US35980A - Improved apparatus for grinding ores and amalgamating - Google Patents

Description

C. H. GRIFFIN.

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING ORES AND AMALGAMATING PRECIOUS- METALS.

No. 35, 980. 2 Patented July 22,1862.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CALEB H. GRIFFIN, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO \VALTER D. RICHARDS,- OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GRINDING ORES AN D AMALGAMATINGOTHE PREClOUS METALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,980, dated July 22, 1SG2.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be itknown that I, CALEB H. Gm'rrnv, of Lynn, in the county of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines .for the Separation and Amalgamation of the Precious Metals from their Ores, of whichthe follo-wing'is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of an apparatus to which my improvements are applied; and Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal Y section of the same, taken centrally through the machine. Fig. 3 represents a vertical transverse section through the cylinder detached from the machine to showits internal arrangements;

In practice it has been found that the ores from which the precious metals are to be abstracted afterthey have been pulverized in the ordinary way are still too coarse to obtain from them the fine particles of gold, and therefore have again to be subjected to a further process of grinding and rubbing to reduce them still finer before being subjected to the action "of the mercury in the amalgamator, the two forming separate and distinct machines, and

having no connectien with each other, so as to form acontinuous process, and therefore involve the necessity of many manipulations at the expense oftime and much labor.

I am aware that machines have been constructed to efi'ect both operations conjointly -'and simultaneously with thesame means, but to such machines there are many and serious objections, as while they grind the ores, they at the same time flour the, mercury, and in this way destroy its efiiciency, as it renders it very diflicult to form and collect sists in so constructing an apparatus as thatit will not only reduce the ores to the necessary degree of fineness to detach and separate the preciousmetals from the mineral substances in which they are contained, and brighten the particles to render them extremely susceptible to the influence of the mercury, but will afterward so exhibit these ores diluted to a thin consistency with water to the mercury as to insure a thorough amalgamation of the gold and separation from all foreign matters,thereby procuring a greater yield by one simpledirect process than has been heretofore prac ticable in this class of machine.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my invention, I will'now proceed to describe its construction and operation in detail, here promising that the apparatus may be made of any materials suit-able for the purpose.

The machine, as represented in the accompanying drawings, consists of a frame-work constituting an upper, A, andlower, table, B, 'on'which are mounted and secured the operative parts of the machine. On the upper table, A, is secured a. frame, 0, of suitable form and strength for the support of the cast-iron cylinder D. This cylinder is open at both ends and provided with necks a and a, which form and act as journals, and rest in bearings b,

"formed in the upper ends of the frame 0. The end of the neck a next the lower table is made to flare so as to form a discharge opening or mouth for the ore after it has been sufiiciently ground and ready to be conducted to the amalgamating-tub. This end or opening of the cylinderboth being concentric-is made larger than the other or feed-opening, so that the material [may be freely fed in at the one end and made to discharge at the other.

To the inner periphery, and at either end of the cylinder D, is arranged a standard, oft-o the inner end of each of which, and concentric with the cylinder, are mounted and secured bearings for the support of ashaft, (I, this shaft, for greater security and rigidity, being also supported in the upper end of a standard, e, which is secured at its tower end to the side of the frame 0 on the feed side of the cylinder D. On this shaft, at or near the center, or equidistant from the two ends of the cylinder D, is mounted a solid cast-iron guide-frame, f, of

