Stamp mill

A machine that crushes ore by repeatedly dropping heavy stamps onto it. Stamp mills historically prepared ore for separating valuable minerals from waste rock.

Stamp battery: A set of vertically guided stamps lifted and released to crush material in a mill. This is the working unit whose repeated impacts define a stamp mill.
Ore: Rock containing minerals that can be extracted and processed for economic value. Ore is the feed material the stamps reduce in size.
Cornish stamps: A stamp-mill design developed in Cornwall for crushing ore using cam-lifted iron stamps. Cornish designs became a widely copied form of mechanized ore crushing.
Gold extraction: The processes used to separate gold from ore, sediment, or other materials. Stamp mills crushed hard-rock gold ore before its gold was recovered.
Arrastra: A simple mill that grinds ore beneath heavy stones dragged around a circular basin. An arrastra grinds by dragging stones, unlike the stamp mill’s repeated vertical impacts.
Camshaft: A rotating shaft with projections that convert continuous rotation into timed mechanical motion. Cams on the shaft lift stamps before gravity drives them down.
Comminution: The reduction of solid material into smaller particles by crushing or grinding. A stamp mill is a machine for one form of comminution.
Water wheel: A wheel driven by flowing or falling water to produce mechanical power. Water wheels powered many early stamp mills where streams supplied dependable energy.
Amalgamation (gold extraction): A gold-recovery method that uses mercury to form an amalgam with gold. Some mills directed stamped ore across mercury-coated plates to capture liberated gold.
Chilean mill: A circular ore-crushing machine in which heavy wheels roll over material in a basin. Its rolling action offers a different way to crush ore with heavy machinery.

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Trip hammerCompared with: Stamp mills share the falling-hammer principle but crush material rather than forge it.