IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING, GRINDING, WASHING, AND AMALGAMATING QUARTZ AND OTHER MATTERS CONTAINING GOLD OR SILVER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Francis, of West Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CRUSHING, GRINDING, WASHING, AND AMALGAMATING QUARTZ AND OTHER
MATTERS CONTAINING GOLD OR SILVER."
Sealed the 26th September 1854, and dated the 28th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Francis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
March 1854.
I, HENRY FRANCIS, of West Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR CRUSHING, GRINDING, WASHING, AND AMALGAMATING QUARTZ AND
MATTERS CONTAINING GOLD OR SILVER" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a peculiar combination of mechanical parts into a
machine for crushing, grinding, washing, and amalgamating ores and matters
containing gold or silver. For this purpose a circular or ring trough is used,
supported on friction rollers, and rotates vertically thereon. On the interior of
this trough is a roller, the axis of which is weighted to any desired degree
by a lever and weight. Rotatory motion is communicated to the the roller or
to the ring or circular trough by any suitable power. The trough is made suffi-
ciently deep to prevent the washing over of the materials. Quicksilver is placed
at the lower part of the trough, and water is supplied to wash away the earthy
matters as they are crushed and ground, and have the metals separated by amal-
gamating with the quicksilver, or the amalgamating may be a separate process.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file
by the said Henry Francis in the Great Seal Patent Office on th
28th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENR
FRANCIS, of West Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letter
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of He
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me.
the said Henry Francis, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Francis
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Francis, my executors, 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
MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING, GRINDING, WASHING, AND AMALGAMATING, QUARTZ AND
OTHER MATTERS CONTAINING GOLD AND SILVER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Francis, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 I, the said Henry Francis, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
-
This Invention consists of a peculiar combination of mechanical parts into a
machine for crushing, grinding, washing, and amalgamating ores and matters
containing gold or silver. For this purpose a circular.or ring trough is used,
supported on friction rollers, and rotates vertically therein. On the interior of
this trough is a roller, the axis of which is weighted to any desired degree by
a lever and weights. Rotatory motion is communicated to the roller or to the
ring or circular trough by any suitable power. The trough is made sufficiently
deep to prevent the washing over the materials. Quicksilver is placed in the
lower part of the trough, and water is supplied to wash away the earthy
matters as they are crushed and ground, and have the metals separated by

page_text: amalgamating with the quicksilver, or the amalgamating may be a separate
process.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a machine constructed according to my
Invention, and Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof. a, a, is a circular
hollow ring or trough, which is supported on the two friction rollers b, b. This
trough is open on either side to admit of the feeding in of the matters to be
crushed, ground, washed, and amalgamated. 6' is a lip, over which the washing
water flows into a shoot or trough; c is a cog wheel around the trough, which
receives motion by a pinion d on the axis d', or motion may be communicated
to the axis of the crushing roller e, but it is preferred to give motion to the
trough a. The axis of the crushing and grinding roller e is pressed on by
weighted levers f. f. The roller e, it is preferred, should not be so wide as the
trough a, but this is not essential; it, however, admits of the roller being moved
from side to side of the trough, and thus to cause the wear of the surfaces to
be rendered more uniform. The matters to be crushed, ground, washed, and
amalgamated are introduced into the trough, and constant supply of water is to
be kept up to the trough, and when amalgamation is to accompany the processes
of crushing, grinding, and washing, the quicksilver is to be introduced into the
trough a.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that I make no claim to any of the separate parts of the machinery; but
what I claim is, the combination herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Francis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
HENRY FRANCIS. (L.B.)