IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Green, of Aberystwith, in the County
of Cardigan, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS."
Sealed the 9th October 1869, and dated the 20th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Green at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1869.
I, GEORGE GREEN, of Aberystwith, in the County of Cardigan,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the constructing and combining of
apparatus for separating ores and other materials so as to operate in a
more effective, complete, and convenient manner than such apparatus as
hitherto made and arranged.
In carrying out the Invention classifiers are used in combination with
buddles. Various forms of classifiers may be used, but it is preferred to
adopt a kind made with inclined sides meeting in an inverted pyramidal

page_text: point at the bottom.
in
A current of water with pulverised ores
suspension flows into a classifier of this kind at one end at the top,
deposits some of its suspended matter, and flows off at the top of the
other end into a second similar classifier, and then onwards to others.
The classifiers are of graduated sizes, the first in order being the
smallest, and the current flows through them at different speeds, so
that in the first and smallest, the current being the strongest, the
largest particles are deposited, and smaller ones in the next, and so on.
The matters deposited in each classifier pass off with some water by an
outlet at the bottom, and flow thence to a buddle, which is by preference
a continuous action and automatic one of the improved construction
herein-after described.
The improved buddle comprises a stationary conical bed with its
centre depressed and its outer circular rim in a horizontal plane. A
vertical shaft passes up through a central aperture, and is made to
revolve slowly by any convenient motive power. A tubular arm or
launder is carried by the revolving shaft, and receiving the ores from
the classifier in a pulverised condition and mixed with some water by a
central duct in connection with the shaft delivers them from its outer
end round near the outer edge and upon the higher part of the conical
table. The shaft also carries a water pipe, which is furnished with small
perforated branches, each with an adjusting cock, the series of branches
being disposed in the form of a spiral, the outer end of which is a little
behind the end of the arm that delivers the ore. The water from the
spiral pipes gradually washes the ores down towards the centre, partially
floating and carrying off the lighter particles from the heavier ones,
which latter move down more slowly. The lighter particles thus
separated out are washed into a central funnel carried by, revolving with,
and extending round a considerable portion of the vertical shaft, whilst
another funnel occupying the remainder of the circle round the shaft
receives the heavier ore or metal, which is finally washed into it by a
strong jet suitably directed from the inner end of the spiral water pipe.
The funnels are just under the edge of the central aperture of the
conical bed and deliver what enters them into separate launders or
channels made to encircle the shaft, and leading what they respectively
receive wherever it may be required. Rotatory brushes are carried by
the revolving shaft just behind the streams of water, and are made to

page_text: turn on their own axes whilst being carried round by any convenient
gearing so as to brush up and loosen the materials, and thereby facilitate
the action of the streams of water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Green in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GREEN, of Aberystwith, in the County of Cardigan, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Green, Her special licence
that I, the said George Green, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Green, 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 APPARATUS
FOR SEPARATING ORES AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Green, my executors or administrators,
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 George Green, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 :-
My said Invention has for its object the constructing and combining

page_text: of apparatus for separating ores and other materials so as to operate in
a more effective, complete, and convenient manner than such apparatus
as hitherto made and arranged.
In practically carrying out my Invention I use classifiers in com-
bination with buddles. Various forms of classifiers may be used, but I
prefer to adopt the kind herein-after described. The classifiers are of
graduated sizes, the first in order being the smallest, and the current of
water with pulverised ores in suspension flows through them at different
speeds, so that in the first and smallest, the current being the strongest,
the largest particles are deposited, and smaller ones in the next, and so
The matters deposited in each classifier pass off with some water
by an outlet at the bottom, and flow thence to a buddle, which is by
preference a continuous action automatic one of the improved con-
struction herein-after described.
on.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
improved separating apparatus as constructed and arranged according to
a modification of my Invention.
Figure 1 is a sectional plan, and Figure 2 is a sectional elevation
showing two of a series of classifiers 1, 2, in connection with each other
and in combination with two of a series of buddles 3, 4; Figure 3 is an
enlarged vertical section showing the central parts of a buddle; and
Figure 4 is a plan of two combined annular funnels 5, 6, which receive
the separated materials from the conical surface of the buddle. The
same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts in all
the Figures.
The classifiers 1, 2, are open vessels of wood or other suitable material
made with inclined sides meeting in an inverted pyramidal point at the
bottom of each. They are arranged in a series leading from one into the
next, like the two shown, and a current of water with pulverised ore in
suspension is led so as to flow into the first of the series at one end at
the top, as at 7, for example. The current deposits some of its suspended
matter in this classifier 1, and flows off at the top of the other end 8 into
the next classifier 2, which is wider so that the current becomes slower
in it and deposits a quantity of smaller particles. The matters deposited
flow with some water by the pipes 9, 10, to the buddles 3, 4. Each
buddle comprises a stationary conical bed 11 made of wood or other

