GB1425855A - Method and apparatus for separating particulate material - Google Patents

Abstract

1425855 Wet separating of particulate materials AMERICAN METAL CLIMAX INC 15 Feb 1973 [24 April 1972] 7606/73 Heading B2H [Also in Divisions B8 and C7] Particulate materials of lower and higher densities are separated from each other by feeding a mixture of the materials onto a planar surface of an elongate vibrating conveyor at a feed end thereof, the vibration being such as to urge the particulate materials to move in the longitudinal direction away from the feed end causing a stream of water to flow longitudinally along the vibrating conveyor in a direction toward the feed end so as to wet said materials, the flow of the stream being such as to cause the material of lower density to move in the direction toward the feed end, while permitting the material of higher density to move away from the feed end, and continuing the flow of water along the conveyor so as to discharge the material of lower density and water from the feed end of the conveyor while permitting the material of higher density to discharge from the opposite end thereof. The conveyor, which may be horizontal or inclined, is in the form of a generally U-shaped trough and is connected to track members 12, 13 via shock mounts 15, 18, e.g. rubber gaskets, and U-shaped brackets 14 and via springs 19 and brackets 20, 21. The conveyor is vibrated by a vibration assembly 22 comprising a motor 24 mounted on a pedestal 25 between the bracket members 12 and 13 and driving, through belt and pulleys 26, 27, a shaft 28 which in turn drives via belt 30 and pulley 31 another shaft on which are mounted gears 32 meshing with gears 33, 34 secured to shafts, eccentric weights 35, 36, 37 being mounted at the ends of the gear shafts. One or more valvecontrolled nozzles are provided at 39-42 from which water is sprayed at an angle onto and against the resultant direction of vibration of the trough. The material is fed on to the surface 10A of the trough from a chute 23 pivotally coupled at 23A to the trough via posts 10B, the forward end of feeder 23 being set at any desired angle by means of slotted brackets 23B and lock nuts 23C at the sides of the trough. The separation process may be applied to the recovery of metals, e.g. copper, aluminium, silver, lead and steel, from insulated wire scrap which may also be surrounded by a sheathing of rubber, plastics or steel. The wire scrap may first be chopped into fine sizes to free the insulation from the wire and the chopped scrap is then placed in the chute for feeding onto the conveyor. Another application is the separation of galena (lead sulfide) from quartz in the treatment of ore concentrates.