US1346824A - Ore-separator - Google Patents

Description

.I. HICKS.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION man MAY 29. 1918.

: Patnted Ju1y20, 1920;

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Momma l. HICKS.

0RE SEPARATOR. APPLICATION HLED MAY 29, 9.18.

Patented July 20, 1920. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wxmesses Mow 04 UNITED STATES JOHN HICKS, on CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA.

E-1hr oRE-sErARaToR. 1

TOIQZZ whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JoHN Hrons, asubject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Calgary, in the Province of Alberta andDominion of Canada, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ore-Separators, of

which the following is a specification.

.out of the cup.

"This invention is'an improved-ore separating apparatus especially adaptedfor use in recovering-flour gold and fine :gold particles from gold bearing sands and deposits such as black sands and gravel found in the beds of streams, the object of the invention being to provide an improved apparatus of this kind which is simple in construction and which embodies means to employ the compressed air, steam or other fluid medium under compression to set up whirling motion in the sands as they pass through a conduit and-to also effect a separation of the sands and a recommingling or mixing thereof as they pass through said conduit, so that all the sand particles are subjected-to attrition and are moistened or wet to cause the flour gold to be effectually separated from the sands; the invention also embodying a mercury cup or vessel into which the separated ore particles, gold, sand and the like, are driven while still whirling so that said ore particles also set up whirling motion in the mercury with the result that the flour gold particles are caused to settle and become collected in the mercury in the cup while the sands and other worthless particles, which are lighter, are whirled off the face of the mercury and out of the mercury cup and are discharged, and without forcing themercury With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter #described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical sectional'view' of an ore separating apparatus constructed and arranged inv accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same, on a larger scale, on the plane indi cated by the-line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar view on the plane indicated by the line 3-3- of Fig. 1.

Fig. iis a detail sectional 'v1ew,-'on alarger scale, of the :mixing nectlons.

Fig. 5 is-a similar View of the mercury cup; Fig. 6 1s:a-vert1cal sectional VIGW'SlIQWiIIg a -mod-1ficat1on 1n the construction of the mixing element and its connections.

A vertical: pipe 1 is provided at'its up-per' end witha feed hopper 2 and is arranged to discharge at 1ts lower end into a mercury cup element and its 5 con Specification of Letters Patent. a I Patented 111 720, I Application 'filed m 29, 1918. 'serial-ivouasmoo. I

3 which mercury cup is held by across bar 1 4 or other suitable supportwin aubox 5, thebox having aido'or 6 in one side to afford access to-the mercury cup and being provided at the bottom,*below the mercury cu=p, 'witha tailings discharge 7. The mercury cup is open in the upper side andhas a-pocket 8' at the bottom-and-a-lso has avalvei). :The wall 10 ofth'e. mercury cup .is :flared outwardlyandidownwardlyas at 11, to form an wardly andupwardly and is doubled inannular' expansion chamber 12 which extends around the cup. A partition wall 13 is arranged .in the cupandspaced from the wall thereof, the upper portion of the partition wall being flared outwardly and .upwardly and extending into the expansion chamber 12. Said partition wall is provided with perforations 14.

A steam pipe15. leads from a suitable boiler into the lower portion of the pipe 1 and is provided with a downwardly directed nozzle, elbow or-rose 1 6 which discharges down through the pipe 1 and into the mercury cup. The lower sectionl? of the pipe 1 is secured in an opening in the bottom 18 ofa drum 'l9 and the uppersection-QO of said pipe is secured inan opening inthe top a of the drum.- The drum is: secured to. the bottom by bolts 21. The upper pipesection 20 has an air inlet opening 22 in one side.

Cross bars 23' are arranged in thelower portionof the pipe section 20 and at a'point Slightly above the drunr; p 7

A mixing element 24 vertical hollow tubular member which is arand the axis of said mixing :element being coincidentx withth-at of the pipe. 1' The inner wall '25 of the mixing element 24 is provided with: tangentially arranged perforations 26 is here shown as; a

rangedin the drum 19 and the in'nerjdiamet'er I of which corresponds with that of the pipe 1 and also with'upwardlyinclinedperforations sands is effected.

