IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING TIN AND TERNE PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Saunders and Joseph Piper, both of Cookley
Iron Works, near Kidderminster, in the County of Worcester, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING TIN AND TERNE PLATES,
AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN "
Sealed the 3rd December 1872, and dated the 3rd October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Saunders and
Joseph Piper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd October 1872.
We, JOHN SAUNDERS and JOSEPH PIPER, both of Cookley Iron Works,
near Kidderminster, in the County of Worcester, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING TIN AND TERNE
PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows :—
Hertofore, in the coating of tin and terne plates it has been the
practice when it has been desired to make the best kind of plates to
brush the plates by hand after they have had a coating of metal, but
before they receive their final coating, in order to free the plates from
the impurities that attach to them in their first coating.

page_text: Now our Invention has for its object the attaining by mechanical
means the same cleansing as has heretofore been obtained by hand-
brushing, and this I effect in the following manner:-After the plates.
have been coated with metal and before they receive their final coating.
of metal, wo subject them to the action of rollers immersed in hot grease
or other suitable flux, such rollers being of iron or steel or other metal
suitable to receive tinning, and having their surfaces well tinned, and
we cause these rollers to revolve so as to pass the plates through the
hot flux, and we give to the rollers differential surface speeds. We take
care not to nip the plates hard with the rollers, as were we to do so, 1
there would be a liability to strip the plate, but we so arrange the
rollers as to ensure a species of fluid contact, that is to say, a contact of
the fluid tin with which the rollers are coated rather than a contact
with the rollers themselves, and we prefer to accomplish this by setting
the rollers one past the other, so that the plate. in passing through |
between them is not within the nip of the rollers, and to prevent the
plate deviating from its course it is desirable to apply other steadying
rollers.
We also, by preference, arrange the rollers in such a manner that
after they have cleansed the plate they are useful in withdrawing it from
the flux, being aided therein by suitable carrying implements.
The plates are afterwards finished in the same way as. they are after
hand brushing. By preference we pass. the plates into melted tin or
terne metal and then through rollers revolving in hot flux as is described
in the Specification of a former Patent granted to us and dated the
6th June 1860.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Saunders and Joseph Piper in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN 80
SAUNDERS and JOSEPH PIPER, both of Cookley Iron Works, near Kid-
derminster, in the County of Worcester, send greeting.
1
!
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date, the Third day of, October, in the year of
f

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Saunders and Joseph Piper, Her
special license that we, the said John Saunders and Joseph Piper, our
3 executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Saunders and Joseph Piper, our 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, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING TIN AND TERNE PLATES,
AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Saunders and Joseph Piper, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 John Saunders and Joseph Piper,
do hereby declare the nature of the 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 :-
:
1
Heretofore in the coating of tin and terne plates it has been the
practice when it has been desired to make the best kind of plates to
brush the plates by hand after they have had a coating of metal, but
before they receive their final coating in order to free the plates from
the impurities that attach to them in their first coating.
$
Now our Invention has for its object the attaining by mechanical
means the same cleansing as has heretofore been obtained by hand
brushing, and this we effect in the following manner:-After the plates
have been coated with metal, and before they receive their final coating
of metal, we subject them to the action of rollers immersed in hot grease
or other suitable flux, such rollers being of iron or steel, or other metal
suitablo to receive tinning, and and having their surfaces well tinned, and
we cause these rollers to revolve so as to pass the plates through the hot
flux, and we give to the rollers differential surface speeds: We take

page_text: care not to nip the plates hard with the rollers, as were we to do so
there would be a liability to strip the plate, but we so arrange the rollers
as to ensure a species of fluid contact, that is to say, a contact of the fluid
tin with which the rollers are coated, rather than a contact with the
rollers themselves, and we prefer to accomplish this by setting the 5
rollers one past the other, so that the plate in passing through between
them is not within the nip of the rollers, and to prevent the plate
deviating from its course it is desirable to apply other steadying rollers.
We also by preference arrange the rollers in such a manner that
after they have cleansed the plate they are useful in withdrawing it 1
from the flux, being aided therein by suitable carrying implements.
The plates are afterwards finished in the same way as they are after
hand brushing. By preference we pass the plates into melted tin or
terne metal, and then through rollers revolving in hot flux, as is
described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to us, and 1
dated the 6th June 1860.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus which we employ in the manu-
facture of tin and terne plate; Figures 2 and 3 are vertical scctons
taken on the lines 1, 1, and 2, 2, in Figure 1 respectively.
a, a, a, are the different parts of a pot which is heated by a fire in the
usual way, and contains the flux it is intended to employ; we use the 26
ordinary flux, a mixture of tallow and palm oil; 6 is a frame fixed
within the pot; it carries the four large rollers c', c³, c³, c³, and the two
small rollers c³ and c³, all of which are, by preference, of wrought iron,
and well coated with the tin or terne metal, as the case may be. These
rollers work in the flux, which is kept heated sufficiently to maintain 30
the coating metal on the rollers in a thoroughly fluid state. By
preference the rollers are completely immersed in the flux. The
bearings of the rollers c³ and c³ are stationary upon the frame b, and the
bearings of the rollers c³ and care adjustable to and fro on the frame,
so as to increase or diminish the distances between those rollers and the 38

