IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING, SEPA- RATING, AND WASHING ORES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING, SEPA-
RATING, AND WASHING ORES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."-A communication from abroad by Louis Bataille,
of Ovada, Italy.
Sealed the 16th October 1866, and dated the 17th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgeumbe Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th April 1866.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING,
SEPARATING, AND WASHING ORES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in arrangements of apparatus intended chiefly for
use in mines for the separation of ores from their gangues and for enriching
the ores.

page_text: There are many materials which for industrial purposes require to be
crushed in a regular manner, that is to say, into granules of a determined
dimension with great economy and little dust, such, for example, as metallic
ores and plaster. This I effect by means of a differential crushing apparatus
hereafter described. In some cases the materials divided either naturally or
artificially require to be classed or separated according to sizes, either to
eliminate some of them or to prepare them for the work for which they are
required. This I effect by means of a graduated apparatus hereafter
described.
Sometimes there are different materials mixed together which require,
although of the same size, to be separated from each other for industrial
purposes, such, for example, as ores containing too large a proportion of
gangues from which mixture the useful portion may be separated without
any great expense. I effect this by means of a washing apparatus hereafter
described.
I proceed to describe the several apparatus successively.
Differential crushing apparatus.-This apparatus consists of an annular
trough in which circular crushers are made to revolve. The crushers are
independent of each other, the shaft of each crusher having its own separate
bearing or centre upon a revolving platform, in the middle of the apparatus;
this platform is also provided with stops, against which the shafts of the
crushers bear. The height of the platform is adjustable on a vertical
driving shaft by means of screws, and keys, or otherwise, so as to regulate the
working distance or height of the crushers from the bottom of the trough
in which the materials to be crushed' are contained. The platform also
carries the centres or supports of rakes or collectors which travel in the trough
between the crushers; it has also fixed thereto the necessary appliances for
scraping the crushers when the materials tend to adhere thereto. The
crushers work parallel to each other and at a given distance, and a ring
which forms a portion of the bottom of the trough and is adjustable as to
height by wedges or otherwise insures their parallel working. The crushers
are formed in several parts (at least three), so that those parts which become
worn may be readily removed, and so that the crushers may be taken to
pieces for convenience of transport. Each crusher consists of an outer ring
or felloe, an intermediate part to give the necessary weight, and a central
piece or nave. One or several openings of the required size are formed at the
bottom or side of the trough, so that there is a continuous exit of the crusbed
materials. The crushing may be effected with or without the aid of water or
other liquid.

page_text: Graduated separating apparatus.-This apparatus consists of a series of
sifters placed one above another, and made to receive, as hereafter described,
an. alternating rotary motion accompanied by vibrations or shocks. The
filling and emptying of these sifters is continuous, and they may be changed
without stopping the work. Each sifter is supported by means of three forks
or claws connected to vertical rods, to which an up-and-down motion is
imparted by levers and excentrics. The rods have also a quick alternating
circular movement given by arms which support them; these arms radiato
from a centre to the ends of the rods, and receive their motion from a
revolving plate formed with a groove in which a pin on one of the arms rides.
Instead of a horizontal alternating circular movement a vertical movement
with shocks be imparted by means of excentrics. The sifters are supplied
by one or more pipes leading from a hopper to which a vibratory motion
may be given; the supply by the pipes may be regulated as required by
slides in the hopper. The matters which are too large to pass through the
sifters are ejected through an opening at the side of the sifter into a pipe or
shoot arranged for the purpose; this opening may be fitted with a sliding lip.
The matters which pass through the sifters are received upon a full bottom
which is fitted with a lip or shoot to discharge them into a convenient
receptacle. In some cases where it is desirable that no particle be lost or
carried into the air, the sifters may be enclosed by fabric or other material
placed between them, or they may be provided with covers formed with
apertures to receive the supply pipes.
may
Mechanical washing apparatus.-The movements of this apparatus must
be varied according to the materials operated on.
I describe by way of
example its working as applied to the treatment of gres where a platform is
employed; it will be readily understood that a bucket or other apparatus
may be substituted for this platform if the material to be treated requires it.
The apparatus is composed, first, of an agitator or cleanser, consisting of a
vessel in which a series of arms or blades is made to revolve. The materials
The vessel is formed at
to be treated and water are supplied to this vessel.
the bottom with holes which are opened and closed as required by plugs on
the ends of rods actuated by cams or otherwise. The materials as they are
allowed to issue from the vessel through these holes fall upon a washing
platform which is then in a horizontal position immediately above a trough
filled with water. After this platform is charged it receives two movements,
one an alternate circular movement given by levers worked by revolving
dises, and the other a rotary lifting movement around its centre imparted by
levers and excentrics. When these movements have been imparted a sufficient

