A NEW GOLD MACHINE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 48, 12 November 1892, Page 11

A NEW GOLD MACHINE.

The Salt Like " Tribune" -witnessed testing of a .-placer gold'machine whose sales are now \ controlled iby a. Salt Lako corporation. The " Tribune" says :—The machine is tiie 'invention of '0. 'F. "'WilJsie, and is • constructed with the object of separating:flour and other five gold 'ffom sand or concentrates in a dry • state, no water being used in its operation. It is composed of two parts, the vibrator and screens, and the quicksilver flume through which the fine sand is driven 1 with great force by 'means of a current of air from a No. 4 blower. In the flame are four pans, the bottoms of which are covered with i «quicksilver to the ■ depth of half an unch. Whenlhemachine is.in tnotion ■light agitators::revolve i in ;the^flume .at - a good rate of -speed, keeping:, the 'quicksilver in motion on the surface, thus ■'■ keeping the surface constantly f bright. ''When the sand, is shot ' through the "flume adjustable gates < regulate the flow so that ' the current •of sand - may be regulated according •to the capacity of the silver to catch ■■ the gold particles in the sand. The i flume is about 4ft long, Bin deep and '14in wide, and tho capacity of the -machine is 100 tons of dirt per day. In the test made sand with a known - quantity'bf gold dust in it was passed •through the machine, and when the amalgam ■ was retorted a button was ' obtained, which showed that none of, (he gold' had'been lost. Tests have been made with several tons of Snake •River-sand, and,when it was passed •■ through the machine - not a trace of -gold could be discovered, the gold all ' being in the silver-pans- in the flume. Tho machine seems to do the work thoroughly, and ii'ut is--what; it seems " tb have proved itself the gold product ' from placer sand will be largely in■f creased. "It is- probably the only dry " operating machine which is a complete success, and a "dry machine is what 'has been wanted 'for yeats. -Mr "Willsie 1 has spent.many months perfecting ' his -machine, and is ' highly : gratified vith his buccpss The machine 1 is -very simple in construction, and can be run to its full capacity 'by *a two horse-power engine.