CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING COPPER, LEAD, AND OTHER ORES FROM EARTHY AND OTHER 'SUBSTANCES WITH WHICH THEY ARE OR MAY BE MIXED, AND WHICH IS MORE PARTICULARLY INTENDED TO SUPERSEDE THE OPERATION NOW PRACTISED OR USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, COMMONLY CALLED JIGGING
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PETHERICK, of Penfrellick, in the Parish of Tywardreath, in the County of
Cornwall, Mine Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the eleventh year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Petherick, by the name and
description of Thomas Petherick, of Penfullick, in the Parish of Tywardreath,
in the County of Cornwall, Mine Agent, His especial licence that I, the said
Thomas Petherick, my executors, admors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Thomas Petherick, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING COPPER, LEAD,
AND OTHER ORES FROM EARTHY AND OTHER 'SUBSTANCES WITH WHICH THEY ARE
OR MAY BE MIXED, AND WHICH IS MORE PARTICULARLY INTENDED TO SUPERSEDE
THE OPERATION NOW PRACTISED OR USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, COMMONLY CALLED
JIGGING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas Petherick, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after, the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference, being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Petherick, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in-which the-same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained in manner following (that is to say).:-
My said Invention consists in certain machinery thus composed, namely, a
large vat, tub, or vessel with a fixed cover, in which cover are apertures and
receptacles adapted to the form and size of a number of sieves, such as are or
may be used in the operation for separating copper, lead, and other ores from
earthy and other substances with which they are or may be mixed. The vat,
tub, or vessel aforesaid is filled with water; the sieves are to contain the
copper, lead, or other ores, together with the earthy and other sub-
stances with which they are or may be mixed, and from which they are
required to be separated. The sieves are placed in their receptacles, and thus
'the contents aforesaid of the sieves will be immersed in the water contained in
"the vat, tub; or vessel aforesaid. The interior, capacity of the. vat, tub, or
vessel aforesaid must communicate-with-the-interior-capacity of a hollow
cylinder, into which a corresponding. plunger (or a piston) is fitted, and that
plunger or piston is moved alternately up and down (or to and fro in any
other 'direction)" within such. hollow cylinder, so as to alternately displace
water therefrom, and force the same into the 'vat, tub, or vessel aforesaid, and
then withdraw water from the vat, tub, or vessel into the hollow, cylinder, in
order that the water in the receptacles wherein the sieves are partially (and
the contents of the sieves are wholly) immersed as aforesaid, may be, alter-
nately raised 'and lowered with a sudden. flux and reflux, which is repeated
and continued until the requisite: degree of separation of the ores from, the
earthy or other substances with which they are or may be mixed is effected.
The construction of the machinery, and the magnitude and arrangement of the
parts thereof, may be greatly varied in manner herein-after mentioned, but
the Drawing hereunto annexed and herein. particularly described, represents
the combination or construction of the different parts of-my-machinery, such
as has been recently used for separating the copper ores obtained at the
Lanescot-mine in Cornwall from the earthy and other substances with which
'they are mixed, and which machinery, as far as the same, has been applied, I
have found to supersede the operation there commonly called jigging,
Figure 1 ista vertical section of my said machinery, taken on the dotted
line A, B, in the plan (Figure 8).. Figure 2 is an elevation corresponding to

page_text: the section Figure 1,. and Figure 3 is a horizontal plan of the upper parţ..
The same letters of reference denote the same parts in all the Figures, which
are drawn on a scale of three quarters of an inch to a foot, or one-sixteenth
part of the real size. C is a moveable plunger or short cylinder, which is
made smooth and true on the outside surface. It works. up and down through
a packing contained in a stuffing box D, and retained by a gland or ring.
That stuffing box is at the top of a hollow cylinder, which is fixed in the
centre of the upper plate or cover W of the large vessel E, which vessel is of
a cylindrical (or octagonal) form at the upper part, and tapers downwards in
the form of an inverted frustrum of a cone (or of an octagonal pyramid) at
the lower part. The cover W has in it eight circular openings, each of which
is surrounded with a short cylindrical hoop or rim F, forming eight receptacles
for the sieves K, into which the ores are put, in order to separate them from
the earthy and other substances. with which they are or may be mixed, the
separation being effected by the action of the water contained in the vessel E
when that water is put in motion by means of the moveable plunger C. The
sieves, one of which is marked K in Figures 1 and 2, are such as are or may
be used in the operations for separating copper, lead, and other ores from
earthy and other substances with which they are or may be mixed, except that
the sieves used in my machinery are larger in diameter, and contain a greater
quantity of ore stuff than would be convenient to handle in jigging, as
practised in the usual manner by boys holding the sieves in their hands. The
circular openings in the cover W of the large vessel E are rather smaller in
diameter than the interior of the receptacles F, in. order to leave a narrow
rim of the cover plate W projecting within the interior circumference of each
of the receptacles at the lower parts thereof. Those rims support the cylin-
drical hoops of the sieves, and the bottoms of the sieves. extend over the
circular apertures. G is an orifice, to which a pipe is joined to convey water
to the upper part of the vessel E from an elevated reservoir, the supply being
regulated by a valve or cock in the pipe. H are a number of plug holes for
drawing off the water from the vessel E down to any required level, according
to the plugs which are withdrawn in order to drain the water from the small
fragments and particles of ores which have passed through the sieves pre-
viously to taking the same out of the vessel E.. I is a moveable. plate or
door in the lower part of the vessel E, which is to be removed. when
the small frgments or particles of ores are to be taken out from the
vessel E. L is a perpendicular rod fixed to the centre of the moveable
plunger C; it is guided at the upper end to retain the plunger perpen-
dicular when it is moved up and down with alternate motion by means,

