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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:41:02 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ (Original Message) Sent: 18/05/2007 3:31 p.m. I have added a photo img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/Gold%20Dredging%20Forum/MightyLitedredgeGHHHTTT.jpg?t=1226353422of the American Mighty-lite dredge which was a dredge sold commercially in America during the 1980s. It is a dredge that was widely copied and is the dredge that was copied by the manufactures of the NZ Suitcase dredge. (the photo was originally posted on the previous forum and was supplied by Rosco ... thanks). The Mighty-lite was the first dredge to employ pumps mounted on a vertical shaft motor. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:48:33 GMT 12
From: dr_edger Sent: 19/05/2007 1:32 a.m.
Interesting that you should bring up the Mighty lite dredges with the vertical shafts; as that reminded me of a dredge i saw being constructed in Nelson NZ with aluminium pontoons, 9HP Sach? rotary engine with a vertical shaft. this was back in the mid 1970's, an even earlier time before the M.lite, don't know any more details as it was kept covered up, out of sight. I have often wondered how it performed, if it was a subbie or surface? The pontoons were not very big; they looked similar to a 3"er in size. Can any one shed any light on this? The Mighty Lite and the ultra lite subbie were made popular in Au by H.Bl. and many copies were made. I have recently got hold of an original HB 5" subbie, one of these days i might get to try it out. Regards dr.e
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:49:59 GMT 12
From: Roscoe Sent: 19/05/2007 5:24 p.m.
Hi, Ed, Herb brought a few ideas to Oz, including the Mighty-Lite. By all means try out the subbie. I still use my 4inch for quick sampling in a hard-to-get-to area. Extensive sampling behind the box proves they DON`T lose fine gold (sly dig at Rob). Herb started having aluminum jets cast for his subbies, but I don`t think many made it into the field. We went the vert. shaft for a trial, and though they seem good in theory, the problems of sand/grit pickup in shallow water, difficulty of fitting hookah, and control of the float both in running streams and weightage when unloaded/loaded proved too much of a nuisance.
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:51:12 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ Sent: 19/05/2007 8:25 p.m. G'day dr_edger , It would be most interesting if you could post a photo here of Herbs 5" that you have (it would not be the Goldstriker would it? img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/Dredging%20for%20gold%20in%20Australia/8f8dbd7c.jpg ) Herb tried to sell his copy of the American Mighty-lite in New Zealand at one time and it was a reasonable dredge for hobby dredgers and well suited to NZ conditions. If anyone has a photo of that dredge it would be particularly interesting to see a photo posted of it. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:52:16 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ Sent: 19/05/2007 8:30 p.m.
G'day Roscoe ,
I remember seeing a few of the cast aluminum jets (made for the Goldstriker) at a prospecting shop at Paramatta (Sydney) when I first started dredging. I tried to buy them but I was told by the shop owner they were the only ones he had and could not sell them.
Regards,
Rob (RKC)
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:55:31 GMT 12
From: dr_edger Sent: 20/05/2007 10:16 p.m. I remember seeing a few of the cast aluminium jets (made for the Goldstriker) at a prospecting shop at Paramatta (Sydney) whan I frist started dredging. I tried to buy them but I was told by the shopowner they were the only ones he had and could not sell them. Hi Roscoe. that must of been Robs B.H shop, dosn't that go back a bit to when dredging took off, long time since you have seen these then. Bolt on shown in picture or the weld on type? img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/Gold%20Dredging%20Forum/jetsOOOOOO.jpg?t=1226354006 |
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:56:29 GMT 12
From: Roscoe Sent: 21/05/2007 3:11 a.m. I still have one of the weld-on types given to me by Herb. Last time I saw him, he had a 7 inch suction nozzle, short length of suction hose (about 1.5 metres) hooked on to an open surface dredge that floated level with the surface, fixed with egg-crate riffles, floating on a tube. My mate Billy Sims and I weren`t real impressed, but Herb thought it was the ant`s pants.  Dunno if he is still alive as we didn`t keep in contact, but he was buying nuggets and had trays and trays of the sweetest specimens you ever saw. Mostly W.A., I`d say. |
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:57:24 GMT 12
From: Roscoe Sent: 22/05/2007 10:34 p.m.
Hey, Rob, my present Kiwi dredge mate and I have toyed with the idea of using a jet pump to drive a bigger dredge. Especially now they are produced in smaller sizes. Have you come across any NZ dredgers who have tried the combo?
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 9:58:25 GMT 12
From: Roscoe Sent: 22/05/2007 10:38 p.m.
