IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR CLEANSING AND WASILING ORES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Burns, of Alston, in the County of Cumberland, of
Her Majesty's Geological Survey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR CLEANSING AND WASILING ORES."
2013 15
Sealed the 15th September 1877, and dated the 29th March 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Burns at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th March 1877.
DAVID BURNS, of Alston, in the County of Cumberland, of Her Majesty's
Geological Survey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR
CLEANSING AND WASHING ORES."
The object of my Invention is to wash and clean mineral ores. The method and
means hitherto employed for that purpose are either costly or inefficient, or both
inefficient and costly. To remedy these evils I give a direct pulsating motion by
means of an intermittent supply to the water conveyed to the series of boxes or
compartments wherein the ore is treated. The supply of water for this purpose
should be delivered from a natural or artificial head, so that when admitted to the
boxes or compartments wherein the ore is treated, a disturbance in the relative
positions of the particles of the material under treatment should take place, the
lighter portions being carried by the stream of water over the lower side of the
upper box to the higher side of the lower box, and so on to the last box or com-
partment.
Each compartment has, at a different level to its neighbour, a horizontal sieve on
which falls the ore during its passage from box to box, the heaviest ingredients
remaining in the first or higher box and the lightest in the last or lowest box. The
supply pipe passes from box to box under the sieves, each box being supplied from a
nozzle or aperture opening from the under side, which causes the flow of water to
impinge upon the material that has fallen through the sieve above; the water then
rising through the said sieve and through the material thereon displaces and carries
the lighter portion of the said material over the lower side of the box or compart-

page_text: ment, as before mentioned. As soon as the water supply is intermitted or cut off
the heavier portion of the material readily sink, and if sufficiently small pass
through the holes of the sieve of each compartment or box, where they meet and
undergo the first impulse and cleansing properties of the next supply of water, and
the lighter particles (if any) washed therefrom. The lower part of each box is 5
formed of a funnel shape and provided with a tap, so that the contents may be
suitably drained.
The valve regulating the intermittent supply may be suitably worked by a crank
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David Burns in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th September
1877.
DAVID BURNS, of Alston, in the County of Cumberland, of Her Majesty's
Geological Survey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR
CLEANSING AND WASHING ORES."
In cleansing and dressing mineral ores the means usually employed during one
part of the process consists of a hotching machine, jigging tub, or sieve. The
description or kind generally adopted is that wherein a circular chamber containing
a loose piston working in a body of water is surrounded by several chambers
containing sieves, whereon the mineral ore is placed. At each pulsation of the said
piston the water is forced in an upward direction into the neighbouring chambers,
and passing through the sieves displaces the stuff or crude mineral placed thercon to
be cleansed. This method, among others, has been found both costly and inefficient;
inefficient, inasmuch as the upward or return motion of the piston neutralizes in
part the effects of its previous action; and costly, in consequence of the working
parts being numerous and constantly requiring repairs. To remedy these defects
and to produce an efficacious and inexpensive separator or hotching machine is tho
object of my Invention, which may be thus generally described. A number of
hotchers or boxes are arranged one higher than the other in line, and each com-
municating with its lower neighbour by the adjoining side or end being made lower
than its other three, thus allowing the superfluous water to flow from the upper to
the lower box, and thence to the lowermost box; the waste water during its onward
progress carries with it the lighter and worthless particles. These particles during
their journey deposit themselves according to their specific gravity in distinct boxes,
wherein they undergo a further cleansing, and, finally, the waste water, chats, and
refuse are delivered into a waste launder, the contents of which and of the boxes
aro removed from time to time, as required. Each hotcher or box is divided
horizontally by a perforated plate or sieve into two compartments, the upper one
being shallow to receive the crude mineral to be dressed, and the lower one deep
and of a conical shape to receive the cleansed orc. On opening a valve in the apex
or lower part of this compartment the dressed ore falls into a receptacle placed
beneath to receive it.
The means I employ to produce the pulsative action of the water supplied to
each box or hotcher is original, and may be thus briefly described. Along the side,
under side, or any suitable part of the lower compartiment of cach box or hotcher I
conduct a pipe or chamber which extends the whole length of the apparatus.
This chamber communicates with each box individually and separately by means of
a longitudinal aperture, the opening and closing of which is regulated and controlled
by a suitable valve actuated from a cranked shaft driven by any approved motive
power. Water under pressure is supplied to this chamber; consequently when the
cranked shaft revolves and opens one or other of the valves or apertures, a stream of
water is admitted to that box to which the valve may be said to belong; the stream

