CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND REDUCING GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE POWDER, AND AMALGAMATING THE SAID GROUND QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER, THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERIZING AND WASHING OF ORES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of the
United Patent Offices, 16, Castle Street, Holborn, London, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
GRINDING AND REDUCING GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE POWDER,
AND AMALGAMATING THE SAID GROUND QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER, THE
SAME BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERIZING AND WASHING OF
ORES." A communication.
Sealed the 21st June 1853, and dated the 29th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 29th December 1852.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of the United Patent
Offices, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR GRINDING AND REDUCING GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE POWDER, AND
AMALGAMATING THE SAID GROUND QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER, THE SAME
BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERIZING AND WASHING OF ORES," to be
as follows:-

page_text: The accompanying is a perspective view of the apparatus.
"
The same
letters refer to like parts. The machinery here represented exhibits a
set of stampers placed on. an elevation above the pulverizing and amal-
gamating basins. The stampers are of the usual form, and are operated
in the common manner, as here exhibited. A strong frame is erected.
A, is a cross sill or bearing brace, one on each side, having journal
boxes for the lifter shaft H, which receives motion from the main shaft D,
which is driven by animal, water, or steam power, giving 'motion to the
crank through the connecting rod C. The cog-wheel F, gears into the
one G, on shaft H, and rotates the lifter shaft. On this are a series of
horns or lifters, and by some called "wipers," I, for lifting the stampers.
There are slots in the vertical shafts or arms of the stampers; the
lifters take into said slots as they revolve, and lift each stampers to a
height corresponding with the length of the lifter (15 inches), when it,
the stamper, drops down 45 times in a minute on the quartz in the
trough with a blow like that of a hammer weighing 600 lbs. M, is
the cast metal bottom of the quartz trough. N, is a wire screen
through which the pounded quartz reduced to about the size of small
shots passes from the stamper trough to the receptacle O, into the
several spouts P, P, P, P, and thence into the pulverizing and amal-
gamating basins. On the other side of the stampers is an inclined iron
plate to guide the ore under the stampers. The upright shafts or
arms of the stampers are guided through openings in the guide
boards B, B, to drop perpendicularly on the quartz. L, L, are the
hammers of the stanipers; they are made of the best chilled iron, and
are so formed as to do double duty, the top weights K, K, being ham-
mers also, and capable of supplying the places of L, L. The pulverizing
and, amalgamating basins are set in an inclined position. Four of
these basins Q, Q, Q, Q, are shown set in one frame, receiving the
pounded quartz; it is pounded with a small stream of water flowing in
from the spouts P, P. Each basin is a large circular iron vessel like
a potash kettle, and set inclined at an angle of about 45°. The basins
are made to revolve, and this gives each ball a rotary motion on its own
axis contrary to the motion of the basin. There is one ball R, for each
basin. Each ball keeps rolling in the lower inclined part Z, of its basini,

page_text: into which the pounded quartz is gathered, and there exposed to the
rolling pulverizing weight and motion of the ball which rolls on the
quartz, while the basin is continually presenting a new surface to change
the position of the quartz as it (the basin) rotates on its axis. The
quicksilver is placed in the lower part of the basin, and the weight of
the ball and its motion keeps it in continual contact below the surface
with the pulverized quartz. This prevents any of the oxide of iron
which may be in the quartz from forming a coating to prevent the
contact of quicksilver with the gold; the oxide is rubbed off, and passes
out with the surface water. It is therefore superior to a mere surface
amalgamator. Each ball weighs about 3000 lbs.; it can be cast solid,
or, for convenience, cast hollow, and then filled with black sand at the
mines. The ball motion is the best to reduce the quartz to an impalpa-
ble powder, in which state it must be for proper washing, or for
amalgamation with the mercury. The lighter matters pass off at the
lower lip of each inclined basin through a spout. The basins are
therefore pulverizing, washing, and amalgamating machines. These
basins are each made with conical funnels reaching down to the lower
bearing of each. These funnels are not shown, but it will explain
their form to say they are shaped in elevation like the common kind,
which gives them a firm bearing below to support each basin. Said
funnels are made hollow so as to admit of being made into furnaces
for heating the basins to promote the quick amalgamation of the
metals, which is said to be done by a certain degree of heat. It is also
proposed to let the exhaust steam (when an engine is employed for
driving) into the water of the stampers so as to heat it also. The
same water that is employed for stamping the quartz passes into the
basins; this is to economize the water in places where it is scarce.
The waste water and impurities pass from the basins by the conduit T.
Motion is given to the basins,-they have a vertical axis,―by having cog
teeth Y, Y, cast on the outside at the bottom of each. A cog pinion
X; X, on a cross shaft takes into the teeth on its basin, and gives it a
rotating motion on its axis. The shaft of these pinions X, has a central
pinion W, that receives motion from the large middle wheel V, on a
central shaft, and which thus moves all the basins. Any number of
basins may thus be set in rows, and thus moved by a band U, from the

