CERTAIN APPA- RATUS FOR SEPARATING METALLIC FROM EARTHY AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thierry Hubert de Nivelles, of Foley Place, in the
'County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "CERTAIN APPA-
RATUS FOR SEPARATING METALLIC FROM EARTHY AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND FOR
Sealed the 29th August 1854, and dated the 6th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thierry Hubert de Nivelles
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th March 1854.
I, THIERRY HUBERT DE NIVELLES, of Foley Place, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALLIC FROM EARTHY AND OTHER SUB-
STANCES, AND FOR CLASSIFYING METALLIC SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO THEIR SPECIFIC
GRAVITIES," to be as follows:-
For the purposes of my Invention it is necessary that all the material to be
operated upon should be pulverized. When in the state of powder, I place it in
a vessel with a conical-shaped bottom containing water, and there agitate it.
After allowing the stuff to subside, I open a valve at the bottom of the vessel
for a short period, and then close it, so as only to allow all the metallic particles
to fall into a vessel of the shape of an inverted cone filled with water. This
conical vessel opens into a tube also full of water, and near the top of the tube
a short length of glass tube is introduced, in order to see the state of the stuff
flowing down it..

page_text: Should it be muddy, and thus indicate the presence of earthy matter, com-
munication from the bottom of the inverted cone is shut off by means of a valve
or cock, and water containing earthy and other non-metallic matter is drawn off
from a cock near the bottom of the conical vessel. When this has been done
the valve or cock is again opened, and the matters flow down the tube; at the
bottom of which is another valve or cock, opening into a long separating and
classifying tube or tubular vessel, also full of water, to the bottom of which the
metallic substances fall, and arrange or classify themselves according to their
specific gravities.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thierry Hubert de Nivelles in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THIERRY
HUBERT DE NIVELLES, of Foley Place, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thierry Hubert de Nivelles, Her special licence that I, the said Thierry Hubert
de Nivelles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thierry Hubert de Nivelles, 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
"CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALLIC FROM EARTHY AND OTHER SUB-
STANCES, AND FOR CLASSIFYING METALLIC SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO THEIR SPECIFIC
GRAVITIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thierry
Hubert de Nivelles, 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 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 Thierry Hubert de Nivelles, 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

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists of certain apparatus, to be hereinafter fully described,
whereby earthy and other substances containing or holding metallic particles
are, after being reduced to a powder, separated therefrom, and whereby metallic
particles become classed according to their specific gravities.
I take the meterials to be operated upon, after they have been reduced to
a fine powder, and place them in a vessel of the shape of an inverted cone.
This vessel contains also water or other liquid, and is furnished with a rod or
agitator, to which I give the name of "perturbator." Rotary motion is com-
municated to the vessel, whereby the metallic and earthy particles are prevented
from precipitating and being further disturbed by the perturbator, which remains
stationary; during the revolution of the vessel the earthy and metallic particles
become thoroughly wetted, agitated, and held in suspension in the water. The
perturbator is removed, and before the contents are allowed to settle, other
gearing is brought into action, whereby a jogging or semi-rotary motion is
cominunicated to the vessel. This motion is continued for about thirty seconds,
thereby offering an obstruction to the free precipitation of the matters, and
causing the heavier or metallic particles to deposit more freely than the lighter
or earthy particles. On this second motion being discontinued the precipi-
tation ensues; I then pull up a plug or valve in the bottom of the vessel, which
I keep open for a sufficient space of time to permit the metallic particles alone
to fall through. Thus, the metallic particles alone pass into a second vessel, also
of the shape of an inverted cone, having a guard to prevent the motion of the
first vessel agitating the water contained in the lower vessel. The bottom of
this lower vessel fits into a tube or elongated conc filled with water, which is
provided with cocks and slides, and is of sufficient length (say. from 15 to 25
feet) to allow of the metals, as they precipitate, arranging themselves in the
order of their respective specific gravities. When the whole of this tube is not
of glass, it is necessary to form a portion towards the upper part of it of glass,
in order to watch the progress of the operation; and if earthy matter should
escape from the
upper vessel, and the water in the lower vessel become cloudy,
the water in the tube will be prevented from becoming so, by a slide which is
introduced just below the junction of the lower vessel with the tube being closed.
The muddy water in the lower vessel is then drawn off from the lower vessel
by means of a cock placed just above the slide; the metallic particles entering
continue falling down the classifying tube, at the bottom of which they become
arranged or sorted according to their specific gravities. A slide is placed at a
suitable distance from the bottom of the tube to prevent the escape of the

page_text: water, while the lower portion of the tube, containing the classified metals, is
detached, in order that they may be secured.
In the Drawing annexed, I have represented the manner in which I con-
struct and arrange my apparatus, and although I have represented the apparatus
as arranged for performing the separating and the classifying at one continuous
operation, it is not necessary that this should be so, as the separating and classi-
fying vessels may be used independently of each other. The Drawing shews
the apparatus in vertical section. A, A, is the vessel in which the pulverized
materials are first placed; B is the perturbator; C, C, is a portion of the
framing by which these parts are supported; D is a crown wheel, on the axle
to which the vessel A is attached, and E is a trundle wheel which gears into
the crown wheel D, and gives rotary motion to the vessel A; F is a reversed
crown wheel on the axle of the vessel A, and G is a rack gearing into the same,
and driven by a crank actuating the connecting rod H, for the purpose of
giving the semi-rotary motion to the vessel A; I, I, are a screw and collar, by
which the axle of the vessel A is raised or depressed, as may be required, to
bring the crown wheel D in gear with the trundle wheel E, or the crown wheel
Fin gear with the rack G; J is a plug or valve attached to the tube K, by
raising which (after the key L has been withdrawn) the contents of the vessel
A are allowed to escape from it into the vessel M; N is a guard for preventing
the agitation of the water in the vessel M, by the motion communicated to the
vessel A; O is the upper section of the subsiding or classifying tube, which is
formed of metal, and connected to the vessel M by a union joint; P is a slide
for closing the tube O, and Q is a tap for allowing the escape of any matters
that are not to pass into the tube. The second section of the tube marked O¹
is formed of glass, and the section marked 0 of valcanized india-rubber or
other flexible material; R is a clip, by which the india-rubber tube O2 is gripped,
so as to be closed when necessary, and by opening which the tube is also
opened as may be required; S is the lower portion of the subsiding or classi-
fying tube, into which the metals precipitate and range themselves according
to their specific gravities; and T is a plug or valve through which they are with-
drawn from the tube; U is a cock or valve in the upper part of the tube S
for allowing the escape of the water between the clip R and the upper part of
the tube S, before the tube S is detached from the upper portion of the subsiding
or classifying tube, by unscrewing the union joint W. When the tube S has
been detached and the plug T has been removed from it, it is placed in a hori
zontal position, and a piston or plunger is introduced into it, by which the
metals deposited at the bottom are forced out, and may then be subdivided by a
knife or spatula.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
The employment of washing and subsiding or classifying vessels arranged
and operating in the manner herein-before described for separating metallic
from earthy and other substances, and for classifying metallic substances
according to their specific gravities, whether such vessels are used in combi-
nation, or separately and independently of each other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thierry Hubert de Nivelles, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
1. HUBERI DE NIVELLES. (L.8.)