While we used a standard vert shaft engine to power our 5 inch, Herb made up a few with outboard motor rigs, including his personal dredge (the 7inch). Gary down on the Rocky ran an 85 H.P. with two P350s from memory. Must have worked o.k., as he left a trail of worn-out steel boxes along the section he worked. :-p
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:01:37 GMT 12
G’day dr_edger,
Thanks for posting the picture … an interesting bit of Australian dredging history!
The dredge on the top of the pile is defiantly a Goldstriker as sold commercially by Herb and two guys from Bathurst during the early 1980s. Years ago I had a discussion on the original Alaskan Gold Forum about the Goldstriker, and during the discussions it became apparent to me that Herb had probably copied the Goldstriker design from an Alaskan dredge called the Hall dredge that was sold in Alaska in the 1960s (most likely when Herb was in Alaska dredging) and incorporated many of the same features of the Goldstriker (in particular the unique feature of having the jets ‘after’ the sluice box).
The dredge is the middle of the pile looks like the one sold commercially by the Bounty Hunter agent for Australia which I could confidently guess was just a direct copy of Herbs Goldstriker (which, of the two, Herbs was the one sold first in Australia).
The dredge of the bottom of the pile looks like a simple subsurface box of the type that was common during the 1980s. It does not look to me like the copy of the Mighty-lite that was sold by Herb which I once saw in Herbs factory in Queensland. The two original America Mighty-lite dredges (the 5” and 7”) that Herb copied, both used surface boxes.
The dredge I am particularly interested in seeing a photo of is the copy of the American Mighty-lite that Herb sold, that I refer to in the above paragraph. The box on this dredge was ‘not’ a subsurface but an open top surface box that sat low in the water. I believe it would be a dredge eminently suitable as a portable light weight dredge for use by hobby dredgers in the small streams of Otago. And if I could get a photo of this dredge posted here it could then be easily copied by Kiwi hobby dredgers who want to make their own dredge … and it would be simple to make using parts readily available in New Zealand. I’ve seen dredges of this style pictured on the recreational dredging forums at times and if I can find some of those photos again I’ll post a link here. It’s a dredge similar to the NZ suitcase dredge except for the very significant difference of having a surface box rather than a subsurface box.
Regards,
Rob (RKC)
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:02:53 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ Sent: 23/05/2007 12:00 a.m.
G'day Roscoe ,
There has only been one Kiwi miner I'm aware of who used the jet on his jet boat to run his 8-inch production dredge. He used it in this configuration for quiet some time ... so it must have been successful. I just wish I had taken some photos of it when I saw it while it was dredging in the Clutha River in the early 90s (it looked most strange to see a large dredge sitting in the water without a motor and pump).
I can't think of any disadvantages of using a jet boat to run a dredge ... that is if you already have a jet boat! If you bought a jet boat just to run a dredge then you would be wasting money as, obviously, an entire jet boat would cost much more than a stationary motor and pump.
However if you were dredging a large river, then the jet boat would be worth purchasing as you could transport yourself and petrol to the dredge and also run the dredge.
Regards,
Rob (RKC)
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:04:32 GMT 12
From: dr_edger Sent: 23/05/2007 1:43 a.m.
Many thanks for your replies.
I am trying to see if an original user of the mighty lite surface dredge has any pictures available; one comment was that the outboards were very heavy on fuel and were discarded in favor of conventional pumps and motors. You are spot on with the I.D. of the bounty hunter, the other two I will have to reconfirm to prevent any mistakes.
Regards Ed
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:06:11 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ Sent: 23/05/2007 2:02 p.m.
G'day Roscoe,
I realized last night that I had made a mistake with my reference to an "8-inch" production dredge (the dredge I referred to above that was used on the Clutha River). I'll get in now before someone corrects my mistake to say it was actually a 2 by 6-inch dredge. What I mean by that is that the dredge had a sluice box of a size used on any conventional 8-inch dredge and looked, when viewed in the water, as if it was an 8-inch dredge. However it had two power jets feeding the one sluice box and used two suction hoses of 6" diameter. Obviously the idea behind this was to be able to use two divers underwater and, in theory, process more gravel.
