AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING GOLD OR SILVER FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER MATTERS BY AMALGAMATION
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Dickinson Brunton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th September 1853.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, JOHN DICKINSON BRUNTON, of Truro, in the County of Cornwall,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING GOLD OR SILVER FROM THEIR ORES OR
OTHER MATTERS BY AMALGAMATION" to be as follows:--
My Invention has reference to arrangements of apparatus whereby
the ground ore and other matters from which gold or silver has to be
separated are obliged to rise through mercury in such a manner as to
expose the gold or silver to a large surface of mercury contained
therein.
And for the better understanding of my said Invention I shall now
proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, reference being
had to the letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1, is a vertical section of one arrangement of my improved appa-
ratus. A, is an iron vessel, which may be open at the top, and funnel-
shaped at the bottom B, having a stop cock at C; this vessel is furnished

page_text: with a pipe, having one end opening into it at D, and the other end ele-
vated, as at E. The height of this pipe must be regulated by the depth of
the vessel A, or by the depth of the mercury contained therein, and
should not be less than about one foot in height for each inch of the
column of mercury between A', and D. Within the vessel A, are two
or more inclined wire sieves a, b, which may be kept in motion by the
rods c, c, to facilitate their action. At F, is a trough or spout to carry
off the overflow of water and whatever escapes through the mercury;
and the vessel A, may further be supplied with a steam jacket G, G,
or other means of conveying heat to the mercury.
Now it is intended that this analgamating and separating apparatus
should be employed for taking out the gold or silver from the crushed
ores operated upon by any process for crushing and grinding the same.
And for this purpose I recommend the apparatus to be so attached
that whatever flows from the grinding or crushing machinery shall be
conveyed to the vertical pipe, down which it will descend with a pressure
superior to the pressure of the column of mercury at the base of the
pipe; the sieves a, b, will assist in dividing the ascending stream of
water and ground ore poured into A, at D, and expose the gold or
silver contained therein to a larger and cleaner surface of mercury than
by any method hitherto practiced. The amalgam formed in the lower
part of the conical bottom B, may be drawn off at intervals by the
cock C, and fresh mercury added from above. The steam jacket, by
heating the mercury, increases its activity in forming an amalgam with
the gold or silver.
I would here observe that all washings of gold or silver, whether
direct from the ores or made from the refuse of gold and silver smiths'
workshops and other similar sources, may be subjected with equal
advantage to the operation of this apparatus.
It is obvious that the principle of my said Invention, which consists
in overcoming the pressure of a column of mercury by a superior
pressure, may be variously attained; and although I have described only
one simple mode of effecting this by hydraulic pressure, it is obvious
that the same object would be attained by any method of forming a
vacuum over the surface of the vessel A, or by employing a pump for

page_text: forcing the liquid containing the ground ore through a pipe in the
situation of the pipe D, E, all which applications would effect the
desired end of my improvement, of carrying the crushed ore or other
matters containing gold or silver into and thence upwards through a
column of mercury. I therefore do not restrict myself to precise form,
dimensions, or mode of conveying the materials to be operated on
below a body of mercury, but what I do claim as my Invention is,
namely,
An apparatus by means of which the amalgamating and seperating
of gold or silver from their ores or other matters is effected by the same
being conveyed to the bottom of mercury contained in a suitable vessel,
and allowed to ascend in a distributed and divided form, as described.