IMPROVEMENTS IN ORE WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hezekiah Bradford, of Reading, in the State of
Pennsylvania, United States of America, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORE WASHING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hezekiah Bradford at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st October 1870.
I, HEZEKIAH BRADFORD, of Reading, in the State of Pennsylvania,
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORE WASHING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
A. cylinder is made with perforated staves, around which is a wire
screen and clamping hoops. At one end is a head with a circular
opening, through which the ore is supplied from a "chute" or trough.
At the other end of the cylinder is a head having on its inside an
inclined or scoop-shaped lifter that raises up the ore as the cylinder

page_text: revolves and delivers it into a smaller open cylindrical neck upon the
head, within which is a screw-formed flange, which causes the ore to be
delivered at the outer end of the said smaller cylinder or neck upon a
screen made of bars standing transversely of the delivery chute, each
bar being in nearly a vertical position, but its upper surface is at the
inclination of the surface of the chute to facilitate clearing of water from
the ore, and longitudinal ribs aid in supporting the mass of ore as it falls
upon the screen. The cylinder is supported upon wheels, so as to be
revolved without the use of a centre shaft, and below the cylinder is a
hopper-shaped water box, the sides of which come up at the ends of the
cylinder and near the entrance and delivery openings, so that the lower
part of the cylinder and 'the ore contained therein will be immersed in
the water contained in said water box, and the ore will be washed by the
agitation and attrition of the particles as the cylinder is revolved, the ore
being passed from the receiving to the delivery end by the action of
inclined flanges at places on the insides of the staves.
of water comes in at the delivery end of the cylinder upon the ore just
before it is discharged so as to give it a final washing, and the muddy.
water runs away at the bottom of the hopper through an opening that is
provided with a V-shaped or rounding slide that allows of adjustment,
and also makes the stream nearly round to give free discharge to
particles of grit that subside in the water. The sides of the hopper are
sufficiently steep to prevent the sediment adhering to them.
The fresh supply
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hezekiah Bradford in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 28th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HEZEKIAH
BRADFORD, of Reading, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of. Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Hezekiah Bradford, Her special
licence that I, the said Hezekiah Bradford, my executors, administrators, 3

page_text: and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hezekiah Bradford, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORE WASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
ssid Hezekiah Bradford, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hezekiah Bradford, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being made to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say)
My Invention is an improvement upon ore washing machines
previously made whereby the central shaft is dispensed with, giving.
an unobstructed opening in a revolving cylinder for receiving and.
delivering the ores. I also make use of a peculiar character of perforated.
cylinder as hereafter set forth, and provide for delivering the water and
muddy accumulation in such a manner that the hopper cistern will be
entirely emptied by the contents running off at the point of delivery
when the apparatus is stopped, thereby preventing injury to the
apparatus in frosty weather by the freezing of water or muddy sediment.
at the bottom or upon the sides of the trough.
I find by experiment that the sides of the trough should be at least
60° of inclination, and the sides smooth to prevent the earthy materials
setting upon the sides, and in some cases more than 60° is required.
In the Drawings Fig. 1 is a view endwise of the cylinder; Fig. 2 shows
a portion of the side of the washing cylinder, the other parts. being
represented by a vertical section.
The framework a is formed so as to sustain the shafts b, b, upon which
are supporting wheels c, c, that sustain the ore washing cylinder, said
wheels acting below the cylindrical necks. d and d¹ that project from the

