US2700469A

US2700469A - Wash water pickup for spiral concentrator

Info

Publication number: US2700469A
Application number: US298714A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ira B Humphreys
Original assignee: HUMPHREYS INVEST Co
Current assignee: HUMPHREYS INVEST Co; HUMPHREYS INVESTMENT Co
Priority date: 1952-07-14
Filing date: 1952-07-14
Publication date: 1955-01-25
Anticipated expiration: 1972-01-25

Description

Jan. 25, 1955 1. B. HUMPHREYS WASH WATER PICKUP FOR SPIRAL CONCBN-TRATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 14, 1952 INVENTOR. In B. Hone/laws BY ATTORNEY 1955 1. B. HUMPHREYS WASH WATER PICKUP FOR SPIRAL CONCENTRATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 14, 1952 JI'VVENTOR." [RA .B,Huumesrs A T TORFJE Y United States Patent WASH WATER, PICKUB' FOR SPIRAL CONGENTRATOR Ira B. Humphreys,.Denver,'.. Colo assignon to. The Hum.- phreyslnvestment ompany,, Dnver,. Col0., a corporation of Colorado pp i ion-J y 4,. 1 52, S r a No? 2 8,114

4. C aims. (QI- 299- 2111).

Thisinvention relates to, an oreconcentrator butmore particularly and; specifically.- to, a wash: Water pickup; for a helical chutetypeofconcentrator such as. that disclosed; in my United States Patents;2.,4.3 1,559- and; 2,431,569; dated November 25, 19 457,, and has'asa prim -y objectthe provision of-- a; wash W313i pickup; built into. and forming; a part of the; helical chute: to replace; the wash waterpickup arran em n s s o d; in. said; Pat

A further object of; the: inyention; is; the provision; of. a wash water: pickupfor a. concentrato Q the type reer hi h. s s mp onst uc ion. nd: ighlyofi io en in operati n.

A- still furtherobject of the inyentio-n, is the: provision of a wash, water pickup for a. concentrator; of the char-. acter referred to in. which; the velocity and direction oi flowof theiwash water is. controlled to, give, to, the con: centra-tor a maximum efliciency.

Another and still further. object of, the invention is he p o si of a w sh;-w o PiQkDP. per ion; o w ich s u mati and. does not. ne d. manila o ti hc or.- toht o as is he se oi he w sh Wate n skons n my r ferred o. Paten s,

O h je ts, ad anta es, mprov men n oo s ea u sv i ns u tion. o h nv nt on w ll. annea -"r rom e l w dos t p ion. when; ead: n hoi isht oi the. ac omp ny n raw n s n will. be. understood. and nooog izod b ho ki led he art.

In. h d aw s;

F L s. a side view o a. helical. ohhto c nce trato em ody ng. e p sen nnroyed' wash, wa e P okun.

Bi s a r nsver e. sectional. v ew hrou h. h e ical. chute; the. oot h, bein take h ou h one o h onoon ra't r rawff. holes.

F g... 3 is an. end le at on. v ew of. o ou o on of the: soo ion omnr sin h holisal. hu e.

I th p e e t apnan us' ho; ifi ohso n h p fic char tie or. he diif ro i o n. t o o iso r fi' a ties, of e par c e ken. adv ntage of i e o a separ ion. It. i common. p c ic i art n nnation, when, the specific, gravities of{ different ores or pa ic e a e t e. s me, o ve y closely m a ign troa one. pec es. of. he P icl s. to p m a difioront itootiv iz ioisr v yt I i' h. h o seyeral way Qne'rn nnei; is to treat the particles with a e ent. wh le. shot. .or ma n r is to m ra the par cle W h r atments. o hi kind a Hifierentf t'iye specific. gravity. over the actualjspecific, gravity of the;

ore. or par icl s. the eof. is o t d- In view of the foregoing it; is to be understood that where, hereinafter, either in the specification or claims, Par i les. hav g d ffe ent p o fi g a ios ar r fer to. it includes. particles which have, a natural" or inherent; like. or similar specific gravity but one species thereof? is p e rea ed to. give. to hem. a. ditt h fi ct pe c ra i y.

T o on en rat r illustrated n. Fi of ho w n is a p ica e. h t. lustrated in my. ref e to Patents and as a reference to these patents will make an understanding. oi t e ope ation, o he. concentrator clear a detailed description of the operation of the concentrator in the present application is; unnecessary. The referred totpatents contain both method and, apparatus claims, and a general description of the method; o f concentration pracdeed by the concentrator is sufficient to an understanding of the purpose and desirability of the provision of wash water to the main concentrating chute or trough.

