22 beingl provided inthe depressions of the outer half of plate l5. The lplate holding frame 8 is provided withan yupper frame 23 and a lower frame 24 secured in spaced relation. by the spacing blocks 25 and 26 at each end thereof. A plurality of rounded strips 2.7 are secured `to the inner face of frame 23 transversely thereof and in spaced rela-tion. Thesestrips .-serve to support a `corrugated sheet copper plat-e 28.'.secured thereto. A similarplate 29 is secured to the .inner face of the lower yfrarne'QA bymeans of the'strips 30. The two Vplates 2S and v29 are .so relatively disposed that vthe ribs of one plate correspond 4with the grooves Aor indentations of ythe yother plate. The upper end of frame 8 islsupported by a Vsheet metal stirrup 31 which is secured to the inner Wall Taof casing 7, a suitable opening 32 being provided through .this wall and vcommunicating with the space between thetwo plates. The lower end ofthe frame is supportedfin a similar stirrup 33 secured on the inner-end of trough 9. They twostirrups 31-and 33 are setinto `the walls 7a of casing `7 yand the side wallsof trough Y 9, respectively, and vinto Vthe :ends -of `the iframe S so that their outer Afaces arek flush v with theuouter faces of the 'casing 7, the

frame 8, and the trough 9. A vertical partition member1 34 is secured to the inner end of the bottom of trough 9, which is extended for this purpose. This member 34 extends transversely of the casing and to within a short distance of the bottom of the same corresponding to the member 14 of casing 7. A plurality of spaced transversely extending rounded strips 36 are secured to each face of member 34, and a corrugated sheet copper plate 37 is secured about this member to these strips. A corrugated sheet copper plate 38 is secured to the transversely extending strips 39 secured to the inner face of the back wall '10a of casing 10. A similar plate 40 is secured to the strips 41 secured to the inner face of the front wall of casing 10. The plate holding frame 11 is constructed similarly to frame 8 and is provided with the upper corrugated plate 42 and the lower plate 43. This frame is inclined oppositely to frame 8 and the upper end thereof is supported by a sheet metal stirrup 44 and communicates with the interior of casing 10 below trough 9. The lower end of frame 11 is supported by the sheet metal stirrup 45 carried by the casing 12 and communicates `with the interior of this casing adjacent the upper end thereof. Casing 12 is of similar construction to casing 10 being provided with the central partition member 46, the plate 47 secured thereon, the bacl corrugated plate 48, and the front corrugated plate 49. A forwardly and downwardly inclined discharge trough 50 extends through the front plate 1 of the frame, the inner end of this trough being supported by a sheet metal stirrup 51 secured to the front wall of casing 12 and communieating with the interior thereof. A downwardly and forwardly inclined collecting trouoh 52 is secured between the side late.

Y 3 and 4 and extends the full interior width of the frame being positioned beneath the casings 10 and 12.

In using my machine, the ore which has been pulverized by the usual stamping mill is mixed with water, this mixture being run into the launder 6. Previous to running the ore mixture into the machine, the various plates are coated with mercury or amalgam, as is usual. A certain amount of mercury is also placed in the mercury cups 21 and 22, and in the corrugations of the plates 30 and 43, these two plates providing, in effect, rililes. The ore mixture flows from launder 6 into casing or trap 7 downward between the corrugated plates 15 and 17, and then upward between the plates 15 and 19 into the upper end of the frame 8 between plates 27 and 30. The mixture then flows between plates 27 and 30 and is discharged from trough 9downward between the plates 37 and 38, again flowing upward between plates 37 and 40 into the upper end of plate holding frame 11. The mixture then flows downward and forward between the plates 42 and 43 into the trap 12 and downward between plates 48 and 47, again flowing upward between plates 47 and 49, the mixture being discharged through discharge trough 13. During its travel through the machine, the ore mixture is thoroughly agitated and is caused to assume a Zig-zag or undulating path. This results in thoroughly agitating the ore so as to bring the gold particles carried in suspension thereby into intimate contact with the mercury coated surface of the plates and with the mercury contained in the cups 21 and 22 and the grooves or hollows of plates 30 and 43. The particles of gold which are thus brought in contact with the mercury form an amalgam therewith, this amalgam being removed and placed in a retort and heated so as to drive off or vaporize the mercury which is then condensed for further use, in the usual mannen By causing the ore mixture to assume a continuous undulating path of travel and thus bringing the particles of gold into intimate contact with the mercury coated surfaces of the plates, the very fine particles of gold which are often lost in the ordinary form of machine using the flat plates due t0 the mechanical action ofthe ore mixture in supporting and transporting these line particles, areY saved. For this reason this machine is of great value in treating free-milling ores in which the gold comes in a very finely sub-divided state so that, when the ore is crushed. the gold is in the form of very minute particles.

