Patent ID: 8673126
Filing Date: 2014-03-18
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A dynamic precious metal assay device which comprises the components of: a casing assembly with electrical junctions; a disposable replaceable cartridge assembly which is inserted into said casing assembly and a top cap which seals said disposable replaceable cartridge assembly into said casing assembly; a porous cap assembly which contains a reference electrode that is joined to said electrical junctions of said casing assembly and porous perforations on the lower extremity of said porous cap with said porous cap assembly being attached to the lower extremity of said casing and contiguous to the electrolyte exit channel of said inserted disposable replaceable cartridge assembly so as to receive the metered manually ejected electrolyte; an electrically conducting test specimen held against porous perforations on the bottom extremity of said porous cap and wetted by said electrolyte and thereby forming a small galvanic cell with said porous cap assembly; and external electronics containing control and readout circuitry capable of pulsing an electric current from said reference electrode through said electrolyte to said wetted test specimen and said readout circuitry having means to interpolate the ensuing electric discharge of said galvanic cell in terms of gold karats; whereby the device is capable of electronically analyzing a gold test specimen in terms of karat alloy located at the manually ejecting electrolyte and wetting contact point between said test specimen and said porous cap which retains electrolyte by surface tension within the well defined geometry of said galvanic cell.