APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING OR SEPARATING MATRICES, SLIMES, AND TAILINGS."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Wray, of Ramsgate, in the County of
Kent, Gentleman, for the Invention of
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING OR SEPARATING
MATRICES, SLIMES, AND TAILINGS."
"IMPROVED METHODS OF AND
METALS FROM THEIR ORES,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Wray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th July 1868.
I, LEONARD WRAY, of Ramsgate, in the County of Kent Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this Invention for "IMPROVED METHODS
OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING OR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES.
MATRICES, SLIMES, AND TAILINGS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of "Improved Methods of and Apparatus for Obtaining
or Separating Metals from their Ores, Matrices, Slimes, and Tailings,"
relates to that class of metals which require to be pulverized or reduced
to powder in order to separate the metallic from the earthy particles
[Price 6d.]

page_text: either by washing as in the case of tin and some other of the com-
moner metals, or by amalgamation as in the case of the precious metals.
My improved apparatus for effecting these objects consists of three
distinct and separate classes of machinery, the first of which has for
its object to crush up the ore and the second to triturate the ore or
substance containing the metal until it is reduced to an almost
impalpable powder.
The first machine consists of three or more grooved rollers, two of
which are arranged to gear into each other, and the third is placed
above and rests on the lower ones and by its weight crushes the ore,
which in a divided state passes down to the other two, where it is
ground or crushed up small, after which it passes through a balling
machine to the triturating machine. In this triturating machine or
apparatus the operation of amalgamation may be carried on simul-
taneously with trituration, and therefore I denominate it my improved
triturating and amalgamating apparatus. This triturating machine
consists of a barrel or hollow cylinder provided externally with pro-
jecting grooves, hoops, flanges, rings, or other analogous devices which
will admit of the cylinder or barrel being placed on and rolled along
a railway for the purpose hereafter explained. An opening is made
in one end of the cylinder or barrel for the purpose of obtaining access
to the interior, also a suitable opening or openings for charging or
discharging the machine. Inside this cylinder or barrel is placed a
heavy cylindrical or spherical roller which may be either plain, serrated,
or grooved on the surface for more effectually acting upon and grinding
up or triturating the substance to be operated upon. The internal
surface of the cylinder or barrel must be made to conform to the shape
of the roller, whether spherical, cylindrical, or otherwise.
I sometimes employ cylinders or barrels whose section in the direction
of the axis will be concave or semicircular, and in this semicircular
space I place one, two, or more heavy balls or spherical rollers which
correspond in form to the internal shape of the cylinder.
By this
construction of parts a powerful grinding or triturating action is
obtained when the barrels or cylinders are made to roll along the
railway. A very desirable form is to make the inner roller with deep
V-grooves throughout its entire length. Corresponding V-grooves are
made on the internal surface of the rotating barrel or cylinder so that
as the latter is rolled forward the V-grooves of the roller working in

page_text: the V-grooves or serrations of the cylinder will grind and triturate the
mineral substance contained, and will thus reduce it to an impalpable
powder. Instead of employing only one or two large and heavy rollers
I sometimes make use of a large number of small iron balls. These
will also grind or triturate the substance. When operating upon
auriferous or argentiferous ores the cylinder is supplied with mercury
or mercury amalgam, and in certain cases a series of amalgamated
metallic discs on a shaft may be also fitted inside the cylinder so that
the metallic particles may be more speedily taken up and secured.
Any number of these triturating and amalgamating barrels or cylinders
may be placed on a circular or other railway constructed for the purpose,
and rolled along it either by hand labor, animal, steam, or other suitable
power. In Mexico and other countries where animal power abounds
mules or horses may be harnessed to one, two, or more of the barrels
or cylinders and made to draw them forward on the railway, and in
so doing the rollers inside the barrels or cylinders will grind or triturate
the substance to be operated upon, and this will be effected with a
much less expenditure of power than if the barrels were mounted on
shafts and turned thereon in the ordinary manner. When steam power
is available I prefer to employ a small locomotive engine which will
draw or propel along the railway at a moderate speed several of the
barrels or cylinders and will continue so doing until the triturating
and amalgamating operations are completed. I prefer to make the
internal rollers of my triturating machines of iron, and in order to
increase their weight they may be cast hollow and be filled with lead.
The circular railway is provided at convenient places with switches,
turn-outs, or points, so that when the triturating operation is finished
the barrels or cylinders (one or more of them) may be removed from
the railway and other barrels or cylinders placed thereon.
My third machine is a novel construction of amalgamating machine
for separating the metallic particles from a mass of ore that has been
previously reduced to powder in a separate or distinct machine, such
for instance as that just described. or in any other manner.
My improved amalgamating machine consists of a semicircular or
other convenient form of trough or vessel which I prefer to heat by
means of a steam jacket below, and in this vessel is placed a shaft or
avle on which are mounted any number of conner or other metal dises

