An Improved Apparatus for Washing, Cleansing, and Separating Metallic Ores, Particularly Adapted for the Ores of Tin, Lead, and Gold.
Year: 1884

page_text: An Improved Apparatus for Washing, Cleansing, and Separating
Metallic Ores, Particularly Adapted for the Ores of Tin,
Lead, and Gold.
We THOMAS VOSPER of 22 Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, Middlesex; and
JOHN EASTCOTT of Norton Villa; Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, Essex, Gentleman, clo
hereby declare the nature of our said invention for 'AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
WASHING, CLEANSING, AND SEPARATING METALLIC ORES, PARTICULARLY ADAPTED
FOR THE ORES OF TIN, LEAD, AND GOLD,' to be as follows :-
The object of this Invention is to provide an apparatus which shall efficiently
wash and separate mineral ores from the foreign matters adhering thereto, with
very little manual labour.
.
In carrying our invention into practice; inside a skeleton framing of the
required height, we fix a tank having a semicircular bottom, transversly, and of
the required length, and wider at the top than below; inside this tank, at or near
the bottom thereof, a screw is fixed, 3 feet in diameter (more or less) to remove
the ore and sand at the bottom, to the opposite end of the tank, where it falls into
a receptacle or well; whence it is raised by an elevator, working round a wheel or
drum, fixed at the bottom thereof, and delivered into a cylindrical sieve, fitted on
the inside with brushes to remove the sand and slimes from the ore; this sieve is
about 3 feet in diameter (more or less) and fixed in a tank at a suitable height;
around this sieve is fitted and fixed a screw or worm that operates with the sievo
and which forces the ore forward until it falls into a receptacle or well at the end;
this sieve sifts out the fine particles of ore, and conveys the sand and other rough
material to the further end of the sieve, whence they drop into another receptaclo
or well.
The ore and stuff are removed by separate elevators and dredgers for further
treatment if found necessary.
By the action of the apparatus, the water is kept in constant agitation, which
carries away the 'slimes' (earth and other light materials so called) at or near the
top of the tank, by an outlet formed for that purpose. A stream of water is kept
constantly running through the tank, flowing inwards by a pipe or shoot. If any
ore escapes, the quantity must be very small indeed, as it would have to ascend
through the volume of water to the top of the tank.
The tank will always be kept clear; and will require no flushing.
By our improved process, scarcely any hand labour is required.

page_text: Metallic Ores, Particularly Adapted for the Ores of Tin,
Lead, and Gold.
We THOMAS VOSPER of 22 Stoke Newington Road Hackney Middlesex and
ANN EASTCOTT administratrix of the late John Eastcott of Norton Villa Fairlop
Road Leytonstone Essex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of our invention.
for AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING CLEANSING AND SEPARATING METALLIC
ORES PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR THE ORES OF TIN LEAD AND GOLD and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which shall efficiently
wash and separate mineral ores from the foreign matters adhering thereto with a
great economy of material and of manual labor.
To attain this end we submit the ore (as it comes from the stamping or crushing
mill) to the action of running water contained in tanks which water serves to
remove therefrom all the lighter particles of the crushed ore and while still in the
water we subject the ore to a sieving or assorting process by means of apparatus'
to be presently described.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a plan view of our improved apparatus and
Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same partly in section the better to show the
construction of some of the working parts.
AA is an overflow tank formed of brickwork or other suitable material with a
bottom segment shaped in cross section to correspond to an archimedian 'screw B
which is mounted horizontally at the bottom of the tank for the purpose to be
presently explained.
The shaft B of this screw is carried in plummer blocks b fitted to the ends of
the tank and it extends beyond the plummer blocks to receive driving gear at
either end as most convenient A suitable size for the screw will be some three
feet in diameter and the tank will preferably taper outwards towards its upper
part as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2-The length of the screw is made some-
what short of the length of the tank to permit of a bucket wheel C being fitted to
the screw B¹ and bringing as it rotates a chain of buckets C' into action
buckets dip into a shallow well A¹ formed in the bottom of the tank A and. they
pass up and over an elevated chain wheel C² so placed as to provide for the
discharge of the contents of the buckets into a hopper D.
These
E is a hopper connected to the lower part of the tank A by means of a pipe E¹
and serving to deliver into the tank the crushed ore-This crushed ore may be
supplied to the tank in a dry state or combined with water as thought most

