DALTON'S QUARTZ-CRUSHING AND AMALGAMATING MACHINE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3401, 10 June 1868, Page 3

DALTONS QUARTZ-CRUSHING AND AMALGAMATING MACHINE.

Application was made jesterday f< r litters patent to be granted, to Dalton Brothers, civil engineers, of this city, for certain inventions, improvement*, and adaptation! in a machine or machines for the extracting of gold from quartz and other substances. For the purpose of this description atid better understanding of its various functions the machine may be divided into five part-. Iv fact, certain parts are distinct machines, and one portion »t least capable of performing other works connected with mining operations than the extraction of gold by crushers or statapers. The five parts of the machine alluded to may be ranged aa follow:—!, The levers ; 2, the stain peis and crushing boxes ; 3, the first crushing, grinding, and amalgamating process ; 4, the second grinding and amalgamating process; and 5, an amalgamator alone. The whole can be worked together as one machine, or separately, as occasion may require. 1. The levers are of the first order of power, having a fulcrum between the weight to be raised and the power to raise it, and^are worked as follows : - -The motive power being applied (either by manual, horse, steam, wind, or water) certain drums below the horizontal line of the fulcrum are put in motion, and are connected by an endless band with other drums, at a required height above the horizontal line .of the fulcrum. The longer arms of the, levers are allowed to work backwards or forwards through a ring or eyelet affixed to the said endless band, and cause a vertical motion to the ends of the levers, but when the ends of the levers pass under or over the drums a lateral motion is given to the shorter end of the lever, thereby attaching itself to or releasing itself from a bracket fixed to the rod of the stamper, assisted thereto by a guide in the crushing box. The i arms of the levers can be of any length, and so regulated that the slightest pressure on the longer arm will raise any given weight 'at the shorter arm. . This ,part of the machine can be detached from the 'other i portion, and used for the purpose of weighing the quartz, pumping water up from the shafts, &o. ' 1 2. The crushing boxek are square, formed of timber • lined with iron, and having certain gratings fixed * vertically front and back ; and the boxes^also have a ■ communication with eaoh other by gratings of dif- | ferent gauges j and the beds of the crushing boxes are placed on different levels, for the ' purpose 1 after described. The levers being put into motion in 1 the manner before mentioned, the quartz or other ' material to becrudhed is put 'into an ordinary feeder, and water made 'to 1 flow into the same. The stamper is raised » by ' the shorter arm of ' the lever passing under the bracket in the rod lof the stamper, ■ and continues, to rise until the bracket passes out of the radius formed lay the end of the lever, and is' consequently released and suffered to fall four or more feet if required. The water passing into first stamper box washes away the portion of ' the quartz 6r other substance which may b« fine enough to 'pass through the gratings. The coarse stuff, being retained by the same means, is again subjected to the blow of the stamper, and continues to be ' pounded until, it is of sufficient fineness to allow it to, escape. , The quartz then passes under " another stamper '' head, which in its turn pulverises the material until it can pass a finer gauge of grating, and soon to any number of stampers. Or the fine stuff can pass free from any stamper box direct' to the amalgamator, while the coarse' stuff can be carried to all or any of ,the crushing boxes by the force of gravitation alotie. 3. The portion of the r ' machine' we have now to speak of is a complete crushing, grinding,' 'and amalgamating machine of itself, used in conjunction with the stampers. A shoot'carries the crushed stuff from one to the other ; but, if by itself (as for the purpose of crushing specimens, Ac), it must have a handle attached. It consists of a square box lined^with iron, the bottom being formed like two semi-cylinders joined together, nearly touching two cogged toothed or ribbed cylinders placed therein, working in Gdn-* tact with each other in an upward direction at their junction j the one cylinder having a number of balls placed therein, and the other two or more rollers. Quicksilver or other appliance for extracting gold is then placed in the box, 1 and the cylinders partly immersed. The stuff to be ground or amalgamated is allowed to pass through two slits in the lid of the box ? one at each end, and, a rotary motion being given to the cylinders, the coarse stuff is compelled to pass between the cogged face of th«» cylinders, while the fine stuff is thoroughly ground, by means of the balls and rollers, into and with the quicksilver. The quartz may be either we f or dry-crushed in this manner, A n out-fall shoot is plaoed near the top and centre of one side of the box. 4. This consists of a cylinder with a flaDge projecting beyond' its axis for the purpose of receiving stuff passed from 'the stampers, the crushers, or amalgamators aforesaid." A number of balls are placed in the cylinder, arid a rotary motion given 'to the same, the grinding by the balls being performed with or without quicksilver. A box receives the overflow, 1 and another shoot passes 'stuff on to — ' ' 5. An amalgamator only, to which heat may be applied, which, by the aid of a screw working in a tube and projecting beyond it into a bulb-shaped chamber^ forces all the stuff previously ground or crushed into or through the said chamber, so that every particle of the stuff is brought into immediate contact with the quicksilver or other amalgamating material. The waste then passes over an ordinary ripple table.