US1342567A - Amalgamator - Google Patents

Description

S. G. MUSSER.

AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19, 1911. RENEWED OCT. 1, 1949.

1,342,567. Patented June 8, 1920.

2 SHEETS-:SHEET l.

S. G. MUSSE'R.

AMALGAMATOR. I APPLICATION FILED JULY 19, I917- RENEWED OCT-1.1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1,342,567. Patented June 8, 1920.

Jame/cl a Nusser} 1 UNITED s'r AMALGAMATOR.

specification of Letters Patent. {Patented 111198, 1920;

Applicationfiled my, 19.1917, Serial No. 181,475. Renewed October 1, 1919. SeriaI No. 327,834.. 1

To all whom it may concern: I

'Be it known that I; SAMUEL Gr. Mossnn-,,a

citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county*of"Los Angeles and Stateof California, have invented anew and useful Amalgamator, of which the following is a specification.

.This invention relates to amalgamators of the centrifugal type, for separating and amalgamating gold or other metals from line ca w Fig. l. I

Fig. kis a fragmentary sectional V 16W taken on line w*-m*, Fig. 1. 7

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates .a base member supporting an upright, preferably circular, housing 2 secured; to the base 1 bybolts 8. A vertical shaft is mounted centrally within the housing 2. and is journaled at its lower end within a bearingo' carried upon the base 1. A pulley 6 is fixed to the shaft 1 andv provides for the rotation thereof from a suitable source of power not' shown. V Carried centrally. ofthe housing is a tubular member 7 through which the shaft 1 extends. Thismemberi is flared outwardly-as,

at 8, at its lower end ,.t-he outwardly flared portion being formed. integral as at 9 with the inner face; of thehousing. 2 at a point below the upper end'of thehousing. There isprovided a; bearing 10 fortheshaft atthe upper end of the tubular-member 7.,

Amalgamating means in the form ofan annular chamber or shell generally designated 11 is supported upon the'- upper end of androtated by the-shaft' 4..

An annular pan 12.. is secured-.by'fastening means13 to an annular. fiange-lkformedon:

the upper end 'ofthe housing- 2. This pan v surrounds the aimalgam'ating means orrcham-v ber l1; Secured by bolts 14'-- to thenpper edge of the pan is'a ring 15 supporting an arch16 which carries a boss 17 in which. is; i mounted. an intake pipe 18., This pipe. 18 is" not shown, and extends downwardly through i I the boss, terminating in anenlarged lower end port1on20, which is connected and com-' municated with the chamber or amalgamat ing means'll. It will be seen that-theb ase 1 housing 2, pan 12 and arch 16, together with their cooperative elements, may be removed relative toaone another and that the assembling or'disassembling ofthis structuremay be easily facilitated.

The amalgamating chamber 11 is formed I in two parts, generally designated 21 and I 22, the part 22 being in the form of-an annular upwardly opening cup provided at its,

upper end andcentrally with an enlarged portion or boss 23 which is keyed or other? wise fixed to the upper end of the shaft 1.. This annular cup 22 extends downwardly between the inner wall 24 ofthe pan 12 and the tubularmember 7 into the housing 2. and] is adapted to rotate within sai d space,.free

from. contact with the member'T andwall 241 The part or section 21 of the famalgamat ing means or chamber 11 consists principally in an annular partition member 25- which ex,-.

tends into but is equidistantlyspaced from the lower and opposed side walls of the annular cup 22 and provides inner. and outer annular passages 26 and 27 communicated at their lower ends by an annular passage 28 formed between the bottom ofthe member 25 and bottom wall of the cup 22.

Discharge nipples 29 are formed at opposite points on the lower side of the-. cup22 of the chamber and communicate with the passage 28 These nipples are preferably ex: ternally screw 'threaded, as at 30-, and are provided with reduced screw threaded outer ends 31 upon which are mounted internally" screw threaded caps 32 which arepr-Ovided witlrplugmembers 52f extending into'the nipples. a s

As shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, there are provideddischarge. tubes 33 which, when it is desired-.to drain f the amalgam from .the chamber 1-1, are

tended through openings 34'and 35 respec- .tivelyyformed in the housing 2 and flared portion 8 of the tubular member 7.

