The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-28 00:00:00

Mr. Mills, of the Fox Hole Collieries, near Swansea,

exhibits a model, descriptive of an invention of his, for
the purpose of opening and closing the doors which are
used in the galleries of mines, by the aid of which
he proposes to obviate the necessity of employing boys
for the purpose. The object is effected by a
reversion of levers, which arc so attached to the doors that
the carriages close the door through which they have just
passed at the same time that they open the one through
which they are to pass. The levers act the same whichever
way the carriages are going. This arrangement has been
adopted in the collieries of C. 11. Smith, Esq., of Llans-
amlet, for the last two years with satisfactory results. After
the ores have undergone a rough process of picking in the
mine., to separate the pieces of rock and other matter which
are not of any use it is still necessary that they should be sub-
jected to some more effectual method of purification
before they arc fit for smelting. The way in which this is
done with many ores is to reduce them to powder while a
current of water is running more or less rapidly over them,
which carries the whole away in the form of a fine mud.
This is made to traverse a long series of channels, called the
labyrinth, and sometimes is passed through sieves or
ratings. In its passage the metallic particles are first
deposited, in consequence of their superior density,
while the lighter earthy matters are washed away.
The machines which were formerly used for puddling
the ore consisted of a series of wooden pillars, armed at the
lower end with a heavy lump of iron, and having projecting
erns about their middle, these were arranged perpen-
dicularly in a wooden framework, at the side of which was
fixed an axle, on the surface of which were arms placed in
such a way as to come in contact with an equal number
of those on the stompers, and thus to raise them
in succession. The ore was placed in a trough under
the stampers, powdered, and washed away to the chan-
nek and vats for separation. The axles nro turned
I either by hand or water lower—in some cases by steam.
Mr. Husking exhibits a reversing apparatus for stamping
machinery, by which the handle may be turned either way
in order to move the stamps : it has also the advantage of
giving a better purchase over the machine. Latterly these
machines have been partially superseded by crushing
rollers, which arc far superior. Oac of these is erected at
the Tywanihaile Mines, in Cornwall, the property of his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. A model of it is ex-
hibited by Mr. Taylor. The cylinders are made of har-
dened cast-iron, and are either plain or fluted—the latter
for breaking the larger and harder fragments.
The ores arc brought in waggons on a tram-road to the
machine, and are then shot into the hopper which feeds
the cylinders. One of these cylinders is fixed, the other
moveable, so that the fineness of the powder to which the
ore is reduced may be regulated by their distance. By
means of a weighted lever attached to the moveable cylin-
der a slight liberty of moans is allowed, so that any very
hard lump may pass through without stopping the ma-
chine or damaging the cylinders. After being crushed
the ore falls into a cylindrical Rive called a shak-
ing trunk, which is kept continually rotating ; the
fine part fulls into a trough, by which it is shot into a
waggon, and conveyed on another tram-road to a large re-
servoir, into which it is thrown. Several currents of water
rat upon it here from a canal at the top. It is here stirred
up, and run through sluices into another cylindrical seise,
which separates the rough pieces from the smaller, the lat-
ter is run by water through a long channel into a trough,
*here it is agitated by arms fixed on an axle. This is re-
peated several tunes, with some modifications, until the ore
Is sufficiently purified.
Every part of this machine is moved by the same power.
It crushes and washes the ore more rapidly and cheaply than
say other. It is capable of crushing and sifting 20 tons of
the best ore fit for sale in one hour, at a cost of lid. per ton,
10 tons of &age ore in the same time, at a cost of 21d. per
ton, or 10 tons of halvans at 30. per ton.
Four tons of drags ore jigged by thin machine produce
one ton of clean ore worth 31. 17s. 6d. at a cost of 10d.
Eight tons of halvans ore shaken by the circular sieve in one
hour, or 60 tons per day by a boy to regulate the supply of
water and ore, at 4d. per day; one-half this quantity is
rough grained, which is washed by a self-acting tye,
iravaged by the same boy, and is afterwards jigged at a
Instal 7s. Gel. the thirty tons, producing one ton of clean
OM worth 31. ; of the remaining thirty tons three-fourths is
seaall grained ore, which runs from the shaking tank to the
circular huddle, and is cleaned by twice huddling at a cost
lof about one shilling in the pound. The other fourth part
Is slime, of which it takes twenty tons to make one ton of
clean ore at a cost of 2s. 6d. in the pound.
Messrs. Boyd and Hunt exhibit respectively two machines
fur washing minerals. The practical use of the latter is
proved by the fact of the inventor having edit tined 350,000
francs worth of silver and lead by its usc, from the debris of
the old mine of Pont Peen.