Apparatus for recovering precious metals

June 11, 1940. _{E F} kingsley 2,204,018

APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUS METALS Filed Dec. 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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E.. F. KINGSLEY

June 11, 1940.

E. F. KINGSLEY

2,204,018

APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUS METALS

Sheets-Sheet 2

Filed Dec. 10, 1938

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E. F- KINGSLEY

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Patented June 11, 1940

2,204,018

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,204,018 APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUS METALS : Errol F. Kingsley, Portland, Oreg.

Application December 10, 1938, Serial No. 244,992

Claims.

This invention relates generally to the mining industry, and particularly to a method of and apparatus for recovering precious metals.

The main object of this invention is to recover 5 precious metals from the subsoils without remov: : ing the overburden. '

The second object is to construct a special form : of suction foot whereby a hydraulic action is mployed to sweep materials into the intake of the 10 foot and whereby suction is applied at one end of the: foot and pressure at. the other and whereby . the grosser materials and water employed to move same become the vehicle for conveying the values upwardly to a point where they can be separated. IS The third object is to construct a device of the class described especially adaptable for use on totally or partially submerged soil where values are concentrated along the bed rock.

These and other objects are accomplished in 20 the manner set forth in the following speciflca. tion as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus showing the ground broken, away in verti2β cal section. :

Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line 2—2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section showing the lower end of the digger foot in elevation and showing 30 the action of the foot during the lowering operation.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section through the digger foot showing the action during the actual recovery of precious metals.

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the digger foot shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a section taken along the line 6—6 in Fig. 1.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts 40 throughout the several views.

Referring in detail to the drawings, there is shown a digger foot 10 whose heel 11 has an inclined inner surface 12 and whose toe 13 has projecting therein a water jet i4 to which water is 43 delivered under pressure from a pipe 15 which is preferably supported by the digger foot pipe 16. The lower side 17 of the foot 10 is open and the area of the opening 18 is greater than the area of the digger foot pipe 16. Associated with the 60 digger foot 10 are the auxiliary water supply pipes 19 of which any desired number may be employed.

On the top 20 of the soil is located a base 21 upon which is mounted a pair of pumps 22 and 23, preferably of the centrifugal type. The intake 00 of the pump 23 is connected by means of a suction (Cl. 262—1) pipe 24 with a water reservoir 25. The discharge 26 of the pump 23 is connected by a manifold pipe 2 7 to the riser pipe 2 8 by means of a valve 29. The pipe 28 is connected to the digger pipe 16 by means of a flexible pipe 30. The riser pipe 0 28 is connected by means of a pipe 31 to the intake of the pump 22. The discharge 32 of the pump 22 is controlled by a valve 33 which if open permits material to be discharged through the pipe 34 into storage bins or separators as de- io sired. :

The manifold pipe 27 is provided with a plurality of side outlet pipes 35 which are connected to the various auxiliary water supply pipes i 5 and 19 by means of the flexible conduits 36 and 37 10 under the control of the valves 38 and 39. Additional valves 40 may be provided for other auxiliary water pipes 19 if desired.

The pump 22 is operated by a motor 41 and the pump 23 is operated by a motor ¢2. Obviously, 20 any desired form of prime mover may be em- ployed. It is desirable to provide a primer pump 43 for the pump 23, connection being made from the pump 43 to the pipe 44 and the valve 45.

The operation of the device is as follows: 05

When it is thought that values are located along the bed rock 46 which is covered by an overburden of sand or soil 47 and it is desired to recover these values without removing this overburden, the apparatus is set up as shown in Fig. 1 ₃₀and the foot 10 is brought into position and water propelled downwardly therethrough as shown in Fig. 3 by means of the pump 23 while the valve 33 is closed and the valve 29 is open. Thus water is drawn from the reservoir 25 and propelled down- ₃₅wardly through the foot 13 as shown in Fig. 3 digging out a hole 48 through which the foot 10 may be easily lowered.

When the bed rock 46 is reached, the flow of water is reversed by closing the valve 29 and opening the valve 33 and operating the pump 22 causing water and sand and values to be drawn from the bed rock 46 and discharged from the pipe 34 into suitable collectors.

In order to encourage the movement of mate- ₄₅rials toward the foot i 0,1 have provided the various auxiliary water supply pipes 19 whose purpose it is to move the bed rock materials toward the foot 10.

By examining Fig. 4 it will be seen that the function of the foot 10 is three-fold. First, it handles the heavy values such as gold, platinum, etc. Second, it is utilized to move values from the bed rock without removing the overburden, and third, it makes feasible the recovery of values 00

2,204,018 from land which is normally submerged. The foot itself employs a hydraulic action to sweep materials into the intake. It also employs a suction at one end of the digger foot pipe IB and δ pressure at the other thereby inviting the maximum amount of conveying action for the heavier than water materials, and lastly by increasing the turbulence and velocity of the material within the foot, the water and grosser values become 10 conveying mediums for the heavier values such as gold and platinum.

While I have shown a representative form of pumping attachment, it is obvious that this portion of the apparatus may be varied greatly withis out departing from the spirit of this invention,