IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF QUARTZ, AURIFEROUS SAND AND SOIL, AND ARGENTIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, WHICH MAY UNDERGO AMALGAMATION, AND IMPROVED APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1881

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington Street,
Strand, London, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention
of 'IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF QUARTZ, AURIFEROUS SAND
AND SOIL, AND ARGENTIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, WHICH MAY UNDERGO
AMALGAMATION, AND IMPROVED APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH."
A communication from abroad by Louis Thénot, of Paris, France, Doctor
of Medicine.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th February 1881.
WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, London, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF QUARTZ, AURIFEROUS SAND AND SOIL, AND ARGENTIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES,
WHICH MAY UNDERGO AMALGAMATION, AND IMPROVED APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH.' A communication from abroad by Louis Thénot, of Paris, France,
Doctor of Medicine.
"
This process for the extraction of gold from quartz and auriferous sand and soil
is based upon the passage of the ore carried by a stream of water once or
repeatedly through columns of quicksilver having columns of water above them.
This process may also be applied to the treatment of silver ore, and that of any
metal which it may be desirable to treat by amalgamation.
The apparatus used is composed of a variable number of divisions or separable
parts, each division comprising two vertical tubes of different diameter joined at
their lower part by a V shaped tube.
These divisions are united at the top by caps with two unions forming an elbow
pipe; they are set upon wheels, so as to constitute so many small carriages. easily
removed or put into position.
At the end by which the spent material escapes is a cylinder, which may be
horizontal or slightly inclined towards the apparatus, and to which is connected a
discharge pipe with cock.

page_text: The aforesaid caps of the vertical tubes have a moveable cover plate tightening
down by a screw, and the unions connecting them at the bottom have a discharge
cock.
A certain quantity of quicksilver is introduced into the apparatus through the
openings closed by the aforesaid cover; this quicksilver rising to any desired height
in the two vertical tubes. The cylinder at the discharge end of the apparatus is
also supplied with quicksilver through a pipe with suitable cap or cover, and the
apparatus is then completely filled with water.
A real siphon has thus been formed working in the ordinary way.
This being done the treatment of the auriferous sand or soil, or of metalliferous
earths generally may now take place, either by the aid of a column of water under
pressure or operating by exhaust.
In the first case the water mixed with the crushed earth or ore descends from a
somewhat elevated reservoir, and enters the apparatus by a suitable supply pipe.
The mixture descends in one of the vertical tubes, rises in the other, and goes
successively into the following pair or series of divisions or sections in which it
travels in the same way, finally it passes through the aforesaid end cylinder and
escapes by the discharge pipe.
A cock regulates the admission of the materials to be treated, and another the
issue of the spent matters.
In its continuous passage through the siphon, the mixture of water and of sand
or soil passes alternately through columns of quicksilver and columns of water; the
first retain the metallic parts, which by reason of their relative density remain at
the bottom of the unions at the base of the vertical tubes, and amalgamate together.
If some particles have escaped the action of the quicksilver they reach the
column of water; but there their specific gravity, much greater than that of water,
causes them to immediately fall back to the bottom of the tubes. It is the same
with the globules of quicksilver which are formed by the agitation of the earth
and the water in the apparatus; these globules carried away by the steam
separate from it in the tubes of largest diameter, in which the rapidity of the
current sensibly lessens.
This speed may be further reduced in the larger tubes, while at the same time
increasing the agitation by fixing obstructions or divergents within them. No
obstructions will however be placed in the last of the tubes of large diameter, the
large section of which will have the effect of producing comparative calm or rest,
owing to which the separation of the last metallic particles carried thereto will
inevitably take place.
By excess of precaution the matters pass in the end horizontal or inclined
cylinder upon the surface of a bath of quicksilver, which if necessary completes the
exhaustion of the sand or soil, and retains any globules of quicksilver which may
have been carried thus far.
The upper reservoir, from whence starts the mixture of water and earth, is placed
at sufficient height to permit the pressure of the liquid column to determine a slow
and continuous progression of the mixture through the apparatus. It will be
undersood that by a proper choice in the height of the reservoir, the number and
dimensions of the divisions or series of pairs of vertical tubes, and by regulating
the opening of the supply and discharge cocks, the earths or matters issuing from
the apparatus will be completely exhausted. Further, if it is desired to employ
only a few divisions or pairs of vertical tubes, there is no objection to repassing the
matters already treated several times through the apparatus.
