GB902461A - Improvements in rotary agitators - Google Patents

Abstract

902,461. Mixing and agitating appliances; froth flotations. WESTERN MACHINERY CO. May 8, 1959 [May 12, 1958], No. 15840/59. Classes 82 (2) and 86. A froth flotation cell for mineral separation by the method wherein the addition of a reagent to a water slurry of the crushed ore enables the wanted mineral to be entrained in a froth, has a squirrel-cage type agitating rotor on a vertical shaft 60 and positioned for rotation in a similar stator 20 which is supported above the bottom of a tank 14. The rotor comprises vertical rubber-covered metal rods 72, Fig. 4, connecting the peripheries of ring members 66, 68 having spokes shaped to form impeller vanes (see Fig. 3). The slurry is supplied to the feed-box 12 and passes under a partition into the tank 14 ; the rotor impeller rings 66, 68 draw air from the trunk 34 and slurry from the bottom of the tank 14 into the space within the rotor, which expels them by centrifugal force and impeller action between the bars of the rotor and the stator. The turbulence thus created forms a froth 18 which entrains particles of the mineral which it is desired to separate and which passes over a weir (not shown) to be collected ; the remaining slurry passes into the discharge box 16 over a weir 78 or through an adjustable gate 80. The rubber covering of the vertical bars of the squirrel cage is rhombic in cross-section as at 92, Fig. 4; in the prior act the crosssection is circular as at 88. The longer diagonal of the rhombus is aligned with the direction of the relative velocity of the slurry in relation to the bar; the bars may be turned through 180 degrees after they have reached the limit of wear.