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the
Great Seal Patent Office, on the 23rd June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn,
City, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Auguste Edouard Lora-
doux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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, communicated to
me by a foreigner residing abroad, for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND REDUCING GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE
POWDER, AND AMALGAMATING THE SAID GROUND QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER,
THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERIZING AND WASHING OF
ORES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Auguste
Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, 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 and the Drawings
hereunto annexed (that is to say):
The accompanying is a perspective view of the apparatus. The same
letters refer to like parts. The machinery here represented exhibits a
set of stampers placed on an elevation above the pulverizing and
amalgamating basins. The stampers are of the usual form, and are
operated in the common manner, as here exhibited. A strong frame
is erected. A, is a cross sill or bearing brace, one on each side, having
journal boxes for the lifter shaft H, which receives motion from the
main shaft D, which is driven by animal, water, or steam power, giving
motion to the crank through the connecting rod C. The cog-wheel F,
gears into the one G, on shaft H, and rotates the lifter shaft. On this
shaft are a series of horns or lifters, and by some called "wipers," I,
for lifting the stampers. There are slots in the vertical shafts or arms
of the stampers; the lifters take into the slots as they revolve, and lift
each stamper to a height corresponding with the length of the lifter
(fifteen inches), when the stamper drops down forty-five times in a
minute on the quartz in the trough with a blow like that of a hammer
weighing six hundred pounds. M, is the cast metal bottom of the quartz
trough. N, is a wire screen through which the pounded quartz reduced
to about the size of small shot passes from the stamper trough to the
receptacle O, into the several spouts P, P, P, P, and thence into the
pulverizing and amalgamating basins. On the other side of the

page_text: stampers an inclined iron plate to guide the ore under the stampers
The upright shafts or arms of the stampers are guided through openings
in the guide boards B, B, to drop perpendicularly on the quartz. L, L
are the hammers of the stampers; they are made of the best chilled
iron, and are so formed as to do double duty, the top weights K, K
being hammers also, and capable of supplying the places of L, L. The
pulverizing and amalgamating basins are set in an inclined position.
Four of these basins Q, Q, Q, Q, are shown set in one frame, receiving
the pounded quartz; it is pounded with a small stream of water flowing
in from the spouts P, P. Each basin is a large circular iron vessel like
a potash kettle, and set inclined at an angle of about forty-five degrees.
The basins are made to revolve, and this gives each ball a rotary motion
on its own axis contrary to the motion of the basin. There is one ball R,
for, each basin. Each ball keeps rolling in the lower inclined part Z
of its basin, into which the pounded quartz is gathered, and there ex-
posed to the rolling.pulverizing weight and motion of the ball which rolls
on the quartz, while the basin is continually presenting a new surface
to change the position of the quartz as it (the basin) rotates on its axis.
The quicksilver is placed in the lower part of the basin, and the weight
of the ball and its motion keeps it in continual contact below the surface
with the pulverized quartz. This prevents any of the oxide of iron
which may be in the quartz from forming a coating to prevent the con-
tact of quicksilver with the gold; the oxide is rubbed off, and passes out
with the surface water. It is therefore superior to a mere surface
amalgamator. Each ball weighs about three thousand pounds; it can
be cast solid, or, for convenience, cast hollow, and then filled with black
sand at the mines. The ball motion is the best to reduce the quartz
to an impalpable powder, in which state it must be for proper washing,
or for amalgamation with the mercury. The lighter matters pass off at
the lower lip of each inclined basin through a spout. The basins are
therefore pulverizing, washing, and amalgamating machines. These
basins are each made with conical funnels reaching down to the lower
bearing of each. These funnels are not shown, but it will explain their
form to say they are shaped in elevation like the common kind, which
gives them a firm bearing below to support each basin. Said funnels are
made hollow so as to admit of being made into furnaces for heating the