page_text: length of time the materials have become classed or separated in the middle
of the platform in the order of their density, form, and dimension, that is to
say, the densest parts, those most rich in metal, are at the bottom and the
gangues at the top, then in order to remove the gangues the platform is
quickly raised at one side, once or oftener, and the gangues slide off with the
water in the platform. The raising is effected by cams or otherwise. Fresh
ore is then supplied to the platform from the washing vessel as before. The
gangues or sterile matters as they are discharged from the platform fall into
the trough below, from which they are removed by a revolving screw extending
to the outside of the trough.
This Invention consists, lastly, in the employment of electricity as about to
be described for the separation of materials. For instance, take an ore con-
taining gold, silver, metallic iron, or magnetic oxide, quartz, calcareous matter
and clay; these matters after having been crushed and sifted are placed in
the washing vessel and fall therefrom on to the washing platform as before
explained. After the work has been carried on sufficiently long the materials
become deposited in the following order :-Gold and silver at the bottom
covered by the iron, then come the quartz, serpentine calcareous matter, and
clay. If now the platform be magnetized by an electric current the layer of
iron owing to the power of magnetization is attracted to the platform; the
gold and silver are thus securely held while the other materials above the iron
are free, and may be easily discharged without any portion of the metals
Leing lost. What I have described for gold and silver applies to other metals,
lead and copper, provided that the specific gravity of the mineral to be treated
is greater than that of iron. If the materials do not contain iron it may be
mixed with them, and if the density of one or more matters to be preserved
is near that of iron a body of suitable specific gravity may be coated by the
galvano-plastic process with a layer of iron, and mixed with the materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Broomau in the Great Seal Patent Office 3
on the 17th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Clinton
Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING, SEPARATING, AND WASHING ORES AND OTHER SUB-
STANCES AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," (communicated to me from
abroad by Louis Bataille, of Ovada, Italy,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 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 Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in arrangements of apparatus intended chiefly for
use in mines for the separation of ores from their gangues and for enriching
the ores. There are many material which for industrial purposes require to
be crushed in a regular manner, that is to say, into granules of a determined
dimension with great economy and little dust, such, for example, as metallic
ores and plaster. This I effect by means of a differential crushing apparatus
hereafter described. In some cases the materials divided either naturally or
artificially require to be classed or separated, according to sizes, either to eliminate
some of them or to prepare them for the work for which they are required, for
instance for seeds and grain to deprive them of dust, small stones, and other
foreign matters, and for different powders, such as emery and glass, to separate
them according to the fineness or coarseness of the particles. This I effect by
means of a graduated separating apparatus hereafter described.
Sometimes there are different materials mixed together which require,
although of the same size, to be separated from each other for industrial

page_text: purposes, such, for example, as ores containing too large a proportion of gangues
from which mixture the useful portion may be separated without any great
expence, I effect this by means of a washing apparatus hereafter described. I
proceed to describe the several apparatus successively.
Differertial crushing apparatus.-This apparatus is represented in Figures
1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, it consists of an annular trough, as
shown, in which circular crushers are made to revolve. The crushers are
independent of each other, the shaft of each crusher having its own separate
bearing or centre upon a revolving platform a in the middle of the apparatus,
this platform is also provided with stops e against which the shafts of the
crushers bear. The height of the platform a is adjustable on a vertical driving
shaft d by means of screws b, and keys fixed on the driving shaft by pressure
screws c; or the platform may be otherwise adjusted so as to regulate the working
distance or height of the crushers from the bottom of the trough in which the
materials to be crushed are contained. The platform also carries the centres
or supports of rakes or collectors h which travel in the trough between the
crushers, it has also fixed thereto the necessary appliances for scraping the
crushers when the materials tend to adhere thereto. The crushers work
parallel to each other and at a given distance, and a ring 9 in one or more
parts which forms a portion of the bottom of the trough, and is adjustable as
to height by wedges or otherwise, insures their parallel working. The crushers
are formed in several parts (at least three, and concentric or not), so that
those parts which become worn may be readily removed, and so that the
crushers may be taken to pieces for convenience of transport. Each crusher
consists of an outer ring or felloe j, an intermediate part k to give the
necessary weight, and a central piece or nave i. One or several openings
m of the required size are formed at the bottom or side of the trough
so that there is a continuous exit of the crushed materials. The crush-
ing may be effected with or without the aid of water or other liquid.
Graduated separating apparatus.-This apparatus is represented in Figures
3 and 4, it consists of a series of sifters placed one above another, and made to
receive, as hereafter described, an alternating rotary motion accompanied by
vibrations or shocks. The filling and emptying of these sifters is continuous, and
they may be charged without stopping the work. Each sifter is supported by
means of three forks or claws on supports a connected to rods b, to which an
up-and-down motion is imparted by levers c jointed at d, d³, d¹¹, and excentrics
e, e¹, e. The rods have also a quick alternating circular movement given by
arms ff, which support them, these arms radiate from a centre g to the ends
of the rods, and receive their motion from revolving plates h formed with a

