US233632A - mahan - Google Patents

Description

(Modem 2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

P. M. MAHAN & S. R. OWEN. Machine for Extracting Gold from Auriferous Deposits. No. 233,632. Pate nted Oct. 26, I880.

WITNESSES IN VENTORS 3* ATTORNEY N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITNOGRAPNER. WASDHNG'TON. D C.

' 2 Sheets--Sheet '2. F. M. MAHAN & S. R. OWEN.

Machine for Extracting Gold from Auriferou-s Deposits No. 233,632. Patented Oct. 26., 1880.

(moueL) WlTNESSES v fiZMa ATTOR N EY NPETERS, PHOYG-LITHOGRAPugR. WASHINGTON. 07c.

NITE STATES PATENT Fries.

FRANK M. MAHAN AND SILAS R. OWEN, OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI; SAID MAHAN ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO DAVID BAILEY AND STOKELEY W. SLAYDEN; SAID OWEN ASSIGNOR TO SAID SLAYDEN.

MACHINE FOR EXTRACTING GOLD FROM AURIFEROUS DEPOSITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,632, dated October 26, 1880,

Application filed May 17, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRANK M. MAHAN and SILAS It. OWEN, of St. Joseph, in the county of Buchanan and State of Missouri, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Machines for WVashing the Dirt of Auriferous Deposits and Extracting the Gold therefrom; and we do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for separating gold from aurii'erous deposits; and the novelty consists in the construction and arrangement of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out ourinvention we employ the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 represents a side elevation of our machine, partly in section; Fig. 2, a plan view. Fig. 3 is an end section; Fig. 4, a detail trans verse section. Figs. 5 and 6 are details, and Fig. 7 a perspective of the shedding-plates.

In the accompanying drawings, A designates a tank that is kept nearly full of water. B is a long box, made of iron or other suitable material, having a curved bottom composed of grating covered over with screen-wire. This screen is composed of sections of different degrees of fineness, the finest being at the bottom, where the earth is thrown in, and the coarsest at the upper end thereof, each upper section being coarser than that next below. This box, when in position, is at an angle of about fifteen degrees to the horizon, and it is located in tank A.

A indicates an axle or shaft, having its bearings in the ends of said box and parallel to its bottom. This shaft projects through the lower end of the box, and carries a sprocketwheel, by means of which it is rotated. It is provided from end to end with a single row of stirrers, a, set at short intervals in the form (Model.)

of a screw, which carries the tailin gs or refuse to the upper end of the box, whence they are discharged, the finer earth and precious metals falling through the screen into the bottom of the tank A. These grinders or stirrers are beveled in such form that they tend to assist the screw to carry the dirt up and to more 5 5 thoroughly mix and grind the same, and there are set in the said shaft as many straight grinders as may be required inthe positions not interfering with the action of the screw-grinder.

0 is a screw-conveyor arranged longitudinallyin the bottom of the tauk,for the purpose of conveying its contents, which is auriferous earth of the consistency of slush, to a set of elevators, D, working at its lower end in a well, E,into which the slush is discharged by 6 the screw-elevator. The elevator D extends "ertically up a sufficient distance and empties into a chute, G, which conducts the slush into an upright tank, H, having attached to opposite sides a series of amalgam plates, arranged at an incline, and forming with each other a zigzag passage from top to bottom of said tank. At the bottom of tank H is a well provided with a series of pockets, as seen in Fig. 4, filled with mercury, which will arrest any coarse or 7 5 shot gold that may pass down over the amalgamated plates. From tank H the slush passes through an outlet above the quicksilver-pocket into a tank, I, also provided with amalgam plates.

K represents a valve or stop-cock, which can be adjusted in such a manner as to govern the outflow from the vertical tank H into the horizontal tank I, and thus at will regulate the quantity of liquid slush within the tank H. It has been found that the best results will be obtained by keeping the tank H about twothirds full of the liquid slush, or such a quantity as will allow the compressed air to give sufficient agitation without forcing the slush over the top of the tank in its upward progress. Thepassage-way for the slush through this tank is V-shaped in cross-section, and is in the form of a zigzag from side to side, as shown in Fig. 2. The walls of the zigzag passage 5 may also be covered with amalgamated plates from end to end, and the bottom of the tank is provided with pockets for the reception of quicksilver, so that any gold passing through this chamber cannot fail to be arrested.

The tanks H I may be used together or separately, as convenience may dictate.

To facilitate the washing and perfect the separation of the auriferous from the earthy particles, we have applied in the tanks atmospheric pressure, with a view to agitating the slush, as follows: At right angles to the tank I is a frame supporting a double-acting bellows or other blower. From the nozzle of this bellows or blower is an air-conduit, K, which passes along the top of tank I from end to end, connected to which are the tappipes K, arranged at an angle to pipe K, corresponding to the branches of the zigzag passage-way, one of said pipes K being over each of said branches.

K designates distrilmting-pipes depending from pipes K and arranged at short intervals. These pipes extend downward to near the bottom of the said angular passage-way, and they are bent toward the discharge end of the passage-way. When power is applied to the blower there is a constant volume of air discharged in jets from pipes K, which agitates the slush and forces it toward the discharge end of said tank, and the commotion thus created forces every particle of the slush in contact with the amalgamated plates and quicksilver, to which the gold will adhere and thus be saved.

