Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Washing Mineral Ores.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 11th June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 24th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 7th Dec.. 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Washing Mineral Ores.
I, THOMAS RICKARD of 35 Queen Victoria Street, London in the County of
Middlesex, Mining Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
Grains of sand under 10 m.m. in diameter are usually treated by jigging apparatus
in order to separate the heavier and richer part from the earthy and lighter portion
sometimes effecting at one and the same operation, a separating of several qualities of
minerals.
For this operation two different systems of jiggers are employed; in the first,
that employed especially for coarser grains, the sieve is much finer than the diameter
of the grains of material to be washed, & by the action of the water, the ores become
stratified on the sieve, their density decreases from the bottom towards the top and the
ore is taken out by the hand or let through holes in the sides.
In the second system or that employed for finer grains, the sieve is coarser than the
largest grains to be washed & it is covered by an ore bed of such diameter as to form
a bed easily penetrated by the oscillating movement which the water of the sieve
gives to the whole burden.
My present Invention consists first in the construction and application to each
jigger of a mineral ore tap whereby I am enabled to regulate the depth or thickness
of the bed of gravel. which accumulates in the jigger and through which the finer
grains are filtered and secondly in the construction and application of an eccentric
with adjustable or variable throw whereby I am enabled to give more or less move-
ment to the piston of a hydraulic jigger in order to give more or less movement to
the water which washes the ores.
The mineral ore tap consists of a vertical pipe or casing placed within the sieve
and provided with a curved spout passing through and terminating outside the wall of
the sieve.
Near its extremity the spout has a projection which serves to hold in
position a bucket into which the tap discharges. Within the vertical casing is fitted a
tube with a hole in it corresponding to but longer than the opening in the casing
leading to the spout. By means of handles the tube can be turned or raised or
lowered at will so as to adjust the position of the hole in the tube relatively to the
opening in the casing and thereby to give an outlet for or to retain the grains and to
regulate the thickness of the gravel bed in the sieve as required. The eccentric with
variable throw is composed as follows.
An eccentric sleeve or bush with a segmental flange is keyed upon the shaft which
actuates the piston of the jigger. On this eccentric sleeve is mounted an eccentric
disc or pulley which is bolted to the aforesaid segmental flange and surrounding the
eccentric pulley is a strap or collar which is formed in two pieces secured together
and serves to transmit motion to the connecting rod which operates the piston. There
are a number of holes in the eccentric pulley as well as in the segmental flange and by
releasing the bolts which secure the two parts together and adjusting the position of
the eccentric pulley relatively to that of the eccentric sleeve and then bolting the
parts together again the throw of the eccentric may be altered so as to give more or
less movement to the connecting rod and piston as required.
Dated this 23rd day of August 1889
H. B. BARLOW,
Agent for Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Washing Mineral Ores.
I, THOMAS RICKARD, of 35 Queen Victoria Street, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Mining Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Grains of sand under 10 m.m. in diameter are usually treated by jigging apparatus
in order to separate the heavier and richer part from the earthy and lighter portion
sometimes effecting at one and the same operation a separating of several qualities of
minerals.
For this operation two different systems of jiggers are employed; in the first, that
employed specially for coarser grains, the sieve is much finer than the diameter of
the grains of material to be washed &c. by the action of the water, the ores become
stratified on the sieve their density decreases from the bottom towards the top and the
ore is taken out by the hand or let through holes in the sides.
In the second system or that employed for finer grains, the sieve is coarser than
the largest grains to be washed and it is covered by an ore bed of such diameter as to
form a bed easily penetrated by the oscillating movement which the water of the sieve
gives to the whole burden.
My present invention consists first in the construction and application to each
jigger of a mineral ore tap whereby I am enabled to regulate the depth or thickness
of the bed of gravel which accumulates in the jigger and through which the finer
grains are filtered and secondly in the construction and application of an eccentric
with adjustable or variable throw whereby I am enabled to give more or less move-
ment to the piston of a hydraulic jigger in order to give more or less movement to
the water which washes the ores.