page_text: basins to promote the quick amalgamation of the metals, which is said
to be done by a certain degree of heat. It is also proposed to let the
exhaust steam (when an engine is employed for driving) into the water
of the stampers, so as to heat it also. The same water that is employed
for stamping the quartz passes into the basins; this is to economise the
water in places where it is scarce. The waste water and impurities pass
from the basins by the conduit T. Motion is given to the basins,-they
have vertical axes,-by having cog teeth Y, Y, cast on the outside at
the bottom of each. A cog pinion X, X, on a cross shaft takes into
the teeth on its basin, and gives it a rotating motion on its axis.
The shaft of these pinions X, has a central pinion W, that receives
motion from the large middle wheel V, on a central shaft, and which
thus moves all the basins. Any number of basins may thus be set in
rows, and thus moved by a band U, from the pulley E, of the main
shaft D, driving a pulley on the central shaft of the large cog-wheel V.
The arrangement, motions, and operations of the several parts are now
explained.
I claim the employment, for the purpose of reducing gold quartz to
an impalpable powder, and amalgamating the same with quicksilver,
and also for pulverizing and washing ores, of any number of basins Q, Q,
and balls R, R, constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as
described, to wit, the basins being concave, and placed in an inclined
position, and having rotary motion, and the balls being placed loosely,
one in each basin, receiving rotary motion in the opposite direction to
the basins containing them by means of the contact of their surfaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bell-
ford, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
A. E. L. BELLFORD. (L.S.)

page_text: In the Matter of a Patent granted to Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, of the United Patent Offices, 16, Castle Street, Holborn,
London, for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING
AND REDUCING GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE POWDER, AND AMALGA-
MATING THE SAID GROUND QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER, THE SAME BEING
APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERISING AND WASHING OF ORES," bearing
date the Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two, to which a Specification has been duly filed,
and which said Letters Patent have been duly assigned to Hiram
Berdan, of New York City, in the United States of America, by
Indenture bearing date the Eighth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
ORANDUM OF ALTERATION proposed to be entered by the said
Hiram Berdan, as such assignee as aforesaid, pursuant to the Statutes in
that case made and provided.
The words in Italic and the letter within parentheses are written in red ink
original.)
HEREAS the said Letters Patent were applied for and granted to the
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, as my agent, and for an Invention

page_text: made by me And whereas, since the filing of the said Specification and the
assigning of the said Letters Patent, I have ascertained that the said Auguste
Edouard Loradoux Bellford did, in error, annex to the said Specification Draw-
ings, in which the letters of reference, though they agree with each other, do
not agree with the written parts of the said Specification; I therefore wish to
alter, and I do hereby alter, the said Specification, by striking out all the letters
of reference in the written parts thereof; and in order to make sense of the
Specification, as it will appear when so altered, I make the slight verbal
alterations shewn by red ink in the copy of the Specification hereunto annexed,
and I retain the letters of reference now on the Drawings of the said Speci-
fication, as they will aid the eye of the engineer and workman in tracing-the
forms and positions of the several parts in the different Figures of the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Berdan, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
HIRAM BERDAN. (L.S.)
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn, City, London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special license, that I, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
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, communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad, for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AND REDUCING

page_text: GOLD QUARTZ TO AN IMPALPABLE POWDER, AND AMALGAMATING THE SAID GROUND
QUARTZ WITH QUICKSILVER, THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PULVERIZING
AND WASHING OF ORES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 saine 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
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, and the Drawings hereunto annexed; (that is to
say):
A
The accompanying Drawing shews different is a perspective view(s) of
the apparatus. The same letters refer to like parts. The machinery here
represented exhibits a set of stampers placed on an elevation above the
pulverising and amalgamating basins. The stampers are of the usual
form, and are operated in the common manner as here exhibited.
strong frame is erected. A and there is a cross sill or bearing brace, one
on each side, having journal boxes for the lifter shaft H, which receives
motion from the main shaft D, which is driven by animal, water, or
steam power, giving motion to the drum, or by a crank through-the-con-
meeting red C. The cog-wheel F, on the driving shaft, gears into the one
on the lifter shaft H, and rotates the lifter shaft. On this shaft are a series
of horns or lifters, and by some called "wipers," +, for lifting the stampers.
There are slots in the vertical shafts or arms of the stampers; the lifters take
into the slots as they revolve, and lift each stamper to a height corresponding
with the length of the lifter (fifteen inches), when the stamper drops down
forty-five times in a minute on the quartz in the trough, with a blow like that
of a hammer weighing six hundred pounds. Mis the east metal bottom of the
quarts trough. There is a wire screen through which the pounded quartz,
reduced to about the size of small shot, passes from the stamper trough to the
eceptacle O, into-the several spouts PPPP, and thence into the pulverizing
and amalgamating basins. On the other side of the stampers is an inclined
ron plate, to guide the ore under the stampers. The upright shafts or arms
of the stampers are guided through openings in the guide boards B, B, to drop
perpendicularly on the quartz. Lare The hammers of the stampers they

