Improvements in Apparatus for Leaching Ores in Separating Gold and Silver therefrom.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Dec., 1891-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Leaching Ores in Separating Gold
and Silver therefrom.
I, WILLIAM DUNSMORE BOшм of 5 Cumberland Villas, Chiswick in the.
County of Middlesex, Metallurgical Chemist and Engineer do hereby declare the
uature of this invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to apparatus or vats wherein leaching of the ore is effected
by the upward passage therethrough of the leaching liquid which passes through a
filter at the upper part of the vat. In treating certain ores this filter as such vats
have been hitherto arranged is liable to become clogged and the working of the
apparatus impeded or a greatly increased pressure is necessary to force the solution
through the filter. According to my invention I provide a vat which has a filter
at top and bottom and an inlet or outlet, as the case may be, outward of the filter.
The said vat can be turned upon trunnions or equivalent bearings by means of a
worm and worm wheel or other suitable means. Through the bearings or through
one of the bearings are led the passages by which liquid is forced into and passes
from the vat, and the vat is provided with pipes or passages leading from these
passages in the bearing or bearings to the aforesaid outlet and inlet outward of the
filter. At intervals the vat is given a partial rotation so that the filter which was
uppermost becomes undermost and the communications are at the same time
reversed and the solution is admitted through the filter which was before above
and consequently in operation thus clearing the said filter whilst the filtering
operation is carried on by the filter which is now at top. Thus by reversing the
vat at intervals an efficient filtering is maintained continuously without stopping
the pump.
Dated this 1st day of September 1891.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Leaching Ores in Separating Gold
and Silver therefrom.
I WILLIAM DUNSMORE Bонм of 5 Cumberland Villas Chiswick in the
County of Middlesex Metallurgical Chemist and 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 :-
My invention relates to apparatus wherein leaching of the ore is effected by the
upward passage through a vat, or vessel, of the leaching liquid which passes
through a filter at the upper part of the vat, or vessel. In treating certain ores
this filter, as such vats or vessels have been hitherto arranged, is liable to become
clogged and the working of the apparatus impeded, or a greatly increased pressure
is necessary to force the solution through the filter. According to my invention I
provide a vat, or vessel, which has a filter both at top and at bottom, and an inlet, or
outlet, as the case may be, outward of the filter. The said vat, or vessel, can be
turned upon trunnions, or equivalent bearings, by means of a worm and worm wheel,
or other suitable, means. Through the bearings, or through one of the bearings,
are led the passages by which liquid is forced into and passes from the vat, or vessel,
which vat, or vessel, is provided with pipes, or passages, lending from these passages
in the bearing, or bearings, to the aforesaid outlet and inlet outward of the filter. At
D27

page_text: intervals the vat, or vessel, is given a partial rotation so that the filter which was
uppermost becomes undermost and the communications are at the same time
reversed and the solution is admitted through the filter which was before above,
and consequently in operation, thus clearing the said filter whilst the filtering
operation is carried on by the filter which is now at top. Thus by reversing the
vat, or vessel, at intervals, an efficient filtering is maintainede ontinuously, without
stopping the pump.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to..describe the best means with which I am acquainted for
carrying it into effect, and, for that purpose, shall refer to the several figures of
the annexed drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the figures.
Figure 1 shows two leaching vats constructed according to my invention, one of
the said vats being shewn in clevation and the other in section.
Figure 2 is an elevation of one of the vats, at right angles to Figure 1, shewing
mcans for turning it upside down, and
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, drawn to an enlarged scale, shewing the
passages through one of the trunnions on which the vats turn.
