Improvements in or applicable to Apparatus for Use in the Lixiviation of Crushed Ores and other Materials of a similar character.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 7th Aug., 1894-Accepted. 6th Nov., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Apparatus for Use in the
Lixiviation of Crushed Ores and other Materials of a similar
character.
I, CHARLES RALEIGH, of Johannesburg, in the South African Republic,
Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to improved means for effecting the rapid discharge from
vats or vessels of such materials as crushed ores after the same have been
subjected to the process of lixiviation by cyanogen or chlorine gas or undergone
similar treatment.
When treating crushed ores or tailings by cyanogen or chlorine gas, it is usual,
after extraction of the gold or silver, and the completion of the process, to discharge
the valueless material by way of doors or openings in the side or bottom of the
receptacle wherein the said ores or tailings have been treated, shovels rakes or
other manual appliances being made use of. This method is both tedious and
costly; and, with a view to facilitating and expediting the operation, I proceed as
follows:-
The vat or receptacle is provided with a false bottom mounted on a plunger
or plungers or suspended from chains and arranged to rise and fall; such
movement being effected by hydraulic or other fluid pressure or by mechanical
means.
The false bottom may be either above or below the filter bed. In the former
case, it is made very porous; so as not to interfere with the process of lixiviation,
or to prevent the contents becoming more or less free from moisture before being
discharged.
To discharge the material, the bottom is raised level with or above the top of
the vat and is then tilted, the material escaping without further handling to shoots
provided for its reception.
In some instances, the movable bottom may with advantage be formed in
sections, these being arranged to tilt and discharge the material in opposite or
different directions.
The movable bottom supporting the crushed ore, sand or other washed material
may also be arranged in such a manner as to admit of its being lowered; or the
bottom may be stationary and the sides of the vat may rise, leaving the deposited
material on the floor of the vat. One side of the vat or other receptacle may also
be made removable, the solid material being in this case discharged in a lateral
direction. If the vat be circular in plan, the false bottom or platform bearing the
deposited material may be caused to rotate as it rises with its load; a knife-blade,
scraper or the like, being mounted in such a position as to separate the material
and effect its discharge in a regular stream.
Dated the 18th day of September 1893.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.

page_text: COMI LEIE DI POTICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Apparatus for Use in the
Lixiviation of Crushed Ores and other Materials of a similar
character.
I, CHARLES RALEIGH, of Johannesburg, in the South African Republic,
Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improved means for effecting the rapid discharge from
vats or vessels of such materials as crushed ores after the same have been
subjected to the process of lixiviation by cyanogen or chlorine gas or undergone
similar treatment.
When treating crushed ores or tailings by cyanogen or chlorine gas, it is usual,
after extraction of the gold or silver, and the completion of the process, to
discharge the valueless material by way of doors or openings in the side or bottom
of the receptacle wherein the said ores or tailings have been treated; shovels, rakes
or other manual appliances being made use of. This method is both tedious and
costly, and with a view to facilitating and expediting the operation I proceed as
follows:-
:-
The vat or receptacle is provided with a false bottom mounted on a plunger
or plungers or suspended from chains and arranged to rise and fall; such
movement being effected by hydraulic or other fluid pressure or by mechanical
means.
The false bottom may be either above or below the filter-bed. In the former
case, it is made very porous; so as not to interfere with the process of lixiviation,
or to prevent the contents becoming more or less free from moisture before being
discharged.
To discharge the material, the bottom is raised level with or above the top of
the vat and is then tilted, the material escaping without further handling to shoots
provided for its reception.
In some instances, the movable bottom may with advantage be formed in
sections; these being arranged to tilt and discharge the material in opposite or
different directions.
The movable bottom supporting the crushed ore, sand or other washed material
may also be arranged in such a manner as to admit of its being lowered; or the
bottom may be stationary and the sides of the vat may rise, leaving the deposited
material on the floor of the vat. One side of the vat or other receptacle may also
be made removable; the solid material being in this case discharged in a lateral
direction.
If the vat be circular in plan, the false bottom or platform bearing the deposited
material may be caused to rotate as it rises with its load; a knife-blade, scraper or
the like being mounted in such a position as to separate the material and effect its
discharge in a regular stream.
In the accompanying diagrams,
Fig. 1 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation of a vat or
receptacle provided with a false bottom adapted for enabling my invention to be
carried out.
Figs. 2 and 3 show a modification.
Fig. 4 illustrates a different construction.
Figs. 5 and 6 are views representing other apparatus made according to my
invention.
In Fig. 1, the vat A is provided with a false bottom B having a projection b

