AN IMPROVED WHITE METALLIC ALLOY
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to.. Louis Victor Léniau, of No. 8, Place de la
Bourse, at Paris, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
WHITE METALLIC ALLOY."
Sealed the 26th February 1875, and dated the 29th August 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Victor Léniau
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th August 1874.
I, LOUIS VICTOR LÉNIAU, of No. 8, Place de la Bourse, at Paris,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED WHITE METALLIC ALLOY," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to manufacture a metal or alloy which
may be used as a substitute for silver, German silver, and silver-plated
metals.
My alloy has the white color of silver, and possesses great hardness,
added to a degree of sonorousness. It is very malleable, can be readily
laminated and welded, and it is fusible, consequently it is perfectly:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Louis Victor Léniau in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th February 1875.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Louis Victor Léniau, Her special licence
that I, the said Louis Victor Léniau, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Victor Léniau, my
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 WHITE METALLIC ALLOY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Louis Victor Léniau, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 I, the said Louis Victor Léniau, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 object of my Invention is to manufacture a metal or alloy which
may be used as a substitute for silver, German silver, and silver-plated
metals.
My alloy has the white color of silver, and possesses great. hardness,.
added to a degree of sonorousness. It is very malleable, can be readily.
laminated and welded, and it is fusible, consequently it is perfectly
adapted for the work of the silversmith and other uses. But my alloy
has two special advantages; the first is that it is inexpensive; and the
second, that it does not oxidize, and therefore there is no need to plate
or cover it, as is the case with metals or alloys hitherto proposed as
substitutes for silver.
My alloy is composed of refined copper, nickel, bismuth, zinc,
mollaohla cast iron and tin

page_text: The proportions of these metals may be varied according to the
quality and properties which it is desired to obtain in the alloy. The
following may however be given as an example:-

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
white metallic alloy made substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Victor Léniau, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
ANDRÉ MICHOT,
Civil Engineer,
No. 92, Rue d'Hauteville,
à Paris.
V. LENIAU.
(L.8.)