US826411A - Process of separating finely-divided material. - Google Patents

Description

No. 826,411. PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

F. E. ELM-ORB.

PROCESS FOR SEPARATING FINELY DIVIDED MATERIAL. APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1905.

[771,72 Ca Z, .77 ZY/Z are FRANCIS EDWARD ELMORE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS FOR SEPARATING FlNELY-DIVIDED MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1906.

Application filed July 10,1905. Serial No. 269,127.

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, FRANCIS EDWARD EL- MORE, electrometallurgist, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 4 Broad Street Place, in the city of London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Process for Separating Finely-Divided Material by Causing it to Rise or Float in a Liquid, of which the following is a specification.

Processes of separation have been devised which depend upon the circumstances that under certain conditions some of the 1particles of a finely-divided mixture rise or oat in a li uid, while others sink therein. Among arti ficial conditions for bringing about such a separation is mixing a pulp of the finely-di vided material with an immiscible liquid, such as tar or oil, with soap or the like,or with an alkali, an acid, air, or a gas, or with any of the aforesaid substances in conjunction with each other.

In the specification of my British Patent No. 13,578 of 1904 I have described subjection of the liquid to the action of an electric current as one method of attaining the desired flotation of certain particles.

By the present invention all such processes are im roved, more particularlyin the respect t at a smaller proportion of the added substance, such as oil or acid, may be used, by conducting them wholly or in part under a reduced pressure. For instance, a vacuum or partial vacuum may be maintained in the separating vessel or chamber.

The invention does not include any particular form of a paratus, but the accompanying drawing il ustrates in vertical section a suitable form.

a is a vat (constructed of a suitable material to withstand any chemical action of the contained liquid) whose conical cover I) rests on a washer 0, supported by the flange 11 on the vat. The summit of the cone is perforated and has a flange e, which forms a circular channel f around the summit, wherefrom is an escape-pipe g, dipping at its lower end into the vat h. A shoulder on the flange 6 receives a washer t, on which rests a bell k, preferably of glass.

At the bottom of the vat a is a circumferential channel I, having an escape-pipe m, the lower end of which di s into a vat n. Through a stuffing-k0? 0 at tlie center of1 the bottpm passes a s at 1), car a ule ran a rake of suitable matei iit l wliich i revolved by the pulley in any suitable manner. The teeth 0 this rake extend to within a short distance of the bottom of the vat, with the exception of the two end teeth, which extend to within a short distance of the bottom of the circumferential channel 1.. The pipe t, the lower end of which dips into a vat a, delivers pulp above the rake at a greater rate than the escape-pi e m can carry it away, so that a part of the l iquid escapes through the summit of the cone into the away by the pipe g. The cover 7c is fitted with a baflie-plate a: to prevent splashes being carried into the pipe o, which is connected to anexhauster or air-pump. If the vats h and n be filled with water and the vat a be filled with the pulp to be treated together with the separating medium and a suction be applied through pipe t, the vat a will be filled from vat u, the relative heights of the vats h,.n, u, and a having been properly adjusted to secure this. The pipes g, m, and t may be fitted with cocks or valves for regulating the flow or the lengths of the respective pipes may be made adjustable.

By means of the air-pump or exhauster a suitable minus pressure is maintained in the vat a, and a continuous passage through vat a of material to be treated is secured by proper regulation. As the particles to be separated ass through vat a. some of them settle on tile bottom and are transferred by rake s to trough Z and thence by pipe m to vat- 'n. Other of the particles ascen in vat a and pass away with more or less of the liquid through the perforation in the summit of the conical cover I), thence to the channel f, and by pipe 9 to vat h.

I claim-- A process of separating certain constituents of finely-divided material consisting in mixing the material with a li uid and a substance that has a selective aiiinity for some of the constituents, subjecting the mixture to a ressure below that of the atmosphere and co lecting the particles floated, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

lFRANCIS EDWARD ELMORE. Witnesses:

JOSEPH MILLARD, WALTER J. SKEBTEN.

channel f and IOC

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