Broadly the concentrator comprises a helical chute ice preferably made up of a plurality of sections each; of wh ch is substantially identical: of? construction and are deslgnated as, an entirety by A, A1 A2, A3, A4, A5), A65. A 1, A8; ands A9. The number of sections used in. the, concentrator is dependent upon the. number of turns. necessary, toefiect a. concentration of the particular ore to, be; operated upon. The helical: chute making 12. ho. p ral turn. oncentrator is. suitably. supported in pp rting ame B1.

In; operation the material, that -is-, the mass. of: com.- rninuted particles; containing. the; particles of ore. to be concen rat d. mixed n any su table r oonvoniont anner: wi h oi qoids. us a y wa er. and this liquid with the particles of ore therein, conueyed from a hopper t which. wate o other; iq idis. d livo ed y a p 1, t h ppe pe a d; of the. helical;- chute by a su h opumptifl h iquid car y n h Part io ravels down the mainr h comp s n ths h te he concen ti taks P ac part c s.- n; t e ravo s iqu d ti y n. cor ance with the pec fic srav hos and assume b as uofs o hood. ar d roo iohofra el po ion uch ha rart o ss: of ike p c c r y tis are in; ide d Zone xt ndi o sithd al x o the s ream T o e as ioio h fl l he r a est; sue ne; d e o t st de ed.- by the sh ts o'dse. 4.. w h. he romaihh his direct on owards. ho; out ride or h s ream;- hoihgi pro es ly decr as n pocifip em s.

he outer d .v of. he eam. o coarse that flow= c near t h ou er od o ip, 5. tth hu oh Bat iclssoo sti o in oaohbt thss'o. oh int-i r a Ldi c referred to earlier issued patents.

The contour of the stream travel within and: down the chute is substantially that shown by the; dotted line 10 from which it will be seen that the stream is quite deep at the point 11 and climbs wellup the outer; side of; the trough'whereas the stream at its inner lower edge feathers out topractically no depth as indicated at 12,; The concentrates; collect in this shallow portion 1 2 ofi the stream. 'lj'h s zone or portion of; the stream is com paratively slow moving; and due to the fact that it is shallow there is no great; amount of pressure exerted upon the particles in this portion ot'the'stream to move them in a direction downwardly thr ough; the spiral chute. Consequently, it has been found in the majority of instances the deliyery of wash fluid or water to this edge of the stream is-essential'to the movement of the concen'; trates downwardly through the spiral for discharge through the concentrate take-01f of draw-off; outlets 6;. Actually, the wash liquid or water also performs another function; which will be hereinafter described. The delivery of' wash water or; liquid; to the inner edge of the main chute constitutes the present specific invention and will: be specifically described hereinafter.

The wash wateror liquid for the chute travels in a trough E'which is disposed at and beyond the inner edge 4 of the chute and extends throughout the length of: the chute. It has been found desirable to cast thistrough integral with the main chute but it could ofi course be separate y o m d an s ar l u r e e I his trough is below the inner; edge 4' 'ofthe chute, that is, it lies in a plane below that ofthe inner edge o'fthc desired at a plurality of points along its length but ordinarily the liquid is supplied to the trough by a suitable conduit (not shown) discharging into the upper end of tlllle ttrough where it terminates at the upper end of the c u e.

The purpose and desirability of using wash liquid is fully discussed in hereinbefore referred to patents. Broadly, this liquid will keep foreign and light subject matter washed off of the concentrates in the shallow, slow moving inner edge of the stream so that they will be clean when withdrawn from the take-offs. Also of importance is the fact that the wash liquid will assist in moving the hea v1er concentrates in the inner edge of the stream to their points of discharge. In the absence of wash liquid, the movement of the concentrates would be quite slow because they are in the slowest moving zone or portion of the stream and also in the very shallow portion thereof. The wash liquid will prevent any heavy building up of very slow or non-moving concentrates which might tend to disrupt the separation. Non-moving or extremely slow moving concentrates in the inner edge of the stream would tend to form bars or dams which would be undesirable.

The actual delivery of wash liquid from the wash liquid carrying chute 4 is attained by the provision of a plu: ral1ty of sluiceways P which have their upstream ends 19 merging into the inner lower side 20 of the trough and their downstream ends 21 merge into the inner edge of the chute 3. Each sluiceway is in reality a short troughlike conduit interconnecting the trough E with the spiral chute 3. The number of sluiceways provided in the length of the chute or in each individual section making up the helical chute would be dependent upon the amount of wash liquid it is desired to convey to the main chute just as the number of draw-off holes is optional. The proper amount of liquid delivery by a sluiceway would be predetermined. The downstream discharge end 21 of a slu ceway preferably communicates with the chute at a point about opposite a draw-01f outlet 6. Flow of wash liquid from a sluiceway directly toward or into a drawoif 6 may be prevented by providing adjacent each drawoif an upwardly and longitudinally extending rib or wall G with the consequence that the wash liquid delivered by a sluiceway is not for the purpose of moving concentrates into the immediately adjacent take-01f but to move those concentrates in the stream edge below a take-off downwardly through the chute for discharge through the next adjacent take-off. These ribs or walls G which extend from a point above and partly around a draw-off outlet assure that the wash liquid is so directed as to remain for a considerable part of its travel in or near the inner edge of the chute as there is a tendency for it to move toward and merge with the main downwardly moving stream in the chute.

