Does "Gold Separator" work? Options

[gold_tutor]

#8 Looking Down inside column--where very very fine filtercloth & brass grating are.

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[russau]

yep, thats a fluid bed!

[gold_tutor]

Pix #9 I jis keep talking to Gat-Wa about this thing, and jis keep learnin'... :)

Here's what I learned this time: there is a permanently seated "flow constrictor" in the throat of this female hose fitting unit... I had to enlarge the image of this totally traditional garden hose female fitting so you all could see this "constrictor"...

So, iffen you be planning t'build yer own, remember to find and install this constrictor thingy...I have NO clue where you would go to find one.

But as you can see from the label on the image, it is tapered on the I.D. toward the center of the opening.

It is a slightly "redder" brass, too, if that helps ya' do it yer selfer types find any....that's how I spotted it...after Gat tol' me to look fer it....had'ta use strong light and me trusty 16X magnifying glass Sure glad it was redder brass...I'd prolly STILL be huntin' fer it iffen it weren't!!!

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[gold_tutor]

Gat also said this was copyrighted 1981. Had no clue this doohicus was 23 years old. :o

I thot it looked like a young pup mahself <_<

[Steppegold]

Dear All - maybe its a good idea to revive this sleepy thread...

I've been reading a few hundred US patents, made possible by the USPTO going on-line and Google having a special Patent Search engine too.

I found a patent a while back:
"Hydraulic Flow Distributor in Gold Separator Method"
Inventor: Daniel Osterberg of Fresno, California.
Patent filed for: 30th March 1982
Patent awarded: 29th May 1984 - US #4,451,359
Patent expired: 29th May 1991 due to non-payment of patent fees.

Having seen gold_tutor's posts I suddenly realised that the patent is for the "Quick Gold Separator". This is great news, as I have been wondering if the invention ever got into production (many never do). This device is important as it belongs to a little-studied class of fine gold recovery devices known as 'Elutriation Towers' or 'E-Tanks' for short. About the time the 'Quick Gold Separator' was patented, other forms of E-Tanks (eg by Arthur Lashley) were being tested, including tests by MIRL in Alaska. Anyway the tests showed that SOME types of E-towers in some conditions really can recover very fine gold - and that means a handful of microns!

As the patents of these devices are long expired and the devices largely forgotten I'm very interested in them as a means of recovering extremely fine gold and in doing so to compete head-on with mercury that is a terrible problem here in Mongolia and elsewhere with tons used by artisanal miners. The goal is to outcompete mercury by simple gravity methods.

You can download the patent via USPTO or Google Patents, and I've attached a copy of it anyway below as a small PDF file.

The PDF file will help you guys and gals to understand the device better and how its supposed to operate.

cheers

Steppe

Attached File(s)

 us004451359_E_tower___simple___Osterberg_1984___SPECIAL.pdf ( 410.82K ) Number of downloads: 1465

 

[gold_tutor]

Dear All - maybe its a good idea to revive this sleepy thread...

I've been reading a few hundred US patents, made possible by the USPTO going on-line and Google having a special Patent Search engine too.

I found a patent a while back:
"Hydraulic Flow Distributor in Gold Separator Method"
Inventor: Daniel Osterberg of Fresno, California.
Patent filed for: 30th March 1982
Patent awarded: 29th May 1984 - US #4,451,359
Patent expired: 29th May 1991 due to non-payment of patent fees.

Having seen gold_tutor's posts I suddenly realised that the patent is for the "Quick Gold Separator". This is great news, as I have been wondering if the invention ever got into production (many never do). This device is important as it belongs to a little-studied class of fine gold recovery devices known as 'Elutriation Towers' or 'E-Tanks' for short. About the time the 'Quick Gold Separator' was patented, other forms of E-Tanks (eg by Arthur Lashley) were being tested, including tests by MIRL in Alaska. Anyway the tests showed that SOME types of E-towers in some conditions really can recover very fine gold - and that means a handful of microns!

As the patents of these devices are long expired and the devices largely forgotten I'm very interested in them as a means of recovering extremely fine gold and in doing so to compete head-on with mercury that is a terrible problem here in Mongolia and elsewhere with tons used by artisanal miners. The goal is to outcompete mercury by simple gravity methods.

You can download the patent via USPTO or Google Patents, and I've attached a copy of it anyway below as a small PDF file.

The PDF file will help you guys and gals to understand the device better and how its supposed to operate.

cheers

Steppe

Hi, Robin,

Sorry it has taken me so long to answer you, but THANK YOU for the August rough draft of your 96 page article in World Placer Journal where you tackled at least 75 ways to recover gold for us digging types out there loose in the world.

I've stumbled across another one and have lost your email addy, so I hope you see this and email me at goldtutor@aol.com

Thanks for the 2 nice mentions of me by name, and the very deserving mentions of ColoradoProspector forum in your article and credits. This is still a fabulous forum for us miners to come learn stuff. Your article just underlines that fact, in spades.
If your article hasn't published yet, or you are archiving it somewhere on a website, you might wish to emphasize the Equipment Sub-Forum for those who wish to follow-up your reference to this series of posts. I have found the "SEARCH" feature is disabled when I arrived here today to try to reach you, and that will make it difficult for those to whom you are recommending the Osterberg thread to find it easily. Just a thot...


Give me a shout, and Happy Holidays to everyone, especially SteppeGold over in Mongolia

Megan Rose (gold_tutor)

[russau]

even though the patent has expired, i wouldnt feel right coping it! but i would like to use that premiss to make my own design. not for sale, but just to make it and play around with it. heaven knows i already have enough equipment inside my garage and trailer to do me a life time! that permanant hose restrickter raises the water pressure. i think that depending on the amount of material you put inside of this container, you will have to adjust the water pressure to match the amount of material. i know that the fluidbed i made for my 4 inch dredge had to have the correct water column in it to make it work correctly. im thinking this would be the same.

[russau]

i saw over on www.49ermike.com in the prospecting forum that they were talking about gold concentrators and someone showed a picture of a device very similar to what you showed here. and the also have it posted over on the Alaskan gold forum with the directions almost visiable for me to read. i guess these are still around now and then!

[gold_tutor]

yep, thats a fluid bed!

A, NO, Russ, it's not. It is another type of technology which Robin Grayson, UK Geologist and researcher has properly filed under the specific category of Elutriation Tower. I can sure easily see why you initially thought so, upon introduction to this topic 15 years ago.

A specific eTower I've stumbled upon and been researching since May 2018, is called the Goldrop and is mfgd by Sluice Goose Industries of Albany OR but is not for sale yet to the public.

Always nice to visit with you, Russ. I hope this finds you in excellent health still. I remember I've always fondly called you Whiskers. Do you still sport that brilliant white set of face fur?

God Bless!