Self-Acting Appliances in Metallurgy.
Mr. James Douglas, president of the Copper Queen Company, New York, thus describes automatic devices in metallurgy: “The gold mill, with its series of automatic operations, is the offspring of Californian ingenuity. In it manual labor is almost entirely replaced by ocular labor, for superintendence and not work is the function of the mill-hands. The ore, dumped into the breakers, falls into large pockets, whence it slides into automatic feeders, which supply the stamps with regulated quantities. The free gold is partly extracted by liquid mercury in the mortars, and by copper plates attached to their sides, and partly on an apron of amalgamated copper plates, over which crushed pulp flows as it issues from the battery screen. Automatic vanners receive the tailings, separate the sulphurets, and discharge the waste. When the power is water, the stream is divided to Pelton wheels, coupled to the separate groups or even pieces of machinery. The absence of intermediate running gear increases not only the sense, but the reality of automaticity, and makes a skilfully arranged and thoroughly equipped Californian mill one of the triumphs of modern mechanical metallurgy.”