IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND ANALGAMATING GOLD AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND
ANALGAMATING GOLD AND OTHER METALS." -A communication from
Abiather F. Potter, of Boston, in the United States of America...
Scaled the 5th March 1853, and dated the 15th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th October 1852.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND AMALGAMATING GOLD
AND OTHER METALS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in first pulverizing the ore, and then forcing
it in a diffused and agitated state through a mass of quicksilver by the
pressure of a column of moving water or other equivalent pressure,
whereby the gold or other metal is extracted by amalgamation, and the
water and other light matters may rise above or to the surface of the
denser or heavier particles, from which they may be drained off.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 15th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
license that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my 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 and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND AMALGAMATING GOLD AND OTHER
METALS, being a communication, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to a mode of subjecting pulverized ores to the combined action

page_text: of water and quicksilver, for, the purpose of amalgamating the metallic
particles thereof with the quicksilver, and of driving off the earthy and
other refuse matters.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1, is an external side elevation
of the apparatus employed by the Inventor for this purpose; Fig. 2,
is a vertical section of the same; Fig. 3, is a plan view with the
hollow vertical water and feed pipe and hollow conical cap removed;
Fig. 4, is a plan of the lower side of the hollow conical cap. The
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A, is a circular vessel for containing mercury, and provided with a
rising conical bottom B. On the surface of this conical bottom nume-
rous curved grooves C, C, are formed, through which the water and
pulverized ore are passed into the quicksilver. These grooves are covered
with a hollow cap D, screwed firmly down through its flange E, and
having a hole F, in its top to receive the feed pipe G, which fits in
tightly, and is high enough to contain a column of water sufficient to
force its way with the pulverized ore through the said grooves and the
quicksilver in the vessel A, and pass off through the discharge spout H.
The mercury vessel is provided with an outlet I, for discharging the
amalgam as often as may be necessary.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-I place the pulverized
ore on a sieve at the top of the feed pipe G, and apply thereto a constant
stream of water which washes the fine golden or other metallic matter
through the meshes of the sieve and down the pipe into the diffusing
grooves C, C, and filling the pipe to a suflicient height to more than
countervail the resistance of the heavy body of quicksilver, forces the
said matter through the grooves at the bottom of the vessel A, in a
diffused and agitated state, into the mass of quicksilver, with which it
becomes thoroughly mixed, and the water and other light matter rising
up to the edge of the mercury vessel pass off through the discharge
spout H, while the gold or other metal is taken up by and amalgamated
with the quicksilver. This amalgam is drawn off as often as it may be
necessary by removing the plug from the outlet pipe I, and a fresh
supply of mercury is then placed in the vessel A, ready for the next
operation. By this method a considerable economy in labor is effected,

page_text: and a greater yield of gold or other metal is obtained from a given
quantity of ore than by the process of washing and amalgamating in
ordinary use.
The apparatus may be made of any suitable materials, and of any
convenient size and shape, of parts which will substantially effect the
object sought.
Having now described the nature of the improvements in washing
and amalgamating gold and other metals, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, first, the forcing of
pulverized golden or other metallic ore in a diffused and agitated state
through a mass of quicksilver by the pressure of a column of moving
water or other equivalent pressure, whereby the gold or other metal is
extracted by amalgamation, and the water and other light matters rise
to the surface and pass off, substantially as described; and, secondly,
the construction of apparatus, as described with reference to the
Drawing, for effecting the operation above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)