IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER ÅDMIXTURES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Holcroft, of Manchester, Consulting
Engineer, and James Frederick Lackersteen, of the City of London,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER ÅDMIXTURES.”
Sealed the 10th October 1872, and dated the 18th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Holcroft and
James Frederick Lackersteen at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition on the 18th April 1872.
We, GEORGE HOLCBOFT, of Manchester, Consulting Engineer, and
JAMES FREDERICK LACKERSTEEN, of the City of London, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR OBES OR OTHER ADMIXTURES," to
be as follows:-
This improvement relates to the mode of and in the construction of
an apparatus to separate metals from their ores or other admixtures
which are in mechanical combination with them, by displacement upon

page_text: the principal of the difference in the specific gravities of the substances
which form the ore and of the admixture, which principle is also appli-
cable in the treatment of other substances. The ore after being crushed
or ground to any desired degree of fineness, or other matter to be treated
is put into a conical vessel like an inverted cone, with the apex down-
wards, which vessel is provided with a vertical shaft or rod in the centre
carrying suitable blades or agitators. A quantity of water is now put
into the crushed ore, and a rotatory motion is applied to the rod, the
blades of which agitating the substance in the vessel will produce or
cause a displacement, according to their different specific gravities, the
heaviest matter going to the bottom of the vessel. Suitable openings
are provided in the vessel to remove the metal or other substances when
required.
A rotary motion may be given by wheel and pinion, or strap and
pulleys, or pinion to the vessel carrying the substance to be treated
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Holcroft and James Frederick Lackersteen
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
HOLCROFT, of Manchester, Consulting Engineer, and JAMES FREDERICK
LAOKERSTEEN, of the City of London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said George Holcroft and James Frederick
Lackersteen, Her special license that we, the said Georgo Holcroft and
James Frederick Lackersteen, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said George Holcroft and James Frederick
Lackersteen, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES OR
OTHER ADMIXTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
George Holcroft and James Frederick Lackersteen, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one
of our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause.the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Holcroft and James
Frederick Lackerṣteen, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say) :-
'
This Invention relates to the mode of and in the construction of an
apparatus for separating metals from their ores or other admixtures
which are in mechanical combination with them, by displacement upon
the principle of the difference in the specific gravities of the substances
which form the ore and of the admixture. This apparatus is also appli-
cable in the treatment of sand combined with particles of metal, and of
other similar substances. The ore after being crushed or ground to any
desired degree of fineness, or other substance to be operated upon, is put
into a conical vessel like an inverted cone, with the apex downwards,
which vessel is provided with a vertical shaft or rod in the centre carry-
ing suitable blades or agitators. The crushed ore combined with water.
is now put into the cone and a rotary motion is applied to the shaft, the
blades of which agitating the substance in the vessel will produce or
cause a displacement according to their different specific gravities, the
heaviest matter going to the bottom of the vessel. A suitable opening
or openings are provided in the vessel to remove the metal or other sub-
stances when required.
A rotary motion may be given by wheel and pinion, or stran and

page_text: us, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is an elevation in section of our improved apparatus, and Fig. 2
is a plan of part of the same.
a is a conical vessel of the shape of an inverted cone, which may either
be stationary, or to which a rotary motion may be given, as will be de-
scribed hereafter. Within the vessel a is the upright shaft b, to which
the blades or agitators c, c, are fixed. The shaft 6 passes below through
the stationary block d, which is provided with a stuffing box to prevent
sand or other substances falling into the footstep e, in which the shaft b
revolves. The lower end of the cone a is cylindrical, and the block d
supports the cylindrical case f, which is moved up and down by the
lever g and screw h, or in any other convenient manner. The shaft b
is turned round by the driving shaft i and bevel gearing, as shewn or
otherwise, and to the shaft is fixed the eccentric j, which works the
vacuum pump k, and this pump is in communication with the strainer 2,
the object of which is to collect the minute particles of metal, which are
carried off with the overflow water from the vessel a through the spout m,
and which would otherwise be wasted.
The mode of operation is as follows:-As the shaft 6 revolves, the
blades c, which are placed at different angles on the shaft, as shewn in
Fig. 2, and which may be bevelled on the advancing edges, agitate the
crushed ore or other substances in the vessel a, and the particles of metal
being of greater specific gravity than the other substances with which
they are mixed, drop to the bottom of the vessel and accumulate on the
block d. When the operation has continued to a desirable time, the
operator by turning the hand wheel on the screw h lowers the long arm
of the lever g, and thus raises the cylindrical case fsufficiently high to
introduce a scraper, by which the metal on the block d is collected into
a vessel placed beneath; the case f is then again lowered, and the
operation proceeds as before. While these operations are going on the
slimy or refuse overflow water from the upper part of the vessel a runs
into the strainer through the overflow pipe m, and the minute particles
of metal and florine are caught by the straining fabric while the water
is drawn through it by the action of the pump k. By this means a large
proportion of the metal that would otherwise pass off with the overflow
water is saved. Provision is made to discharge the water from the
vessel from time to time or when desired.

page_text: When the ground ore or other substance in the vessel a has been
sufficiently worked to separate the metal from it, the cylindrical case ƒ
is raised to the full extent on to the cylindrical end of the vessel a to
allow the contents to escape from below. The vessel a can then be
refilled, and the operation is repeated as before.
*When it is desirable to give a rotary motion to the vessel a as well as
to the shaft b, wo support the upper flange of the vessel a on rollers n,
as shown by dotted lines, and we cast or fix a toothed rim to the said
flange, into which the pinion o gears, and this pinion may be driven by
bevel wheels from the driving shaft i, as shewn; the rotary motion of
the vessel may however be obtained by strap and pulley, or by friction,
or in any other convenient manner.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described a con-
venient manner of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that
we do not intend to limit ourselves to the details given, and that we
claim the 'improved apparatus for separating metals from their ores or
other substances with which they are mixed, as shewn and described,
and particularly the inverted conical vessel a, with the shaft b, and
agitators c, or their equivalents.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Holcroft and James Frederick
Lackersteen, have hereto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth
day of October, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.