,By inserting a suitable tool when these tubes are positioned as shown inathe drawings, the caps 32, which are of lessdiameter the chamber.

. than the inside 'diameter'of the tubes, may be unscrewed or removed and the nipples and the amalgam will readily drain from The partition member 25 enlarged upon its upperedge providing an outwardly lat erally extending annular portion 36 and a similar annularlaterally extendingportion 37 extending in the opposite direction. The

. portion 37 surrounds an eye-bolt 38 turned "in the upper endof the shaftt andis formed in itsiupper face with an annular clownwardly and outwardly inclined intake chain ber 39wvhich communicates the lower en- 'la'rgedendi20 ofthe intake pipe 18 with the r v outer annular passage '27; This chamber 39 is divided at equidistantpoints by a number of annular web portionsl O, the latter act-' ingto divide the chamber into passages 41 a between the members 410.. It will thus be v seen that the ore fed to the chamber 39 Wlllpassages 41 into the passage 27; The enpass around the web portions 10 through the largement'37 upon its underside in expanding: laterally inwardly from the partition member defines an annular shoulder 42.

Extending upwardly and outwardly from v :the shoulder to a point on the outer annular face of the portion 36 are a series of passageways 43 which communicate the pan 12 with the inner annular passage 26. These. pasthe lower, end of a sleeve 51. p gland 52is mounted' between the sleeve 51 and pipe 18 to provide a suitable stuffing box' sageways .43 extend through the annular web portions 40, as shown in Fig. act the drawings, and at their discharge ends may be communicated with nozzles 14 which are secured by fastening elements 45 to the outer annular face of the portion 36 and which extend nearly tangentially from said outer annular face so as to discharge into the pan l2. These nozzles 44 may be omitted if dey sired, the passageways serving as nozzles.

. The engaging faces of the parts 21 and 22, I

more specifically the engaging faces of the enlarged portion 37 and boss or hub portion 23, are stepped or provided with a seriesof offsets defining shoulders 46. v a

. Screws or other fastening elements 47 are outer wall ofthe cup 22 tosecure the section of thechamber together.

The upper annular. face 48 of the enlarged portion 37 surrounds the lower end of the enlarged portion 20 of the pipe 18, and se-' cured upon-said face 48 by a fastening ele-- Inent 19 'is'an annular flange 50 carried on A packing that will prevent' leakagel The enlarged portion 20 of the sleeve 51. 1 It will be seen pipe 18 bears against the consisting of the parts 21 and 22 may be readily assembled or disassembled without requiring the disassembling of the entire device and that it comprises a unit of simple and practical construction involving "the use of comparatively little material.

when the device is 'in operation and the shaft 4': rotates the chamber 11' the mercury 'is thrown outwardly by 1 centrifugal force and'spreads in an annular film over the outer 1 wall of the passage 27. In this connection it is noted that the outer wall'of the passage 27 said outer wall being virtually the inner face of the outer wall of the cup 22, is inclined downwardly and inwardly. This in; clination is provided in order that thefilm of mercury will'be more evenly distributed."

The upper edge of the outer wall of'the cup 22 is enlarged, providing an annular'shoul f der 53 which extends over and is] spaced from the upper'edge of the inner wall 24 of the pan 12,. and this enlargement.alsoprovides an inwardly extending annular shoulder'5 l which acts as an abutment to prevent wardly by centrifugal force.

that the amalgamator 11 I Normally the mercury lies in the annular passage 28 at the'bottom of the cup, 22, but T p v the mercury from being thrown further up- I It is to be noted that the lower portion of the passage 27 extends inwardly and dow 'n-,

wardly at an angle of 45? more or less from the main portion of the passage to the point i of its communication with the I passage 28.