page_text: jointed to a plunger C, which works in a hydraulic cylinder D. E is waste.
material. The bottom B has been raised high enough for the joint to allow it to
become inclined, most of the waste material originally contained in the vat A
having fallen off. In Figs. 2 and 3, the movable bottom is in sections B¹, each
section being jointed to a plunger working in a hollow plunger C¹. The
bottom B¹ having been raised to the height shown in Fig. 2 by forcing the hollow
plunger C¹ out of the ram D, the plunger c is forced out of the hollow plunger C¹,
as represented in Fig. 3, with the result that the sections B¹ are tilted, most of the
waste material E falling off and the rest being easily removed.
In Fig. 4, the vat A has a movable bottom B' mounted on a plunger C. In the
drawing, the bottom has been partially lowered in order to permit material E to
fall off. When the bottom B³ is fully lowered, the removal of any material
remaining on the same is greatly facilitated.
It will be obvious that, instead of the bottom being lowered and the sides of the
vat remaining stationary, the sides may be raised and the bottom remain stationary.
It will also be obvious that only one side of the vat need be removable. I prefer,
however, the construction illustrated in Fig. 4.
One pump and accumulator may be connected to the hydraulic cylinders of
several vats or receptacles arranged in line. When filling a vat with sand, the
weight of the sand may be utilized for helping to discharge another vat or to
charge an accumulator.
In Figs. 5 and 6, the vat A is circular in plan. In Fig. 5, the movable
bottom B³ is provided with a boss containing an internal screw-thread. A fixed
screw-shaft passes through and engages with the thread in the boss of the
movable bottom. The movable bottom B is caused to rotate by any suitable
gearing. For instance, it may be furnished with teeth at its periphery, a pinion
engaging with and driving these teeth. As the bottom B³ rotates, it rises up the
screw-shaft F, and the material E is cut off gradually by a fixed chute G, the
material thus cut off falling down the chute into a waggon H for transport. In
Fig. 6, the rotating and rising bottom B is fixed to a screw-shaft F¹, which
engages with an internal thread in a hollow. post J.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1. The improved means for effecting the rapid discharge of crushed ore and
other materials of like character from vats or receptacles in which they have
undergone lixiviation or similar treatment, substantially as herein described.
2. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials
of like character, the employment of a stationary vat or receptacle provided with
a false bottom arranged to rise and fall, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described.
3. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials of
like character, the employment of a stationary vat or receptacle provided with a
false bottom made in sections arranged to rise and fall and discharge the material
treated in opposite or different directions.
4. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials of
like character, the employment of a vat or receptacle having a bottom which can
be lowered in order to effect the discharge of the material treated.
5. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials
of like character, the employment of a vat or receptacle having sides which can
be raised away from the bottom in order to effect the discharge of the material
treated.
6. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials of
like character, the employment of a vat or receptacle from which one side can be
removed in order to effect the discharge of the material treated.
7. In the lixiviation or similar treatment of crushed ores and other materials of
like character, the employment of a vat or receptacle circular in plan and having a

page_text: false bottom caused to rotate as it rises with its load, the discharge of the material
treated taking place in a regular stream.
Dated the 7th day of August 1894.
For the Applicant,
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.