US520847A - Gold-amalgamating machine - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

. P. E. GAFFRON.

GOLD AMALGAMATING MACHINE No. 520,847. Patented June 5, 1894.

J-IDUQCJIJZVOJV1 vQM fi ra Skw.

- city of Denver,

PATENT OFFICE.

PHILLIP EMIL GAFFRON, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

.GOLD-AMALGAMATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,847,

dated June 5, 1894.

Application filedDecember 5,1892. Serial mataosv. (NomodeL) To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILLIP EMIL GAFFRON, a citizen of the United States, residing at the in the county of Arapahoe, in the State of Colorado, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gold-Amalgamating Machines, and according to my knowledge andbelief the same has not been in public use or on sale in the United States for more than two years prior to this application or at all; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

Thisinvention relates to and is intended for the amalgamation and accumulation of gold which maybe contained in a stream of water flowing through a sluice box or flume.

The object of my invention is to enable a person working gold ore in a sluice box or flume to gather and accumulate that portion of the gold ore or gold itself which is commonly denominated and termed by the minors to be float gold and which in ordinary sluice boxes or flumes is so light and small in particle that it does not precipitate to the bottom and amalgamate with the quicksilver usually deposited in sluice boxes or flumes.

This invention is most particularly intended and designed for the use of miners or persons operating stamp mil-ls.

Figure 1, is a perspective view of a portion of my invention. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section of the wheel. Fig. 3, is a longitudinal section of the wheel with the paddles removed. Fig. 4, is aside elevation, partly in section showing a portion of the [ionic containing the wheel.

The amalgamator is an undershot water Wheel, set in a flume or sluice box. It has paddles or flanges with their outer ends at the circumference of the wheel, bent one side forward and parallelwiththe circumference of the wheel and the other side bent back oppositely but inclining toward the center of the wheel. The wheel has both ends closed. There is a central cylinder around and on which the paddles are fastened. This forms aseries of chambers or boxes open at the circumference but so formed that they retain the mercury during the rotations of the Wheel. As each chamber passes the point in its rotations where the outer opening is facing downward the mercury is retained by the upper or right hand flange at the circumference, it being bent or projecting toward the center of the wheel and hence upward; as it passes onto the right and the said flange becomes horizontal the mercury will flow out and be caught by the under or left hand flange at the circumference of the wheel because it has then passed to and under the point of overflow and catches the mercury and it is retained in the box, the last mentioned or under flange having reached a point where it, being parallel with the circumference, points from the end of the paddle in an upward direction. When the upper or the right hand flange has passed to the point where it is level or horizontal and would allow the flow of the mercury the lower or the left hand flange has passed to the point where it lies underneath the end of the right hand flange and at an angle pointing upward from the end of the paddle to the right and along the circumference and hence it retains the mercury until the box reaches in turn the top of the wheel where the mercury is again shifted to the othcrside of the chamber or box.

The'object is accomplished by placing the wheel shown in the drawings by Fig. 1, marked A in the sluice box as shown in Fig. 1. The ends of the wheel are removable for cleaning purposes and are fastened by a rod run through the center of the wheel and fastened by a nut upon each end. The force of the water passing through the flume causes the wheel to revolve and each of the chambers contain mercury and are successively brought in contact with and filled with liquid. The chambers are made of or are lined with copper. The flume is made of wood and the riffles are made of copper. The water containing ore, tailings from a stamp mill or dirt washed from a placer mine contains in sus pension fine or what the miners term float gold, flows through the box and it is all brought in contact with the mercury, amalgamated and saved. Frequently the float gold is too IOD light and fine to be precipitated to the mercury lying among the rifiies at the bottom of a sluice box and is carried away and lost. lhis device can be used in any sluice box or fiume at a placer mine or where the tailings of a mill are carried off.

In Fig. 1, the wheel is seen placed in the flume.

In Fig. 2, A A are rubber gasket making C is the rod. E which the paddles F are attached.

Fig. 3 represents the wheel detached.

I am aware that prior to my invention gold was amalgamated with mercury by means of rifiles. I claim nothing by the broad principle of amalgamation, but

the ends. D is a the ends water tight. is the cylinder upon What I do claim for my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The combination with a flume or a sluice box of a rotary wheel mounted therein, said wheel being provided with paddles having at their outer ends oppositely projecting flanges forming open boxes of such shape that when rotated by the flow of liquid in the dome, they will retain a charge of mercury placed therein and bring it in contact with the pulp.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention as my own Iaffix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PHILLIP EMIL Witnesses:

A. ll. BAKER,

JAMES A. CHENY.

GAF F RON.

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