page_text: desirable In the latter case all the water supplied to the tank will pass in
through the hopper E and pipe E¹ or the water may be delivered directly to tho
tank by a force pump preferably though an inlet near the bottom of the tank.
F is an overflow shoot for carrying off all the light matters contained in the
crushed ore and separated therefrom by the ascending current-These foreign
matters are discharged into any suitable receiver but the metallic portions of the
ore falling onto the bottom of the tank will be pushed forward by the rotating
screw B and delivered into the well A'-From this well the metallic particles will
be raised by the chain of buckets C₁ to which motion is given through the shaft
of the screw B and the crushed ore thus partially cleansed is delivered into the
hopper D ready to be submitted to further treatment for the more completo
cleansing and the assortment of the same.
G is a second overflow tank set at right angles or otherwise to the first and
formed with an inclined bottom segment shaped in cross section to correspond.
with a rotary cylindrical screen H mounted in the bottom of the tank-The sides
of this tank incline outwards towards the top like those of the tank A and the
shaft Hof of the screen H is mounted in plummer blocks one within the tank
and the other in or near the end wall of the tank. Through this latter
plummer block the shaft H₁ projects to receive suitable gearing for rotating the
screen The screen consists of a cylindrical skeleton frame clothed with fine wire
gauze or perforated plates of copper zine or other metal and it is of such length
with respect to the tank as to permit of two wells G¹ G³ being formed in the
bottom of the tank beyond it.
I is a metal segment shaped guide made fast to the adjacent end wall of the
tank and serving to receive two endless chains of buckets K. K' which slide over
it and lead up to their respective chain wheels 11 12 which are mounted on a
common shaft I-H2 is an extension of the cylinder H and serving to bridge over
the well G and form a discharge from the cylinder into the well G* The hopper D
which receives the partially cleansed ore from the tank A is situate within the
tank G and through a conducting pipe D' it discharges its contents into the
cylinder H at its elevated end-A continuous slow rotary motion being given to
this cylinder the fine particles of the orc will be seived out and fall on to the
inclined bottom of the tank while the coarser parts will travel forward within the
cylinder and be delivered into the well G. Surrounding the screen H is a helical
blade which like the archimedian screw of the tank A will force forward the fine
particles of ore deposited on the bottom of the tank and discharge them into the
well G. Land L₁ are hoppers situate near the chain wheels I', 13 respectively and
having delivery pipes leading to suitable receivers Rotary motion is communicated
through the shaft I to the chain wheels and chains of buckets and as the ore is
delivered into the wells G1 G2 the contents of these wells will be carried up by
their respective chains of buckets and delivered to the hoppers L, L¹ whence they
will flow to the receivers in connection therewith-The tank G is supplied with a
continuous stream of clear water by a force pump or equivalent means for the
purpose of operating upon the ore as in the first tank and the light earthy and
other matters contained in the ore submitted to this tank are separated from the
heavier particles and carried away by the over flow water down the shoot M.
To provide against the choking of the meshes of the cylindrical screen
brushes N. N. are fitted within the cylinder-These brushes are fitted to sieves
which are strung upon the shaft H₁ provision being made for this in the
construction of the skeleton frame of the cylinder-The brushes N are intended
to retain the vertical position shown in Fig. 2 and to act upon the inner surface
of the gauze covering as it is presented to them by the rotation of the cylinder―
For this purpose counterweights are attached to the sleeves carrying the brushes
and thus a tendency to retain their normal position is given to the brushes-It
will be readily understood that means may be provided for setting up the brushes
as they wear away and thus keeping them in contact with the screening surface.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
The construction and arrangement of overflow tanks as described with reference
to the drawings such tanks being fitted with apparatus for supplying transferring
sifting and delivering crushed metallic ores for the purpose of separating the fine
metallic particles from the coarser and both from the foreign matters contained
in the crushed ore as set forth.
Dated this 11th day of July 1885.
FRA
OMMANNEY,
Agent for the Applicant Thomas Vosper,
and also for Ann Eastcott, the administratrix of
John Eastcott the other Applicant.