CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING EARTHS CONTAINING GOLD EXTRACTED FROM THE BOTTOMS OF RIVERS OR OTHER WATERS
Year: 1853

page_text: . LETTERS PATENT to Jacques Emile Joffriaud, Mining Engineer,
and Rodolphe Rivière, Miner, both of Paris, in the Empire of
France, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING EARTHS CONTAINING GOLD EXTRACTED
FROM THE BOTTOMS OF RIVERS OR OTHER WATERS."
Sealed the 21st June 1853, and dated the 26th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacques Emile
Joffriaud and Rodolphe Rivière at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th April 1853.,
We, JACQUES EMILE JOFFRIAUD, Mining Engineer, and RODOLPHE
RIVIERE, Miner, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING EARTHS CONTAINING GOLD
EXTRACTED FROM THE BOTTOMS OF RIVERS OR OTHER WATERS" to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in the combination of a machine for carrying
on the process of what is ordinarily termed "gold washing," with a
machine or apparatus for dredging or raising the earths or materials

page_text: "
containing gold out of the bed of rivers and other waters. The peculiar
features of the machine or apparatus for "washing or otherwise
cleansing the material containing gold consist mainly in its adaptation
for use in combination with the dredging or raising machine; and the
two machines are combined so as to form one continued piece of
mechanism when in action. This mechanism may also be fitted in a
boat or vessel in which it may be conveyed to the place required and
worked from the same.
The dredging apparatus consists of an endless chain, with buckets
or raising instruments fixed upon it, such endless chain passing over
wheels or pulleys, and being driven by the agency of ordinary toothed
gear set in motion by a winch handle. The lower part of this apparatus
may be adjusted by means of a chain and lifter to any required depth,
so as to operate with most effect upon the bed of the river or other
water. The material dredged or raised passes into the apparatus or
mechanism for "washing" it. This mechanism consists of a horizontal
circular iron plate or sifter, with holes in it, and a raised edge all round
for inclosing the material to be operated upon. This plate or sifter is
mounted on a strong frame, and through the centre of the said plate or
sifter is passed a vertical shaft or axle turning on a pivot at its lower
end. On the upper end of this shaft are fixed the arms or levers
for turning the same by means of horses or oxen. On this shaft or
axis is also fixed a boss, from which extend a number of arms, (say 8,)
with rollers on their outer extremities. These arms are furnished
with pieces of metal resembling teeth or prongs, which by the rotation
of the arms serve to stir and break the earth or material contained in
the plate, or sifter. Beneath the plate or sifter is fixed an inclined
plane, on which the material falls, and is thereby passed to a kind of
stationary inclined "Siberian cradle," with partitions in it, in which
the material is again stirred by means of stirrers at the end of vertical
arms affixed to a horizontal shaft. The inclination of the "Siberian
cradle" may be varied to suit the different qualities of the material to
be operated upon.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jacques Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe Rivière,
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 26th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
EMILE JOFFRIAUD, Mining Engineer, and RODOLPHE RIVIÈRE, Miner,
both of Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe Riviere, Her
special licence that we, the said Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe Riviere,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe Rivière, our executors, administra-
tors, 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 Chan-
nel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING EARTHS CONTAINING
GOLD EXTRACTED FROM THE BOTTOMS OF RIVERS OR OTHER WATERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Emile Joffriaud and
Rodolphe Riviere, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe
Riviere, 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 to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):

page_text: Our Invention of "Certain Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus
for Washing Earths containing Gold extracted from the Bottoms of
Rivers or other Waters" is intended to furnish the means of raising
the earths or materials from under water at various depths; of con-
veying them to a suitable machine; and in such machine performing
upon them the operation known by the name of "gold washing," or
separating the gold from the earths or materials in which it is
contained..
And we accomplish this object by the combination of a dredging or
raising machine or apparatus with that in which the earths are
"washed," or have the gold separated from them; the two machines
or apparatus being combined so as to form one continued piece of
mechanism when in action. By means of this combined form of
apparatus, which may be transported from one part of a river or other
water to another part, the ordinary operation of dredging may be
carried on, and the earths containing gold so raised may be continually
passed through a suitable machine or apparatus, and subjected therein
to the process of "washing" or disintegration, by which the gold
becomes separated from the materials with which it was found in com-
bination, and may be collected therefrom as required.
In order, however, that our Invention may be fully understood, we
will proceed to describe, by the aid of the accompanying drawings, the
general arrangement of the machinery or apparatus in its combined
form above referred to.
Fig. 1, represents this apparatus in vertical section; and Fig. 2, is a
plan or horizontal view of the same. The machinery thus represented
may be fixed or set up on board a boat or raft or floating vessel in the
usual manner in which dredging machines are fixed or set up. A, is
the ordinary endless chain, having buckets or raising instruments B, of
suitable form and size fixed on it at intervals, and passing over pulleys
or wheels C, one of which is under water, and the other out of the
water or on the floating vessel. These pulleys are set in motion by
means of power applied to a winch handle or crank as at D, and
intermediate gearing connected with the pulley which is out of the
water. The chain A, is supported upon a strong frame E, with

