Doc the obsessive mad man…
Now that our patents are filed… we can share some of the info.
In 2015 I had the idea for a portable gold pan. I wanted something I could throw into my backpack and carry with no problems. Originally I worked on a “folding rubber” gold pan, but the actual performance was just not great. Scrap that idea…
I wanted something that could move dirt FAST, was not small, but could also break down and be packed away. That led us to the BREAK DOWN design of the FLOWPAN™ (below) The pan is held together with a series of bolts and wingnuts. Remove them, stack it up, and pack it away.
Over the years we also started playing with all types of gold pans using SIDE FLOW areas. This started to show promise. Gold is HEAVY and settles to the bottom of the pan within 2-3 seconds of the stratification process. (pan shaking) Some of our first testing pans were traditional gold pans with the sides cut out. (see below)
While the plastic pans were “OK” they still were large, and often broke when you put a lot of dirt in them. THEN… I grabbed a HOGPAN from the shelf and started playing. After more than 2 years of revisiting and playing with the concept… the FLOWPAN™ was born.
How it’s used?
Facing down-stream, within seconds of spinning and shaking the pan, the GOLD settles into the matting. Now you simply TURN your body 45 degrees so the openings of the pan towards the stream flow. Move it back and forth in the water and you’ll have a flowing exchange that will remove rocks and dirt, but leave the gold. It takes about 20 seconds to work down a large scoop of dirt making this hard worked equivalent to most stream sluices.
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