IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FROM EACH OTHER MATTERS OF DIFFERENT DENSITIES OR SPECIFIC GRAVITIES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Henry Fortnom Cox, of Cornwall House,
Penzance, in the County of Cornwall, Civil Engineer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FROM EACH OTHER
MATTERS OF DIFFERENT DENSITIES OR SPECIFIC GRAVITIES."
Sealed the 16th January 1874, and dated the 19th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Henry Fortnom
Cox at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th July 1873.
I, SAMUEL HENRY FORTNOM Cox, of Cornwall House, Penzance,
in the County of Cornwall, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING
FROM EACH OTHER MATTERS OF DIfferent DensitiES OR SPECIFIC GRAVITIES," to
be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is the construction of an efficient and
simple apparatus for effecting the separation from each other of matters
which have different densities or specific gravities.

page_text: The said Invention will be found very advantageous for the separation
of tin, copper, or lead ores, as they come from the stamps, and for other
like purposes.
The said apparatus is constructed as follows:- It has a conduit or
tube, whereby it is supplied with water from any convenient source.
Above this conduit I pláce a case or vessel, or a number of cases or
vessels, in each of which is enclosed a perforated tube or other vessel,
which forms the separator. Between the separator and the conduit I
place a cock or valve for regulating the supply of water to the case;
the top of each case is provided with a hopper or reservoir, which is
supplied with the stamped tin ores, or other materials or matters to
be separated through a suitable trough or channel.
The said apparatus will commonly require a series of hopper cases
and check valves, arranged side by side, and the said cases or hoppers
will be connected with each other by troughs or channels.
The water for separating the materials or matters in the said
apparatus is supplied to the cases at the bottom through the aforesaid
conduit, and by means of the valves or cocks its admission is regulated
as required, according to the nature of the said materials or matters.
The heavy or dense portions thereof will sink to the bottom and pass
off to any suitable receptacle, or another complete separator, as may
be required, connected with the said apparatus; while the lighter or
less dense portions pass away at the top of the case to the next case,
or directly to another receptacle arranged to receive them.
The form and arrangement of the said cases and other parts of the
said apparatus may be varied to adapt it in the most advantageous
manner to the peculiar nature of any materials or matters desired to
be separated by the said apparatus.

page_text: :
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Henry Fortnom
Cox, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Henry Fortnom Cox,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Henry Fortnom Cox, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING FROM
EACH OTHER MATTERS OF DIFFERENT DENSITIES OR SPECIFIC GRAVITIES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Henry Fortnom
Cox, 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 calender months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel: Henry Fortnom Cox, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
The object of this Invention is the construction of an efficient and
simple apparatus for effecting the separation from each other of matters
which have different densities or specific gravities.
The said Invention will be found very advantageous for the separation
of tin, copper, or lead ores, as they come from the stamps, and for other
like purposes.
The Drawing represents my improved apparatus as constructed
especially for dressing tin.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the said apparatus; Figure 2 is a
similar section, taken at a right angle to Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan

page_text: or top view of a portion of the said apparatus; Figure 4 is a transverse
section on the line x, x, Figure 1; Figure 5 is a transverse section on
the line y, y, Figure 1. Like letters indicate the same parts throughout
the Drawing.
The said apparatus is constructed as follows:-It has a conduit or
tube whereby it is supplied with water from any convenient source.
Above this conduit I place a case or vessel a, in which is enclosed a
perforated tube or vessel b, which forms the washer. Between this
washer 6 and the conduit I place a cock or valve c for regulating the
supply of water to the case a. The top of the case a is provided with
a hopper or reservoir d; e is a taper plug or cone, which is attached
to the end of the screw f, or is provided with other means of adjustment.
This plug is hollow, and in some cases open at the bottom, and I
prefer that it should have a row of holes e¹ around its upper edge in
such a position that they are always in or near an annular space at g,
between the cone e and the interior of the vessel in which the same is
enclosed; but if desired the said plug may be made without these
holes, or the said plug may be made hollow, closed at the bottom, and
supplied with water from above instead of below, so that the holes e¹
may be supplied with water from the same source as the washer, or
from a different source. This part of the apparatus forms the separator,
but I do not restrict myself to any particular form of orifice, or
particular form of plug.
The stamped or other material to be treated may be carried from the
stamps or other source of supply in launders or other suitable channels,
into the hopper or reservoir d, or other receptacle enclosing the cone e.
Water is admitted at the bottom of the apparatus and the supply is
regulated by the cock or valve through which the water passes. When
the hopper d is filled by water from below the stamped ore or other
material to be dressed or treated with its water is admitted into the
hopper or reservoir from above, and the tin or other ore or material
to be dressed at once sinks toward the bottom of the hopper. It there
meets the water ascending through the aforesaid annular or other
space with so great a velocity that only the mineral and heavy waste
has such a gravity as will cause it to sink through this ascending
column of water. The mineral having passed through the annular or
other space into the case a surrounding the perforated tube 6 is there
by the violent agitation of the water again thoroughly washed and

page_text: -
cleansed from any slime that may be adhering to it, the slime being
carried back into the hopper by the ascending current of water. The
cleansed mineral and heavy waste then sinks to the bottom of the case
and is carried out through the side cock h by the flow of water there
escaping into a receiver. By means of the hand wheel f¹ and screw ƒ,
or other suitable means, the taper plug e at the bottom of the hopper
or reservoir d can be raised or lowered to increase or diminish the area
of the annular opening, and thus regulate the velocity of the ascending
column of water; in this manner the said apparatus can be adapted
to any class of work, whether coarse or fine.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I do not limit myself
to the precise details of construction herein described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, as these may be varied or modified
as may be required to adapt the said apparatus to different kinds of
work without departing from the principle of my Invention, and that
I claim, the improved apparatus for separating from each other matters
of different desities or specific gravities, constructed and operating
substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Henry Fortnom Cox, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four