A MACHINE FOR COLLECTING, PRESERVING, AND THEREBY PREVENTING LOSS OF MERCURY IN PROCESS OF AMALGAMATING METALS, AND FOR THE MORE PERFECT AND ECONOMICAL WASHING, SEPARATING, AND AMALGAMATING OF AURIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in
the United States of America, but now of Cornhill, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR COLLECTING,
PRESERVING, AND THEREBY PREVENTING LOSS OF MERCURY IN
PROCESS OF AMALGAMATING METALS, AND FOR THE MORE PERFECT AND
ECONOMICAL WASHING, SEPARATING, AND AMALGAMATING OF AURIFEROUS
AND OTHER ORES."
Sealed the 12th December 1858, and dated the 29th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Berdan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th September 1858.
I, HIRAM BERDAN, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America, but now of Cornhill, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "A MACHINE FOR COLLECTING,
PRESERVING, AND THEREBY PREVENTING LOSS OF MERCURY IN THE PROCESS OF

page_text: AMALGAMATING METALS, AND FOR THE MORE PERFECT AND ECONOMICAL
WASHING, SEPARATING, AND AMALGAMATING OF AURIFEROUS AND OTHER
ORES," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in an arrangement whereby the
small particles of mercury which have been broken up in the process of
amalgamating gold or other ores by the attrition to which they are
subjected, and which have hitherto been lost, may be collected and
saved by an application of the attraction which mercury has for itself,
aided by the mechanical contrivances herein-after described.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention I
proceed to describe its construction and operation. I construct a tub
of cast iron twenty-four inches in diameter and twenty inches high.
In the centre of this tub I place an upright tube three inches in
diameter, having at its lower end horizontal hollow arms attached at
right angles to the tube. These arms have at their ends and on one
side narrow slots or elongated openings; around the upright tube is,
placed a sleeve which revolves upon it. To this sleeve are attached
vertically adjustable wings or slats. The sleeve with its wings is
revolved in an opposite direction to the tube and its arms by means of
a level driving wheel attached to the main shaft, and mashing into
wheels of similar level attached at proper distance apart, one to the
sleeve, and the other to the tube.
The mode of operation of the machine is as follows:-A quantity
of mercury several inches deep is placed in the bottom of the tub;
the wings of the sleeve are then so adjusted that they will just
clear the surface of the mercury when the machine is in motion.
The driving shaft being put in motion, the tub and arms revolve, as
before stated, in a direction opposite to that of the sleeve and wings.
The pulverized ore or refuse from an amalgamating machine in
suspension in water is fed in through the tube, and passes into the
arms at its bottom, whence it is driven by centrifugal force through
the narrow slot-shaped openings at the end and back part of the arms,
and passes forcibly out in a thin sheet underneath the mass of mercury
in the bottom of the tub. This mercury by affinity retains all the
floured mercury which has been broken up in the process of amalgama-

page_text: ting, and weizes upon all particles of gold which may have escaped the
previous operation, while the pulverized matter suspended in water
rises to the top of the mercury, and being kept in suspension by the
operation of the wings is carried to the top of the tub, and passes off
through an exit spout provided for the purpose.
I do not confine the use of this machine to the separation and
saving of floured mercury from the refuse from other machines, but
contemplate its application as an independant amalgamator.
What I claim as my Invention is, first, the manner in which the
refuse or pulverized ore is conducted to the bottom of the mercury;
and, second, the manner in which the sediment is kept in motion,
substantially as herein set forth, not confining myself to the exact
dimensions herein mentioned, but using any others that will answer the
purpose, and claiming the mechanical equivalence of any of the moving
parts necessary to produce the effects claimed, substantially in the
manner described.