By removing the side plate 3 of the frame of the machine the amalgam which has been formed on the plates mav be quickly and easily removed for treatment or, if desired, the plates themselves may be made removable. To assist in this operation, thecasing 7 is provided with a beveled slide 53 which is mounted in a transversely extending slot formed in the bottom of the casing, the casings 10 and 12 being provided with similar slides 54 and 55, respectively. By means ofrthese slides the casings may be quickly and easily drained to recover any amalgam which may collect in the same, the casing 7 discharging into trough 13 and the casings 10 and 12 discharging into the trough 52. In practice, I prefer to place a certain amount of mercury in the bottom of each of the casings so as to collect the gold from the mixture which passes over the bottom of the casing, this amalgam being discharged and collected in the manner described.

As will be noted from Fig. 1 of the drawings the plate holding frame 8 may be reversed so as to have plate 27 for the lower plate and plate 30 for the upper plate. This mav be accomplished'by simply rais-l ing the frame out of the stirrups 31 rand 33 and inverting the same, at the same time interchanging the ends of the frame relatively to the position which they occupied formally. This renders it possible to provide a new plate for the lower plate, the lower plate being the one which is exposed to the greater wear, in the event of this plate becoming too greatly worn. The lower frame 11 may also be adjusted in the same manner so as to reverse the relative positions of plates 42 and 43.

There may be slight changes made in the construction and arrangement of the different parts of my invention without departing from the field and scope of the same and I intend to include all such changes, as fall within the scope of the appended claims, in this application in which a preferred form only of my invention is disclosed.

That I claim is l. In -ore treating machines, a frame, a casing secured in said frame adjacent the front and upper edge thereof, a central partition member secured in said casing and extending downwardly therein, corrugated plates secured to the front and back faces of said casing and about said partition member, certain of said plates being provided with transversely extending mercury cups, a similar casing secured in the frame adjacent the back thereof and below the first said casing, a downwardly and rearwardly inclined plate holding frame detachably mounted on the two said casings and communicating therewith, and two corrugated plates carried by said frame and mounted in spaced super-posed relation.

In ore'treating machines, a frame, a casing secured in said frame adjacent the front and upper edge thereof, a central partition member secured in said casing and extending downwardly therein, corrugated plates secured to the front and back faces of said casing and about said partition member, certain of said plates being provided with transversely extending mercury cups, a similar casing secured in the frame adjacent the back thereof and below the first said casing, a downwardly and rearwardly inclined plate holding frame detachably mounted on the two casings and communicating therewith, two corrugated plates carried by said frame and mounted in spaced super-posed relation, and means for discharging the contents of said casings.

3. In ore treating machines, a frame, a casing secured in said frame adjacent the front thereof, a casing mounted in rear of and below the first said casing, supporting stirrups secured to the two said casings adapted to removably support a plate holding frame, a plate holding frame mounted in said stirrups and communicating with both of said casings, and corrugated plates carried by said frame and mounted in superposed spaced relation.

4. In ore treating machines, a frame, a casing secured in said frame adjacent the front thereof, a casing mounted in rear of and below the first said casing, supporting stirrups secured to the two said casings adapted to removably support a plate holding frame, a plate holding frame mounted in said stirrups and communicating with both of said casings, and closure members slidably mounted in the bottom of each casing whereby the bottom of the casing may be opened so as to discharge the contents of said casing.

In testimony whereof I aX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HERBERT B. WALLING.

Witnesses:

EDMUND A. PAUL, LAFAYETTE FELLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

' Washington, D. C.

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