page_text: rollers c¹ and c³. This adjustment is effected by means of the spring
levers d, d, and the adjusting screws d', d. The rollers c* and c* aro
for the purpose of guiding the plate and are not driven, but tho
rollers c³, c³, c³, and c', are geared together by the spur wheels and pinions
c¹×, c², c³, c**, with which they are coupled, as is clearly seen in
Figure 3. These spur wheels are driven by the toothed wheel e, which
gears into the wheel c¹. The axis e¹ of the wheel e is turned in any
suitable manner at the speed at which it is found most convenient to
work.
The wheels o¹* and c* being double the diameter of the wheels ***
and c³ the surface velocity of the rollers c³ and c³ will be double that
of the rollers c³ and c', the diameter of the rollers being the same, but
it is not essential that this proportion should be maintained, and if
preferred the difference of surface speeds may be obtained either in part
or entirely by varying the diameters of the several rollers.
fis a finger frame suspended upon the bar g, and the weighted arm fi
is attached to it; h is a cradle capable of being moved up and down in
the guides a*, a*, formed on the inside of the pot. This cradle is
connected at its two ends to chains which pass over the curved levers i,
and then are wound (to adjust the apparatus to the length of the plates)
upon the barrel. k, l, is a handle upon the axis of the levers i, by
means of which they can be turned so as to cause the levers and chain
to lift the cradle; m is a coated metal roller hung in the frame m³,
which is suspended upon the bar n; and m² are weighted arms attached
to the frame, which tend to press the roller m towards the roller c³;
a' is a trough at the bottom of the pot a, in which any tin or terne
metal which may fall from the coated plates accumulates. There is
always sufficient metal in this trough to prevent the escape of the flux
from the main compartment of the pot a; a³ is a trough into which the
) flux may be drawn, so as to lower the level in the main compartment.
This is done by means of the bent overflow pipe o, which can be turned
round at the joint connecting it with the pot, so as to bring its mouth to
any desired level. The metal plates having been coated with tin or
terne metal are taken from the tinning pot, and with the coating metal
3 still fused on their surfaces are singly passed downwards into the flux,
and between the rollers contained in the pot a. The rollers are so set
that the plates are not tightly nipped, but still, so that they require the
rotation of the rollers to carry them downwards, and in the act of going

page_text: "
downwards the plates are rubbed or brushed by the fluid surface of the
coated rollers, which as it will be seen are revolving at a surface speed
'different from that at which the plate is passing downwards. When the
lower end of the plate as it descends strikes the fingers of the frame ƒ,
these yield and allow the plate to pass until the plate is free from the 5
rollers, and has fallen down into the cradle h. The fingers then throw
the upper end of the plate against the fixed guides p, so that when the
cradle is raised (which is the next operation) the upper edge of the plate
is presented to the nip of the rollers c' and m, and being caught by
these rollers it is delivered out of the pot. As the plate rises it is taken 1
by tongs, then dipped into melted metal and finished between rollers
revolving in flux, as is described in the Specification of the former
Patent granted to us, and herein-before referred to, or it may be by
drawing, as is well understood.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the 1
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we
claim,-
-
First. The method of treating tin. and ternc plate in process-of
manufacture by causing the surface of the plate to be rubbed or brushed
by the surface of a tinned or coated metal roller revolving in heated 2
flux, and travelling at a speed different from that of the plate, sub-.
stantially as described.
Second. The arrangement of apparatus to be used in the manufacture
of tin and terne plates, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Saunders and Joseph Piper, 2
have hercunto set our hands and scals, this 28th day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
three.