Californian stamps

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A five stamp mill used for crushing copper ore, located at the Mining Museum in Jerome, Arizona
A five stamp mill used for crushing copper ore, located at the Mining Museum in Jerome, Arizona

Californian stamps are stamp mills developed for use in the Californian gold mines.

They are based on the Cornish stamps but were more rapid in action, and the heads and lifters were made to rotate so that they wore more evenly. The other advantage of the Californian stamp was that a single head could crush 1.5 tons of ore as opposed to the Cornish stamps which could only crush 1 ton.

Detail showing offset cam and rotating lifter
Detail showing offset cam and rotating lifter