page_text: of a revolving crank pip mat the end of a horizontal axis S; and a suitable
'connecting rod T, lever V, and link to form a connection with 'the upper
end of the rod L, in order to transmit the motion to the plunger, the axis S
and its crank pin m being turned round by steam or water power, or by the
'strength of horses or of men; and the axis of the crank has a fly wheel Z
fixed upon it to regulate the motion. The crank pin m projects out from a
platen, which is applied flat against a corresponding plater, formed on the
extreme end of the horizontal axis S; and the two plates are fastened together
by two screw-bolts," which pass through oblong holes, in order to allow the
crank pin to be moved and fixed at different suitable distances from the centre
line of the axis S, so as to vary the length of the stroke given to the plunger
from hälf an inch to three inches. Note, if the plunger be made smaller than
represented in the Drawing, then it must. move with a proportionably-greater
length of stroke, in order to produce the same effect; and also, the number of
strokes made in a minute is capable of variations of speed, the extremes being
from sixty strokes per minúte to one hundred and fifty strokes per minute,
according to circumstances; that variation of speed may be given in various
ways well known to mechanicians. In the Drawing the axis S is represented
with four speed pullies 8, 8, 3, 8, of different diameters, fixed upon it; any
one of which can be turned by an endless-strap-or-chain or-rope-from-a-cor--
responding (but reversed) set of four speed pullies t; t, t, t, fixed on another
parallel axis Y, which axis is turned round by water power (or steam power,
or horses or men, may be used in lieu) acting on the gearing R, by applying
the endless strap or chain upon one or other of the different speed pullies
tands. The axis S and crank-may be turned with different-speeds. The
mode of operation with my machinery is as follows:-The large vessel E
being filled with water by-the pipe 'which joins to the orifice G, Figure 1', up
to the top of the receptacles F; or nearly so, a sieve (marked K, in Figures
1 and 2), partly filled with the ores and the accompanying earthy-and other
substances (which may be called waste, and which are intended to be separated
therefrom), is placed in each and every of the receptacles: A reciprocating
or alternating, motion is given to the plunger C by means of the revolving
crank M, and suitable connecting rods and lever connected with the rod L, as
before mentioned. And the action of the plunger causes a corresponding
motion (but in a reverse direction) in the water in the receptacles F, which
water rises and falls through the wired or perforated bottoms of the sieves K,
which are placed in those receptacles F; and the flux and reflux of the water
operates on the ores and waste contained in those sieves, so as by degrees to
effect the requisite degree of separation of the ores from the waste (that is

page_text: from the earthy and other substances with which they are or may be mixed);
that is to say, when the plunger C is forced down through its stuffing box, the
ascending motion of the water through the bottoms of the sieves, acting
beneath the ores and waste with a sudden and rapid flow upwards, raises the
same upwards from the bottoms of the sieves, and in so rising, the waste,
earthy, or other substances, being principally of less specific gravity than the
ores, the ascending water has a tendency to raise that waste higher than it
raises the ores, which, from their greater heaviness, have a tendency to remain
below or nearer to the bottoms of the sieves; and, in like manner, when the
plunger C is raised up again, the water returns through the bottoms of the
sieves with a sudden and rapid reflux downwards, carrying the ores and waste
downwards towards the bottoms of the sieves with a falling motion more
sudden than the previous ascending motion, because the weight of the ores
and waste acts in aid of the motion of the water during the descent, which
weight acted in opposition to the motion of the water during the ascent. The
greater specific gravity of the ores over that of the waste causes the ores to
subside more rapidly, in the same manner as they ascended more slowly; hence,
both motions given to the ores by the water (as well in ascending as in
descending) tend to separate the ores from the waste, and, by a continuance
of the alternating motion, the larger fragments of the ores gradually collect on
the bottoms of the sieves, whilst the smaller fragments and particles thereof
pass through the openings of the said bottoms into the lower part of the
vessel E, and the waste collects gradually above the. larger fragments of ores
which remain in the sieves. When the requisite degree of separation is
effected the sieves are removed from their receptacles; and, as soon as a sieve
is removed from any one of the receptacles, another sieve ready filled with ores
and waste is to be put into that receptacle in place of the sieve which is with-
drawn. Those fragments and particles of ores which are sufficiently small to
pass through the openings of the bottoms of the sieves, and which fall during
the operation into the large vessel E, collect in the lower part thereof.. The
waste in the sieves (so withdrawn from the receptacles), lying over the larger
fragments of ore, is to be removed from off the ore, which ore, when a suffi-
cient quantity thereof is collected in the sieves, is then taken out of the same
clear from waste, or nearly so. At the conclusion of a day's work, or at any
other convenient period, the plugs at H, Figure 1 (for a requisite number of
them), are withdrawn from the plug holes H,. and, the water run out from the
vessel E, and the small fragments and particles of ores which have collected
therein are taken out through the aperture that is covered by the moveable
plate or door I, which is detached for that purpose. The dimensions of all