page_text: of water now rising upwards in the box and percolating through the sieve displaces
the superincumbent mass thereon, and carries with it the sludge and lighter particles
to the next or lower box, where they are similarly treated. During this process the
said valve has become shut, which arresting the stream of water allows the heavy
particles to fall through the sieve to the lower compartment, where they may again
be met and rewashed by a succeeding stream of water, when the same valve is
again opened. Each valve acts independently of its fellow one, the cranks being so
placed on the crank shaft that the valves shall not be open at one and the same
time.
The requisite pressure of water in the said chamber may be derived from a main
pipe communicating with a natural or artificial head of water or its equivalent.
There may be two or more sets or serios of hotchers connected to the main pipe
by means of branch pipes properly connected and supplied with suitable valves and
air vessels, and the whole arranged to meet the requirements of the description and
class of minerals to be treated.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing I have shown a side view partly in
section of my improved apparatus for cleansing and washing mineral ores; Figuro 2
being a sectional plan on line B¹, B', (Figure 1), and Figure 3 a transverse section
of the same on line A', A¹, (Figures 1 and 2).
In all these Figures A, B, and C, are the hotchers or boxes, which may however
be of any approved form and construction. They are cach provided, as is usual in
such appliances, with a sieve or perforated plate J, upon which lies the mineral to
be washed. K is a hopper containing the crushed mineral to feed the first hotchor
or box A; j¹, may be called waste weirs, over which flows the water, sludge, and
lighter particles of the mineral under treatment to a lower box. These so-called
waste weirs are provided with waste pipes to carry off if necessary any super-
abundance of waste water. a, a, a, are the funnel or conical-shaped portion of each
hotcher to receive the washed ore, and m, m, m, suitable valves for emptying the
contents of the same into receptacles n, m, n, placed beneath each hotcher; E is a
water main containing water under pressure, and E¹ a branch pipe leading there-
from to the pipe or chamber E"; L, L, L, are rods leading from eccentrics, cambs,
or cranks keyed on the horizontal shaft G; they are each connected by an eye and
bolt to their respective valve rods l, l, l, by which the valves I, I, I, are actuated
(in the Drawing only one of these valves are shown, the other being hidden within
the chamber).
"
This part of my apparatus when in operation gives a pulsative action to the
water in the hotchers, which may therefore be called "pulsators." These "1 pulsators
may if found necessary be provided with dash boards o, o, (Figure 3) to direct the
stream of water upward to the under side of the sieve.
In the foregoing as well as in the accompanying Drawing I have described and
shown my improved apparatus as consisting of three hotchers, but it can be readily
understood how that number may be reduced or augmented to meet the require-
ments of the raw material.
Where it is difficult or inconvenient to get a natural head of water I would then
employ pumping machinery in connection with the pressure main E. An air
vessel D (Figure 1) fixed on the pipe E or E¹ would then by means of the compressed
air therein act artificially as a head of water of a height corresponding to the
pressure of the compressed air.
The action of my improved apparatus or "pulsator" when in operation may be
so well understood by referring to the accompanying Drawing as to require no
further explanation, save that the valves I, I, I, are opened alternately, the positions
of the crank or eccentrics on the horizontal shaft being so arranged for that object.
These valves may be made to open and close twice during one revolution of the.
crank shaft G; see also Figure 4, drawn to an enlarged scale.
Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature and object of my
said Invention, together with the mode of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be clearly understood that I claim as my Invention secured to me by the above.

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, the method and means herein described and illustrated
on the accompanying Drawing of employing a natural or artificial head of water or
its equivalent for cleansing and washing mineral ores, or any mere modifications of
such means.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Burns, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
DAVID BURNS. (L.S.)