US613494A - Gold-washing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

No. 6l3,494. Patented Nov. I, I898. e. H. CHICK.

GOLD WASHING APPARATUS.

(Apph at on fll dAp 21 1898.\

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES GEORGE H. CHICK, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF GUSTAV ZANDER, OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA.

PATENT OFFICE.

GOLD-WASHING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,494, dated November 1, 1898.

A li ti fil a April 21, 1898. Serial No- 6'78,8Z9. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,GEORGE H. CHIOK,a citi-. zen of the United States, residing at Oakland, county of Alameda, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Gold-Washing Apparatus; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to apparatus for saving gold. 4 It is especially designed to be used by prospectors and those operating in a small Way in washing out gold from the sand and earth with which it may be found mixed.

It consists of the parts and the constructions and combinations of parts which I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a lateral section on line as a; of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the riffles.

In the devices which are ordinarily used by miners and prospectors for working auriferous sand and gravel in comparatively small quantities the pan and the rocker have been prominent, the latter being capable of working considerable quantities of material at a charge; but the objection to this device is that the material must be worked in charges, the rocking operation serving to gradually separate the sand and lighter material from the gold, which settles to the bottom, and after a certain time the whole work must be stopped and the device be cleaned up, thus making considerable delay.

My invention is designed to provide a continuously-working apparatus in which the work need not cease, the clean-ups being made without stopping the work. The construction as here shown consists of a framework A, of any suitable or desired construction or material, having the upper side timbers inclined at a considerable angle from one end to the other. Between these sides a sluice B is supported by resting upon small balls or rollers, C, which lie in grooves or channels in transverse timbers on the main frame and corresponding coincident grooves or channels made upon timbers in the bottom of the sluice, so that the sluice may be oscillated from side to side within the exterior framework A without giving it the tilting motion which is the essential feature in the operation of a rocker. Within the sluice B are fitted a series of plates D, extending successively from one end to the other of the sluice, so that when in place they form a practically supplemental bottom upon the main bottom of the sluice. Each of these plates D has at the lower enda transverse riflie E, and the plates are covered with a silvered or amalgamated metal plate F. Upon the top of each of the riffles E and extending toward the upper end of the inclined sluice are the metal plates G, which project over the metallic plates F and essentially parallel with them, thus forming inclosed chambers beneath the plates Gand on the upper side of the riffles E. With this construction each of the plates D, with its gold-saving bottom F and inclosed chamber and riftle G, may be removed independently of any of the others, and by having a surplus section to replace the one removed the operation can be carried on continuously while the removed riffle is being cleaned up ready to be again returned. This enables me to make a continuous operation instead of an interrupted one, and much more work can be completed than when there are delays for the purpose of cleaning up.

Above the first riffle, at the uppermost end of the sluice, is a screen H. Upon the upper end of the sluice is supported a receiving-box I, made with the lower edges of the sides inclined to coincide with the inclination of the sluice and the front and back ends correspondingly made, so as to form the box. Within this box is an inclined screen J, which may extend above and parallel with the screen H or transversely of the sluice.

I prefer to make the box I in two parts, the upper part being removable, as shown.

At the discharge end of the screen J is fixed a gate K, hinged in line with the lower edge of the screen, and this gate is turned up into a vertical position, thus forming a closure for that side of the receiving-box I as long as it is desired to retain the material. in the box above the screen. Whenever it is desired to discharge this coarser material, the gate K is let down to stand at an incline approximating that of the screen J, and the material previously retained upon the screen will then pass out over the inclined chute K. If this chute is arranged at the side of the box I, it will discharge upon one side of the apparatus; but in some cases it is found preferable to connect it with the front, in which case the screen J will then incline in the direction of the incline of the chute B, and when the plate K is let down it will be so disposed as to discharge the material'over the lower end of the chute.

The operation will then be as follows: The material being delivered into the receiver or box I falls upon the screen J, and as the box partakes of the shaking motion given to the sluice B or chute the material will be agitated upon the screen, the finer particles falling through upon the screen H and the coarser particles being retained until such time as the gate K is opened, when they, too, may be discharged. During their retention they can be carefully examined, and if there are any particles of gold too large to pass through the screen they may then be separated from the worthless gravel by hand. Material falling through the screen J upon the screen H, which is finer, is subjected to a second separation, so that the finer gold will fall upon the uppermost of the amalgamated plates F and with it any fine worthless material. The agitation, together with the supply of water which is allowed to flow continuously through the sluice, will separate the dirt and worthless particles, which will flow over the riffle into the next successive compartment and so on. Any gold and heavy valuable material will either be amalgamated upon the plate F or will settle into the pocket beneath the plate G, which projects from the upper edge of the rifiies E, and inspection will show when this riffle is sufliciently charged to make it necessary to remove the section for the purpose of cleaning up.

The material which passes over the screen H falls into the second section of the rifiie and a separation of any gold contained in this portion will occur in this and the succeeding riffles, the object of the supplemental screen II being to subdivide the work, so that not all the material needs to pass through all of the rifiies. This subdivision may be carried to any desired extent by means of screens of difierent degrees of fineness, each discharging into one section of the rifiles.

The shaking motion of the sluice B may be produced in any suitable or desired manner.

This apparatus being small and intended as a hand apparatus is here shown as provided with a crank or eccentric shaft L, having upon one end a sprocket-wheel M, around which passes a chain N. The chain also passes around a second sprocket-wheel O of sufficiently larger size so that when it is turned by means of a crank P or other suitable device or mechanism the necessary speed will be given to the crank or eccentric shaft L. This shaft may have upon its end an cecentric or crank having any suitable or desired throw, which may also be made adjustable, if desired, and by means of a pitinan Q, connecting with a lug R upon the bottom of the table B, the necessary oscillation is produced, but no rocking motion.

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

1. In a gold-washin g apparatus, the combination of a supporting-frame, a chute mounted at an incline thereon and comprising a main bottom having a stop or abutment at its lower end and a supplemental bottom formed of independent removable sections resting upon the main bottom and abutting endwise with the lowermost section abutting against said abutment or bar, each of said sections having a transverse riflie-bar at its lower end, a superposed amalgamated plate, and a plate fixed to the upper portion of the transverse riffle and projecting upwardly to form a chamber between itself and the amalgamated plate.

2. In a gold-washing apparatus having an inclined sluice composed of a main bottom and asupplemental bottom formed of sections abutting endwise and each provided with an amalgamated plate and retaining-chamber, a receiving-box at the upper end of the sluice, having an inclined screen by which the coarser material is first separated from the finer, and a second screen at the head of the sluice and directly over the uppermost section, and inclined in the direction of the length of the sluice, whereby the material is again subdivided, said box having a section hinged along one side so that it may be let down. in line with the screen to discharge the coarser material exterior to the sluice.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE II. CHICK. Witnesses:

S. II. NOURSE, JEssIE C. BRODIE.

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