AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING METALS FROM OXYDATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba, both of
Florence, in the Kingdom of Italy, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING METALS FROM OXYDATION."
Scaled the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 6th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alberto Ara and Mario
Del-Bubba at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 6th May 1874.
We, ALBERTO ARA and MARIo Del-Bubba, both of Florence, in the
Kingdom of Italy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING METALS FROM OXYDATION," to
be as follows, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to produce a composition or varnish
simple in its constituents, easy of application, and of low cost.
We take about equal quantities of quartz, metallic oxides, such as
oxide of lead or oxide of cobalt, according to the colour required, and of
a suitable solvent, and reduce them to fine powder. Water is added till

page_text: a mixture of a pasty consistence is formed, and we apply this mixture
with a brush to coat the surface of the article to be protected. They are
then exposed to the open air to dry, and afterwards placed in cast-iron or
fire-brick muffles, and these are placed in kilns and heated to about
eight hundred degrees centigrade.
The heat acting on the silex and on the oxides causes them to melt,
and fixes them firmly on the surface of the metals, which become coated
with a finely polished silicate, both even and very hard, susceptible of
resisting hard knocks without scaling or cracking. Iron thus treated is
coated with a silicate of iron, and may be exposed without fear of spoiling
in very humid places, and even placed in water without undergoing any
oxydation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALBERTO
ARA and MARIO DEL BUBBA, both of Florence in the Kingdom of Italy,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing -date the Sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Alberto Ara and Mario`
Del-Bubba, Her special licence that we, the said Alberto Ara and
Mario Del-Bubba, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba, 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 "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR
PRESERVING METALS FROM OXYDATION," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the 3

page_text: 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 Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba,
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, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to produce a composition or varnish
simple. in its constituents, easy of application, and of low cost. The
destruction to which nearly all metals are exposed from oxydation has
become still more evident of late through the great extension in the use
of both cast and wrought iron in naval, architectural, and ornamental
constructions. Amongst the many compositions that have been tried
for preserving metals from corroding not one has given satisfactory results
until the present.
The improved composition is composed of quartz, of a suitable solvent,
such as carbonate of potass, and metallic oxydes, such as oxyde of lead and
oxyde of cobalt, in equal proportions, the selection of oxyde being made
according to the color to be given to the composition; and the other
components also vary according to the metals to be operated upon, and
the quality of the composition or varnish required. We first reduce
these ingredients to fine powder; water is added so as to form a mixture
of the consistence of paste, of which a layer is applied with a brush on
the surface of the articles (previously cleaned and dried) to be varnished
or protected, and this done they are exposed to the open air to dry. We
afterwards place these articles in cast-iron or fire-brick muffles, and the
latter in kilns of suitable construction, and heat them up to 800 degrees
centigrade.
The heat acting on the silex and on the oxydes causes these matters to
melt, and fixes them so firmly on the surface of the metals that on being
gently cooled they are found when taken out to be covered with a polished
silicate and smooth, and well fitted to resist the impact of hard bodies
without scaling or cracking..
This composition is applicable to many metals, but more especially
and with the greatest advantages to cast and wrought iron, which by this
means may through their low price be employed for many articles now
:

page_text: made of copper and tin. Iron thus treated becomes coated with a silicate
of iron, and may be exposed in very damp places and be placed in water
without undergoing any oxydation.
This composition may also be employed for protecting ships' armour
plating, and other iron used in ships, and for other constructions and
articles made of cast and wrought iron.
Having thus described our said Invention, and the best means we are
acquainted with for carrying the same into effect, what we claim is, the
improved composition for preserving metals from oxydation, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alberto Ara and Mario Del-Bubba,
have hereto set our hands and seals, this Third day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.