27 and inwardly inclined perforations 27*. A pipe 28 which leads from a source of water or a source of compressed air is connected to the mixing element 24 and is provided with a cut-off valve 29. A branch pipe 30 leads upwardly from the pipe 28, is provided with a cut-off valve 31 and terminates at its upper end in an upwardly directed, nozzle 32 which discharges upwardly into hopper and-from the hopper to the upper end of the pipe 1. The jet of water, compressed air jor other fluid from the nozzle 32 prevents thesands from choking in the throat ofethe hopper and the sands drop through the pipe 1. As the sands drop through said pipe they strike and their mass is broken by the cross bars 23 and as the sands pass through the mixing element.24 they are caught by the tangential jets of water or compressed air which are discharged through the tangential perforations 26 and are whirled thereby around and around inrthe separator and are also caught by-the upwardly inclined and inwardly directed jets of. water or compressed air from the perforations 27 so that the passage of the sands downwardly through the mixing element is somewhat retarded, so that between said upwardly directed jets and'the said tangentially directed jets the sands are thoroughly separated into particles and are dashed against the sides of the separator and each particle of the sands and. offlour gold is moreover thoroughly wetted by the streams or ets of water, when water is employed. The whirling of the sands continues: as the sands pass down through the lower section 17 of the pipe and while'passing therethrough the sands alternately'strike the wall of the pipe and rebound toward the center thereof so that a complete separation and mixture of the As. the whirlingv sands near the lower discharge end of the pipe 1 they are caught by the downwardly directed jets of steam fromthe nozzle 16 of the steam pipe15 and are forcibly and whileany of themereury out of the cup.

'Owing to the provision of the annular expansion chamber in the wall of the mercury cup any extra pressure from the separator is taken up by the mercury, the'mercury exchambers.

out the gold dust without disturbing the mercury in the cup.

The pipe 28 is connected to a manifold 28*, and the drum 19' about the upright pipe 1 is divided by annular partitions60 into annular chambers 61, each of which is in communication with one series of the plurality of series of apertures in the upright pipe 1. Communication between the manifold 28 and each of the chambersfil'is controlled by a valve 62. By 'virtueof this provision, the fluid under pressure-maybe let into the pipe 1 through any one or more series of, apertures according to, the character of the agitation to which the operator. desires to subject-the sands.- It will also be apparent by comparison of Figs. 1 and 6, that the modification shown in the latter figure and hereinafter described, includes all of the features just defined. In Fig. 6 I show a modification in the construction of my separator in which the mixing element 24 is divided by horizontally arranged annular partitions 36 into. annular. chambers-37, 38. The inner walls of the annular chambers are provided some with tangentially arranged apertures 39 and others with inclined apertures 40 and the upper chambers 37 are connected together by a duct 41 which is formed on one side of the mixer, the lower chambers 38 being connected together by a..duct 42. A water. supply pipe 43 is connected to the duct 41 and is provided with a cut-off valve 44. A steam or compressed air pipe 45 is connectedto the duct 42 and has a cut-off valve 46. Controlling valves 47 are pro-. vided for the upper chambers andcontrolling valves 48 are provided for the lower In this construction the sands as'the fallthrough the duct or pipe and through the mixing element are subjected to the action of tangentially arranged water jets and upwardly inclined water jets andarealso subjected as they pass through the lower portion of the mixer to correspondingly directed steam or compressedair jets so that a thorough mixing, separating, and whirling of the sands is effected.

WVhile I have herein shown and describedlzo preferred embodiments of my invention, I would have it understood thatchanges may be made in the form, proportion and construction of the several parts, without de-.

parting from the spirit of my invention-and within the scope of the'appended claim- Having thus described my-invention, I claim: Y

In an ore separating apparatus, a. mer-- cury cup adapted to receive sands from a conduit and having a detachable pocket at cup and also including an apertured partiits lower end and a'valve above said pocket tion wall spaced from the outer wall and and also having a flared upper portion, said the inner downwardly-extending portion of 10- upper portion including an outer wall said outer wall.

doubled inwardly and downwardly and In testimony whereof I affix my signaforming an annular expansion chamber in ture.

the uppermost and outermost portion of the 7 JOHN HICKS.

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