page_text: groove in which a pin on one of the arms rides. Instead of an alternating
circular movement in a horizontal direction a movement in a vertical direction
with shocks may be imparted by means of the excentrics. The sifters are
supplied by one or more pipes ; leading from a hopper i, to which a vibratory
motion may be given, the supply by the pipes may be regulated as required
by slides in the hopper. The matters which are too large to pass through the
sifters are ejected through an opening at the side of the sifter into a pipe or
shoot arranged for the purpose; this opening may be fitted with. a sliding
regulating lip h. The matters which pass through the sifters are received
upon a full bottom k, which is fitted with a lip or shoot to discharge them
into a convenient receptacle. In cases, where it is desirable that no particle
be lost or carried into the air, the sifters may be enclosed by fabric.or other
material placed between them as between the two upper sifters in Figure 3;
or they may be provided with covers formed with apertures to receive the
supply pipes j, while a closed pipe may be carried from each lip h¹ and 1,
and the hopper i covered. The main features of this part of the Invention
are the motions above described, the movable lips, the enclosing of the parts,
and the facility with which the sifters may be changed.
Mechanical washing apparatus.-The movements of this apparatus must be
varied according to the materials operated on. I describe by way of example
its working as applied to the treatment of ores where a platform is employed;
it will readily be understood that a bucket or other appliance may be sub-
stituted for this platform, if the material to be treated requires it. The apparatus
is represented in Figures 5 and 6, it is composed first of an agitator or cleanser
consisting of a vessel a, in which a series of arms or blades 6 is made to
revolve. The materials to be treated and water are supplied to this vessel.
The vessel is formed at the bottom with holes c, which are opened and closed
as required by plugs on the ends of rods d, actuated through the intermediation
of rods e by cams, or drums f, or otherwise. The materials as they are allowed
to issue from the vessel a through these holes fall upon a washing platform g,
which is then in a horizontal position immediately above a trough m filled
with water. After this platform g is charged it receives two movements, one
an alternate circular movement given by levers / worked by revolving discs i,
and the other a rotary lifting movement around its centre imparted by levers
k and excentrics j. When these movements have been imparted a sufficient
length of time, the materials have become classed or separated in the middle
of the platform g in the order of their density, form, and dimension, that is to
say, the densest parts, those most rich in metal, are at the bottom and the
gangues at the top. Then in order to remove the gangues the platform is

page_text: quickly raised at one side, once or oftener, and the gangues slide off with the
water in the platform. The raising is effected by cams on the drums for
otherwise. Fresh.ore is then supplied to the platform from the washing
vessel as before. The gangues or sterile matters as they are discharged from
the platform fall into the trough m below, from which they are removed by a
revolving screw n extending to the outside of the trough. To hold the platform
7 above the water and to empty it an excentric q worked by a lever pis
employed.
This Invention consists, lastly, in the employment of electricity.as about to
be described for the separation of materials. For instance, take an ore con-
taining gold, silver, metallic iron, or magnetic oxide, quartz, calcareous matter,
and clay. These matters after having been crushed and sifted are placed in
the washing vessel and fall therefrom on to the washing platform, as before
explained. After the work has been carried on sufficiently long, the materials
become deposited in the following order: -Gold and silver at the bottom
covered by the iron, then come the quartz, serpentine calcareous matter, and
clay. If now the platform be magnetized by an electric current the layer of
iron, owing to the power of magnetization, is attracted to the platform; the
gold and silver are thus securely held while the other materials above the iron
are free, and may be easily discharged without any portion of the metals being
lost. What I have described for gold and silver applies to other metals,
lead and copper, provided that the specific gravity of the mineral to be treated
is greater than that of iron. If the materials do not contain iron it may be
mixed with them, and if the density of one or more matters to be preserved is
near that of iron a body of suitable specific gravity may be coated by the
galvano-plastic process with a layer of iron and mixed with the materials.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the arrangement or combination of parts, substantially as herein-
before described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawings, constituting what is herein-before termed a differential crushing
apparatus.
Second, the arrangement or combination of parts, substantially as herein-
before described, with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying
Drawings, constituting what is herein-before termed a graduated separating
apparatus.
Third, the arrangement or combination of parts, substantially as herein-
before described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying
Drawings, constituting what is herein-before termed a washing apparatus.

page_text: Fourth, the employment of electricity substantially in manner herein-before
described for the separation of materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
C. E. BROOMAN. (L.S.)