QUARTZ-CRUSHING MACHINERY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1232, 10 July 1872, Page 2

QUARTZ-CRUSHING MACHINERY.

[OTAGO DAILY TIMES. ] ' A large quantity of crushing machinery is now being made at the foundry ,bf Messrs Kincaid, M 'Queen arid Co.; Great King street. The chief is a ten-head quartz-crushing battery for the Gabriel's 1 Gully Quartz Mining Company, Tuapeka. The battery consists of two cast-iron, stamper boxes, containing five heads each, each head weighing scwt 3qr. : The 1 stamper boxes are on the front and back, delivery, principle — that isj the stuff xrushed is discharged both from the front and back. The stampers are lifted with cams, which are made, on what is considered to be an improved principle. They are of iron, and are steeled on'the face to ( insure their wearing longer. The discs on the stamp rod are of .wrought 1 iron, faced with steel, and- can-be screwed up and down to regulate... the fall of the stampers. The machine is fitted with a a hopper sufficiently large, to hold forty tons of quartz. The bottom of the hopper : being placed on an incline causes a quinrV tity of stuff to escape from, it into* th<j> feed shoots. The latter, of which there !is one to every five heads, rest on a fixed ; stand at one. end, and on a strong ■ spring on the other.. When the stuff under ■ the stampers gets too low, the spring supporting the delivering end of the feed shoot. is shaken, causing some of the ; quartz in the shoots to be discharged into the stamper box, to which we have already referred. The ripple table is 13ft long by sft wide, and has 40 superficial feet of ; quicksilvered copper-plate, six quicksilver ; ripples, and two quicksilver wells. A practical gentleman lately arrived: front the Thames, considers this table an improvement upon those in use there. The ordinary ripple has three ripples, some four or five feet apart, while this, it may be observed, has six. At the end of the ripple table on which the tailings are re-, ceived, there is a slope of about a |6ot,'i and on this slope there are three ripples at regular intervals from each other. They are each about 2in deep, and contain quicksilver. The pulverized quartz entering with the water into the first ripple, mixes with the quicksilver in it. The tailings escape from the ripple through, a row of small holes, half an inch in diameter, in the ripple board, pass through the . second ripple, then through the third, on to the more gradual incline of the remaining 12ft of the ripple table. There are three ripples in this part of the table, about 2ft apart from each other, as in the ordinary table — but it is in those through which the tailings first pass that most of the gold is saved. ■ At the end, at which the tailings run off the table, there are two cavities called quicksilver wells, which are meant to catch any' quick- • silver that may be washed out of the ripples. The ripple table has between the ripples a qppper surface, coated with quicksilver. It may be mentioned that at the Cromwell Company's claim, an ordinary table, and one of the type here described, were in operation at the same time some time ago : but as this table was bund to be superior to the'ordinary one in gold-saving qualities, the ordinary one had to give place to one of the new'description. The blanket table on which the tailings are discharged from the ripple table, is 6ft wide and 16ft long, and has four compartments. Instead of a shaking table, as is used in some machines, a concentrator is used in this. The concentrator is circular, abeut 2ft in diameter and 18in deep. The tailings enter at the level of };he bottom of the concentrator on one side. A number of rakes revolving in it round an upright spindle, churn the i contents ; the light tailings being. thrown upward, escape through an opening some inches above the bottom, while the quicksilver and gold being too heavy to escape, are retained. The amalgam barrel, which is generally of wood, is made of iron, to last longer. All the timber to be used on the foundation is to be black pine from the Tapnnni bush. • • The machinery is io be driven by a reaction turbinewheel 3ft in diameter, ( which is to have two; jets. The Wheel is to work up to 30 horse-power, and is to

be supplied with water conveyed in pipes down a slope having a fall of 150 ft perpendicular. The piping conducting the water to the wheel is to be of wronght iron, and guaranteed to bear a pressure of 801 bto the square inch. Messrs Kincaid, M'Queen, and Co. have now other quartz batteries of five stampers each, and somewhat similar in principle to the Gabriel's Gully machine, and also fitted with the improved ripple tables, in course of construction, or which have been just constructed. One of these batteries h for Mr Thomas Logan, of the Oarrick reefs. It is receiving A great deal of extra finish, and special pains are being taken to make it complete in every respect. It is to be driven by steam power, and the boiler, a horizontal tubular one, made in the establishment, has a furnace specially designed to burn lignite. A battery is now complete in the yard for Mr Dyer, of Tokomatriro. A battery has been made, and has just been erected for the Perseverance Company, Shag River. A battery is being added to the Saddle Hill Company's machinery, and the present machinery of that Company brought from Melbourne is being altered. This ought to be sufficient to show there is no necesssity for importing mining machinery. It may also be mentioned that this firm has supplied Snartz-crnshing machinery complete is lie Canada Bush Company, to the Cromwell Aurora and Colclongh reefs, and the Iversen reef, besides furnishing parts of machinery for the Nugget and Cornish Company, the Great Scandinavian Company, and Southberg's.