page_text: rollers F, over which the said chain travels. This frame E, is mounted
upon an upright standard F, and turns upon a pivot at the upper
part, so as to admit of its lower part being raised or lowered to the
required depth by means of a windlass or capstan as at G, and a rope
or chain wound upon the same. I, is an inclined shelf or shoot,
upon which the material, as it is raised in the buckets B, is deposited,
and passes on to a horizontal, circular plate or sifter I, with holes in it,
and formed with a raised edge all round for inclosing the material to
be operated upon as it falls thereon. This plate or sifter I, is fixed on
a strong frame J. K, is an upright shaft, which passes through the
centre of the stationary plate or sifter I, and turns in a socket fixed in
a strong block or pedestal I, being driven by means of ordinary
horse-power applied to its upper end. On this shaft is keyed or other-
wise fixed a boss M, from which extend a number of arms N, (say
eight,) with rollers N*, on their outer extremities. These arms are
furnished with pieces of metal resembling teeth or prongs, which by the
rotation of the arms are made to stir and break the earth or material
contained in the plate or sifter 1. Beneath the plate or sifter I, is
fixed an inclined plane O, on to which the earth or material falls after
it has been operated upon in the nanner described, and has become
reduced to the form or consistency of a liquid mud. In this state it
passes from the inclined plane O, into a kind of "Siberian cradle " 1',
with partitions d, in it. Within each space between the partitions d,
there is a stirrer Q, mounted on a vertical axle R, all which axles R,
may be put in motion by means of the horizontal shaft S. The incli-
nation of the "Siberian cradle" may be varied to suit the different
qualities of material to be operated upon.
The operation of the mechanism above referred to is as follows:-
On the lower part of the frame E, being adjusted to its proper working
depth under water, the chain A, is set in motion, when the buckets or
raising instruments B, will dredge or raise the earths or materials
containing gold, and deposit them on to the inclined shelf or shoot H.
It is necessary to stop the apparatus occasionally for about four to six
minutes in order to throw out the stones. These stones are thrown
upon a door i, which is thereby opened, and allows them to fall through.
They are then collected, washed, and examined with care. The earths

page_text: or materials pass from the shelf or shoot HI, on to the stationary plate
or sifter I, and after being crushed and stirred by the teeth or prongs
on the revolving arms N, fall through the holes in the plate or sifter I,
in the state or consistency of a liquid mud on to the inclined plane O,
whence they pass into the first space or division in the "Siberian
cradle P. The greater part of the gold that was contained in the
earths thus operated upon will be likely to remain in the first division,
and the finer or more minute portions may become deposited in the
succeeding divisions.
It is desirable that about four times in a day the slides or drawers in
the "Siberian cradle" should be removed, and the gold submitted to
another washing by means of a particular kind of table, in order to
separate small particles of iron, which are usually found deposited with
the gold.
This last apparatus (or that for "washing") may be advantageously
employed on dry land, and requires no change of arrangement beyond
that which any person acquainted with this kind of operation would
know how to adapt to it, according to the place where it was used.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we would have it understood
that we do not mean or intend to confine ourselves to the precise
forms and arrangements of all the parts represented and described;
neither do we claim as of our Invention either the dredging machine
or the "washing" machine separately; but what we do claim is the
combined form of mechanism for dredging and "washing" in its
general features as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Emile Joffriaud and Rodolphe
Rivière, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
second day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
J. E. JOFFRIAUD. (L.S.)
R. RIVIÈRE.
(L.S.)
J. E. JOFFRIAUD. (L.S.)
R. RIVIÈRE.
(L.S.)