rectangular form, and made with projecting lips at the ends on both sides of theshaft, between'which work the sliding sides of the arms 9 of the rubbers h, of which there are two, one being attached to each arm by means of hingejoints 1'. These slides and arms may be castin one piece and connected together at top by bands or plates of metal suitably shaped for that purpose, they being so shaped at their upper ends as toconform to the shape-of the guide-frames In order to impart rigidity and strengthto the arms 9, stays j are cast or otherwise secured to each arm, they being further strengthened by being connected together on the under side of the shaft by an iron bar or plate, 1;, one end of which is firmly bolted to each, but at such distance from the shaftdand lower edge or side of the guide-frame f as will admit of the adj ustment. of the arms for the purpose of raising her lowering the rubbers I: to regulate the distance between the hinged end'of the latter and the inner periphery of the cylinder. This adjustment is eflected by means of the screw Z, the thread of which takes into a female screw cut in a collar. formed on the upper connect- .ing bands or plates of the arms 9, while its lower end rests on the shaft d, passing freely through an opening without touching it, formed in the i upper part of the guide-framef, or it may be made to rest on the top of the guide-frame f, as may be. deemed inost' advisable, or in any other well-known manner. Wit-h such an arrangement, by the simple turning of the screws in the direction required, the arms can be raised or lowered to regulate the distance between the ends of the rubbers h, directly attached to them, and theinner periphery of the. cylinder. By this arrangement of therubbers,

although-the bearings that support the shaft cl are secured to the cylinder, it'will be seen that the rubbers h, by. virtue of their own gravity, will tend toremain in a vertical position and in, a measure stationary, while the cylinderis left free to be rotated as rapidly as may be required for the thorough pulverizatiou of the ores as the latter are made to pass between the rubbers and cylinders In this case two rubbers are 'used; but one only may beused if deemed desirable, and these may be removed and heavier or lighter-ones used, as the nature of the materials to be acted upon may require. Or, instead of the rubbers being hinged at one end to the arms, they may be rigidly secured, and adjusted'in the'sanle way'to impart any required degree of fineness to the materials to be ground. In. this connection itisproper to state that motionis communicated to the cylinder D from a belt passing around its outer periphery and-thedriving-wheel of some prime motor.

Immediately under the discharge opening or mouth a of the cylinder is arranged and secured to that side of the frame 0 a hopper, E, into which the pulverized and brightened material is discharged. To the lower end of this hopper is secured in any suitable manner a spout, F, that conducts it toja funnel-shaped basin, G, which forms the mouth of the hollow.

the inner one, G, of which is'shaped like an inverted hollow cone,without an opening at' the bottom,and is supported by arms attached to its upper edge on the inside of the outer basin, G, fittingin lips formed on'the latter to prevent its being whirled around with a motion independent of the motion of the basin G; or it may be secured in any other suitable manner,rigidly or otherwise. basin, G, the material from the spout is first discharged, whence it is discharged without being full and made to overflow into theouter basin, G, by the centrifugal force generated from the rotation of the shaft H and the outer basin, to the latter of which it is attached, as

just described.-, These two basins G and G" are both galvanized or coated with mercury, well brightened and polished on their-inner surface, and the inner one, G, on its'outer surface also, so as to'attract such particles of fine gold as may be flowing directlyoverthem on their passage toward the amalgamatingtub I.- By making the inner basin'removable it can be taken out when it becomes coated' with gold or its amalgam to have the gold removed aswell from it as the inside of the outer basin, G. :1 In the same way and for thesame purpose the amalgamating-tub I may also be coated .with mercury and brightly polished,

and the gold amalgam removed therefrom when sufiicie'ntl-y coated.

On the lower end'of the hollow shaft H,and which is supported -in bearings formed in a removable double cross-beam, J, attached to the outer edge of the upper end of the tub I in any suitable manner, aresecuredthree disks,

man, undo, the one above the other and at short dist'ancesapart, the uppermost (m) and largest and lowest (0) and smallest of which are provided with curved-or straight radiating arms 8 on their under side,for the purpose of forcing out the water-diluted oreaud. mixing 'it with the quicksilver after its passage downthrough the hollow shaft, .the whole of the disks for this purpose and the wings on the upper being entirely submerged beneath and among the mercury conta'inediu the bottom of the tubl. The middle disk, n, consists ofa perforatedv disk or wire-gauze properly strengthened with arms on its upper'side, so as to mix the ore more thoroughly with the mercury by causing it to pass through its openings or meshes in fine streams, and thus not only retard but prevent its passage-upward in a body. On the upper side of the disk m are secured arms or Wings 1; for'still further continuing the mixing process of the ore and mercury. Motion is communicated to thesed/isks as armed through the shaft H by means of atpulley, M, keyed fast to the lat ter, round which passes a belt from the driv- Iuto the inner ing-wheel of the engine, the basins G and G receiving at the same time and from the same source a revolving motion for the purpose of retarding,"spreading, and attenuating the diluted ore over their mercurially-galvanized surface.