I vaguely remember something being said about this dredge regarding its fine gold recovery being poor ... which I could well expect to be occurring with such a dredge! There must have been a massive volume of water flowing over the sluice box when the two suction hoses were in use at the same time. My thoughts are that they would have been much better served to have constructed the dredge conventionally by using one 8" diameter hose while still using two men underwater - one diver to operate the nozzle and the other as the rock man. The only instance that I can think of when a dredge with two 6" nozzles (on the one dredge) would process more gravel than a conventional 8-inch dredge, is if all, or at least 90% of the gravel in the river was of a size that would easily enter a 6" suction hose. And there are virtually no rivers that don't have a significant percentage of boulders larger than the intake of a 6-inch dredge that must be moved by hand. So ... having two divers below using two 6" hoses, they would both still have to regularly stop feeding the nozzle to move the larger boulders out of the way, which would negate the intended advantage.
An interesting experiment nevertheless … but one that’s probably not worth anyone else spending any time on.
Regards,
Rob (RKC)
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:08:07 GMT 12
From: RKCNZ Sent: 23/05/2007 2:36 p.m. G'day dr_edger Following are some photos of the Australia Goldstriker. The first is Herbs Goldstriker (Yellow color) that he used himself and is shown at Dog Leg Crossing on the Palmer River in Nth Queensland in the early 80s. The second Goldstriker is mine (my first dredge) shown on a river in Nth Queensland ... can't remember which river. It could be when I was trying to use the Goldstriker for tin dredging (embarrassing to admit it now). s125.photobucket.com/albums/p71/auriferous101/?action=view¤t=x3.jpg s125.photobucket.com/albums/p71/auriferous101/?action=view¤t=925aaebd.jpg Seeing all these Goldstrikers, and now an egg crate riffle system will probably give me nightmares tonight. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
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Post by RKC on Nov 11, 2008 10:10:25 GMT 12
From: dr_edger Sent: 25/05/2007 4:42 p.m.
G’day Rob, the pictures of the subbie helped, but first the photos of the Mighty lite were given to a well known person near Orange, he might even still own one.
Some more information on who made the subbies.
In the summer of 1979/80 the Gold Striker dredge previously known as the ‘Pioneer 1000’developed by Jim Picker and Ian Allen was introduced to the Australian market through the company ‘Australian Gold Recovery Systems of Orange. .
1980/81. Jim and Ian made some changes to the motor and pump, frame and the concentrates tray made of stainless steel instead of aluminum The flat jets were also replaced with cast alloy ones, Hungarian riffles made of steel instead of aluminum it was then called a ‘new dredge’ the ‘Bounty Hunter 1000 SS’
The 5" blow through type subbie as in the picture is an original one made by Herb Blake, the final drop tray was far too deep and gave problems with twigs getting jammed and blockages; this was fixed by the owner with a shallower tray.
These are some extracts from a sales blip of herb and the dredge in 1983. [[ 5" Goldstriker Dredge. The dredge is a surface, subsurface or submersible, it’s a 5" and weighs under 100 lbs, powered by the new 5HP Honda ohv motor. The sluice box is a rectangular tube using baffles instead of riffles, two clean up trays, the second tray only needs cleaning every 3 or four days as little gold gets that far. Choice of mounting on one or two inner tubes or suspending down 6ft or more under one of the tubes, (note, this did not work particularly well as you can imagine the problems of using chains) uses a suction nozzle, trunk clips for the quick release of the suction hose for clearing blockages]] note: similar egg crate or box section riffles as the Mighty Lite.and the trunk clips on the inlet.
After he had to move to Queensland his address is given as: Herb Blake or Harry Voll, Australian Gold Recovery Systems of Toowoomba,
This is where some of the confusion arises as the same name ‘Gold Striker’ is given to different dredges and different manufactures, also there is a connection with the Bounty Hunter store as they made their own ‘Bounty Hunter’
If when Herb was in Orange earlier on he owned Australian Gold Recovery systems or bought them out I don’t know at this stage, he did have a partner by the name of Ian Hay (deceased)
Jim Picker and Ian Allen are the ones given credit for the development of the 4" suck through style of subbie in Australia, Herbs must have been a copy or it is possible he marketed Jim and Allen’s as his own or bought them out. If Jim is still around maybe he can clarify this.
As to the two lower subbies in the picture now that the bugs have been sorted out even if they look a bit rough, they have both have recovered a lot of gold, not measured in ozs. but a higher denomination. Yes Rosco you are right that includes fine gold, just go slower on the good stuff, also so quick to get going, no wasted time setting up, just chuck it in the water, slip the hose on pull the starter and away you go.
In tracking down this information its amazing what can be found out. Rob, enjoy your weeks stay in Sydney. Regards E
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Dunno if he is still alive as we didn`t keep in contact, but he was buying nuggets and had trays and trays of the sweetest specimens you ever saw. Mostly W.A., I`d say.