IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SEPARATING COPPER AND OTHER METALS Massachusetts
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ball, of Chicopee, in the County of Hampden,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SEPARATING COPPER AND OTHER METALS
Massachusetts, Unite States
Опа
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SEPARATING COPPER AND OTHER METALS
FROM THEIR URES.
Senled the 26th September 1856, and dated the 27th March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ball at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
March 1856.
I, WILLIAM BALL, of Chicopec, in the County of Hampden, State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SEPARATING COPPER AND
OTHER METALS FROM THEIR ORES, to be as follows:-
In the process of washing pulverized ores by hand, the ore is agitated in a
pan beneath a body of water, by which means it is kept partially suspended
in the water near the bottom of the pan, the heavier or metallic particles
sinking and leaving the lighter ones above, still suspended in the liquid. The
water is then poured off'; but before this can be effected the agitation must be
stopped, and the ore immediately settles, and thus but a small portion of the
extraneous matters are carried off by the water; a fresh supply of water is
then added, and the operations of shaking and pouring off are repeated until
the metallic particles remain behind, to a certain extent freed from the lighter
or waste portion of the ore.

page_text: To perform this operation by machinery in such a manner that the over-
flowing of the water and the agitation shall be continuous, without the necessity
of interrupting the one for the other, is the object of the present Invention.
In the machine, whereby this object is accomplished, the agitation of the
pulverized ore and water is interrupted, and the lighter particles of ore are
permitted continually to flow off with a sufficient quantity of the water through
suitable openings made for the purpose; but in order that these lighter particles
of ore may be kept suspended at the level at which they are to flow off, a head
of water is maintained considerably above the level, by throwing in an excess of
water over and above what can escape at the openings through which the
ore passes, and permitting this excess to overflow at a still higher point. The
ore is thus kept suspended in the water at the level at which it is to flow off,
which would not be the case if the ore were permitted to flow over the top of
the vessel with the whole of the water.
The present Invention, therefore, may be said to consist in permitting the
water to flow from the trough at two different levels, each of them above that
to which the metallic particles are allowed to settle, whereby a head of water
is maintained entirely above the ore, which is thus kept loosened and suspended
as required.
The apparatus may be described as consisting of two troughs set one above
the other, and mounted on a common central supporting shaft. A vibratory
motion is communicated to the troughs, for the purpose of keeping the ore
and water in agitation while the washing proceeds. The pulverized ore and
water are supplied to a basin carried by the central shaft, and they escape
therefrom into a distributor provided with radial tubes open at their ends. By
the rotation of this distributor the ore is evenly distributed around the upper
trough. A concentric ledge is provided in this trough, so as to form a kind
of concentric gutter or channel, at the bottom of which are openings to permit
of the escape of water, and some of the lighter particles of the ore; but the
water being supplied to the trough in greater quantity than will admit of its
being thus discharged, it will escape over the inner edge of the periphery of
the trough. The lighter particles of ore pass the ledge in the trough, and fall
into the concentric channel or gutter, from whence they are washed through
the holes by the escaping water, and the heavier portions, not having passed
over the ledge, collect at the bottom of the trough. If metallic particles are
discharged with the sand they are recovered by a second washing, for when
falling from the upper trough they are caught by an annular ledge, and washed
by the descending stream of water into the lower trough, the construction and
action of which is similar to the upper trough. The metallic particles will

page_text: then, by the continual agitation of the trough, gradually work themselves to
and settle at the bottom, and the refuse ore will be washed away by the escaping
water.
A modification of this apparatus, which may be used under certain circum-
stances, may be described as consisting of a single trough, with the parts so
arranged as to prevent the introduction of the ore and water from interrupting
or disturbing the deposition of the metallic particles, or the passage of the
water and waste ore from the trough. Water is supplied with the ore directly
to the trough, and a further supply of water enters the trough through holes
which connect it with an annular water chamber that surrounds the trough,
which is provided with a ledge and concentric gutter or chamber, as in the
former machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ball in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BALL, of Chicopee, in the County of Hampden, State of Massachusetts, United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS 1er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 27th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1856, in
the nineteenth year of Her reign, did, for Ilerself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Ball, Her special license that I, the
said William Ball, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as J,
the said William Ball, 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, ex-
ercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR SEPARATING COPPER AND OTHER METALS FROM THEIR ORES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Ball, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ball, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thercon (that is to say) :—
'
Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine; Fig. 2, a vertical section through the
same, upon the line A, A; Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, details, which will be referred
to hereafter.
In the process of washing pulverized ores by hand, the ore is agitated in a
pan beneath a body of water, by which means it is kept partially suspended
in the water near the bottom of the pan, the heavier or metallic particles
sinking, and leaving the lighter ones above, still suspended in the liquid. The
water is then poured off'; but before this can be effected the agitation must be
stopped, and the ore immediately settles, and thus but a small portion of it is
carried off by the water; a fresh supply of water is then added, and the
operations of shaking and pouring off are repeated until the metallic particles
remain behind, measurably freed from the lighter or waste portion of the ore.
To perform this operation by machinery in such a manner that the over-
flowing of the water and the agitation shall be continuous, without the necessity
of interrupting the one for the other, is the object of my Invention. To
accomplish this, I have contrived a machine in which the agitation is uninter-
rupted, and the lighter particles of the ore are permitted continually to flow
off with a sufficient quantity of the water through suitable openings made for
the purpose; but in order that these lighter particles of orc may be kept
suspended at the level at which they are to flow off, a head of water is main-
tained considerably above this level, by throwing in an excess of water over
and above what can escape at the openings through which the ore passes, and
permitting this excess to overflow at a still higher point. The ore is thus kept
suspended in the water at the level at which it is to flow off, which would not
be the case if the ore were permitted to flow over the top of the vessel with
the whole of the water.
My Invention, therefore, consists in permitting the water to flow from the
trough at two different levels, each of them above that to which the metallic
particles are allowed to settle, whereby a head of water is maintained entirely
above the ore, which is thus kept loosened and suspended as required.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention, I will
proceed to describe the method which I have adopted of carrying it out.
In the accompanying Drawings, A is the framework of the machine; B is a
vertical shaft suspended from the framework at a. This shaft does not revolve,
but it sustains and carries all the operative parts of the machine, and vibrates
with the troughs I and M.