The operation is as follows: The mercury is first placed in the tub I to a depth sufficient to submerge the disks m, 'n, and 0 and arms 12, and, if necessary, some inches above the latter, after which, and motion being commu nieated as well to the cylinder D as the hollow shaft H of the amalgamatingtub I, the ore (in a powdered condition from some other pulverizing-machine, but requiring to be still further reduced or comminuted and mixed with water to a thin consistency) is then fed slowly into the cylinder 1) through the feedopening at the neck a, and there subjected to the grinding and rubbing action of the cyl-inder and rubbers 11., passing during this action from the feed end of the cylinder to its discharge end, where it flows over and falls into the hopper chamber or mouth E of the spout F, and thence through the latter discharged into the inner cone-shaped basin G, whence it is again discharged by centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of the latter into the funnel or mouth G ofthehollow shaft H,down and through which it is conducted to within a short distance of the bottom of the tub and beneath the mercury, where it is discharged by hydrostatic pressure and the aid of the arms 8 on the lower disk, 0, which, being rapidly rotated by centrifugal force, force it outward through the mercury to the outer periphery of bat disk. At this stage of the operation, the specific gravity of the ore and water being much less than that of the mercury, they are forced upward by the latter through the openings of the perforated plate or disk or meshes of the wire-gauze a in fine streams, and thus thoroughly mixed and incorporated with the mercury. Still ascending, they come within thesphcrc of action of the arms 8, secured to the lower side of the upper disk, in, and by them forced out toward theinner periphery of the tub, between which and edge of the disk at they escape above, but still through the mercury, and are again subjected to the agitating and mixing influences of the wings or armsp, secured on the upper side of the disk in, until they are finally ejected from the mercury,leaving behind the precious metals in an a-i'nalgamated condition with the iner( -ury. As the water and dirt (powdered ores, &c.) accumulate in the tub above the mercury, theyare allowed to pass off through openings or cocks, suitably arranged in the sides for that purpose, as rapidly as they accumulate, care being taken not to arrange them too high above the upper surface of the mercury, because of the increased resistance that would flow from their accumulation to the descent of the ore and water through the hollow shaft, unless the latter was correspondingly elongated. By this method of submitting the orcs containing precious metals to the mercury they are subjected to a. more thorough search than has been heretofore practicable, and enable me to obtain a much larger percentage of them from the same ore.

This apparatus may he used either in connection with cold water as the menstruum or dilutent of the ore, or with boiling, for which purpose a furnace or steam may be used for imparting the heat, a particular description of which it is not deemed necessary to give, as it forms no part of my present invention, and hegeintended to be patented.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the rotating cylinder D with the adjustable swinging rubber 71, both being arranged, constructed, and operated in the manner substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In connection with these the hopperEand spout l",thedouble funnel-shaped basinsG and (.t', hollow shaft 11, disks in, n, and 0, as provided with arms 8 and p, and tub I, the whole being arranged, constructed, and operated in the manner substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In combination with the basins G and G, or their equivalents, and hollow shaft H, through which the'ores to be amalgamated are passed and fed into the mercury, the arrangement of aseries of disks, m, n, and o, the upper and lower ones of which are arms or st-irrers and the middle one with perforations, the whole being submerged in mercu ry, and operating in the mannersubstantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of Hay, A. D. 1862.

(J. H. GRIFFIN.

Witnesse Enwm Ivnsox, I), 121cm ans.

provided with

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