This provides-for the retention of the nier- I V cury during operation of the amalgamator. It will thllS'bG seen'that when the machine is operated at sufficient rate of rotation the,

niercuryfornis the outer'wall of the pas Sage 27'.

When the machine is in operation, as above described, and the ore is fed through the pipe'lS into the chamber 39 it will pass around the webs 10 into the passages 41 and from thence downwardly into the 'pas-' sage 27. Since the chamber 11 is rapidly 1'15v I rotating the ore is forcibly thrown by centrifugal action against the thin mercury film or wall and intimatelymixes with-it.

As the amalganiator maybe rotated at high speed there is little-likelihood of the ore be; i it coming clogged and stopping up the pas sage 27 and theore inbeing forcibly thrown into intimate contact with the .mercury causes anefl'ective and tion of the metals.

' The ore is preferably fed under pressure complete amalgama-r passage 27through the passage 28 upfthef passage 26'and-out through the passage-' ways-43, discharging through the nozzles 44: into the pan. In this connection it will 130 I to the" passage 27'and wiltpass, from said be noted that the rapid rotation of the nozzles 4:4: causes centrifugal action upon the tailings issuing therefrom and in the passageways 43, thus providing for an effective discharge of the ore from the amalgamating chamber. The jamalgam may be drained from the chamber by screwing the tubes 33 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings and then removing the plugs 32. Upon the removal of the plugs 32 the amalgam will readily flow through the discharge nipples 29 and discharge from the tubes 35 where it may be suitably collected.

The pan 12 for receiving the tailings is provided with an outlet opening and its bottom wall is inclined downwardly toward said opening so that ore thrown in the pan will readily pass out through opening 55.

From the foregoing it is clear that the centrifugal action of the tailings in the discharge end of the shell passage is suflicient to prevent clogging of though the force of the ore feed at'the feed end of the passage be insuflicient of itself to cause the ore to flow through the machine at a desirable rate of speed. The advantage of this is that pressures inside 'of the shell may be minimized so as to minimize leakage past the packing 52 and through the joints of the various sections'of the shell, thus the centrifugal action of the hollow rotating column of ore is utilized to aid 1n moving the column of ore through and in contact with a hollow body of mercury.

I claim:

1. A centrifugal amalgamator cornpris ing a sectional shell,one section being in the shape of an annular cup and the other section forming an annular partition spaced from the sides and bottom of the cup shaped section to form a restricted annular passage,

the second named section having spaced webs and there being nozzle openings in the webs communicating at their inner ends with the annular passage and extending to the periphery of the second named section. 1

the passage even 2. ln a centrifugal amalgamator, thecom bination of a shell having an annular passage, means to rotate the shell, an inlet for the passage at the upper end ofthe shell,

and nozzles at the peripheryof the shell for the upper end of thepassage, said nozzles 7 being arranged to discharge in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation and the passage from the inlet to the nozzle'outlets being restricted and normally closed except ing as to the inlet and outlets andadapted to benormally filled with mercury andpulp while operating.

and secured to the shaft, a feed pipe located above the shaft, a support for the feed pipe,

an annular pan surrounding the cup, a partition member mounted within the cup and spaced from the bottom and sides thereof providing upright annular passages oommunicating w th one another at their lower ends, an enlargement formed onthe upper end of thepartition member and extendingover the web portion, said enlargement having an ore intake chamber in its upper side and being provided with passages extend.- ing from the ore intake chamber to a pointcommunicating with the upper side of the outer annular passage, said enlargement being formed with passages extending; upwardly from points-in communication with the upper side of the innerannular passage to the outer peripheral face of said enlargementand adapted to discharge intothe pan,

and a charge of mercury which is distributed over the outer wall of the outer annular passage by centrifugal action, said feed pipe extending into the chamber.

Signed at Los An eles, California, this 11th day of July, 191

V SAMUEL G. MUSSEB. lVitnesses: g

CHAS. J. CHUNN, E. G. BLASDEL. I

- 60 3. A centrifugal amalgamatorQcompris-

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