IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR ORES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Aristide Balthazard Bérard, Civil Engineer,
Ch de la Légion d'Honneur, of No. 51, Avenue Montaigne, Paris, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS
FROM THEIR ORES."
Sealed the 31st January 1862, and dated the 8th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by the said Aristide Balthazard
Bérard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with. his Peti-
tion, on the 8th November 1861.
I, ARISTIDE BALTHAZARD BÉRARD, Civil Engineer, Ch' de la Légion d'Hon-
neur, of No. 51, Avenue Montaigne, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM
THEIR ORES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in separating metals from
their ores. Heretofore metals have been separated from their ores by the
ores being reduced to powder, or into pieces of small size, and the ore so
reduced has then been separated more or less perfectly into sets, the pieces
in each set being of like size or nearly so, the light portion of each set has
then been separated from the heavy or metallic portion. Now with apparatus
constructed according to my Invention, these separate operations are conducted
simultaneously, mechanically, and continuously. The ore to be operated
upon is first broken up by means of a hammer, which falls into a cylinder
or ring, into which the ore is fed; the bottom of the cylinder or ring is a

page_text: short distance above an anvil so that there is an annular space between the
anvil and the bottom of the ring, through which space the ore as it is broken
up by the blows of the hammer has to escape. The broken-up ore as it escapes
through the annular space falls on to an inclined plane, where a workman
separates from it the parts evidently worthless; at the bottom of the inclined
plane the ore is received on to a table, through an opening in the bottom of
which it is fed to a pair of rollers set at a short distance apart, one of the rollers
being kept up towards the other by means of springs. The ore as it is again
broken up by these rollers may either be caused to pass between another
pair of rollers set closer together, or it may pass into a receptacle, and fall
through an opening in its bottom into buckets fixed at intervals on an endless
chain; this endless chain of buckets elevates it on to a sieve to which a vibra-
tory motion is communicated, and those pieces which will not pass through the
sieve fall down an inclined plane, which conducts them between another pair
of rollers, by which they are again crushed; and as they pass from between
the rollers fall into the receptacle above mentioned, and are again lifted by
the endless chain, and deposited on to the sieve. As the ore falls through
the bottom of the receptacle it is compelled to enter the buckets of the endless,
chain by means of a piece of curved thin sheet metal, which is caused con-
stantly to press against the buckets as they pass around the lower of the pair of
rollers, between which the chain is distended. The ore as it passes through the
sieve is conducted by an inclined plane on to one end of a framing covered with a
sheet of perforated metal, the framing is supported within, and at a short dis-
tance below the upper edge of a rectangular case, which is nearly filled with
water; the case is in communication. with a cylinder, in which a piston works
to and fro, so that the matters resting on the perforated metal sheet are
alternately drawn towards and lifted off from it. The grating is made to slope
slightly away from the end upon which the ore is fed, so that those parts
which cannot pass through the perforated metal sheet gradually move towards
its lowest end, where they fall into a receptacle, from which they are taken by
an endless chain of buckets to be delivered to an apparatus, to be separated
according to their specific gravity. The parts of the ore which are small
enough to pass through the holes of the perforated sheet fall into the case,
and pass through an opening in its bottom into another case, from which they
are lifted by an endless chain of buckets, and are deposited on to a perforated
metal sheet contained in a rectangular case arranged and worked in like
manner to that just described, the holes of the perforated metal sheet being,
however, smaller than in the former case. The fine portion of the ore is thus
again divided into two classes of different sized pieces, and each class is taken

page_text: up by an endless chain of buckets to be delivered to apparatus for separating
the pieces contained in each class according to their specific gravity. The ore
is thus divided into three classes, varying in the size of the pieces, and each
class is delivered to a separate apparatus for the pieces contained in it to be
separated according to their specific gravity. Each of these apparatus is
composed of a rectangular case nearly filled with water; the case is in com-
munication with a cylinder, in which a piston works to and fro, and provision
is made for constantly introducing water into the case through a pipe opening
into the side of the cylinder, the end of the pipe being fitted with a valve
opening inwards. Within the case, and some distance below its upper edge,
is placed a framing covered with a sheet of perforated metal, the holes in the
sheet of metal being smaller than any of the pieces of the ore which are to be
operated upon.
Across the sheet of metal near each of its ends is a board;
the top edge of each board is level with the top edge of the end of the case
nearest to it, and the bottom edge of each board is a short distance from the
metal sheet; beyond these boards there are stops or projections fixed across
the metal plate to prevent the ore falling off its ends. The perforated metal
sheet is inclined from end to end, and the ore is fed on to the plate at its
lowest end; the to-and-fro motion of the piston causes the ore.to separate into
layers of different specific gravity, the lighter or worthless portious being at
the top, the heavier or metallic portions being at the bottom, and the inter-
mediate portions between them. As the upper part of the case above the
perforated sheet gradually becomes filled with ore, the lower portions at the
ends of the metal sheet are pressed over the stops or projections on the sheet
and fall into pockets or receptacles formed to receive them, the portions
falling over the lower end being the heaviest, and the portions over the upper
end the intermediate, the lightest portions fall over the upper edge of the end
of the case into a receptacle,, from which they are elevated by an endless
chain on to an inclined plane, down which they descend into a waggon to be
carted away. The heavy portions which fall into the pocket at the lowest end
of the perforated plate fall through an opening in the pocket into the bottom
of the case, from which they can be taken out at intervals. The intermediate
portions which fall into the pocket at the highest end of the plate pass from
the pocket into a receptacle, from which they are elevated by an endless chain
of buckets, and are conducted between a pair of crushing rollers kept towards
each other by springs; these rollers reduce the size of the pieces, and they
are then, by an endless chain of buckets or otherwise, conducted to an appa-
ratus for sorting them into classes of different sized pieces, and the classes are
then sorted, according to specific gravity, as before. In all these operations

