CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING ORES OR MINERALS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRUNTON, Junior, Civil Engineer, of Pool, in the Parish of Illogan, in the
County of Cornwall, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of November,
in the eleventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give, and grant unto me, the said William Brunton, junior, Her special
licence that I, the said William Brunton, junior, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Brunton, junior, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns,, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man,, and also in all the Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING ORES OR MINERALS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is a proviso obliging me, the said William
Brunton, junior, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner, the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with, the said proviso, I, the said
William Brunton, junior, do, hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is. to be performed, are described and
ascertained by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the words following, that
is to say :-
៧
For dressing ores or minerals of such size as are usually jigg'd I construct a
tank of five or six feet square, and of any convenient depth, for the deposition
of the ore, within which, and about twelve inches from the top, I construct an
annular sieve. (A, Figure-1,), of woven wire. or perforated metal plate, the
apertures suited to the size of the ore intended to be dressed thereon, with
marginal sides, seven or eight inches high, supported upon; an upright shaft or
spindle, whereby the said annular sieve may turn round freely in the tank,
wherein, and immediately beneath-the sieve,-I-fix divisions to enclose a part of
the tank (B), and connect with this enclosure a forcing pump (C), by the reci-
procating action of which water is discharged by intermitting impulses up
through the stuff resting upon the part of the sieve over the enclosure (B),
sufficiently powerful to agitate, raise, and liberate the particles from the
dormant state in which they are held by the gravity whilst quiescent, likewise
they are alternately submitted to the effect of subsidence during the stillness of
the water between the impulsions, whereby they (the particles) dispose or adjust
themselves in relation to each other in the compound ratio of their respective
specific gravity and bulk., The ore; being usually the heavier, descends to the
bottom of the mass under operation, and passing through the sieve" falls into
the tank (B), whilst the waste, being light, is disposed of in the upper part of
the mass, and passing on by the revolving of the sieve to where the water
is not agitated by the pump,. where I place, 'at an adjustable depth below the
surface of the stuff, a skimmer (D), presenting a thin flat edge to the whole
width of the sieve, having a high shovel-like margin, in order to direct the
waste or ore into the pipe attached to the skimmer, which rising (at an angle
more than twenty degrees) over the outer margin of the annular sieve, a
descending into an adjoining tank, acts like a syphon, through which
the water
flowing from above the stuff in the sieve carries the waste or ore into the
mouth of the skimmer, and in a continuous stream deposits the same in
adjoining tank, whilst the water is conveyed by an open channel
not
to
back
and
again
the pump, and is used successively over the revolving sieve and near to the
going-on side of the enclosed space (B) I fix a taper box or "hopper (E)
open at the bottom, and projected a little below the edges of the margins
of the sieve, whereby the stuff is supplied by a regulated shutter (6) at any
required thickness as the seed revolves. When ore, or stuff containing

page_text: .pump
but too large "to pass through the sieve, has accumulated thereon to such a
thickness as to fisk some of it being taken off with the waste, then the
skimmer is lowered so as to take it off, during which the feed is stopp'd, and a
pipe or shoot is applied to the end of.the. discharging pipe, whereby. the orey
stuff is deposited in; a separate receptacle from the waste. When the nature
'of the ores require that between the upward.impulsions of water a portion of
the same should descend, I make a separate opening (a) between the chamber
of the pump below the piston and the tank, having a shutter or valve to regu-
late the quantity as the occasion may require: Or I fix an annular. sieve
(A Figure 2), like that already described, immoveably. in the tank, which in
*this case has no separate enclosure, therefore the impulsive action of the.
is applied to the whole surface of the sieve; in the centre of which is. an
upright hollow shaft (C), moveable in.a. socket pipe and stuffing box fixed to
the bottom of the tank (B) To this. shaft I attach, by a moveable joint,
a hollow arm supporting a skimmer (D, Figure 2), and. from the socket pipe
below the sieve a pipe is carried through the side of the main tank, by which
the waste skimm'd off by the revolving of the skimmer is carried through the
hollow arm, over the inner margin of the sieve," into the: hollow shaft, and dis-
charged into an adjoining tank, where the water' separating:from.it returns to
supply the pump Immediately behind the skimmer I attach to the upright
shaft a' feed hopper (E),through which the stuff to be dressed is deposited
"(through an adjustable shutter, as in the other case) upon the sieve by the
revolution of the shaft.
13-
:
In giving motion to the sieve as in the first method, and to the shaft as in
the second, I use the well-known means of wheelwork, and to the pump
a-crank or cam, and connect these in such manner. and proportion's that 'the
number and power of the impulsions shall be sufficient to assort the materials
during the time they are operated upon. And, although this may be done by
pumps of various sizes, I recommend that 'the area of the piston be at least
one third of that of the sieve, and 'that 'from sixty to one hundred impulsions
be communicated to the stuff before it is skimmed; and, for cheapness, that
the pump and piston be made of timber. In dressing small.ore!or.slimes of ore
I subject them to a state of artificial gravitation, whereby the particles being
sufficientlyfliquified with water deposit themselves into distinct and separate
receptacles in proportion to their compound-specific gravity and bulk. To effect
these purposes *I**construct a hollow case for trunk:(Figure 3), having two
opposite troughs, for channels diverging from each other; the interior sur-
face (a, b, c,) is the converse, of three or four inches wide, of the central part
of a cone, of which the line (b, c,) is the base, and (e) the height. These

page_text: troughs are at the bottom united to two similar channels converging toward
the centre, where the water is discharged by the cock (f). The top of this
trunk is a pipe with a funnel through which the slimes are introduced, and it
also serves as a journal to support the trunk in a perpendicular position while
revolving on a. pivot (9).at the bottom. Through the opposite diverging sides,
and at equal distances from the apex, three or more openings are made, each
communicating. with its own receptacle, which has a door for discharging the
separated stuff (A, A, B, B, C, C). The whole apparatus, being first-filled with
water, is made to révolve by a pulley and band at any required but uniform
velocity, so as to give the necessary centrifugal tendency to the particles to
deposit themselves in the receptacles. The liquid slimes or ores are poured in
'an equable stream through the funnel into the trunk; the bottom cock being
opened to suit the discharge of the water. The particles passing down the diverg-
ing channels, the largest and heaviest will be deposited in the first receptacles
(A, A), the smaller in the second (B, B), and so on till all, or nearly all, the
metallic parts are deposited, after which very much of the fine earth may be
deposited in the last receptacle, and the water discharged from the cock (f).
comparatively clean, may be used again for the same purpose. When the
receptacles are sufficiently full the process is stopped; and they are emptied,
according to their sorts, into their respective bins or places of deposit..
I wish distinctly' to be understood that, with regard to the apparatus first
described, the parts of which I claim to be the Inventor are, the discharge of
the ore
or waste into a separate receptacle over the margin of the sieve,
by means of a skimmer pipe and stream of water; and also the uniform feeding
of the apparatus, whereby the process is rendered continuous.
I also claim the application of the pump, inasmuch as by impulsions upward
only the ores are permitted, in perfect stillness of the water, to assort them-
selves during the intervals; and also the means whereby the quantity of
descending water may be regulated when such is necessary.
With regard to the second apparatus described, I claim as my Invention
the application of centrifugal force as an artificial state of gravitation; and also
the means described, whereby it is made subservient to separating ores. and
minerals:
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brunton, junior, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May; in the year
T
WILLIAM BRUNTON, Jun. (LS.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid William Brunton, junior, came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and spe-
cified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.'