IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MINERALS, COAL, AND ORES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Lloyd, of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works South
Wales, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING
MINERALS, COAL, AND ORES."
Sealed the 17th October 1856, and dated the 22nd April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Lloyd at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd April
1856.
I, DAVID LLOYD, of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works, South Wales, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING
MINERALS, COAL, AND ORES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in washing minerals, coals,
and ores. For this purpose the minerals, coals, or ores are placed on per-
forated plates or false bottoms in washing vessels or machines; air is forced on
to the water in contiguous vessels, the water is agitated and forced into the
washing vessels and up amongst the minerals, or coal, or ore, in such vessels;
and thus will the minerals, coals, or ores be washed with greater advantage
than heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Lloyd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
LLOYD, of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works, South Wales, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lordl

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Lloyd, Her special licence that I, the said David Lloyd, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Lloyd, 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 IMPROVEMENTS IN
WASHING MINERALS, COAL, AND-OREE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said David Lloyd, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument 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 within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NCW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Lloyd, do bereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of applying compressed. atmospheric air for the pur-
pose of giving tlie necessary motion to the water in vessels or machines which
are used for washing minerals, coals, or ores.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the means of performing the same.
:
Figure 1 represents a plan, Figure 2 a side elevation, and Figure 3 an end
elevation of a machine for washing minerals, coal, and ores. The ordinary
plan adopted for 'giving motion to the water contained therein is by means of
a wooden piston, 'moving up and down on the face or top of the water in the
compartment a, and fitting into the same, which causes the water to be forced
through the opening C, D, at the bottom of (and running the whole length of)
the partition plate into the contiguous washing part. B, the return or upstroke
of the said piston enabling the. water to resume its former position. By this
arrangement it will readily be seen that a separate piston is required for each
machine. Now, instead of using a piston acting direct upon the water, I
employ a separate cylinder, which I prefer to be made of cast.irou, and fitted
with an air-tight piston. The said cylinder I place at any convenient distance
from the washing machines, and connected thereto by pipes, which convey the
blast or air from the cylinder to the compaŕtinent a. The materials to be

page_text: washed are placed on the false bottom E, water being at the same time let in
to the requisite amount. The general action of the machine is as follows:-
The down stroke of the piston forces the air which it has compressed through
the pipes into the compartment a; the pressure thus acts upon the surface of
the water, forcing it down, and thus causing it to rise higher in the compart-
ment B, and hold the mineral, coal, or ore contained therein in a state of tem-
porary suspension, and whilst in that state the shale or dirt having the greatest
specific gravity falls to the bottom, and is there deposited and thoroughly sepa-
rated from the coal. The cylinder I construct of sufficient diameter to work
several machines at one and the same time, and I find that a cylinder whose
diameter measures thirty-six inches will work six machines of similar dimen-
sions to that shewn by the Drawing herewith deposited. If found convenient,
the machines may be connected with the cylinder of an ordinary blowing
engine, and thus dispense with a separate power. The air pipes are fitted
with suitable stops or cocks, which shut off the air when the machine is not at
work.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not claim washing
minerals, coal, and ores, and separating therefrom the earthy or refuse
particles by placing them in a vessel with wator and agitating the said water
generally, as I am aware this has been practised in the manner I have before
described for several years past; but what I do claim is, the application and
use of a blast or column of compressed atmospheric air for the purpose of
giving motion to and agitating the water whilst it is being used for the purpose
of washing minerals, coals, or ores, as above described, and I do not confine
or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had
occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom
without deviating from the principle or main feature of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Lloyd, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
DAVID LLOYD. (L.S.)