page_text: suitable material, with its centre depressed and with its outer circular
rim in a horizontal plane. The bed 11 is formed with a central
aperture 12, up through which there extends a central vertical shaft 13
made to revolve slowly by any convenient motive power. The shaft is
represented as having a worm wheel 14 fixed on its upper end to be
actuated by a worm on a horizontal shaft 15. An annular duct 16 is
fixed on the vertical shaft 13 to receive the ore mixed with water by the
pipe 9 or 10 from the classifier, the consistency of the current being
regulated by adjusting the discharge from the classifier, and a launder 17
is connected to the duct 16 and moving round with the shaft leads the
current to the higher part of the bed 11 near its outer edge. There may
be two or more of the launders 17 for distributing the matters upon the
conical bed. The shaft 13 is made tubular to receive water from a
pipe 18, which enters its upper end through a stuffing box, and radial
branch pipes 19, each with an adjusting cock 20, are fixed into the shaft
and distribute the water over the table by means of perforated segmental
branches 21 at their outer ends. The perforated segmental branch
pipes 21 are arranged in the form of a spiral, the outermost branch
following immediately behind the launder 17 which distributes the ore
stuff, whilst the others are successively nearer to the centre. If pre-
ferred the water may be made to issue from perforations on the radial
pipes 19, the segmental branches being dispensed with, the perforated
parts of such radial pipes being arranged nearer the centre on each pipe
in succession from that immediately following the launder 17 to the one
next before it. The water from the pipes 19 or 21 gradually washes the
ores down towards the centre, partially floating and carrying off the
lighter particles from the heavier ones, which latter move down more
slowly. The lighter particles thus separated are washed into an outer
annular funnel 5 carried by, revolving with, and extending round the
vertical shaft 13, whilst another funnel 6 also extending round the shaft
receives the heavier ore or metal, which is finally washed off the bed 11
by a strong jet suitably directed from the shortest water pipe 19, being
directed and guided so as not to mix with the lighter matters or waste
in the outer funnel 5 by a segmental metal plate or shoot 22 extending
round at the part where the heavy ore or metal is washed in, and there
covering the outer funnel 5. A guard 12 is applied round the central
aperture of the bed 11 to direct the materials into the funnels 5, 6, being
carried by a few ribs so as to leave space between it and the bed for the
passage of the stuff. The funnels 5, 6, deliver what they receive by

page_text: spouts into annular tanks 23, 24, below, and from these last launders 25,26,
lead away the waste and heavy ore or metal wherever required. A
rotating brush 27 is carried by an arm 28 fixed to and revolving with
the central shaft 13, and is driven by means of a pulley 29 which runs
on the outer rim of the conical bed 11, and which is geared to the brush
spindle by a pair of wheels to give the desired speed. This brush
brushes up and loosens the materials and thereby facilitates the action
on them of the jets of water.
Having thus particularly described my 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 herein 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 a series of
classifiers acting in combination with buddles, substantially as herein-
before described.
And, 2. The constructing, arranging, and working of buddles for
separating ores and other materials in the improved manner, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Green, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
A-AA