Atmospheric agitation is produced in the upright tank H by means of a main air-pipe, H, connected to the blower and extending down to a point near the bottom of said tank, where it is provided with a distributing-rose, H, perforated numerously on its under side, that it may not become choked up with sand. The air forced by the blower through the rose rises to the top of the tank, and creates, in its zigzag course through the labyrinthine passage form ed by the amalgamated plates, a Violent bubbling and agitation of the slush, thus greatly expediting the deposition of gold-dust upon the said plates. From tank I the slush is delivered into a well, L, at its educt end, from which the sediment is scooped up by the buckets of an elevator, M, and dropped upon an endless apron, It. and conveyed to a suitable dum pin g-place. The elevator-buckets have wire-gauze bottoms, through which the water trickles back into the well L. This well, if water he scarce, or if, for other reasons, it be deemed requisite, may have an overflowpipe discharging into a suitable cistern or receptacle, whence it may be pumped and used again and again.

Motion is imparted to all the parts of the machine requiring motion from a line-shaft, S, by means of sprocket-wheels and endless chains, the former being keyed upon the said shaft and on the journals of the working parts aforesaid.

The following is the preferred arrangement:

1 is a sprocket-wheel on the journal of the screwshaft in box B, and 2 a similar wheel on the line-shaft S, around which passes an endless chain. 3 is a sprocket-wheel on the journal of conveyer O, and 4 is a corresponding one on the screw-shaft, around which an endless belt is also passed. 5 and 6 are sprocket-wheels, respectively on the upper shaft of the elevator D and theline-shaft, and connected'by an endless belt. Thus the rotation of the line-shaft actuates the screw-grinder and conveyer, and through a crank, P, upon its end and a pitman, P, apuinp, 0, which supplies the boX A with water. 7 is a sprocket-wheel on the upper sh aft of the elevator M, and 8 a similar wheel on the line-shaft, which are connected by an endless chain; and 9 and 10 are similar wheels on the shaft of the endless apron and line-shaft, respectively, which are also connected byan endless chain. 11 and 13 are sprocket-wheels upon a short shaft journaled in the frame above the bellows or blower, and connected,

respectively, with a sprocket-wheel, 12, on the line-shaft and a similar wheel, 14, upon the shaft or drum of the endless apron It. Thus all the moving parts of the machine derive motion from the line-shaft, which derives power from a motor through suitable connections.

When a bellows is used to produce the airblasts it will have a central partition and a two-ported nozzle, one of said ports being appropriate to each division of the bellows, and each division having its own valve, so that while one division is expelling air through its port the other is taking it in. Thus a constant and unfailing air-current is kept up, with no danger of back-suction through the nozzle, which sometimes occurs in single-acting bellows.

.What we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for separating the gold from auriferous deposits, the tank A, havinga screwconveyer, O, in combination with the inclined box 13, having a rounded gauze-covered bottom, and a longitudinal shaft carrying the beveled grinding and stirring arms arranged in the form of a screw-thread, and straight grinders, substantially as specified.

2. The elevator D, in combination with the wash-tank A, box B, provided with the stirring-shaft, as described, conveyer 0, well E, and upright tank H, provided with amalgamated plates forming a zigzag passage from top to bottom thereof, substantially as specified.

3. In a machine for extracting gold from auriferous deposits, the tank H, having a sys tem of amalgamated plates projecting inward from opposite sides and inclining downward, in combination with the well E, the elevator D, having chute Gr, tank A, wash-box B, havin g a screen-bottom, the elevating and stirring screw in said box, and the screw-conveyer O, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with tank H, having the recessed plates, arranged as shown, of the tank I, having the angular zigzag passage in its bottom extending alternately from side to side, substantially as specified. I

5. The tank I, having the zigzag passage of angular section lined or covered with amalgamated plates, in combination with a well, L, at its educt end, the elevator M, having gauze-covered buckets, and an endless apron, R, substantially as set forth.

6. The tank I, having the zigzag inclined or V-shaped passage-way provided with amalgamated plates, in combination with pipe K and pipes K, provided with the distributingpipes K, substantially as described.

7. The tank I, having inclined zigzag passages, as described, in combination with the air-tube K, having tap-pipes K oblique thereto and corresponding to the obliquity of the branches of the zigzag passage of tank I, and the distributing-pipes K, set at short intervals in said pipe and discharging in the direction of the ednct end of the said passage, in combination with tank I and an air-forcing mechanism, as specified.

8. The combination, with the tank H, provided with inclined amalgamated plates, removable and recessed, as shown, and projecting from opposite sides and forming a zigzag passage-way from side to side from the top to the bottom of said tank, of a blast-pipe discharging at the bottom of the tank under the last plate, whereby a violent bubblin g and agitation of the descending slush is created by the ascending air, as and for the purpose set forth.

9. The tank H, having the removable recessed amalgamated plates, arranged at an incline and projecting alternately from opposite sides, in combination with the pipe H, extending outside of and close to the wall of said tank nearly to its bottom, curving inward, and provided at its end with a distributing-rose discharging downward, substantially as specified.

10. The process of obtaining gold from auriferous deposits, consisting, in reducing the material to a fluid pulp, allowing such pulp to flow downward, passing it in a tortuous course over amalgam plates, and subjecting the vol ume of pulp in its downward course to currents of compressed air passing in an upward direction, for the purpose specified.

In testimony that we claim the above we have hereunto subscribed our names in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK M. MAHAN. SILAS R. OWEN.

Witnesses JAMES H. BORTLE, GEORGE H. ZIPH.

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