PROPER APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING TWO SUBSTANCES OF DIFFERENT DENSITIES, AMONG OTHERS MAY BE MENTIONED PIT COAL FROM THE SLATE WHICH IT CONTAINS
Year: 1858

page_text: (This Invention received Provisional Protection, but notice to proceed with the
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jozé Luis at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th April 1858.-
A communication.
I, JOZE Luis, of No. 1B, Welbeck Street (Cavendish Sqr), in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "PROPER
APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING TWO SUBSTANCES OF DIFFERENT DENSITIES, AMONG
OTHERS MAY BE MENTIONED PIT COAL FROM THE SLATE WHICH IT CONTAINS," a com-
munication, to be as follows:-
The apparatus is composed of a large compartment or box, which can be
made of wood, sheet iron, cast iron, or masonry; it is surrounded by wood-
work, which supports the different parts belonging to the working apparatus,
such as beams, wheels, and cog work, &c., &c.
The apparatus is divided into three principal parts, 1°, the washing table, on
which the separation of the substances is carried on; 2nd, the labyrinth, which
is the place where the lighter matters are deposited; 3rd, the reservoir for
denser substances.
Washing table. This is composed of a certain number of partitions made
of wood or masonry, which partly cover each other, leaving little spaces by
which the water must escape. This table has something the form of a
venetian blind. A current of water, entering by an orifice in the box, penę-
trates under the table by another orifice, and escapes by the spaces between

page_text: the partitions, and stirs up the substance to be washed. The substance to be
washed can be brought to the table either by throwing it in with the shovel or
by means of a screw, or by a chain of buckets, or some other means, to be
determined according to circumstances.
Labyrinth. All the lighter substances will be carried away by the current
of water into the labyrinth, when it is desired that the more tenacious parties
remain completely mixed with the rest of the matters; & I believe this will
be the case in general. If otherwise, the substances carried away must be
received on a metal sheet placed beneath the escape, the more tenacious
matters will be carried away by a current of water across the meshes of the
sheet, and will be deposited in a labyrinth ad hoc. The substances which
remain on the trellis can be carried away by workmen or by a chain of
buckets, or by shovels.
Reservoir for heavy substances.-The densest matters will be accumulated
in the lowest part of the washing table; it is necessary that they occupy only
a certain height, without which they run the risk of being carried into the
labyrinth; on the other side they must not be too low at the time when they
are made to pass into the reservoir for heavy substances, otherwise the
substances of a moderate density would go too. In order to be certain of the
real height, a little bucket, made of sheet iron, is used; it is fastened to a
handle, by the side of which another handle must be able to slide, having the
cover of the bucket attached to one end. The bucket, with its lid on, is
plunged several times, at different depths, into the matters to be washed, the
cover is raised a little, the matter enters, the bucket is again shut down, &
drawn up, and upon examining its contents it is easy to discover the level
which the denser matters occupy. As soon as it is seen that the washing is in
a proper state, and that the level of the denser matters is sufficiently high, a
register ad hoc is opened, and the denser matters fall on an inclined plane;
the register ad hoc is then shut, another one by the side is opened, and the
denser matters pass into the compartment destined for them, whence they are
removed by a chain of buckets out of the machine. It sometimes happens
that the denser matters form a thick substance, and there is a difficulty in
causing them to pass into the compartment arranged for them (a rare case);
if so, a screw is placed, which on being turned forces the matter to pass
through by the orifice placed a little higher into the compartment for dense
matters. The register by the side of ad hoc must remain closed.
Movement
can be given to the different parts of the machine by a steam engine or some
other motive power.
When pit coal is washed, it is sometimes necessary to leave with the slate

page_text: certain pieces of coal of a greater density than the other on account of the
larger proportion of cinder which it contains; to effect this, it is only necessary
to diminish the intensity of the current of water. But in order not to lose the
coal still mixed with the slate, and which still has a certain value, another
table can be adjusted to the side of the washing table; in this table the current
of water will be stronger; by the side of this table will be placed the compart-
ment for the denser matters, and also the chain of buckets destined to remove
them out of the machine.