CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING WOOD, METAL, AND OTHER SUB- STANCES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Léopold Oudry, Electro-Metallurgist, and Alphonse
Oudry, Imperial Government Engineer, both of Paris, in the Empire of
France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING WOOD, METAL, AND OTHER SUB-
STANCES."
Sealed the 25th September 1855, and dated the 11th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Léopold Oudry and
Alphonse Oudry at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 11th April 1855.
We, LEOPOLD OUDRY, Electro-Metallurgist, & ALPHONSE OUDRY, Imperial
Government Engineer, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, & of, South
Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the nature of our Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING WOOD, METAL, AND OTHER GUIDANCES,'
to be as follows, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in covering, by means of electricity, with an adhering
thickness of copper or other metal, the keels of wooden ships or vessels,
reservoirs, sluice doors, jetties, & other like works, the hulls of iron or other
metal ships, rudders, screws, anchors, chains, nails, rivets, & other accessaries
in metal relating to ships, steam & other boilers, locomotives, iron or other

page_text: metal doors, & other works in metal, textile matters, leather, & other solid
substances.
The operation for the keels of boats is as follows:-I first render the keels
waterproof, cover them with metal, & then introduce into their thickness at
intervals of about 2 inches apart copper nails, or iron nails thickly coated with
copper, barbed under their heads. These nails are not entirely sunk into the
keel, but so as to leave between their heads & the wood a small interval,
which is fitted up by the copper deposited by electricity. This copper deposit
forms one body with the nails, & will consequently coat in a solid & adhering
manner all the sides of the keel.
In covering with copper the hulls of iron ships or vessels, rudders, screws,
& other metallic objects requiring to be set up, the several parts are prepared
separately for rivetting, then covered with an adhering layer of copper, as also
the rivets for uniting them. The rivetting is performed as usual in the hot or
cold state, & after the rivetting is completed, the operation is terminated by
equally covering with copper or other metal the second heads of the rivets.
To ensure a greater adhesion for works set up between the metal & the layer
deposited by electricity, small copper rivets are inserted at intervals in the
sheets of iron or other metal composing the articles to be covered, & which
form a homogeneous body with the copper subsequently deposited.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Léopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, LÉOPOLD
OUDRY, Electro-Metallurgist, and ALPHONSE OUDRY, Imperial Government
Engineer, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Leopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry, Ifer special license, that we, the said
Leopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Leopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry, our

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, our Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING WOOD,
METAL, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Leopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry, or one of us, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Léopold Oudry and Alphonse Oudry,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :
The Invention consists in various methods and manipulations for covering
articles of cast or sheet iron, lead, zinc, and other metals, and also articles of
wood with a thick and adhering layer of copper, zinc, lead, or other metal for
protecting the same from oxidation and destruction.
To manufacture large articles of cast or sheet iron covered with a coat of
copper, zinc, lead, or other metal, I prepare the separate parts in the usual
manner, and when they are ready to be rivetted together they are coated
separately by means of an electro-metallurgical process with a given thickness
of copper, lead, zinc, or other metal, as also the rivets serving to unite the
different parts together, and the rivetting operation is then effected as usual
with or without heat. In either case the second heads of the rivets made by
rivetting are submitted to the various preparations and operations by which
the separate parts are first covered. This second operation may be availed of
to increase the thickness of the metal deposited on the separate parts. For
this purpose I place the article entirely finished in the different baths if it
is of small volume, or I construct round it baths large enough to receive it
if it is not manageable on account of its large volume and weight. If it is
only required to cover with a coat of metal the rivet heads that require
coating, it is more easy to construct local baths with malleable substances
or with luted wood, in which I operate as in the other cases.
When I have to operate upon articles forming a capacity susceptible of con-
taining a liquid bath, I cover the second rivet heads, and set the pieces together
inside the work. In this case, the external surface of the articles being entirely

page_text: covered with a layer of deposited metal, it is necessary to cover with the same
metal some parts of the internal surface. To effect this in the most simple
manner, in many cases I successively cause to arrive in the interior of the
work the series of baths necessary for obtaining the metallic deposit. This
single operation serves to cover all the parts not covered, and at the same time
to increase the thickness of the coat of metal first deposited, which may, in
contemplation of this result, be originally made thinner.
When the soldering of the different parts of each article is to be effected
by heat, the ends of the rivets only should be made red hot, and the heads
should be entirely protected from the action of the fire; this can be effected
by using a furnace, one side being made of thin fire bricks and perforated with
holes to receive the ends, by which means the extremities only are submitted
to the action of the fire.
To cover the bodies of vessels, I can operate upon the whole piece when
entirely finished without any deposit being previously made upon the separate
parts. For that purpose I operate successively upon the internal surface of
the shell or body of the boat by means of electro-chemical baths contained in
the interior, commencing, however, with baths for scouring and cleansing the
different parts; I cover the external surface with a layer of metal by placing
the shell or body in the middle of a basin, in which I cause the different baths to
arrive successively from separate reservoirs where they are kept, and to which
they are afterwards sent back after each operation. This basin should be in the
vicinity of a navigable river, with which it should be put in communication,
and isolated by means of double doors, similar to a dock undergoing repairs.
In this case the vessel may be brought into the basin from the river, and go
out after the operation is terminated, which enables me to act upon vessels'
bodies already in the water without taking them out.
parts of its surface.
It is equally easy to deposit on the wooden hulls of vessels, in lieu of ordi-
nary copper sheathing, and adhering thickness of metal obtained by means of
electricity. To eflect this object it is first necessary to clean the hull and
then cover it with a slight layer of varnish or fatty body. To enable it to be
metallised, barbed copper pegs are driven in at different
These pegs become even with the metal, which, when the hull is exposed to an
electro-chemical bath, will be deposited uniformly over all its parts, and will
protect the wood in a permanent and efficient manner. I can also partially
apply a zinc coating by means of electricity upon non-zinced rivets for uniting
pieces zinced by immersion in a molten bath of zinc.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine

page_text: ourselves to the precise details herein-before laid down; but what we
claim is,-
First, the covering of articles of cast or sheet iron with a layer of metal to
protect the same from destruction, as herein-before described.
Secondly, we claim the application of electro-metallurgy to covering the
wooden hulls of vessels, the wood-work for gates of sluices, jetties, and
reservoirs, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, we claim the partial application of a thick layer of zinc by
means of electricity upon non-zinced rivets uniting pieces zinced in a bath of
molten zinc.
In witness whereof, I, the said Léopold Oudry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
LEOPOLD OUDRY. (L.S.)