page_text: gamated or prepared with mercury or amalgam in the well known
manner when treating auriferous and argentiferous ores. A quantity
of mercury is also placed at the bottom of the trough and the disc shaft
is mounted in suitable bearings which if desired may be removeable or
capable of being lifted out with the shaft. Rotary motion is com-
municated to the shaft and the discs thereon by causing a driving roller
to rest on the top edge of the discs and actuating this roller by any
suitable gearing; or motion may be communicated to the disc shaft by
any other eligible means. The triturated substance to be operated upon
in the form of a liquid is placed in the trough, and on imparting rotary
motion to the discs they will agitate this liquid mass, and the metallic
particles contained will adhere to the amalgamated plates or discs or
will be taken up by the mercury at the bottom of the trough.
a greater portion of the fine floating particles which by the ordinary
plan of amalgamation are liable to be carried off by the water and
become lost are by this method brought into contact with the amal-
gamated plates or discs as they rotate and will thus be secured.
All or
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Leonard
Wray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD)
WRAY, of Ramsgate, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Leonard Wray, Her special licence that I,
the said Leonard Wray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Leonard Wray, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED METHODS OF AND APPARATUS

page_text: FOR OBTAINING OR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES, MATRICES, SLIMES.
AND TAILINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Leonard Wray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office on or before the Fifth day
of February, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Leonard Wray, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
My Invention of improved methods of and apparatus for obtaining
or separating metals from their ores, matrices, slimes, and tailings, relates
to that class of minerals, clays, gravels, sands, earthy matters, and con-
glomerates which require to be pulverized or reduced to powder in order
to separate the metallic from the earthy particles, either by washing, as in
the case of tin and other refractory minerals such as auriferous and
argentiferous pyrites, sulphides, or sulphurets, and antimoniates, which
are not easily amenable to amalgamation, or by direct amalgamation as
in the case of certain auriferous and argentiferous substances which are
of a more favourable character.
My improved method of and apparatus for effecting these objects may
be divided into three parts, consisting, firstly, of crushing or grinding;
second, of triturating and amalgamating; and, third. of washing and
amalgamating.
The machine used for the first operation, viz., that of crushing or
grinding, is shewn in the accompanying Drawing at Fig. 1, which is a
vertical sectional view of the principal working parts. The machine
consists of three or more vertically grooved or V-shaped serrated rollers
placed horizontally, the top one gearing into the middle one and the
middle one into the lower or third one, and the ore or other substance to
be ground is fed in between the first and second rollers, then passes down
between the second and third rollers, being thereby ground up very fine,
after which it may be passed through a bolting or sifting machine and