The mineral ore tap consists of a vertical pipe or casing placed within the sieve
and provided with a curved spout passing through and terminating outside the wall
of the sieve. Near its extremity the spout has a projection which serves to hold in
position a bucket into which the tap discharges. Within the vertical casing is fitted
a tube with a hole in it corresponding to but longer than the opening in the casing
leading to the spout. By means of handles the tube can be turned or raised or
lowered at will so as to adjust the position of the hole in the tube relatively to the
opening in the casing and thereby to give an outlet for or to retain the grains and to
regulate the thickness of the gravel bed in the sieve as required. The eccentric with
variable throw is composed as follows:-
An eccentric sleeve or bush with a segmental flange is keyed upon the shaft which
actnates the piston of the jigger. On the eccentric sleeve is mounted an eccentric
disc or pulley which is bolted to the aforesaid segmental flange and surrounding the
eccentric pulley is a strap or collar which is formed in two pieces secured together
and serves to transmit motion to the connecting rod which operates the piston. There
are a number of holes in the eccentric pulley as well as in the segmental flange and
by releasing the bolts which secure the two parts together and adjusting the position
of the eccentric pulley relatively to that of the eccentric sleeve and then bolting the
parts together again the throw of the eccentric may be altered so as to give more or less
movement to the connecting rod and piston.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect will describe the accompanying three Sheets of Drawings reference being
had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a view of a part of a jigger to which a mineral ore tap and an eccentric
with variable throw have been applied according to my invention.
Figures 2, 3, and 4 represent the said tap in detail.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 are detail views of the eccentric with variable throw.
Referring first to Fig. 1--The jigger in this instance may be supposed to have five
separate compartments a in order to contain five different products obtained from the
E

page_text: same material; for example say three finished products galena, blende and pyrites and
two mixed products galena with blende and pyrites with blende.
The jigger has a piston b to each compartment actuated according to my invention,
by an eccentric C with variable throw and the material is supplied to the jigger
preferably by a Hydro-classifier S as specified in my application for Patent of even
date herewith No. 9603 of 1889.
The sieve d is supported by an iron grid and is gripped all round by the junction
of the upper cylindrical casing e in which the material to be washed moves, and the
casing of the compartment a of the jigger. The sieve d must have meshes or
perforations a little smaller than the largest grains of the material to be washed; con-
sequently the gravel which is unable to pass through the sieve will remain stratified
ou the same and the thickness of this bed will constantly increase until it overflows
into the next compartment (not shown). If however the thickness of the gravel bed
cannot be regulated the finer grains, which ought to pass through the same and the
sieve d and fall into the compartment a and from time to time be allowed to escape
through the valve will meet with too much resistance and will escape with the
surplus gravel.
To obviate this defect I employ the mineral ore tap G which is shown best in the
detail views Figs. 2, 3, and 4. It consists of a vertical pipe h placed within the casing e
in which is an opening corresponding to a similar opening h¹ in the vertical pipe /
and a spout i is secured opposite these openings by screws which pass through the
casing e and into the pipe .
At the extremity of the spout i is a knob or projection to support a bucket or
other vessel. Within the pipe is fitted a tube k provided with an opening ' which
is double the length or thereabout, of the opening h¹.
By means of handles the tube can be turned raised or lowered at will to bring
the opening opposite to the opening h¹ and wholly or partly open the tap or to
close the tap as shown in Fig. 2 whereby the thickness of the gravel bed on the sieve d
can be regulated between the limits of the points / and m.
The tap G discharges the grains which are larger than the meshes of the sieve in
such a manner as to keep the bed at the level necessary for good filtration. There
is also the further advantage of obtaining the granular ore with very little loss of water
for by placing the opening h¹ as shown the resistance which the grains present to the
water in the interior of the tap is sufficient to prevent the escape of much water with
the grains.
By the application of the ore tap G to an old jigger the output is greatly increased
and the classification of the material to be washed is greatly simplified.
The eccentric C with variable throw also shown in Fig. 1 is constructed as repre-
sented best in the detail views Figs. 5, 6, and 7. In these views-n designates the
revolving shaft on which is keyed the eccentric bush o which has a segmental
flange op is the eccentric pulley mounted on the bush o and secured by a bolt or
bolts to the segmental flange o' and t is the strap or collar which is made in two
parts bolted together as shown and is connected by the rod b' to the piston as shown
in Fig. 1.
It is obvious that the throw of the eccentric C may be varied so as to give a longer
or a shorter stroke to the piston b by simply adjusting the position of the eccentric
pulley p relatively to that of the eccentric bush o.
Having now particularly .described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination with a jigger or washing apparatus of the type specified, of a
mineral ore tap constructed and arranged substantially as herein set forth whereby
the thickness of the bed of gravel or accumulated ore can be regulated as
described.
2. The construction and combined arrangement of parts constituting the mineral

page_text: ore tap substantially as and for the purposes herein described and as illustrated by the
Drawings annexed.
3. The combination with the piston of a jigger or washing apparatus for mineral
ores, of an eccentric with a variable throw for operating said piston substantially as
herein described with reference to the Drawings annexed.
Dated this 22nd day of August 1889
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agent for Applicant.