IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 4, Saint Ann's Square,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING ORES AND
OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."-A communication
from abroad by Max Braun, of Vieille Montagne, Westphalia.
Sealed the 25th June 1869, and dated the 30th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th December 1868.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 4, Saint Ann's Square, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING
ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," (a communication
to me from abroad by Max Braun, of Vieille Montagne, Westphalia,)
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements designed to be applied to or
in connection with apparatus of the kind described in the Specification

page_text: of certain Letters Patent for "Improvements in Apparatus for Washing
and Separating Ores and other Materials," granted to the present
applicant, and dated the 4th April 1868 (No. 1146). The present
improvements are however also applicable with other kinds of apparatus.
In carrying out the present Invention cach sieve is made of a mesh
large enough for the passage through of one of the kinds of ore in the
mixed materials operated upon, and two or more sieves are used
according to the number of kinds of ore or materials in the mixture.
On each sieve there is arranged a layer of the kind of ore intended to
pass through (or other substance of the same specific gravity), but such
layer is made to consist of picces or grains which are too large to pass
through. The heaviest kind of ore is placed on the sieve on which the
materials are first supplied, and the next heaviest on the second sieve,
The materials which do not pass through one sieve are
carried over to the next which is placed at a lower level. The separation
is effected by the jigging action of water, which is made to work up and
down through the sieves, as described in the earlier Specification herein-
before referred to; or the sieves may be moved up and down in the water
to obtain the same results. The layer of ore on each sieve has the effect of
allowing particles of the same specific gravity as itself to pass through.
The hutch or cistern is divided into compartments, so that what passes
through each sieve may be kept separate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 4, Saint Ann's Square, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Davies, Her
special licence that I, the said George Davies, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Davies, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," (a communication to me from abroad by Max Braun, residing
at Vieille Montagne, in Westphalia,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Davies, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 George Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to improvements designed to be applied
to or in connection with apparatus of the kind described in the Speci-
fication of certain Letters Patent for "Improvements in Apparatus for
Washing and Separating Ores and other Materials," granted to me, and
dated the 4th April 1868 (No. 1146).
The present improvements are however also applicable with other
kinds of apparatus.
And in order that the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I have hereunto appended two
Sheets of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and
representing a four-compartment jigger, as constructed for carrying out
the said improvements in separating ores and other materials.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a longitudinal vertical section of the apparatus ;
Figure 2, Sheet 2, is a plan; Figure 3 is a transverse vertical scetion;
and Figure 4 is an end elevation. The same reference numerals are
used to mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.

page_text: The apparatus comprises a long horizontal hutch or cistern constructed
of wood bound with iron straps and formed with a semi-cylindrical
bottom. This hutch is divided into four jigging compartments 1, 2,
3, 4, by transverse ends and partitions 5, and there is also a similarly
separated end compartment 6 to receive what passes over the last jigging
compartment 4. A vertical partition 7 extends along the upper parts
of the compartments 1, 2, 3, 4, and on one side thereof there are a set
of plungers or pistons 8 to produce the jigging motion of the water,
whilst a series of sieves 9 are placed on the other side. On the tops of
the partitions 5 there are fixed a number of standards 10 to carry a
longitudinal revolving shaft 11 provided with fast and loose pulleys 12
for a driving belt, and with eccentrics 13, which by means of connecting
rods 14 actuate the plungers 8. The eccentrics 13 are adjustable on
their shaft, so that the stroke of each plunger may be adjusted separately
to suit the materials it acts on. The materials to be operated upon are
supplied to the sieve 9 of the first compartment 1 by apparatus con-
structed and worked so as to render the supply continuous and uniform.
The materials in a pulverised state are put into a hopper 15, the bottom
mouth of which is so nearly in contact with the surface of a conical
table 16, as to allow but a thin layer to pass off as the table moves
slowly round. The conical table 16 is carried on a vertical spindle 17
fixed to framing, and is turned by means of a ring of worm teeth formed
on the outside of it, and having in gear a worm on a shaft 18 driven by
means of a belt and pulleys 19, 20, from the shaft 11. The hopper 15
is carried by a frame 21, which is adjustable by means of a screw hand
wheel 22 upon the upper end of the vertical spindle 17. The conical
table 16 is formed with apertures 23, through which the materials arc
washed by water from a pipe 24 into a spout 25 leading them on the
sieve 9 of the first jigging compartment 1. When using the apparatus
there is arranged on each sieve 9 a layer of the kind of ore intended to
pass through, or such layer may consist of another substance of the same
specific gravity, but it is coarser or consists of pieces or grains which
are too large to pass through the sieve. The heaviest kind of ore or
substitute is placed on the sieve 9 of the compartment 1, on which the
materials are first supplied, and the next heaviest on the sieve of the
second compartment 2, and so on. The materials which do not pass
through one sieve are carried over the partition (5) between to the next
sieve, which is placed at a lower level. The separation is effected by
the jigging action of water, with which the hutch is filled, and which

page_text: is made to work up and down through the sieves 9 by the plungers 8;
or the sieves may be moved up and down in the water to obtain the
same results. The layer of ore or substitute on each sieve 9 has the
effect of allowing particles of the same specific gravity as itself to pass
through, whilst it keeps back any particles of less specific gravity,
which last are gradually washed over from each compartment to the
next lower one, the light waste from the last compartment 4 finally
passing over into the end compartment 6. The layer or bed on each
sieve may be about three inches thick, or less, in the machine repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings, but it may of course be varied
in other machines.
In using the apparatus it is essential to have the materials "classified"
or separated into sizes, the different sizes being operated upon in different
machines or with different sets of sieves, as the sieves must be of a mesh
suited to the size of the materials.
In fact the improved apparatus is specially designed for effectively
carrying out the system of treating pulverised ores, wherein they are
first classified with reference to the sizes of the particles, and are then
treated by the jigging apparatus to separate them with reference to their
specific gravities. The particles passing through the several sieves fall
to the bottoms of the respective compartments of the hutch, whence
they are discharged at intervals through sluices or valves 26 into
boxes 27, in which the ores settle, and from the outer ends of which
the water overflows and passes away.
The apparatus may be made with various numbers of compartments;
that shown with four on the accompanying Drawings being for separating
mixtures containing three different metals. The fourth compartment
is for separating seconds or such pieces as it is desirable to crush and
treat over again on account of their consisting of two or more different
kinds adhering together, and the layer on the fourth sieve is of course
selected with that end in view.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details hercin described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The separating of ores and other materials by means of sieves
covered with layers of materials, which whilst slightly coarser than those

page_text: intended to pass through are of the same specific gravity, substantially
as herein-before described.
2. The system or mode of separating ores and other materials, wherein
the materials in a pulverised state are, after being classified, subjected
to improved jigging apparatus, substantially such as is herein-beforc
described.
And, 3. The arranging and combining together of the parts of jigging
apparatus for separating ores and other materials, substantially in the
improved manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
GEORGE DAVIES. (L.S.)