The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-06

OUARrZ CRUSHING MACHINE
NJ AsruR HoueR York Dee. 4 16A2


Asroa HOUSE, New Yort, Dec. !, 1852;
Jossph L Lord Esq., President ofths Phoenix Gold Min
mee acting in behalf II your Board Of Directors in the
examination OF my gold quartz pulverizer and smalgs
beg Of you the favor no, deemed inconsistent with
the interests OF the company to furnish copy of the
same with permission to publish otherwIe TO use it
for my benefit. Very truly yours, &c. H. BsRDAN.
Oyr1eE or pHmyrx MINING Co., I
No. q Wall street, January q 1862 I
II. Berdan Esq-lear Sir On consultation with
several members Of board, not only feel no OBJ
lection to furnishing you copy of the report which
you your the st ult but II seems TO us
only act Of justice to but or general interest
to the public, to make the facts in relation your
valuable invention generally known 1t is certain that
very large Of capital attracted by the enormous
profits which quartz mining, in California especially,
WIN no ~ smr Yasns
heretofore made and 1t cannot b. to the interest of
any one that capital should be either wholly or
partially lost In order that the report, which here
with send you, may have the weight TO which 1T Is
entitled, it may be well for me to observe, that
who have given considerable attention to mining
and inventions connected Herewith and that WIN. j. Cut
ting especially the superintendent OF company under
whose direction the was conducted gen
eman extensively known for his great experience and
cess In practical mining operations Indeed siderable
portion Of stock taken with good
fortune OF the company in securing him to take charge
Of our works at Grass Valley Allow me to conclude by
expressing the hope that you WILL through ready ap
probation OF your ingenious invention and the sale Of
your machines receive appropriate dividend of the
golden Hoods with which II seems you doing much
to nundate the WORLD for ii your invention Is that it
appears to be, it will have the most important results
1t Is obvious that improvement which should double
the facilities of mining for the precious mells must
seriously other affairs OF the whole world
JOS L. LORD Pres't Of Phoenix Gold Mining Co.
To the Directors of the Phoenix Gold Mining Company>
The undersigned having completed their examination of
and contracts for such as they have finally
determined on, in doing which they have made certain
important changes report as follows-n the execution
of duties considered 1t incumbent to inform
ourselves thoroughly of the points which the companys
interests required TO be secured and then Of the best
luo. tto;, Tho. VIZ
that stimulated by the prospect Of immense augmen
tation gold quartz mining business the inventors
during the last year and half to the mprovementIof
crushers and anaumators extent heretofore
examined for breaking puiverzng and matchmaking,
until in the midst Of conflicting claims, and feeling that
nothing was safe that had not been thoroughly tested
processes heretofore used. These stampers, for
breaking the rock into small pebbles, the cumbrous Chi
liam mill for grndngi it. and separate process for ANAL
gamaton and accordingly announced this determ
ton to the Board and was Published in the pamphlet
issued by the shareholders The proportion of the gold
saved usually by these processes Is from twenty to thirty
per cent of the amount usually contained in the rock.
We had machincry of this kind well under way hav
ing entered into contracts, authorized BY you
ing to twelve thousand dollars when the invention Of
brought to attention, which were informed pro-
fessed to grind the quartz with great rapdty do the
amagamating and to extract positively all the gold BY
examination and testing of Mr. Berans machine at the
Novelty Works where we found that Messrs. stlinan,
various orders for zinc and gold mining compa-
MES. The result las been that have chang
tracts, and mmcnced upon tie plan Of using Mr.
Berdans basin and ball machine exclusively The
mttee first witnessed operation upon gold bearing
quarafrom minc in Virginia, in which gold could be
seen with the naked eye, and which informed has
never paid those who are engaged in WORKING it with
samrers more than one half cent ID Fifty ponds Of
this ore through he mill and the rc'alt
ST 30 worth OF gold, three cents per b., which the
committee were informed was all the gold tlesc in
the rock To satisfy themselves of this important point
they took portion of the rcsduum, technically called
the tangs 10 Messrs. Patt l. Brothers. Maiden lane
and had it rightly assayc Their report that posi-
lively gold could be detected. The comnittcc how.
ever resolved repeat the under stringent
rangements to prevent the possibility Of mistake they
had the machine washed perfectly clean strained the
quicksilver through buckskin put the mere airy in the
machine themselves, ground fifty pounds OF the ore
then strained the quicksilver again. and took out 81 50
worth of pure gold from the analgum. They then
carefully assayed The result the before
The following are the reports Of the assaysrs ,o.
Phoenix Gold Mining Company-Gcntlemen:- The
siduum of gold bearing quartz from Mr. H. Bcrdans gold
your agent left with us ON the 18th instant SAY
has been carefully assayed, and gold to be OBJ
tanned Yours respectfully Nsw yo pTr oS s.'1 5sSs
Ph0nix Gold Mining Company--tien,lcmen:-W have
made careful assay Of the aings from gold quartz left
with the Goth nst TO be assayed from H. erdans
machine and have ascertaned that the gold had all been
extracted, Yours With respect, lI4Tr \ BRoruss.
To enable the Board to understand fully the ground Of
stated above ard the great Importance which we attach
that we should state little in detail the want that ia.
been long felt in this branch Of industry and the
Eetencss with which that want nov seems to be met by
from quartz has not been chiefly in breaking, grinding,
and puerizing the rock. That Is in itself very simple
process, and one which be effected in variety
Of ways with per centage Of difference in the ra
pdity but after the rock is pulverized the great de-
powder This is done by of quicksilver, and by
the process called anagamation, which, however, is
in complete by the old method in its results that not
than from nesixth to third Of the gold is
saved practice shown by the more thorough assay
Of the chemist There is also sort o. @ IS
account for Quartz ground by one process seemingly
fine that ground by some other yielding on trial
1t is supposed that certain amount Of tortion twist
ing movement coupled with the crushing essential to
dsengage the fine particles of gold which frequently
quite invisible to the naked eye from their bed in the
matrix of stone The attention of the committee
drawn several distinct new inventions for amagama
ting sngly which seemed to promise much greater sue
in this branch of the process than those originally in
We proposed adding them, to some extent, to our
in their efficiency to substitute them for the old method
entirely Mr. Berdans machine seems however, to us to
tions after the rock Is partially broken by stamp
ers, to the complete separation OF the last par
it hoped be found sufficiently Ineligible. The pull
verizer and anag hator consisted OF cast iron BASIN
five feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep The
perniiery Of the basin turns in circle of twenty
inches This basin is secured to wrought iron
shaft, which stands at an angle Of about 70 degrees
from perpendicular line, compelling the basin to re-
volye in tilted inclined position, keeping one side
about 20 inches lower than the other. This basin sur
mounts conical funnels haped cast iron furnace
the smallest and lower end resting collar on the
shaft the step In the lowest side OF the basin is
placed castiron ball "a inches in diameter weighing
2 600 pounds. This basin is revolved with the shaft
and furnace in this inclined position, by applying the
power by gearing which cast on the under side OF
the basin When the basin commences to rotate the
ball rcvolves by it's own gravity constantly remaining
at the lowest point in the basin the ball just fitting
the BASIN produces beautiful grinding effect, Qrom
the fact that the ball has double motion, rolling and
spiral motion, which brushes and grnds at the same
tme) The quicksilver is placed in the inclined ba
of the ball. and is kept partially warmed by the fur
underneath the BASIN to increase its affinity Tor
the gold The ore is first broken up to about the size
of shot by sapers which in separate frame, and
placed slight elevation above the basin, so as to use
spouts TO conduct the and water in the BASIN The