page_text: The apparatus for delivering the material to the machine will now be
described. C is the receiving basin, into which the pulverized material, to-
gether with the requisite quantity of water, is run; from this basin it escapes
through the holes b into the basin D of the distributor immediately beneath;
this latter communicates with the tubular conveyors E, from the open ends c
of which the sand and water are delivered. This tubular distributor is caused
to rotate uniformly upon the shaft B in the following manner :-G are the
driving pulleys upon the shaft F; this shaft carries a bevel pinion f, which
engages with the bevil wheel g upon the horizontal shaft II.. i is a bevil pinion
upon this shaft, which drives the bevil wheel h upon a short sleeve n; this
sleeve revolves loose upon the shaft B, and has two projecting teeth m, which
enter slots in, the top of a second sleeve d, which latter rests upon the off-set c
on the shaft B, and revolves loosely thereon. In the centre of the distributor
basin D is the hollow bearing 7, which embraces the sleeve d, and is supported
by the long washer or thimble p, which rests upon the shoulder o of the sleeve.
The receiving basin C in like manner is fitted to the hollow bearing of the
distributor, and thus the distributor and the receiving basin are carried by the
slcevo d, and as the cog wheel h revolves, through the connection of the parts,
already explained, the distributor is also revolved, the friction of its bearings
upon the sleeved being sufficient to drive it. The pulverized ore and water
as they fall from the orifices of the tubes E are received by the annular trough
I, in which the first washing takes place.
The construction and operation of this trough, and the parts immediately
connected therewith, will now be explained:-The bottom of this trough is of
the form represented in section in Fig. 2 at k; it rises to within an inch of the
top of the trough at q. There is a slight perpendicular rise of inch at the
point k, not visible in Fig. 2 on account of the smallness of the scale, but
represented full size in Fig. 4. s are holes through the bottom of the interior
of this trough, of a size dependent upon the nature and fineness of the material
to be operated upon. Immediately beneath this trough, and secured thereto
by the screws t is the plate L. and beneath this plate the secondary or auxiliary
trough M, the bottom of which is substantially similar to that of the superior
trough I.
u are openings through the inner wall of the lower trough, the
object of which will be presently explained; ware screws which secure the
two troughs together, and by means of the screws a, which pass through the
bottom plate of the lower trough M, the latter is secured firmly to a hub Y
and circular plate w², attached to the vertical shaft B; this shaft terminates
in the spout or hollow conveyor P, which is guided and steadied by the bearing
Q. and are openings through the bottom of the washing troughs, which

page_text: are closed by screw plugs or otherwise, and are for the purpose of withdrawing
the metal from the machine when the operation has proceeded sufficiently far.
A rapid vibratory motion is communicated to the troughs I and M in the
following manner :-From the shaft F motion is communicated to the shaft A'
by the band R'. C', D', are cranks upon the shaft A' (Fig. 3), which vibrate
the pitmans E, F¹. From the rectilinear reciprocating motion thus produced,
a vibrating motion of the troughs I and M is produced in the following
manner-a, Figs. 2, 3, and 6, is a screw cut upon the end of the pitmans
E', F', over which, for the purpose of protecting its threads from injury, passes
the tube or sleeve 6"; c are jam nuts, seen in Fig. 2; next this comes the
washer ; against this washer bears the spiral spring f", the other end of
which rests upon another washer, also strung upon the tube "; this washer
has a concave bearing e", which receives one of the convex washers g"; the
other rests against a similar concave bearing in the washer h", between which
and the washer " is the spring ", the whole being held in place by the nut 7".
Projecting from the bottom plate of the trough M are the cars m", Fig. 5,
through the holes 2" in which the tube and screw all are passed; the other
parts are then arranged in the order represented in Fig. 3, the ears m" being
confined between the convex washers g, and thus as the shaft A' revolves the
washers are allowed to move on their concave bearings, and the troughs
are vibrated without torsion or strain upon the parts, the springs f", "serving
to give ease to the motion of the parts.
Operation. The pulverized ore and water are conducted in any suitable
manner and in proper quantities to the basin C, thence they pass through the
holes to the distributor basin D, and through the tubes E they are evenly
and uniformly distributed around the periphery of the first or upper trough.
The water is admitted in quantity much greater than can pass through the
holes s, and continually flows over the inner edge 9 of the trough. It is at this
point that the distinguishing feature of my Invention manifests itself; this
portion of the operation will therefore be minutely described. The pulverized
ore rises sufficiently high to pass over the ledge k, when it is immediately
washed through the holes s by the stream constantly passing them; as the trough
vibrates, the bottom plate partly slips beneath the particles of sand, and partly
communicates its motion to them, at the same time the water which remains
comparatively motionless above the sand retards its uppermost particles and
rolls them over, and the latter are thus constantly loosened up and kept in
motion with respect to each other, the metallic particles are thus allowed to
descend to the bottom of the trough where they accumulate, as seen at c',
Fig. 2 above this tho lighter particles collect, as at f¹, and pass continually