page_text: heads and g of the ore washing cylinder. The neck d is provided with
a gear wheel around it, as at h, so that the ore washing cylinder may be
rotated by power through the pinion k. The ore washing cylinder being
sustained as aforesaid, revolves without much friction, and the bearings
are free from grit and foreign substances. The hopper-shaped cistern for
containing water, and in which the ore washing cylinder revolves, is
formed of the sides 1, 1, setting up around the necks d & d³, and
extending in the form of an inverted pyramid to the point of delivery
at m; the sides of this inverted pyramid should be sufficiently steep to
prevent the lodging of sediment, so that all earthy foreign matters
subside to the apex of the cone, where they are delivered through the
said aperture m. This inclination must depend upon the character of
material being washed, so that the earthy material may settle rapidly
and leave the water clear at the top while a thick muddy accumulation is
drawn off at the bottom, thus effecting the washing with as little waste
of water as possible, and when work is stopped the entire contents of the
hopper flow away, and there is no muddy accumulation remaining to
freeze or clog up the apparatus.
The water has to be supplied to the hopper-shaped cistern and
maintained at the proper level to wash the contents of the cylinder,
hence if the sediment flows away too fast from the aperture m the level
of the water becomes too low, and if any particles of ore obstruct said
opening the hopper-shaped cistern fills up with sediment, and the water.
rises or overflows. In consequence of these conditions great difficulty
has been experienced at the dilivery opening m, because the slides
heretofore employed produced a narrow opening that became obstructed
when in consequence of scarcity of water it was desired to deliver as
small a stream of sediment as would prevent it from accumulating
in the hopper cistern. To overcome this difficulty I find that it is
necessary to maintain as nearly a round opening as possible to prevent
the stoppage of the outlet by picces of ore or other substances when
the scarcity of water makes it desirable to use as small a quantity as
possible.
To effect this I make use of a slide n, see the elevation Fig. 3 and
section Fig. 4, which slide is set over the opening m, and is formed with
an inverted V shaped notch at its lower edge, so that the stream running
from m will be of greater or less size according to the position of the
slide n, and the opening will always be of a nearly circular shape to

page_text: allow the free discharge of sediment, the hole m being either circular or
V shaped. The slide n is operated by a lever n¹ and segmental gear and
rack o, and the slide is pressed to its place by a sector o' at the side of
the teeth, so that the slide n will not become loose in consequence of
any wear in the tecth. A pin in the sector p serves to hold the lever n¹
and gate or slide n in any position to which it may be adjusted. A
trough q serves to convey away the water and earthy materials. The
ore washing cylinder itself is formed of staves » made with perforations
through them, and said perforations may be wider at the inner side. Onc
of these staves is shown separately in Fig. 5. These staves should form
the section of a cylinder, and the ends of the staves have grooves 10 to
receive the edges of the heads f, g, and the bands 13, 13, clamp the said
staves firmly to the heads so as to form a very firm, strong, and rigid
cylinder without the use of a shaft. The entire cylinder is surrounded
by a wire cloth or perforated metal screen, shown partially at s, Fig. 2,
the same being retained by the bands s¹, and the meshes of this screen
are of a size to retain the particles of ore or other material of the desired
size, and allow smaller particles to pass through; and the staves r
support the body of ore and take the wear, in the cylinder, and prevent
the screen of wire cloth or other material being rapidly worn out, and the
openings in said staves being largest at the inner surface of the stave the
ore cannot become wedged in, but the openings will be constantly kept
free by the ore dropping back into the cylinder as it revolves, and by the
action of the water in running through the openings on the descending
side of the cylinder. This cylinder and screen might be used where
water was not employed. I do not however limit myself to the holes
being largest at the inner surface of the cylinder. The staves » have
flanges placed at suitable distances apart pointing inwards, and
serving to cut up the clay, and to separate and agitate the mass of ore,
and also to cause it to progress towards the delivery head d¹, as said
flanges are placed at an inclination, as seen in Figs. 2 and 5, to move
the ore along as it slides past the flanges. The inclination of the flanges
2 may be more towards the receiving end of the cylinder than at the
delivery end, so as to keep the ore or other material from accumulating
at the receiving end when there is a thick layer of ore in the middle and
delivery end of the cylinder, as hereafter named. The ore is supplied
by the feeding trought through the neck d of the head f, and delivered
through the neck d', and the water may be supplied by a sprinkler t¹
at this neck d', so as to cleanse the ore thoroughly by washing the

