IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING ORES AND OTHER MATTERS, AND THE SEPARATION OF THE METALS CONTAINED THEREIN OR COMBINED THEREWITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thompson Rickard, of Crown Court,
Threadneedle Street, in the City of London, and William Carne
Paul, of Moorgate Street, in the said City, for the Invention of
LETTERS PATENT to William Thompson Rickard, of Crown Court,
Threadneedle Street, in the City of London, and William Carne
. Paul, of Moorgate Street, in the said City, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING ORES AND OTHER MATTERS,
AND THE SEPARATION OF THE METALS CONTAINED THEREIN OR COMBINED
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 23rd February 1869, and dated the 17th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thompson
Rickard and William Carne Paul at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th October 1868.
We, WILLIAM THOMPSON RICKARD, of Crown Court, Threadneedle.
Street, in the City of London, and WILLIAM CARNE PAUL, of Moor-
gate Street, in the said City, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING ORES AND OTHER
MATTERS, AND THE SEPARATION OF THE METALS CONTAINED THEREIN OR COMBINED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of certain apparatus in which pulverised ores

page_text: or other matters may be washed, and the metal or metals contained
therein or combined therewith amalgamated and separated in a rapid and
effectual manner. The machine or apparatus consists of a trough or
receptacle with, by preference, a semicircular or semi-cylindrical bottom,
the same having, if desired, a recess at the lowest part thereof for the
reception of the mercury or amalgam employed in or resulting from the
use of the apparatus. In the trough or receptacle thus constructed is
placed a screw formed of copper or other metal or metals, or metallic
alloy or alloys, the same being arranged vertically, horizontally, or
diagonally as may be desired, and being capable of revolving continuously
in one direction or of having the motion reversed by means of any
suitable motive or driving power. The blade of the screw is so mounted
upon its spindle that only a space of from one to two inches or thereabouts
is left between each of the several turns thereof, a larger extent of
surface being thus obtained than in any of the machines for similar
purposes in which screws have been employed. The blade of the screw
may be formed with or without perforations therein, the object of such
perforations being when employed to assist in the agitation of the
substances under treatment, and the distribution and submission of every
portion thereof in an effectual manner to the washing or amalgamating
process. The blade of the screw is strengthened whilst at the same time
the objects of the machine are facilitated by passing bars of iron, either
galvanised or otherwise, longitudinally through the same from one end
of the screw to the other. The screw with its blade is amalgamated
with mercury, and the trough or receptacle is also supplied with mercury
for the purposes of amalgamation where such is the result desired, and
the ore or other substances introduced into the apparatus, as well under-
stood, and upon the screw being caused to revolve the substances which
have been introduced into the trough or receptacle are agitated to the
desired extent, whilst they are readily carried forward from one end of
the trough or receptacle to the other by the operation of the blade of
the screw. The troughs or receptacles may be used singly, or two or
more may be combined when large quantities of materials are to be
operated upon.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thompson Rickard and William Carne
Paul in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
THOMPSON RICKARD, of Crown Court, Threadneedle Street, in the City
of London, and WILLIAM CARNE PAUL, of Moorgate Street, in the said
City, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said William Thompson Rickard
and William Carne Paul, Her special licence that we, the said William
Thompson Rickard and William Carne Paul, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Thompson
Rickard and William Carne Paul, our 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 WASHING ORES
AND OTHER MATTERS, AND THE SEPARATION OF THE METALS CONTAINED THEREIN OR
COMBINED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Thompson Rickard and William Carne Paul, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said William Thompson Rickard and
William Carne Paul, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Drawings hereunto annexed and the figures marked
thereon:-
Our said Invention consists in the construction of certain apparatus