page_text: over the ledge k and through the holes s, as before described. So soon as this
accumulation commences, the metallic particles pack together in the bottom of
the trough, and then move with it in its vibrations; the lighter particles still
being agitated and kept suspended in the water above the surface of the com-
pacted metallic particles, it is evident that the troughs should be vibrated
with just that force which shall permit the metallic grains to settle and
compact, as above explained, and at the same time shall keep the lighter
particles of the ore suspended in the water. If the force be materially increased,
then the metallic particles will not settle and compact, but will be themselves
agitated, and consequently will flow over with the waste ore, and a loss will be
the result. If the force with which the trough be vibrated be materially less
than that necessary to produce the most desirable result, then, although the
metallic particles may all be saved, yet they will be mixed with a greater
proportion of waste ore, and the effective operation of the machine will be
clogged. Should any metallic particles pass off with the waste sand, the latter
is again subjected to a second washing in the following manper-Having
passed through the holes s, it is received by the plate L, and immediately
carried by the water, which passes over at 9 to the point , and into the lower
trough M, this trough being vibrated with the ore above it. The pulverized ore
is submitted to a similar operation to that to which it was subjected in the
upper trough, being rubbed and partially set in motion by the bottom plate of
the trough, while this motion is at the same time retarded by the water, which
remains stationary, or very nearly so, and the particles are rolled over and kept
in constant motion with respect to each other, as before, at the level of the
ledge m', over which they are permitted to pass; any metallic particles which
may have escaped from the first trough settle immediately at the bottom of
the second, and collect at y¹. The waste ore passes off as before over this
ledge m' through the holes u, and is washed by the water which passes through
these same holes, and over the inner edges' of this trough down through the
holes, u', into and off through the hollow shaft P; this operation is con-
tinued until the copper or other metal has collected in the upper basin to near
the ledge k, or to as great a height as it is found expedient to permit it to
accumulate. The flow of the material into the basin C, as well as the motion
of the machine itself, is then stopped, the holes and v are opened, and the
machine is tilted slightly forward to facilitate the discharge of the metal, a
stream of clear water being turned into the basin C to assist in loosening up
the deposit and washing it out, and the machine being set in motion for the
purpose of facilitating the operation.
With some ores, and under certain circumstances, I employ a modification

page_text: of the above-described machine, represented in Figs. 7 & 8 of the accompany-
ing Drawings. In this machine a single trough is employed, and the parts are
so arranged that the introduction of the ore and water shall in nowise interrupt
or disturb either the deposition of the metallic particles or the passage of the
water and waste ore from the trough. The trough is vibrated, as in the
machine described above; the pulverized ore and water are permitted to flow
into the basin B³, and pass by the conductors C³ on to the circular plate D³,
whence they fall uniformly and gently into the water at the point . A
uniform flow of water is produced from the circumference of the trough to the
centre, as follows:-Clean water is delivered to the exterior basin Es, from
which it passes by the conductors F³ to an annular chamber G³ entirely
surrounding the trough; from this chamber it passes through the holes f³ to
the trough, and thus a uniform current of water is produced from the circum-
ference to the centre, which carries with it the soil and lighter particles of oro,
without interrupting the deposition of the metallic portions which accumulate
at the bottom of the trough. The line ³ represents the level to which the
water within the trough is maintained; the line y³, the level at which the waste
ore passes over the ledge ³.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the within-described method of washing pulverized ores, the ore and
water being agitated together in a vessel or trough, to the bottom of which the
heavier or metallic particles are caused to settle, while the lighter particles of
the ore pass off with a portion of the water at a higher level, and the balance
of the water overflows at a still higher point, in the manner herein set
forth.
Secondly, I claim the trough I when constructed with the ledge k, as
described, and operated in connection with a head of water kept above the
level of the said ledge; in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ball, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. SIAPLEY.
WM BALL. (L.S.)