It is desirable to place at the commencement of the inlet or supply pipe a float
valve closing automatically directly the supply of the mixture of earth and water
ceases, so as to keep the apparatus always primed.
When operating by exhaust an exhaust apparatus is placed at the end of the
discharge pipe; this apparatus may be a pump or fan, a jet of steam, or compressed
air, or any other means of producing the same result. In this case the column of
liquid under pressure is dispensed with, and any direction may be given to the

page_text: supply pipe to seek the mixture of water and soil, or if preferred soil only.
Everything then goes on, as already above described, the inlet and outlet cocks
still serving to regulate the flow or passage of material in the apparatus.
It need scarcely be observed that both means, namely, pressure from a column of
liquid and exhaust, may be used simultaneously.
Instead of an ordinary discharge cock, it will be advantageous to use a cock the
key of which will be of one piece with a screw.
On the head of this screw will be
set an index moving in front of a dial, or of a divided and graduated sector. Thus
the apparatus being regulated, the point of the sector to which the index should be
brought to obtain a fixed delivery will be exactly known.
In conclusion I would observe that this apparatus is so arranged that the
treatment of quartz or metalliferous earths or matters is absolutely methodical. In
fact, the first bath of quicksilver in contact with the fresh earths or material
saturates itself more than the second, the second more than the third, and so on.
When it is considered that the first division, siphon, or pair of vertical tubes
contains only saturated quicksilver, it is detached, removed, the whole remainder
of the apparatus is brought nearer to the feed pipe, and there is placed at the end.
in front of the horizontal or inclined cylinder a siphon charged with virgin quick-
silver. The richness of the quicksilver in gold, silver, or other metal keeps
decreasing from the beginning to the end, the virgin quicksilver being in contact
with nearly exhausted material. The treatment is therefore, as I have already
stated, methodical.
It will be understood that the shape and dimensions of my apparatus may vary,
as well as the material of which it is composed; the vertical cylinders may be of
glass, of cast iron, or of other suitable metal; in this latter case two glass lenses
are set on the sides to permit inspection of what is taking place within.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th August 1881.
WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, London, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF QUARTZ, AURIFEROUS SAND AND SOIL, AND ARGENTIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES
WHICH MAY UNDERGO AMALGAMATION, AND IMPROVED APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by Louis Thénot, of Paris, France,
Doctor of Medicine.
My process for the extraction of gold from quartz and auriferous sand and soil
is based upon the passage of the ore carried by a stream of water once or repeatedly
through columns of quick silver having columns of water above them.
This process may also be applied to the treatment of silver ore, and that of any
metal which it may be desirable to treat by amalgamation or by mechanical
separation like platinum.
A Sheet of Drawing hereunto annexed represents partly in section, partly in
elevation, the apparatus which I use.
The apparatus is composed of a variable number of "elements," sections, divisions,
or separable parts, each comprising two vertical tubes A and B of different form and.
diameter, united at their lower part by a basin C having two elbow pipes; an
elbow pipe or joint d places the several divisions in communcation with each other
by uniting the tubes A and B of different divisions by their upper part.
These several divisions may be placed upon wheels so as to form as many small
carriages easy to remove and replace.
At the end by which the material escapes are one or more jointed tubular
parts T provided with emptying cocks and inspection openings covered with glass;
these divisions may be set on wheels and may be horizontal or slightly inclined
towards the apparatus. At the end of the last division T is an elbow joint E
having a cock; when operating by suction or exhaust a long pipe is fixed to this
cock. These horizontal divisions or elements will be hereinafter more fully
described.
The tubes B have a moveable lid or cover H firmly fastened by an adjusting
screw I and are pierced at 6 with a small orifice which may be opened and closed
at pleasure, and which permits keeping the divisions always full of water without
air.
At the lower part of each basin is a trap or door P moveable at pleasure, and an
emptying cock r fixed in the door P or upon the basin.
A certain quantity of quicksilver is introduced into the apparatus by the
openings H, which quicksilver rises to the desired height in the two branches A
and B.