page_text: by means of which pulverized ores and other substances and materials
may be washed, and the metal or metals contained therein or combined
therewith separated by the process of amalgamation in a rapid and
effectual manner. The external portion of the machine or apparatus
consists of a trough or receptacle having by preference a semicircular
or semi-cylindrical bottom, the same being provided with a recess or
channel at the lowest part thereof for the reception of the amalgami
containing the gold or other metal, and from which the amalgam can be
drawn off and the gold or other metal separated therefrom. In the
trough or receptacle thus constructed is placed a screw formed of copper
or other metal or metals, or metallic alloy or alloys, the same being
árranged in suitable bearings either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally
as may be desired, and being capable of revolving continuously in one
direction or of having the motion thereof reversed by means of any
suitable motive or driving power. The blade of the screw is so mounted
upon its spindle or axis that only a space of from one to two inches or
thereabouts is left between the several surfaces of which the thread of
the screw is composed, a larger extent of surface being thus obtained
than in any of the machines for similar purposes in which screws have
been employed. The blade of the screw may be conveniently con-
structed by taking a sufficient number of plates formed of the metal or
metallic alloy employed, each of such plates having a hole or aperture in
the centre thereof. The plates are respectively slit or cut from the
central hole or aperture to the edge, so that the same can be bent or
deflected in such manner that when fixed on metallic collars or washers'
furnished with inclined grooves for the reception of the edges of the
central holes or apertures and the edges of the consecutive plates
respectively connected by means of a trough-shaped or groove-like piece
of metal a perfect screw thread is formed, this portion of the apparatus
being completed by mounting the collars or washers on a central spindle
or axis which is capable of being fixed and arranged in the trough or
receptacle as before mentioned. The blade of the screw may, if desired,
be formed with perforations therein, the object of such perforations being
to assist in the agitation of the substances under treatment, and the
more effectual distribution and submission of every portion thereof to
the washing or amalgamating processes for which the apparatus. is
employed. The several portions of the blade or thread of the screw
are strengthened, whilst at the same time the agitation is increased
and therefore the process of amalgamation is greatly facilitated, by

page_text: passing bars of iron, cither galvanized or otherwise, longitudinally or
diagonally through the same from one end of the screw to the other.
The surfaces of the blade or thread of the screw when the apparatus
is to be employed for the separation of the precious metals from the
substances with which they may be combined are amalgamated with
mercury, or if the blade or thread of the screw is formed of iron or
other metal capable of being so treated the surfaces thereof may be
galvanised or coated with any other suitable metal or metals calculated
to assist in the process, the conted surfaces being afterwards amalgamated
with mercury.. For such purposes the trough or receptacle is also
supplied with the mercury requisite for amalgamation, an outlet
cock being provided for the removel of the amalgam when desired.
Outlet cocks may be also placed at any desired part or parts of the
trough or receptacle for the purpose of drawing off the liquid contained
therein together with the impurities or substances which may be thereby
held in suspension. The ores or other substances which it is desired
to submit to the operation of the apparatus are introduced into the trough
or receptacle by means of any suitable appliances, as well understood.
Upon the screw being caused to revolve the substances which have
been introduced into the trough or receptacle are agitated to the desired
extent, whilst they are readily carried forward from one end thereof
to the other by the operation of the blade of the screw. Instead of
one screw only being placed in the trough or receptacle two screws
may be placed therein, and arranged so as to revolve in contrary
directions, and two or more troughs or receptacles may be combined
when large quantities of materials are to be operated upon.
Our said Invention will be more clearly understood by reference to
the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1 represents the apparatus
with the side removed to shew the internal arrangement; Figure 2 is
a plan view of the apparatus; Figure 3 is a section through the
line A, B, Figure 1; Figure 4 is one of the plates of which the screw
is formed shewing the central hole or aperture and the slit by means
of which the plate is bent or deflected; Figure 5 represents the washer
with the groove for the reception of the plate of the screw; and Figure 6
is the piece of metal of a trough or groove like form by which the
edges of the plates are connected..
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, we would observe

page_text: in conclusion that what we consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as constituting the Invention secured to us by the said herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
The combination and arrangement of parts and mechanism as and
for the purposes described, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Thompson Rickard and
William Carne Paul, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
E. P. H. VAUGHAN,
54, Chancery Lanc.
W. T. RICKARD. (L.S.)
(L.S.)
W. C. PAUL.