page_text: made ready for being transferred to the triturating and amalgamating
machines. The vertically grooved or V-shaped serrated surfaces of these
rollers may be made in sections and chilled, and then fitted on the rollers
so as to allow of their being readily replaced by others when worn or
damaged.
These triturating machines together with the altogether novel plan of
giving them motion by rolling them along a circular or other railway,
which forms the second part of my Invention, I denominate my improved
triturating and amalgamating machines, as in them the process of
amalgamation may be carried on simultaneously with trituration if so
desired. Three different forms of these triturating machines are shewn in
section in the Drawings at Figures 2, 3, and 4, which in all cases consists
of a metal or wooden barrel or hollow cylinder d, d, provided externally
with one or two projecting grooves, hoops, flanges, rings, or other analogous
devices I, 1, which will admit of the cylinder or barrel being placed on
and rolled along a railway for the purpose hereafter explained. An
opening is made in one or both ends of the cylinder or barrel d for the
purpose of obtaining access to the interior. Suitable openings for
charging and discharging the machine are also provided through one of
the arms and through the circumference of the barrel or cylinder. In
Fig. 2 the cylinder or barrel is divided into three compartments (it may
however consist of two or one only) whose section in the direction of the
axis of the cylinder is concave or semicircular, and in these semicircular
spaces are placed one, two, or more heavy balls or spherical rollers f, f,
which correspond in form to the internal shape of the cylinder. It is
evident, however, that the cylinder, whether of metal or of wood, may be
plain inside, and a number of small balls may be placed therein. By
this construction of parts a powerful grinding or triturating action is
obtained when the barrels or cylinders are made to roll along the railway
as hereafter explained. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4, a
transverse section of a modification of the triturating cylinder or barrel.
In this instance the inner roller f is made of a cylindrical form with
deep V-grooves or serrations throughout its entire length. Corresponding
V-grooves are made in the internal surface of the rotating barrel or
cylinder d so that as the latter is rolled forward the V-grooves of the
roller by working in the V-grooves or serrations of the cylinder will
grind and triturate the mineral substance contained in the cylinder and
will thus reduce it to an impalpable powder. When operating upon

page_text: In
auriferous or argentiferous ores the cylinder may be supplied with mercury
or mercury amalgam, and in certain cases a series of amalgamated
Salt or
metallic discs on a shaft may be also fitted inside the cylinder.
other chemical and metallic substances may be added to the ore stuff
placed in the cylinder, also water hot or cold, so that the metallic particles
may be more speedily taken up and secured by the mercury or mercury
amalgam. Any number of these triturating and amalgamating barrels
or cylinders may be placed on a circular or other railway constructed for
the purpose, as shewn in the plan view, Fig. 5, and side view, Fig. 5*,
and may be rolled along it either by hand labor, animal, steam, or
other suitable power.
Mexico and other countries where animal
power abounds mules, horses, or other animals may be harnessed to one,
two, or more of the barrels or cylinders d and made to draw them
forward on the railway g, and in so doing the triturating rollers f,
Figures 2, 3, and 4, inside the barrels or cylinders d will grind or
triturate the substance to be operated upon, and this will be effected with
a very much less expenditure of power than is required by the ordinary
barrels mounted on axles and rotated in the usual manner. When steam
power is available I prefer to employ a small locomotive engine which
will draw or propel along the railway g at a moderate speed several of
the barrels or cylinders d, d, and will continue so doing as long as may
be desired. I prefer to make the internal rollers f of my triturating
machines of iron, and in order to increase their weight they may be cast
hollow and be filled with lead. The cylinders or barrels themselves may be
made of wood or of metal, and the large iron grooves for the balls, as also
the iron serrations to suit the serrated rollers, and likewise the serrated
surfaces of the rollers may be made in sections and be fitted into their
places, thus providing a simple means whereby these surfaces may be
The circular
replaced by new ones when required from time to time.
railway is provided at convenient places with switches and turn-outs or
points h, so that when the triturating operation is finished the barrels or
cylinders, one or more of them, may be removed from the railway and
other barrels or cylinders placed thereon. As a modification of this
the triturating barrels or cylinders d may be made to run on a single rail
if preferred, in which event they will he provided with only one central
projecting flange, and two cylinders or barreis may be mounted on one
common shaft, as shewn at Fig. 5b, in such a manner that they may
rotate independent of each other and run on separate rails arranged
concentrically or parallel.

