G.—3.

ash-pit as C having a door as D, and self-regulating water-supply, all as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the drawings. 3. In an improved furnace for recovering gold from charcoal or similar substances a watercharged ash-pit, above which are furnace-bars, and an inner and an outer shell, all as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the drawings. 4. An improved precipitating apparatus for recovering gold from charcoal or similar substances, and in combination a precipitating-box containing water, through which the fumes pass, and in which descends a bulkhead and a grating or gratings, and across which and beneath the water is a similar grating, all as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the drawings. 5. An improved precipitating apparatus for recovering gold from charcoal or similar substances, and in combination a precipitating-box as X, having therein a bulkhead as L, and a grating or gratings, a slot as P, and receiver as Q, a window as R, flushing-cocks as S, and a discharge-pipe as 0, all as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the drawings. 6. In an improved furnace and precipitating apparatus for recovering gold from charcoal or similar substances, and in combination an outer shell as A, an inner shell as G, between which is a web as H, fire-bars as B, a closed ash-pit as C, the water in which is maintained at a constant height, a precipitating-box as X, having therein a bulkhead and gratings and a receiver beneath the same, and water maintained at a uniform height, all as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the drawings. 7. The whole of the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinbefore described and as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, and constituting an improved combined furnace and precipitating apparatus for recovering gold from charcoal or similar substances. W. E. Hughes, Dated this 4th day of November, 1897. Agent for the Applicant.

Improvements in extracting Precious Metals from Minerals containing them, and Apparatus therefor. I, Beda Becker, of Hufengasse, 13, Eupen, in the German Empire, civil engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "Improvements in extracting Precious Metals from Minerals containing them, and Apparatus therefor," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement: — My invention relates to the treatment of minerals containing precious metals, for the extraction of these metals, and to apparatus for that purpose, which I shall describe, referring to the accompanying drawings : Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a dissolving-vat according to my invention, with means of circulating its contents. Fig. 2is a plan to an enlarged scale of a nozzle that may be applied to the bottom of the vat. Fig. 3is a sectional elevation of an electrolytic vat employed in conjunction with the dissolving-vat. Fig. 4 is a plan on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing some of the electrodes. Fig. sis a similar view showing a modification. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures. ais the dissolving- vat, preferably of conical form, b are amalgamating-plates, which in some cases are removably attached to the side of the vat, preferably in separate sections, cis a rotary pump, having suction-pipe d leading from the upper part of the contents of the vat, and having suspended from it a shield d? having its edge just below the surface of the liquid, so that the liquid has to flow over the sides, and thus only the clearest of the solution is drawn off by the pump through the pipe d. eis the discharge-pipe leading to the nozzle/, which has a passage, or passages so arranged as to discharge the entering fluid towards the sides of the vat, these passages being preferably helical, so as to give rotary motion to the material passing through it. jis a valve by opening which the contents of the vat, or a portion of them, can be discharged or delivered into a recipient i. In operating with this apparatus alone the vat is filled above the mouth of the pipe d with solution of a suitable solvent, such as potassium-cyanide, and the pump c is put in motion so as to cause active circulation from the upper part of the solution down the pipe d, then along the pipe c through the nozzle/, and up through the vat, preferably with the whirling motion due to the helical passages in /. The crushed mineral to be treated is introduced into the circulating liquid, by which the precious metal or a portion thereof is dissolved. When the amalgamating-plates b are employed portions of the metal are deposited in amalgam on the plates, which are from time to time removed, fresh plates being substituted for them. After a time the speed of the pump, and consequently of the circulation of the fluid, is lessened, so that the heavier particles suspended in the fluid, along with such portions of amalgam as may be detached from the plates, subside to the lower part of the vat, and are by opening the valve j discharged into the removable recipient i. The heavier particles and amalgam may be thus repeatedly removed, and the remaining contents of the vat can be run off, to be treated by electrolysis or in any known manner for the recovery of the metal which it contains. I prefer, however, to apply electrolytic treatment to the contents of the vat, it may be while the solution is proceeding, and for this purpose I employ the arrangement of the electrolytic vat along with the dissolving-vat for recovering the precious metals. In this apparatus kis the electrolytic vat, which is connected at the bottom by a pipe I with valve y and at the top by a pipe m with valve w to the pump suction-pipe d. The pipe at the top of the electrolytic vat is adapted to be readily removed so as to give access to the vat. It rests on supports uu, and communicates through a plug p with perforated branch-pipes o, which are caused to rotate by a band on a pulley c or otherwise, so as to distribute liquid from the vat a. From a frame s, supported on brackets t t, depend a number of anode plates r, and from insulated frames v depend cathode plates v, which alternate with the anode plates, and can be lifted out from between them when required. The anodes and cathodes may be curved and concentric as shown in Fig. 5, or may be straight and radial as shown in Fig. 4.

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