The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-08-27
]. n. HYDE DISCUSSES
HOTAT|0M PROCESS
HOW PRINCIPLE WAS DISCOVER.
EDITS IMPORTANCE IN
TREATMENT OF ORE.

'The flotation process for cOncen-
trating the minerals Of ores is open to
the use Of the public in all Of Its
broader aspects" said James M. Hyde
in Salt Lake few days ago. In dis
cussing the decision handed down in
his favor recently by the United
states circuit court Of appeals Of San
Francisco The case had been brought
against Mr.. Hyde by the Minerals
Separation. Limited, and the Minerals
Separation American Syndicate. Linn
tied, companies. on claims that he had
infringed on their patent rights. Mr..
Hyde had installed fotation process
for the Butte & Superior Copper Com
pany, Limited, which process was in
successful operation at the time Of the
suit.
In discussing the process Mr.. Hyde
said:
Discovered by School Teacher.
1.-THE flotati0n process, In practical
" all of its broader aspects. was dis
covered by Miss Carrie J. Everson, a
Colorado school teacher, and was pat
ented by her. That was in 1885. She
had q brother in Denver who was an
assayer and one day while engaged In
washing sample sacks that he was
about to throw away she accidentally
made the discovery She, of course,
was endowed with the usual keen OBJ
servation Of the western school teach-
er, and while engaged in washing the
sample sacks in a wasbtub sha notic-
ed that the sulphide minerals rose to
the top Of the tub in the suds and
floated there. She must have been
very fair chemist for in determining
what caused the metal particles to
float she came to the conclusion that
It was the oil with which the sample
sacks had been soiled. Haynes had
made this same discovery a number
of years before but Miss Everson car
ried her work of investigation farther.
She found that acid added in small
quantities to the pulp increased the
selective action Of oil and also that OIL
ed mineral could be separated from
the gangue. material by giving the
mass agitation and, allowing the sui
phides to float to the surface while
the eangue escaped at the bottom of
the vessel
"As Hoover says, would have you
note that this flotation process which
I firmly believe Is destined to revolu-
tionize the mining industry, was dis
covered by feminine trait of charac-
ter. No male assayer would think OF
such thing as washing a greasy sam
ole sack. If he can't clean them by
shaking the dust out of them he gen.
erally throws them into the furnace
and buys a new batch.
Process Applied Commercially.
1.-THE real commercial application OF
the process was due to the fact tnat
millions Of tons of zinc middlings. run
ming as high as 20 per cent, but un-
treatable by the water concentrating
methods because the material contain
ed so much garnet Of practically the
same specific gravity as the zinc blende
were accumulated At the lead mills IN
the Broken Hill country Of Australia,
This accumulation of such material
stood as challenge to the metallur-
sical world. The first successful COM
mercial process for the treatment OF
this material was invented and applied
nv Potter at the Broken Hill mills. His
process consisted in adding the mid
dlings to a hot solution containing
about per cent of sulphuric acid
Carbon dioxide gas was involved by
the action of the acid on the ore anc
this gas enveloped the metallic par
ticles, causing them to float to the TOP
and make a good grade OF concen-
trates.
NEARLY every small boy has CREASED
a needle and mystihed his friends by
causing It to float on the water The
trick. II I remember It correctly, was
in placing the needle on the waite.
gently enough. If the boy had had
some means of causing an envelope
OF air to encase the needle he could
have done the same thing 1t was but
a natural step in the Potter process
to apply the principles which Miss
Everson had evolved for the treat
ment Of this class of ore and those
who made the obvious application OF
her process in order to get monopoly
which they claimed to be revolution
airy in nature took out patents about
which since has centered the litiga-
ton against myself and the Butte Su-
perior company and which has since
been disposed of.
Clear and Final Decision.
"The fight that the Butte Superior
company and have carried on for the
past three years has resulted IN an
unusually clear and final decision
which throws the broader aspects OF
the flotation process open to the pub
lie and confirms us in all Of our con-
tentions that the public had right to
Use the process. might say how
ever, that there are number Of i'm
provement patents which may or may
not have a certain degree Of validity