The Clifton clarion., 1889-08-14

| of S-4 Of an inch to IA inches to the foot. The table is generally made about II to 20 feet ia diameter, and is furnished with spout or l2under all round its periphery 50 that tue waste water and lightest sands are carried of ct once. The mode of working this baddle differs from that of the Aat bnddlc, in that. iu tho one tie separation is all effected by hand and requires long experience. where ns in the round stationary puddle, the ! pulp is fed from box which is re- volyed by suitable machinery. The distributing box. in inc course of its revolutions. deposits at the head of ! the cone or table continuous stream ! of fine ore and sand with water The i inclination of the table has the ten ! dency to cause this stream ;o flow to the lower edge, but as the water and sand naturally flow faster than the ore, the result is that the light sands go further down the incline than the heavier ore. This explains the first part of the process, but as the separa- ton is still imperfect, it is helped out by using perforated water pipes which radiate from the cone center. These pipes there are generally three), throw Q series of fine jets on the ore and sand accumulated on the table and assist the pulp stream in carrying of the sand, and as the pipes are carried around by the same ma chinery which carries the distributing box it will be readily seen that all the surface of the table is exposed to the action of these jets. To further as- sist i'll the separation, there is also set of arms, to the lower side of which arc attached broad strips of flannel or blanket, in such manner that, &s the arms revolyc, the edge of the blanket just touches the ore on the table, slightly rufiies it, and leaves it in fit condition to be attacked by the water jets which follow.
 The ore being fed in continuous stream, and the sands being only partially removed. the effect is to gradually amass a heavy body of ore on the table. As that portion of the mass which is nearest the apex of the cone or head of the table is the heav- fest, and that portion at the base Of the cone the lightest, it follows that, as the mass of ore and sand accumu- lates on the table the slope is gradu- ally changed, the heavy ore on the upper part of the table gaining gradu- ally in height, whilst the sand at the lower end remain almost as at the first start of the machine.
 From what has already been said on the subject it will readily be un- derstood, that, the fact of the heavier ore particles accommodating at the head of the table and thereby altering the slope, all the conditions which were at the first starting of the machine considered as necessary to a first class separation are thereby changed slowly but surely.
 AS, by the accumulation of ore at the head of the table, the slope is gradually increased, should the supply of clear water be main- tained constant, the ore itself would begin to seek lower level on the table and would gradually flow downwards until it was so mixed with the sands that no separation would be possible. To obviate this difficulty the clear water supply is so arranged that it is completely under the control of the workman, and the blanket brushes arc so set on the arms that they can be raised or lowered at will and.set at the proper angle to suit the inclination of the ore bed on the table. This style of puddle, while it does more work in a given time with less labor than the flat puddle, does not do it so well. but it is almost always better to handle large quantities of pulp with lit tie loss than small quantities perfect ly; because the loss caused by the expense incurred ih treatment, gener- ally more than counterbalances the gain in product. In some instances, the concentrated pulp is removed from the puddle automatically, but in most cases it is removed by hand. First, the clean concentrate is remov- ed to the bin; second, the "mid- dlings," or that part which assumed