page_text: provision is made for using the water employed again and again; the ore
also may be separated into a greater or less number of classes.
The metallic portions obtained by the process above described may be
further concentrated by quantities of those portions being thrown into a
cylinder filled with water, the heavy portions then settling at the bottom of
the cylinder, as has before been practised, or they may be further concentrated
by any other suitable means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Aristide Balthazard Bérard in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARISTIDE
BALTHAZARD BÉRARD, Civil Engineer, Chr de la Légion d'Honneur, of
No. 51, Avenue Montaigne, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Aristide Balthazard Bérard, Her special licence that I, the said
Aristide Balthazard Bérard, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Aristide Balthazard Bérard, 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 METALS
FROM THEIR ORES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Aristide
Balthazard Bérard, 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 Aristide Balthazard Bérard, 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, that is to say :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements inapparatus for separating
metals from their ores. Heretofore metals have been separated from their ores
by the ores being reduced to powder, or into pieces of small size, and the ore so
reduced has then been separated more or less perfectly into sets, the pieces in
each set being of like size or nearly so, the light portion of each set has then
been separated from the heavy or metallic portion. Now with apparatus
constructed according to my Invention these separate operations are conducted
simultaneously, mechanically, and continuously. The ore to be operated upon
is first, if the pieces are of too large a size, broken up by means of a hammer,
which falls into a cylinder or ring, into which the ore is fed; the bottom of the
cylinder or ring is a short distance above an anvil, so that there is an annular
space between the anvil and the bottom of the ring, through which space the
ore as it is broken up by the blows of the haminer has to escape. The
broken-up ore as it escapes through the annular space falls on an inclined
plane, where a workman separates from it the parts evidently worthless; at
the bottom of the inclined plane the ore is received on to a table a, a,
through an opening in the bottom of which it is fed to a pair of crushing
rollers A, A¹, set a short distance apart, one of the rollers being kept up
towards the other by means of springs. The distance at which these rollers
are set apart is regulated by the distance the bottom of the cylinder or ring is
from the anvil. The ore as it is again broken up by these rollers may either
be caused to pass between another pair of rollers placed below them, and set.
closer together, or, when a second pair of rollers is not used, it may pass as
shewn in the Drawings directly into a receptacle B, and fall through an
opening in its bottom into buckets fixed at intervals on an endless chain; the
size of this opening can be regulated by a slide b. This endless chain of buckets
elevates it on to a sieve X, to which a vibratory motion is communicated,
and those pieces which will not pass through the sieve fall down an inclined
plane, which conducts them between another pair of rollers A", A", by which
they are again crushed, and as they pass from between the rollers fall into the
receptacle above mentioned, and are again lifted by the endless chain, and
deposited on to the sieve. As the ore falls through the bottom of the recep-
tacle it is compelled to enter the buckets of the endless chain by means of a
piece of curved thin sheet metal 61, 61, which is caused by a counter-balanceC
constantly to press against the buckets as they pass around the lower of the
pair of rollers between which the chain is distended.
The sieve is composed of two perforated plates inclined in opposite direc-
tions, as shewn at Sheet 3, and the lower plate receives the matters that could
not pass through the plate above. The two plates which together form the