A lateral window V permits this to be ascertained as well as the progress of the
operation; a graduated scale or guage gives the height of the quicksilver column
and the quantity of quicksilver. An opening o also permits the introduction of
quicksilver into the horizontal tubes T. The whole apparatus is then filled with
water by opening the cock N ; the water mixed with sand or crusbed ore descends
from a more or less elevated reservoir and enters the apparatus by a pipe L. The
mixture descends in the tube A, rises again in the tube B, the equilibrium being
broken, and penetrates successively into the following divisions in which it follows
the same course; finally it passes through the parts T sliding on the surface of a
bath of quicksilver, and escapes by a cock G suspended to an elbow or bent pipe E

page_text: fixed to the last horizontal division or element; the pipe e is useful only when
operating by suction or exhaust.
The cock N regulates the admission of the materials to be treated and that G
may regulate their exit. These cocks carry a graduated scale over which moves an
index fixed to the key or handle, whereby the flowing surface may always be
known. In its continuous passage through the apparatus the mixture of water
and of sand or soil passes alternately through columns of quicksilver and columns
of water.
The first retain the metallic parts which by reason of their relative density
remain at the bottom of the basins and amalgamate together.
The lighter particles pass through the columns of quicksilver and reach the
columns of water, but then their specific gravity keeps them on the surface of the
quicksilver baths where the amalgamation may be completed. It is the same with
the globules of quicksilver which are formed by the agitation of the earth and the
water in the apparatus; these globules carried away by the steam separate therefrom
in the upper part of the tubes B, the large section of which at this level considerably
reduces the current. If the ores are platiniferous the platinum will remain at the
bottom of the basins C. If desired, obstructions or divergents might be arranged
in the tubes B to increase the agitation and the mixture of the materials. By
excess of precaution the matters pass in the tubes T upon the surface of a bath of
quicksilver which completes the exhaustion of the sand or soil and retains the
globules of quicksilver which may have been carried thus far.
One or several of these horizontal divisions or "elements" may be arranged joined
together forming a series of quicksilver baths licked by the quartz loaded currents,
which may be followed by looking through the lateral windows.
The reservoir from whence starts the mixture of water and earth is placed at a
sufficient height to permit the weight or pressure of the liquid column to determine
the slow and continuous progression of this mixture in the apparatus. It will be
understood that by a proper choice in the height of the reservoir, the number and
the dimensions of the divisions or series of parts of the apparatus, and by regulating
the opening of the cocks N and G, the earths or matters issuing from the apparatus
will be completely exhausted.
If instead of operating by a pressure column Lit is desired to operate by exhaust,
it is only necessary to place an exhaust column F sufficiently beyond the cock G to
equipoise, and then to overcome the resistance opposed in the apparatus.
For the exhaust the pipe F may be inclined at pleasure and follow the slope of
the ground; the lower part of this pipe should be closed. A special siphon has
thus been formed which will work in the ordinary way when the apparatus is
once primed.
When operating by exhaust it is desirable to place at the commencement of the
pipe L in the funnel a float valve closing automatically directly the supply of the
mixture of earth and water ceases, so as to keep the apparatus always primed.
This funnel will then be placed nearer to the first tube A.
To effect the treatment it is therefore evident that either pressure or exhaust
may be used. These two forces may be used separately or combined, and be
supplied by a column of water under pressure or by an exhaust column, or by
forcing and sucking purposes, or any other means of producing the same result,
such for example as compressed air or jet of steam.
When operating by exhaust column it is necessary that the exhaust pipe or
column be slightly bent at its lower end so as to prevent penetration, or that it
dips into the upper part of a reservoir full of water into which the earth or sand
will empty. When this first reservoir is full of water the exhaust pipe or column
is passed into an adjoining reservoir in communication with the first.
These reservoirs may be small carriages. Finally, when operating by exhaust, it
is well to provide for any disengagement of air from the water in the upper parts
of the apparatus, which would eventually stop the progress of the operation.
Several means may be used to avoid this; for example, a closed vessel full of water

page_text: may be fitted above the apparatus, and placed in communication with the upper
parts of the apparatus by two tubes, the first leading air to the upper part of the
closed vessel, and the other causing the descent of a corresponding quantity of water
into the amalgamating apparatus.
