Apparatus for reclaiming gravel, soil particles and wood pieces from a mixture of the same

A material separator for separating a mixture of buoyant and nonbuoyant wood pieces, rocks and soil particles into its component parts, comprising:

• a water tank having a bottom, sidewalls and an open top, said tank when in use containing a body of water having a water surface;
• a rock conveyor having a rock receiving portion in said tank spaced above the bottom and below the surface of the body of water, said rock conveyor extending from the rock receiving portion upwardly and outwardly from said tank to a discharge end located outside of the tank;
• delivery means for delivering into said tank, at a location generally above the rock receiving portion of the rock conveyor, a mixture of rock, soil particles and wood pieces;
• a wood-piece conveyor having a wood-piece receiving portion in said tank located laterally adjacent the rock receiving portion of the rock conveyor, said wood-piece conveyor extending from said wood-piece receiving portion upwardly and outwardly from the tank to a discharge end located outside of the tank;
• means in said tank, below the water surface, for causing a flow pattern in the water for moving both buoyant and nonbuoyant wood-pieces out from said mixture and influencing them towards and onto the wood-piece receiving portion of the wood-piece conveyor, while allowing rocks to drop downwardly through said water onto the rock receiving portion of the rock conveyor, said means in said tank comprising water jet means directed to discharge water streams towards said wood piece conveyor and a baffle in said water spaced horizontally from the water jet means in a direction towards which the water streams extend, said baffle sloping downwardly towards said water jet means, and said delivery means being positioned to deliver the mixture into the water at a location which is horizontally between the water jet means and said baffle, and the vertical position of the baffle is such that the wood pieces in the water move over the baffle on their way to the wood-piece conveyor, said baffle including a lower boundary spaced above the rock receiving portion of the rock conveyor, so that a water passage exists between the baffle and the rock receiving portion;
• means for influencing soil particles from the mixture to settle at a bottom location in said tank;
• and
• a mud conveyor extending from said bottom location upwardly and outwardly from the tank to a discharge end located outside of the tank.