US550244A - Mining apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

C. BLAGBURN. MINING APPARATUS.

Patented Nov. 26, 1895.

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WMe/Mw? mfp/ww KVA/wm- AN DREW ELGFAMAM, PHOTO-LITRO. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES APATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BLAGBURN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

MINING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,244, dated November 26, 1,895.

Application filed December 31, 1894:. Serial No. 533,385. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES BLAGBURN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Mining Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an improved apparatus for raising or forcing water, gravel, sand, 'or other material under pressure and is more especially designed for use in mining operations for elevating inaccessible auriferous material to a position in which it can be treated for the extraction of gold.

In mining operations at the present day,` and especially in gravel-mining,whe1e waterelevators are employed to raise the material, the most difficult problem to solve is that of obtaining a sufficient water-supply at a sufficient pressure and at reasonable cost. Many mines would be productive and yield large returns were it not for the disproportionate expense of working them, and one of the principal items in the expense-account is the great cost of water. Vater is now furnished to miners by companies organized for that purpose at rates which are always high and sometimes prohibitive. This water is obtained usually from supplies in the mountains and is delivered at lower elevations by iiumes to different localities where it is used, reaching the mine at high pressure, although in comparatively small volume. The supply of water being limited by its high cost, work in such mines progresses slowly on account of the limited capacity of the water-elevators now used, which have an excessive waterpressure but an inadequate volume to raise the material in sufficient quantity, and the valuable results of the mining operations are very small relatively to their cost.

The object of my invention is to-take advantage of such a limited supply of water at high pressure by utilizing it not for mining operations directly, but for inducing an ample supply of water at a lower but still sufficient pressure from some other source. I am thus enabled to supply water in sufficient quantities to greatly increase the amount of work performed without adding to the expense now incurred for performing a very much smaller amount.

A clear comprehension of my invention and means for carrying it out will be obtained from the following description, which should be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is partly an elevation and partly a section representing the use of my invention in connection with a so-called bar of auriferous gravel. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the pipes shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawings is represented the proiile `of a caon or ravine supposed to have a stream at the bottom. In Fig. l the aurifer ous bar or deposit is assumed to be in or near the bed of the stream and the point to which water and gravel are to be raised and where the latter is to be washed is above the wall of the canyon.

A represents a sump or sink in the riverbed, formed of two chambers or compartments A and A2, separated by a partition C and built of timbers suitably braced so as to form a rigid structure. The chamber A has an open bottom to admit the water from the riverf The chamber A2 is closed at the bottom and forms 'the receptacle for the auriferous gravel dumped or shoveled into it.

B represents the supply-pipe,through which the stream of water from the iiume is delivered at high pressure. This pipe extends down into the chamber A and through an opening in the end of the discharge-pipe D, which, as awhole, extends through the cham ber A2 and up the sides of the caon, where it enters a flumeE, leading to the point where the gravel is to be washed. The pipe D is provided with a branch D', extending below the water-line in the sump, and the end of which is open to permit the water to enter freely. The pipe D is composed of several sections proportioned in number to its length.` In advance of the discharge end of the pipe B the pipe D is contracted, as at d, and .is then expanded to form a ball for a lswiveled nozzle-pipe D2. This nozzle in turn enters the sectional pipe D3, forming a continuation of pipe D and extending up the side of the caon. The first section of pipe D3 is made tapering, so as to form a contracted portion d', above which the diameter maybe uniform IOO throughout its remaining length. The nozzle is partly surrounded by a half-section of pipe d2, which provides an inlet-opening d3 for the contents of the chamber A2. The branch D in the sump is preferably inclosed by a box F to prevent sand and sediment from being drawn into the pipe D.

In the operation of these hydraulic connections the stream of Water from the distant supply, passing at a high pressure through the pipe B, is injected into the dischargepipe of greater diameter. The vacuum produced by the force of the jet induces a iioW of Water from the sump through the branch D', which mingles with the high-pressure stream, producing a combined iioW of much greater volume, although of lower pressure. The pressure, however, is still amply sufficient in the nozzle-pipe to draw the gravel from the chamber A2 through the opening d3, and also to force the Water and gravel together up through the pipe Dgto the properpoint above the caon. IVith the greatly increased supply of Water a correspondingly greater quantity of gravel can be elevated and Worked in a given time, and so, at the same expenditure for Water as is nowrequired, the amount of material and Water supplied can be increased up to the extreme inductive limit of the high-pressure stream.

It is evident, Without special illustration, that the method above described can be used in hydraulic mining with the ordinary monitor or giant. Indeed, the apparatus shown in Figs. land 2 (supposing the piping above the nozzle D2 removed) can be operated as a hydraulic monitor, sufficient pressure being afforded by the Water from the distant source, and the volume required for hydraulic mining being induced from the adjacent source in the same Way, as before described.

That I claim isl. The combination of a hydraulic gravel elevator With a Water lifter for increasing the volume of Water for ejecting or lifting such gravel or similar material, substantially as described.

2. An apparatus for raising gravel or other similar material, consisting of a compound hydraulic elevator having an injecting nozzle with a suction branch leading to a separate Water supply, and having a second nozzle leading into a chamberl having an opening to receive gravel or similar material, and a pipe connected to said chamber, through which said gravel is elevated, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have allixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 18th day of December, 1894.

CHARLES BLAGBURN. lVitnesses:

L. XV. SEELY, C. W. SKIDMORE.

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