IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AURIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, AND SEPARATING THE METAL THERE- FROM
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Pym, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
GRINDING AURIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, AND SEPARATING THE METAL THERE-
FROM."
Sealed the 11th March 1854, and dated the 31st December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Pym at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st December
1858.
1, JOHN PYM, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR GRINDING AURIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, AND SEPARATING THE
METAL THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
I use a stationary iron basin or mortar. the bottom of which I divide into
one or more circular grooves of a concave form at any desired distance from
the centre of the mortar, one lower than the other, so as to allow water and
small particles of ore, when in agitation, to flow from one groove to that next
below it. In each of these grooves is one or a pair of revolving runners of any
desired weight or material, having convex or rounded edges to suit the form of
the grooves. The mortar is fed with ore and water by a hopper in the centre.
In the outer rim of each groove, which is sufficiently high to prevent the water
flowing over the top, are placed sieves, to allow the ore when ground to flow
through to the next groove, and so on through finer sieves until it reaches
the side of the mortar in which are also placed sieves, through which the par-
ticles of matrix held in suspension flow off to the waste pit, leaving the metal
separated from the matrix in the bottom of the grooves. During the grinding
of auriferous ore quicksilver is placed for amalgamation in the grooves of the

page_text: mortar. The amalgam is taken out through plug holes in the bottom of each
groove. A scraper or rake is attached to each runner to keep the ore and
water in agitation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Pym in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PYM, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Pym, Her special licence that 1, the said John Pym, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said John Pym, 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 MACHINERY FOR GRINDING
AURIFEROUS AND OTHER ORES, AND SEPARATING THE METAL THEREFROM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Pym, 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 per-
formed, 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 John Pym, 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 thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a basin or mortar with circular grooves at different
levels, in which a series of runners are made to revolve. Water is used to
carry off the earthy and lighter matters, the ore remaining in the bottom of the
grooves.
In treating auriferons ores quicksilver is placed in the grooves in order to
form an amalgam with the gold; one or more plug holes and plugs are then
provided through which to draw off the amalgam.

page_text: The mortar may be either stationary or may be made to rotate, and the
runners may be made to revolve by contact with the mortar, where it is made
to revolve, or they may have an independent rotary motion communicated to
them.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed I have shewn an elevation chiefly in
section of one of my improved grinding and separating machines, in which the
runners revolve by frictional contact with the mortar. A, A, is the bed plate
with a bearing at a, for the support of the vertical axis of the mortar. B, B,
are two of a series of friction rollers for the support of the outer rim of the
mortar. C, C, are standards bolted to the bed plate A, A, on the top of which
are bearings, in which the axis of the runners is supported and revolves. D) is
the basin or mortar with three annular grooves. It carries teeth d, d, on its
under surface, into which the bevil wheel E gears, and by which the mortar is
made to rotate upon the central pillar F and the friction rollers B, B. The
outer side of each groove is perforated or is provided at intervals with sieves
let into it to allow of the ore, as it is reduced, to flow through from the upper
groove to that next below it. The ore and water are fed from a hopper or
other source into the centre of the machine, and the apertures or sieves in the
sides of the grooves diminish as they recede from the centre. G, G, G, are the
runners, which may be of stone or metal. These runners are free to revolve
upon the bosses G, G, which have a long slot cut in them through which the
shaft passes, the slot being perpendicular to the shaft. By this means each
runner has an independent action, so as to rise over any lump or collection of
ore too large to be immediately crushed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
The grinding of auriferous and other ores, and separating metal therefrom
by means of a grooved mortar or basin and runners, constructed and working
in the manner herein-before described and represented in the Drawings here-
unto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Pym, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
JOHN PYM. (L.S.)