page_text: sieve rest on two supports, upon which they pivot, and at one end a vibratory
motion is given to the sieve by two cams which work against rollers carried
by the sieve. This shaking aids in separating the materials, and also keeps
clear the holes of the perforated plate. The ore as it passes through the sieve
is conducted by an inclined plane e, e¹, on to one end of a framing covered
with a sheet of perforated metal forming part of the apparatus that I call
apparatus No. 1, for classing by size. The framing is supported within and at
a short distance below the upper edge of a rectangular case, which is nearly
filled with water. The case near its bottom is in communication with a
cylinder D,in which a piston works to and fro,so that the matters resting on the
perforated metal sheet are alternately drawn towards and lifted off from it. The
grating is made to slope slightly away from the end upon which the oreis fed,
so that those parts which cannot pass through the perforated metal sheet
gradually move towards its lowest end, where they fall into a receptacle, from
which they are taken by an endless chain of buckets, to be delivered by the
inclined plane d", d, to an apparatus which I call apparatus No. 1, for
sorting by density, to be separated according to their specific gravity. The
parts of the ore which are small enough to pass through the holes of the per-
forated sheet fall into the case, and pass through an opening in its bottom
into another case E, E, from which they are lifted by an endless chain of
buckets f, f, and are carried by it to the apparatus No. 2 for classing by
size. This apparatus is arranged and worked in like manner to the appa-
ratus No. 1 just described. The holes of the perforated metal sheet upon
which the matters to be sorted are deposited being however smaller than in
the former case, the fine portion of the ore is thus again divided into two
classes of different sized pieces, the portions of the ore which are unable to
pass through the perforated metal sheet falling into a receptacle, from which
they are elevated by an endless chain of buckets to be delivered to the appa-
ratus No. 2, for sorting by density, and the portions of the ore which
pass through the perforated sheet falling as in the apparatus No. 1, just
described, into a rectangular case E¹, E', from which they are taken by an
endless chain of buckets, to be delivered to the apparatus No. 3 for sorting by
density. The ore is thus divided by the apparatus Nos. 1 and 2 for sorting
by size into three classes, varying in the size of the pieces, and each class is
delivered to a separate apparatus for the pieces contained in it to be separated
according to their specific gravity. These apparatus being similar to one
another in construction, it will only be necessary to describe one of them.
Each apparatus is composed of a rectangular case nearly filled with water;
the case is in communication with the lower end of a cylinder F, in which a

page_text: piston works to and fro. The bottom of the cylinder is inclined, the bottom
sloping towards the side which is in communication with the cylinder F;
provision is made for constantly introducing water into the case through a
pipe K opening into the-side of the cylinder, the end of the pipe being fitted
with a valve opening inwards. Within the case and some distance below
its upper edge is placed a framing G, G¹, covered with a sheet of perforated
metal, the holes in the sheet of metal being smaller than any of the pieces of
the ore which are to be operated upon. Across the sheet of metal near each
of its ends is a board 91; the top edge of each board is level with the top edge
of the end of the case nearest to it, and the bottom edge of each board is a
short distance from the metal sheet; beyond these boards g¹ there are stops or
projections g" fixed across the metal plate to prevent the ore falling off its
ends. The perforated metal sheet G, G³, is inclined from the end G to the
end G', and the ore is fed on to the plate at its lowest end G¹. Supposing
now the ore to be brought from one of the apparatus for sorting according to
the size of pieces, a to-and-fro motion given to the piston and water supplied
to the cylinder F through the pipe K, the ore will be separated into layers of
different specific gravity, the lighter or worthless portions being at the top, the
heavier or metallic portions being at the bottom, and the intermediate portions
between them.
As the upper part of the case above the perforated sheet
gradually becomes filled with ore, the lower portious at the ends of the metal
sheet are pressed over the stops or projections on the sheet, and fall into
pockets or receptacles formed to receive them, the portions falling over the
lower end, G' being the heavy metallic portions and the portions over the
upper end G the intermediate; the lightest portions fall over the upper edge
of the end of the case into a receptacle I¹, from which they are elevated by
an endless chain on to an inclined plane 1, 14, down which they descend into
a waggon to be carted away. The heavy portions which fall into the pocket H
at the lowest end G¹ of the perforated plate fall through an opening h in
the pocket into the bottom of the case, from which they can be taken out at
intervals; the opening / can be closed by a slide; the intermediate portions,
which fall into the pocket at the highest end G of the plate, pass from the
pocket at that end into a receptacle I. These portions are composed of
heavy metallic portions combined with gangue or worthless portions, and
must therefore be again subdivided in order that they may be again separated
by size into classes and afterwards by density. In order to effect this they
are elevated by an endless chain of buckets, and are conducted between a
pair of crushing rollers M, M', kept towards each other by springs; these
rollers reduce the size of the pieces, and they are then by an endless chain

page_text: of buckets or otherwise conducted to an apparatus No. 3, to be sorted into
two classes of different sized pieces. This apparatus is constructed in a similar
manner to the apparatus Nos. 1 and 2 before described; the classes are then
fed to the apparatus Nos. 4 and 5, to be sorted by density; these apparatus,
like the ones before described, sort each class into three divisions, videlicet, the
metallic portions, the worthless portions, and the mixed portions; this latter
portion must be again subdivided and again separated by size and density,
and is for this purpose either fed to the cylinders M, M³, or to any of the
other crushing cylinders. In all these operations provision is made for using
the water employed again and again, the water being brought back into the
basins by a pump O; and I would remark that the number of classes into
which the ore is separated may be varied to suit different kinds of ores. The
metallic portions obtained by the processes above described may be further
concentrated by quantities of those portions being thrown into a cylinder
filled with water, the heavy portions then settling at the bottom of the
cylinder, as has before been practised, or they may be further con.
centrated by any other suitable means.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details of the apparatus above described, as some of them may be
greatly varied, but what I claim is the combining apparatus in the manner
therein described for separating metals from their ores.
In witness whereof, I, the said Aristide Balthazard Bérard, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.