Heavy-medium method and apparatus

Claim 1

A HEAVY-MEDIUM MINERALS SEPARATIONS METHOD COMPRISNG INTRODUCING TO ONE END OF A VESSEL MINERAL PARTICLES OF RANGE OF SIZES, AMONG WHICH ARE RELATIVELY LOW-DENSITY PARTICLES, RELATIVELY HIGH-DENSITY PARTICLES, AND INTERMEDIATE-DENSITY MIDDLING PARTICLES, SEPARATELY INTRODUCING TO THE SAME END OF THE VESSEL BELOW THE MINERAL PARTICLES A LIQUID MEDIUM, SAID MINERAL PARTICLES AND SAID MEDIUM MOVING IN PATHS WHICH HAVE HORIZONTAL COMPONENTS AS THEY ENTER THE VESSEL, SAID MEDIUM BEING OF A SPECIFIC GRAVITY TO FLOAT THE LOW-DENSITY PARTICLES, BUT IN WHICH LARGER HIGH-DENSITY PARTICLES SETTLE RAPIDLY ADJACENT THE END WHERE THEY ARE INTRODUCED, SMALLER HIGHDENSITY PARTICLES AND LARGER MIDDLING PARTICLES SETTLE TOGETHER MORE SLOWLY IN A REGION SPACED FROM THE END WHERE THEY ARE INTRODUCED, A SMALLER MIDDLING PARTICLES SETTLE STILL MORE SLOWLY IN A REGION STILL FARTHER FROM THE END WHERE THEY ARE INTRODUCED, CONTINUOUSLY SEPARATING SMALL HIGH-DENSITY PARTICLES FROM LARGER MIDDLING PARTICLES ACCORDING TO SIZE AS THEY SETTLE IN THE SAME REGION, RECOVERING LOW-DENSITY PARTICLES AS A FLOAT PRODUCT, RECOVERING LARGE AND SMALLER HIGH-DENSITY PARTICLES AS A FIRST SINK PRODCUT, AND RECOVERING LARGER AND SMALL MIDDLINGS AS A SECOND SINK PRODUCT.