page_text: are made of the best chilled iron, and are so formed as to do double duty, the
top weights K, K, being hammers also, and capable of supplying the places of
the lower ones, L. The pulverizing and amalgamating basins are set in an
inclined position. Four of these basius QQ,-QQ, are shown set in one
frame, receiving the pounded quartz; it is pounded with a small stream of
water flowing in from the spouts PP. Each basin is a large circular iron
vessel, like a potash kettle, and set inclined at an angle of about forty-five
degrees. The basins are made to revolve, and this gives each ball a rotary
motion on its own axis, contrary to the motion of the basin. There is one
ball R, for each basin. Each ball keeps rolling in the lower inclined
part of its basin, into which the pounded quartz is gathered, and there
exposed to the rolling pulverizing weight and motion of the ball, which
rolls on the quartz while the basin is continually presenting a new surface
to change the position of the quartz, as it (the basin) rotates on its axis.
The quicksilver is placed in the lower part of the basin, and the weight
of the ball and its motion keeps it in continual contact below the sur-
face with the pulverized quartz. This prevents any of the oxide of iron
which may be in the quartz from forming a coating to prevent the contact
of quicksilver with the gold; the oxide is rubbed off, and passes out with
the surface water. It is therefore superior to a mere surface amalgamator.
Each ball weighs about three thousand pounds; it can be cast solid, or for
convenience cast hollow, and then filled with black sand at the mines. The
ball motion is the best to reduce the quartz to an impalpable powder, in which
state it must be for proper washing, or for amalgamation with the mercury.
The lighter matters pass off at the lower lip of each inclined basin through
a spout. The basins are therefore pulverizing, washing, and amalgamating
machines. These basins are each made with conical funnels reaching down
to the lower bearing of each. These funnels are not shown, but and it will
explain their form to say they are shaped in elevation like the common kind,
which gives them a firm bearing below to support each basin. Said funnels
are made hollow, so as to admit of being made into furnaces for heating the
basins to promote the quick amalgamation of the metals, which is said to be
lone by a certain degree of heat. It is also proposed to let the exhaust steam
(when an engine is employed for driving) into the water of the stampers, so as
to heat it also. The same water that is employed for stamping the quartz
passes into the basins; this is to economise the water in places where it is
scarce. The waste water and impurities pass from the basins by the conduit T.

page_text: Motion is given to the basins, (they have vertical axes,) by having cog teeth
XY, cast on the outside at the bottom of each. A cog pinion X,X, on a cross
shaft takes into the teeth on its basin, and gives it a rotating motion on its axis.
The shaft of these pinions X, has a central pinion W, that receives motion
from the large middle wheel, on a central shaft, and which thus moves all
the basins. Any number of basins may thus be set in rows, and thus moved
by a band, from the pulley, of the main shaft, driving a pulley on the
central shaft of the large cog wheel .
V. The arrangement, motions, and
operations of the several parts are now explained.
I claim the employment, for the purpose of reducing gold quartz to an
impalpable powder, and amalgamating the same with quicksilver, and also for
pulverizing and washing ores, of any number of basins QQ, and balls R,R,
constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as described, to wit, the
basins being concave, and placed in an inclined position, and having rotary
motion, and the balls being placed loosely, one in each basin, receiving rotary
motion in the opposite direction to the basins containing them by means of the
contact of their surfaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of June,
in the vear of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
A. E. L. BELLFORD. (L.S.)
To the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions.
I hereby grant my fiat, giving leave to the above-mentioned Hiram Berdan
to file in the Great Seal Patent Office, with the Specification to which the
same relates, the above-written Memorandum of Alteration.