US1490736A - Ore concentration - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEL',

HUGO EDWARD FREDRIGK, OF HAYDEN, ABIZON A, ASSIGNOR OF TWENTY-THREE AND THIRTY-FOUR ONE-HUNDREDZPHS PER CENT TO WILLIAM- H. BISSELL, TWENTY- THREE AND THIRTY-TREE ONE-HUNDREDTHS PER CENT T FRANK S. SIN- NICKS, AND FIFTY-THREE AND THIRTY-THREE ONE-HUNDREDTHS PER GENT TO GEORGE J'. HENRY, ALL OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ORE CONGENTRA'IION.

Ho Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Huco EDWARD FRED- RICK a citizen of the United States, residing at Illayden, in the county of Gila and State a of Arizona, have invented certain new and useful 1m rovements in Ore Concentration, of which t e following is a specification;

This invention relates to the concentration of sulphide ores (natural or artificial), and

no ores containing copper (native or precipitated) by the so-called flotation process,

wherein pulp consisting of a mixture of finely divided ore and water, together with a flotation agent, is subjected to mechanical l5 agitation, or to aeration without agitation,

as in the so-called bubbles column process,

to cause flotation and separation of the ore values.

My present invention is based on the dis- 2c covery that the pyridine series of hydrocarbons, and their several derivatives, and salts of the same, are highly useful as flotation agents in the said process.

The pyridine series herein referred to comprise organic bases found in coal-tar and wood-tar, or are produced by the distillation of other organic substances, such as bones, hair, hoofs, etc., or from ammoniacal liquors obtained from coal distillation, or are otherwise obtained. My present invention includes broadly the utilization of such agents, irrespective of the manner in which they ma be obtained.

ong the agents which may be used in carrying out my invention, and which are included within the term pyridine series in these specifications and in the claims, the following may be mentioned: Pyridine, and its derivatives having the general base formula C H N. Salts of the above compounds (hydrochlorides, sulphates, acetates, formates, andv other salts of the above compounds), as well as, mixtures, may be used. All these substances are N-membered heterocylic hydrocarbons-that is, compounds of the ring series wherein nitrogen enters into the ring nucleus, and all of them, aswell as their derivatives and salts, may be employed in the same manner as members or mixtures of members of the Application filed December 11, 1918. Serial No. 266,294..

pyridine series, as found in the pyridine and pyridine bases of commerce.

The said pyridine series may be obtained from tar residues, tar-oil, acid-tar, woodtar, or other organic'distillation products, such as bone-oil, by well-known processes, and need not be purified, or be wholly free from other constituents of said substances, which other constituents, however, act not only as diluents, but act deleteriously in the process and interfere with the beneficial action of said pyridine series.

The following may be given as an example of my process:

A small amount of the flotation agent consisting substantially of a member of the pyridine series of h drocarbons or a derivative or salt thereo either concentrated'or mixed with water, or other solvent, is added to and mixed with the ore pulp to be treated,

in any suitable way. The pulp is then subjected to mechanical agitation, or to direct aeration without other agitation, as by passing air, or other gas, thereinto through a porous medium, as in the bubbles column process, the separated mineral collecting on the surface of the mixture.

The amount of the reagents used will vary somewhat with diflerent ores and has been found by me in practice to vary between 0.15 pounds to 0.75 pounds per ton of dry ore.

With some ore pulps it may be desirable to add either small amounts of acid or of alkali, depending upon the nature of the ore pulp being treated.

A characteristic feature of the hereinmentioned reagents is that they exercise an extraordinary selective action, causing the mineral to float quickly and practically free from gangue. While I have described the pyridine series of hydrocarbons, and the derivatives and salts thereof, as highly useful as flotation reagents in the concentration of ores, it will be understood that they ma be combined with other reagents, whic may act as diluents when necessary, for the purpose of increasing the beneficial action of said pyridine, its derivatives and salts;

but such combination or uses with other reagents should not be such as to interfere wholly markedly with the beneficial action of the reagents which I have described and disclosed herein.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. The rocess of concentrating ores which conslsts in subjecting finely divided ore and Water to th -action of a flotation agent which agent consists substantially of a mixture of the pyridine series of hydrocarbons, and introducing gas into said mixture to cause a separation of the metalliferous matter from the gangue.

2. In the process of concentrating ores by flotation, the employment as a flotation 15 agent of a mixture consisting of derivatives of single ring N membered heterocyclic bases.

3. In the process of concentrating ores by flotation, the employment as a flotation 20 agent of a mixture consistingof salts of single ring N membered heterocyclic bases.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my, name.

HUGO EDWARD FREDRICK.