It has been found desirable to retard to some degree the speed of travel of the wash liquid in the chute and to tend to diffuse it and, accordingly, the inner edge of the chute at points just below the lower end of the ribs or walls G are provided with a depression H which in the drawings is shown as a circular hole the inner edge 22 of which is preferably elevated. This precise and exact kind of wash liquid retarder and diffuser need not be followed as other constructions and arrangements could be devised for accomplishing the desired result. In any event, some means of retarding and diffusing the wash liquid is a desirable feature.

It is to be noted that the downstream ends 21 of the sluiceways terminate in the depressions H and that the discharge or outlet ends of these sluiceways are, as mentioned, in a plane slightly below the inner edges 22 of the depressions.

The number of sluiceways and their particular disposition as well as the inclinations thereof and their widths and the amount of wash liquid delivered to the trough E and the velocity of it downwardly through said trough could be varied in accordance with the particular type of material to be concentrated with the result that there are variables, and, accordingly, the invention is to be limited only within the scope of the hereinafter and following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from a comminuted mass composed of particles having different specific gravities those particles having like specific gravity, a vertically disposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid having therein the material to be concentrated, draw-off outlets positioned in spaced relationship along the length of the bottom of the chute adjacent but inward of the inner edge thereof for drawing off at spaced points material from the inner edge of the stream, a trough disposed in a plane below and extending along the length of the inner edge of the chute and adapted to carry a stream of wash liquid, said trough being normally out of communication with the chute, a rib extending upwardly from the bottom of the chute and extending longitudinally thereof adjacent but in spaced relation to the inner edge of the chute, the rib extending from a point tip-stream from each draw-off outlet to and partly surrounding the draw-off outlet at the edge thereof adjacent the inner edge of the stream, and a sluiceway extending inwardly and upwardly from the wash liquid carrying trough through the inner edge of the chute to terminate therein at a point approximately opposite each draw-off outlet for the delivery of wash liquid to the inner edge of the chute.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein, the chute at a point beyond the delivery end of each sluiceway is provided with means to cause an eddying and to cause a reduction in the speed of travel of the wash liquid delivered by its associated sluiceway.

3. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from a comminuted mass composed of particles having different specific gravities those particles having like specific gravity, a vertically disposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid having therein the material to be concentrated, a wash liquid carrying trough disposed in a plane below and extending along the length of the inner edge of the chute, the inner edge of the chute being upwardly turned and periodically in its length being notched out, a sluiceway formed integral with the chute and trough and having a reception end in the trough and having a portion extending inwardly and upwardly through each notched portion of the chute and having a delivery end terminating in the chute on the bottom thereof for delivering wash liquid to the inner edge of the chute, the bottom of the chute being periodically throughout its length and adjacent its inner edge provided with draw-off outlets, a rib extending upwardly from the bottom of the chute adjacent each draw-off outlet, and said rib extending longitudinally of the chute adjacent but in spaced relation to the inner edge of the chute and having a portion disposed between the draw-off outlet and the delivery end of an adjacent sluiceway.

4. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from a comminuted mass composed of particles having different specific gravities those particles having like specific gravity, a vertically disposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid having therein the material to be concentrated, a wash liquid carrying trough disposed in a plane below and extending along the length of the inner edge of the chute, the inner edge of the chute being upwardly turned and periodically in its length being notched out, a sluiceway formed integral with the chute and trough and having a reception end in the trough and having a portion extending inwardly and upwardly through each notched portion of the chute and having a delivery end terminating in the chute on the bottom thereof for delivering wash liquid to the inner edge of the chute, the chute bottom adjacent the delivery end of each sluiceway being provided with a draw-off outlet, a rib associated with each draw-oif outlet and extending upwardly from the bottom of the chute and having a portion disposed between the draw-01f outlet and the delivery end of the adjacent sluiceway, and means 1n the chute adjacent the delivery end of each sluiceway for causing a liquid delivered from the sluiceway to eddy and to retard the speed of travel of said liquid, and means comprising a cavity in the bottom of the trough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Humphreys Nov. 25, 1947