page_text: My third apparatus is shewn in longitudinal section at Fig. 6 and
in cross section at Fig. 7. It is a novel construction of amalgamating
and washing machine for separating the metallic particles from sands,
gravels, clays, earthy matters, conglomerates, or from a mass of ore
that has been previously reduced to powder in any other machine, such,
for instance, as either of those just described or in any other manner.
This improved amalgamating and washing machine, which may be
made of wood, metal, or other suitable material, consists of a cylindrical,
semicircular, or other convenient form of barrel, trough, or vessel i,
which may by preference be covered, and which may be heated by means
of the hot air of a steam jacket j below, or by any other suitable means,
and in this vessel is placed a shaft or axle k, on which are mounted any
number of copper or other metal or metallized discs 1, 1, 1, the surfaces
of which may be plain or corrugated (corrugated by preference) and are
to be prepared by being first thoroughly cleansed, and then the clean
surface may be electro-plated with copper if required previous to their
being amalgamated by means of mercury or mercury amalgam. Thus,
should the discs be of iron, they (after cleansing) may be electro-plated
with copper, and then be treated with mercury, or they may be also
electro-plated with silver on the copper previous to being treated with
mercury or mercury amalgam. If the discs are of wood or other non-
metallic substance, in such case their surfaces are to be prepared by
means of plumbago, so as to mineralize or metallize them, and then
electro-plated (in the manner well known) to fit them to receive and
retain the mercury or mercury amalgam. Or if the discs are of copper
they are, if desired (after cleansing), to be electro-plated with silver or
other suitable metal; they are then treated with mercury or mercury
amalgam in the well known manner when required for extracting and
securing the precious metals from the substances containing them.
quantity of mercury or mercury amalgam is also placed at the bottom of
the vessel i. The disc shaft k is mounted in suitable bearings, which
if desired may be removeable or capable of being lifted out with the shaft.
Rotary motion is communicated to the shaft k and the discs 1, 1,
thereon by the centre disc being provided with a grooved periphery, into
and around which a cord or wire or other band works (as shewn in the
Drawing, Fig. 6) from some suitable motor. Or motion may be com-
municated to the disc shaft in any other convenient manner.
triturated substance to be operated upon in the form of a thin liquid mud
The
(with the addition if desired of salt, soda, iron, or other suitable chemical
A

page_text: or metallic matters) is placed in the trough or vessel i, and on imparting
rotary motion to the discs 1 they will agitate this liquid mass, and the
particles of the precious metals contained therein will combine with
the mercury on the plates or discs 1, or will be taken up by the
mercury at the bottom of the trough, whilst the washed and cleaned
sulphides or sulphurets and antimoniates may easily be made to settle
at the bottom of the vessel, and when the operation is finished these,
together with the mercury or amalgam, may be drawn off through the
opening n. All or almost all of the fine floating particles of metal which
by the ordinary plan of amalgamation are generally carried off by the
water and are lost are by this method and apparatus brought into contact
with the amalgamated plates or discs as they rotate, or with the mercury
at the bottom of the vessel, and will thus be secured; and when the
amalgamated plates or discs 1, 1, and the mercury at the bottom of the
trough have become fully charged with metals they may be taken out
of the trough and the amalgamated metal may be removed therefrom,
after which the discs may be again prepared as before and then replaced
in the vessel and the amalgamating operation be recommenced.
using these washing and amalgamating machines I prefer working each
charge separately and not continuously.
In
It is necessary to mention here that in connection with these
amalgamating machines electric currents may if desired be employed to
facilitate (as is well known) the deposition of the precious metals on the
amalgamated plates in a manner somewhat similar to that employed in
electro-plating.
Having now described my Invention, and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as new,-
First. The iron horizontal crushing or grinding mill consisting of
three or more vertically grooved or V-shaped serrated rollers working the
one into the other, as shewn in the Drawing, and geared together, for
crushing and grinding into fine powder gold and silver ores or other
substances containing these precious metals.
Second. I claim the use of hollow cylindrical or barrel-shaped
triturating and amalgamating machines provided externally with pro-
jecting grooves, hoops, flanges, rings, or other analogous devices to fit
them for revolving on a circular or other suitable railway as described,
the said machines having inside them balls or heavy rollers whether
spherical or cylindrical, and either plain, grooved, or serrated, these

page_text: machines being rolled along the railway by any convenient means, for
the purpose herein set forth; I also claim combining the amalgamating
with the triturating operations in these machines, as described.
Thirdly. I claim the use in combination with an amalgamating or
washing trough, barrel, or vessel, either covered or otherwise, and either
heated or not heated, of a rotating shaft on which are mounted a series
of plain or corrugated discs or plates of copper or other metal or
metallized surfaces, which are prepared as described and amalgamated
with mercury or mercury amalgam, which rotating discs or plates may
be placed either horizontally, vertically, or otherwise, and by the action
of which the precious metals even to the very finest and most minute
floating particles contained in the liquid mass will be taken up and
secured, whilst the washed and cleaned sulphides or sulphurets and
antimoniates may be easily separated and obtained, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Wray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
L'. WRAY. (L.S.)