IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIZING METALLIC WIRES
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Emile Alexandre Cuche at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
November 1859.
I, EMILE ALEXANDRE CUCHE, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIZING METALLIC WIRES," to be as
follows:-
At
When the wire has been cleaned by the muriatic or sulphuric acid diluted
in the water it is placed on a bobbin, from which it is unrolled to traverse
the upper beds of a bath of zinc in fusion. deep enough for the purpose.
the exit from this bath the wire passes in a draw or guage plate or in sand, so
as to disengage itself from the oxide of zinc and particles of pulverized char-
coal which it meets at the surface of the bath. The friction caused by the
guage plate or sand during the operation determines a molecular arrangement
of the metal which augments considerably the adhesion of the metal to the
wire, which can be afterwards bent without the zinc chipping or scaling off,
there being when so treated what may be technically termed a vein, fibre, or
grain in the zinc. The mechanical action of the sand or guage plate con-
tributes to produce this fibre or grain, which action should be light enough

page_text: not draw from the wire any portion of the zinc useful for its galvanization.
Very flexible spring draw plates or fine sand in small quantity should be
employed. Galvanizing, by dipping the wire entirely in the bath after cleaning
it, has this inconvenience, that it chips or scales off easily if the metallic crys-
talization has not been counteracted by any mechanical action, as in that case
it forms itself very regulerly, & does not produce any vein, fibre, or grain in
the zinc. Again, the wire is liable to be exposed by this process to impure
zinc, which occurs in the upper part of the bath in consequence of its alloy
with the substance forming the crucible or containing vessel, which it attacks
vigorously; nevertheless the zinc deposited on the wire by this last process is
more difficult of oxidation by contact with the air than when it has be
scraped at the time of its crystalization by the action of the guage plate or
sand. To draw a conclusion from the preceding, it may be assumed that the
system of galvanization of the metallic wire heretofore in use is susceptible of
improvement, which is sought to be and is attained by the present Invention.
According to my Invention, I substitute for the guage plate or sand an
apparatus analogous to an argand gas burner disposed in such manner that
the wire can be introduced and passed in the space which exists in the centre
of the burner-like apparatus; jets of warm or cold air are forced out of the
jet openings by means of a blowing machine or pump. These currents con-
verge towards the wire, and in a direction slightly oblique to its axis so as to
throw of sideways and not lengthways of the wire the oxides and foreign
matters which it brings from the surface of the bath. In proceeding thus, a
vein, fibre, or grain is produced in the zine following the axis of the wire, and
rendering the adhesion of the zinc complete. If I wish this vein or fibre to
form a helix round the wire, I adapt to the centre of the jet apparatus in question
a tube of certain diameter, in the interior of which is a helical hollow in which
the current of hot or cold air circulates intended to envelope the wire in its
passage in the centre of this tube. This helical stream of air may be pro-
duced by means of any special apparatus, which may be worked by a driving
wheel; and turning in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the wire in certain
cases I replace the air by substances in a liquid or gazeous state, or it may be
pulverized & heated to a variable temperature, even to a state of incandescence,
always having the object in view to augment the adhesion of the zinc in
the galvanization of metallic wires. Lastly, I add the following, according to
the requirements of all the aforesaid systems, a rotating draw or guage plate
with or without springs, or a combination of pullies to embrace the wire so as
to efface the furrows in the zinc. This system of turning guage plates and

page_text: pullies embracing the wire employed alone present a marked superiority in
the process of galvanization, and form in themselves a great feature of
improvement. Again, I consider as part of my Invention the right of pre-
venting the zinc in fusion attacking the metallic crucible or vessel which
contains it, which action detracts from its purity, by means of a silicate of lead
and a coating of black lead, or an appropriate enamel which I apply, as the
case may be, to the surface of the vessel.