Each vat A, is provided at each of its opposite ends with a filter B, B³, which
may consist of iron wire-netting; or of teak-wood, having grooves a, in its inner
face and perforated with holes, situated in the grooves and covered with filter-
cloth These discs are secured by screws c, or other convenient means, to the
covers C, C², there being spaces d, d, between the discs and the covers, with which
spaces the pipes e, e², communicate. Through these pipes the leaching liquid
passes to, and from, the vats. The outlets froin these pipes, into the said spaces,
are covered by perforated plates, or roses, ff, to cause the inflowing solution to
spread evenly throughout the spaces d, d. The said pipes are fixed to the
covers C, C³, so as to be removed with the covers when detached, for the purpose
of charging the vats with the ore to be treated. The covers are secured to the
body of the vat by bolts and nuts secured in notches g, formed in flanges h, provided
on the covers C, C, and the body A, so as to permit of the bolts being readily
removed, and replaced, and the covers detached, and fixed, rings of india-rubber,
or other suitable packing rings, h, being interposed between the flanges to render
the joints fluid-tight. The pipes, e, e, in the covers C, C³, communicate (when the
covers are fixed in position on the body of the vat) by passages i, in the flanges h,
with pipes, connected to one of the trunnions on which the vat turns. This
trunnion, as shewn in Figure 3, consists of two parts D D', the part D, being fixed
to the vat A and fitted to turn on the part D', which is held stationary by the
fastening X embracing the pipes n n as shewn. The trunnions D, E, (Figure 1)
are mounted in bearings F, carried on standards G, at a suitable height to admit
of the vat being turned upside down. The part D, of the trunnion (Figure 3), is
provided with passages, with which the pipes communicate, and in the
part D of the trunnion are passages m m², which communicate with the passages 11.
Into the passages i mare screwed pipes nn, which pass through a gland O, fitted
into the outer end of the part D. To the outer end of the pipe n, is secured a
flexible tube pleading to the delivery end of a force pump, or other device, by
means of which the leaching liquor is forced into the vat, and the pipe n³, is
connected to another flexible pipe p³, which may lead to the vessel from which the
pump draws the leaching liquor to force into the vat.
The vat A, being charged with the ore to be treated, leaching liquor is forced
upward therethrough, the said liquor being conducted by the pipe n and passage m
in the part D of the trunnion into the passage l'in, and pipe k connected to, the
part D of the trunnion, and to the pipe e, fixed to the cover C of the vat.
The
liquor enters the space d between the cover C and the filter B and passes thence
through the filter B, and upward through the ore in the vat. It then passes
through the upper filter B³, into the space between the said filter and the cover C
and out therefrom by the pipe e' into the pipe by which it is conducted into the

page_text: passage in the part D, of the trunnion, and passes thence by the passage m³, and
pipe, in the part D', into the pipe p by which-it may be conduoted back to the
vessel from which it was drawn by the pump or forcing device or to other suitable
place.
An upwardly forced circulation of the leaching liquor through the ore contained
in the vai is thus effected and this circulation may be maintained for any desired
length of time and then the vat may be turned on its trunnions, upside down, so as
to reverse the passages the passage in the part D, then communicating with the
passage mi, in the part D' and the passage in the part D, communicating with
the passage in the part D. The liquor passes through the ore in the same
direction as before but, as the filter B³, which is shewn in the drawing uppermost,
is now lowermost, and the filter B, which is shewn lowermost, is now uppermost,
a clear, or comparatively clear, filter is presented at top, and the lower filter
becomes cleared of matter which may have clogged it.
A convenient means for turning, or reversing, the position of the vat is shewn in
the drawings. It consists of a worm-wheel E, fast on the trunnion E of the vat,
with which worm-wheel gears a worm H mounted on a spindle H' carried in
bearings I.
The spindle H' is provided with a hand wheel K by means of which the worm H,
may be rotated, and, through the wheel E, give partial rotation to the vat as
required. L shews an arrangement for raising the lids, or covers C, C, when
unfastened from the body A.
It consists of a frame M, carrying a swivelling nut N, in which works a screw O'
carrying chains P which are attached to the cover by eyes q when it is to be raised.
When the chains are attached to the cover the screw O is turned in the nut N by
means of handles Q, so as to raise the cover from the body and then the frame M,
together with the cover, may be run along a rail R, from over the body A. To
ensure the cover being properly placed in position on the body A the coyer is
provided with projections S which enter sockets formed in, or attached to, the
body A of the vat.
Having now particularly described, and ascertained, the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In apparatus for effecting the leaching of ores, or materials containing gold,
or silver; by a leaching solution forced upward therethrough; a leaching vat, or
vessel, with a filter at each end, and capable of being reversed; so that either filter
can be brought uppermost; substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. A leaching vat having a filter at each end and capable of being turned upon
trunnions, or bearings, in which are the passages for the leaching solution, so that
the inlets and outlets are reversed at the same time that the vat is reversed; sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
3. A. leaching vat and its adjuncts constructed and arranged substantially as
hereinbefore described and shewn in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1891.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
.Agents.