Surface Patents (Class 209/189)
  • Patent number: 4617112
    Abstract: A thermal gravity classifier in which various nonferrous scrap metals are classified and separated, using a single tank containing two layers of molten media. Shredded nonferrous scrap containing metal constituents such as aluminum, zinc, lead, and copper or the like are introduced to the top of the tank containing an upper layer of molten zinc, floating on a lower layer of molten lead. Metals such as aluminum, having a specific gravity less than zinc, by a screw conveyor approximately parallel with the top surface. Heavier metals and alloys such as copper or the like, having a melting point above the temperature within the tank, fall through the zinc layer and are conveyed from the tank by a separate screw conveyor extending up a diagonal wall of the tank. Metals such as lead and zinc, having a melting point lower than the temperature maintained within the tank, melt and gravitate to the appropriate molten layer in the tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1984
    Date of Patent: October 14, 1986
    Assignee: M.A. Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael E. Stout, Bobbie Peacock, Jarl Lindroos
  • Patent number: 4588499
    Abstract: In a gravity flow amalgamator an elongated upright housing is provided with a removable bottom end tray containing a bath of mercury for collecting gold. A pair of partition walls extend inward and downwardly in parallel relation transversely of the housing to form a water channel downstream tortuous path characterized by return bends with each wall of the pair of walls respectively attached to the inner surface of the housing opposing side walls intermediate their height to define fluid compartments at opposite sides of the housing. The water channel discharges the water into one of the fluid compartments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1986
    Inventor: Earnest Z. Coker