page_text: muddy water off the ore as it passes out, the water thus used running
into the cylinder and hopper-shaped cistern. Water may also pass in
with the ore if required to assist in feeding the same, or may be supplied
to the hopper-shaped cistern in any other way.
I make use of a perforated lifting inclined volute for taking the ore
out of the cylinder. This volute is shown in Fig. 2, and by the separate
views, Figs. 6, 7, 8, & 9. This volute in Fig. 6 is shown with the
sections t², u, v, w, & x, forming a compound inclined volute scoop to
take up the ore from near the staves and deliver it out into the neck d',
where the screw flange a³ causes it to be passed out of said neck. If
the ore contains "clay balls" or other materials requiring considerable
abrasion or rubbing to dissolve the clay and separate the earthy
materials it is important that a larger quantity of material should be in
the cylinder under operation so that the weight of ore and the conse-
quént rubbing or scrubbing of the pieces against each other and against
the clay balls may be more effective in cleaning the ore as it moves
slowly through the cylinder. To effect this the section may be taken
off and a shorter section, shown in Fig. 8, may be substituted, or both
sections t² and u may be removed and the short section ¹, Fig. 7, sub-
stituted. This will cause a layer of considerable thickness to be under
operation in the cylinder, and in this case the inclined flanges near the
supply end keep the material away from below the feeding neck, so that
said material may run in freely even if the ore is banked up at the
delivery end. The screw x² in the neck d¹ is raised slightly from the
inner surface of said neck so that water may run under the same,
and the water as it is supplied from the pipe t and sprinkler t¹ accu-
mulates in the recessed portion to of the neck, so that the ore is immersed
more or less in fresh water before its final delivery from said neck d¹
over the internal flange & that prevents the water running out at this
end and causes it to run back into the ore washing cylinder.
neck d¹ may be made shorter and of a cylindrical form, and teeth may
be substituted for the screw a² so as to agitate the ore and move it during
the final washing and deliver it over the flange t, still allowing the water
to run back through the cylinder into the hopper cistern. The ore as
delivered falls into the chute e, see Fig. 2, and the section, Fig. 10, and
elevation, Fig. 11. This chute is formed of cross bars 3 set up vertically
and bevelled at the upper surface, the said bars being sustained by the
longitudinal plates . Upon these plates ' the larger pieces of orc are
•
The

page_text: received and slide down, hence the bars h³ are not worn and injured by
the large lumps, and the top edges of the plates * are narrow so that
water runs off the upper surface and down the sides of said plates through
the bars h³, freeing the orc from the surplus water. These bars h³ are
.sufficiently close to prevent the ore or similar material passing between
them, and in consequence of the openings between the bars being
vertical the water from the ore draws away rapidly, there being nothing
to prevent the water dropping directly through the opening between the
bars as the ore falls upon such bars, hence the ore is more throughly
deprived of the water than would be the case if the openings were at
right angles to the inclined surface of the chute.
In place of using the wheels or rollers c, c, the ore washing cylinder
might be suspended by chains from pulleys upon a shaft placed over the
said cylinder, but I prefer the construction shown.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is,―
First. The ore washing cylinder formed with the heads f, g, and
necks d, d¹, in combination with the shafts b, b, and supporting wheels c, c,
as and for the purposes specified.
Second. The hopper-shaped cistern and delivery opening m in com-
bination with the sliden having an A shaped edge, as and for the
purposes specified.
Third. The slide n with an A shaped edge in combination with a
cistern 7, opening m, segment o¹, and gear teeth o, as specified.
Fourth. The perforated cylinder (») formed of staves in combination
with the surrounding screen, substantially as set forth.
Fifth. The removable sections of the perforated inclined lifting volute
in combination with the ore washing cylinder, as and for the purposes
set forth.
Sixth. The neck & formed with a recessed interior surface to and
flange f, as and for the purposes specified.
Seventh. The inclined chute formed with bars h³ and intervening
vertical openings combined with the plates or ribs h³, as and for the
purposes set forth.
Eighth. The staves r with the flanges r¹ formed in the manner and
for the purposes specified.

page_text: Ninth. The staves made with grooves near the ends for receiving
the edges of the heads f, g, in combination with the clamping bands 13,
13, as and for the purposes specified.
Tenth. The slide n having an A shaped edge in combination with the
opening m of the hopper or vessel substantially as specified, so as to
obtain a variable discharge opening of the character set forth.
Eleventh. The bars ³ set transversely of the chute e', and having
inclined upper surfaces, so that the openings between the bars may be
nearly vertical, as and for the purposes specified.
Twelfth. A horizontal revolving cylinder perforated with numerous
holes, and having inward projections or flanges in combination with the
hopper-shaped cistern and delivery aperture and the feeding chute and
delivery, elevator, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hezekiah Bradford, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, A.D. One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnesses,
-
CHAS. H. SMITH,
121, Nassau St.,
New York.
GEO. T. PINCKNEY,
121, Nassau St.,
New York.
HEZEKIAH BRADFORD. (L.S.)
。