In conclusion I would observe that my apparatus is arranged so that the
treatment of quartz or metalliferous earths or matters is absolutely methodical ;
in fact, the first bath of quicksilver in contact with fresh earths or material
saturates itself more than the second, the second more than the third, and so on.
When the first division or "element" is sufficiently saturated it is detached,
removed, the whole remainder of the apparatus is brought nearer to the feed
pipe L, and there is placed before the horizontal tube a division charged with virgin
quicksilver. The richness of the quicksilver in gold, silver, or any other metal,
keeps decreasing from the beginning to the end, the virgin quicksilver being always
in contact with nearly exhausted earth or sand. The treatment is therefore, as I
have already stated, methodical.
It will be understood that the shape and dimensions of my apparatus may vary,
as well as the material of which it is composed, which may be glass, cast iron, or
any other material unaffected by quicksilver. Openings closed with glass or lenses
will always permit inspection of the progress of the operation, and ascertaining
the height of the quicksilver in the apparatuses which will be gauged.
The tubes B may be straight, widening out, or spherical, I do not limit myself
to any particular detail in their shape or construction.
A gauge M fitted to the apparatus will always indicate the amount of pressure
or exhaust which determines the progression of the materials.
But I claim as of the Invention communicated to me as aforesaid,-
1°. In the treatment of quartz and metalliferous sand, soil, or matter,
The construction and the use of an apparatus forming a kind of siphon, and
containing alternate columns of quicksilver and water in continuity.
2°. The continuous passage in this apparatus of a mixture of sand, soil, and
water, determined by pressure or exhaust, produced by columns of water, or by
suction or forced pumps, or by any other means producing the same effect, as well
as the combination of these two means of attraction and propulsion.
3°. The construction of an apparatus formed by one or several elements or
separable parts, each part composed of two vessels communicating with each other
and of different section, followed at pleasure by one or several tubes in which the
current licks, so to say, in a closed vessel the surface of a quicksilver bath.
4°. The methodical treatment of the quartz and metalliferous sand or soil, as I
have above set forth.
5°. The means described for regulating the working of the apparatus, and
particularly for regulating its delivery, and stopping it, and setting it at work.
In the process which have just set forth I have described in a general way two
systems or arrangements of tubular elements or parts, some vertical, traversed from
bottom to top, the others horizontal, traversed in a horizontal direction.
The "elements" or parts are combined in variable numbers, but they may be used
separately. Thus, there may be arranged following each other a series of horizontal
tubular "elements," parts, or divisions, containing quicksilver up to a certain level;
these divisions may be united by the elbow pipes placed at their ends so as to give
so many perfectly independent baths of quicksilver, upon the surface of which may
be established by the elbow pipes or unions a measured or regulated current of
water and of quartz, which in spreading on the surface of the bath abandons in
the first division which it traverses the densest matters, which fall to the bottom
of the bath, other matters less rich deposit in the second division, and so on, in
amalgamating.
The progression of the current will be effected by the application of the same
forces, pressure, or exhaust, however obtained, and the operation may always be
regulated both at the entrance and exit by cocks. The shape, size, number,
and substance of these parts or divisions may vary, but it will be advantageous if

page_text: they present a large surface. These divisions may be provided with casters,
emptying or discharge cocks, elbow pipes, or unions, and openings for the introduc-
tions of quicksilver for cleaning, and for the disengagement of air if required. These
divisions, as well as their lower side, may be inclined towards the emptying cocks.
The lower face of the topside will be provided with a groove, which will cause the
production of a deposit of sand or earth on the middle of the quicksilver bath, and
which will prevent the quicksilver from being driven out by too great a pressure.
The deposit of sand being itself preferably driven out, windows or glass lenses will
permit the inspection of the progress of the operation.
Whether these two systems of "elements or divisions be used separately or
combined, it will be well to cause the quartz charged, or earthy current as it leaves
the apparatus, to pass over amalgamated metallic plates, which will retain the very
fine particles of quicksilver which might have escaped from unskilful working.
I confine myself to no particular detail of shape or construction. What I claim
is the general arrangement and working of an apparatus in which a series of
quicksilver baths are constantly licked by a measured current of quartz or earth
charged water entering at one end and issuing by the other end of a series of
tubular apparatuses in which the progression is caused by pressure or exhaust
obtained in any suitable way, the current being regulated at pleasure by cocks
or valves.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)