page_text: the parts of the machinery may be found by measuring the Drawings according
to their scale. The machinery represented in the Drawings I have found to
perform the same work in dressing copper ores at-Lanescot mine in any given
time as: was heretofore performed by about: twelve sieves for jigging by hand,
each sieve being worked by a stout: lad; and my machinery requires four
persons: to attend and change the sieves, and fill and empty the same when
necessary. As to the extent, of reciprocating motion to be given. to the
plunger, and the rapidity of ther alterations thereof, the same must be varied
according to the nature, size, and form of the fragments of the ores, and of the
earthy and other-substances with which they are or may be mixed; and the
quantity thereof. contained in the sieves, and also according to the specific
gravity of the waste compared with that of the ores intended to be separated
therefrom. For these reasons no specific rule can be given for such-variations,
they can only be regulated by the persons using the machinery, and observing
that the length: of stroke, and the number of strokes per minute, must.be
so regulated as to give that extent and rapidity of rise and fall, or flux' and
reflux, to the: water wherein the sieves, are placed as will produce such an
effect in separating the ores from the waste as is produced by boys in jigging
ores by hande in the most approved manner: But note, that in cases where
the requisite. degree of separation of the ores from the waste can be facilitated
by: a more rapid or extensive motion than the strength of hands will permit of
being given to the sieves: by boys in jigging by hand, my machinery, may (if
found advantageous) be made to act quicker or with more motion. I find
that by my machinery used at Lanescot mine the separation of the copper ores
from the waste: is effected. in a more complete and better manner than
would have been effected by the operation, heretofore practised there of jigging
by: boys.
Having now described my machinery, I do hereby declare that my Inven-
tion.does not consist in any specific form or size of the vessels herein-before
described (for the same may be greatly varied), nor in the number, size, or
form of the receptacles for the sieves, nor in the size, form, or construction of
the sieves which are to be placed in. those receptacles; the choice of the
proper kind and size of sieves to be used therein depending upon the sort of
ores and waste which are to be separated (except as before stated)!; that my
machinery will permit of the use of larger sieves containing a greater quantity
of ores and waste than could be conveniently handled in the usual way of
jigging by. boys holding the sieves in their hands. But what I do claim as
mýs Invention is, machinery consisting of a vat, tub, or vessel, in the fixed
cover of which are suitable apertures and receptacles to contain a number of

page_text: sieves to hold copper, lead, or other ores, and earthy and other substances with
which they are or may be mixed; the said vessel communicating with a hollow
cylinder, into which a moveable piston or a plunger is fitted, and an alter-
nating or reciprocating motion being given to that piston or plunger for the
purpose of alternately raising and lowering (and so as to alternately raise and
lower) the water in the receptacles which contain the sieves, in order by such
raising and lowering of the water to separate (and thereby separating) such
copper, lead, and other ores from earthy and other substances with which
they are or may be mixed, and that in a more complete and better manner
than is usually done by the operation by hand labour, commonly called
jigging, and which machinery I have herein-before explained in that form of
construction, and that magnitude, and that arrangement of parts which I
have found to answer the purpose in real use at Lanescot mine in Cornwall,
so as, as far as the same has been applied, to supersede the operation used for
separating copper ores from the waste commonly called jigging; but the form
of construction, magnitude, and arrangements of parts herein-before described
may be greatly varied, according to the various kinds of ores which it is
intended to treat by my machinery, without departing from the essential nature
of my Invention as herein declared.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Petherick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, One thousand
THOMAS (L.S.) PETHERICK.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1830, the aforesaid Thomas Petherick came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty.