AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLEANING OR SCALING METALLIC SURFACES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Symonds, of Glass House Yard, East
Smithfield, in the County of Middlesex, Galvanized Iron
Merchant, and George Mouchet, of Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
CLEANING OR SCALING METALLIC SURFACES."
.Sealed the 23rd April 1853, and dated the 8th December 1852..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Symonds and
George Mouchet at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th December 1852.
We, JOHN SYMONDS and GEORGE MOUCHET, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLEANING OR.
SCALING METALLIC SURFACES" to be as follows: -
The object of this Invention is to remove the scale or surface.
impurities from metals, by the employment of a process which shall
not (like the present cleaning process, in which dilute sulphuric acid
is brought into contact with the surfaces to be cleaned) act in-
juriously upon the metals.
According to our Invention, the iron, or other metallic articles to
be cleaned, are immersed in a saline or other pickle solution, each of

page_text: them, either individually or collectively, by contact with each other,
being brought into metallic connection (whilst in the tank containing
the pickle) with a plate or block of zinc inclosed in a porous cell,
which is itself placed in the pickle tank. The tank, or cleaning
vessel, and the porous cell, are filled with salt and water to about
an equal height, the level of liquid in the tank being about one incl
above the top of the articles to be cleaned. These articles are
suspended from or are carried by a metal framework, or metallic
3.
supports, between which and the plate of zinc metallic contact is
established, by means of a wire, or metal band and binding screw,
in the usual manner of completing the metallic circuit.
A small portion of acid, either the sulphurous or muriatic, is then
poured into the porous cell, and likewise, when a more rapid cleaning
action is required, into the pickle solution, and an electrolytic
action immediately commences, the result of which is gradually to
soften or decompose the black oxide, or scale upon, say, the iron
articles contained in the tank, which black scale, together with the
dirt, &c., falls off from the object to be cleaned, without the clean
surface being attacked. The object and practical effect of the porous
cell is to prevent the deposition of oxide of zinc on the iron to be
cleaned, which deposition, if allowed to take place, would retard and
eventually stop the cleaning action; a result which is inseparable
from the immersion of zinc in metallic connection with the iron into
the same acidulated or other cleaning liquid, or." pickle," without
the protection of a separating porous cell or diaphragm.
In some cases a plate of cast iron may be substituted for the zinc,
but the operation will be much retarded thereby.
In order to stimulate the electrolytic action, we propose to apply
heat to the tank, by steam pipes, or other analogous means, and
thereby to raise the temperature of the pickle to any required
degree.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Syınonds and George Mouchet
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN SYMONDS, of Glass House Yard, East Smithfield, in the
County of Middlesex, Galvanized Iron Merchant, and GEORGE
MOUCHET, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
'teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Symonds and George Mouchet,
Her special licence that we, the said John Symonds and George
Mouchet, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Symonds and George Mouchet, 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
terin therein expressed, should and lawfully night 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
MODE OF CLEANING OR SCALING METALLIC SURFACES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Symonds and George
Mouchet, by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said John Symonds and George
Mouchet, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement; re-
ference, being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thercon (that is to say):

page_text: The object of this Invention is to avoid the waste and deterioratio
of metal inseparable from the use of the methods of cleaning an
scaling metallic surfaces heretofore known and cinployed, and at th
same time, and as a consequence of such improved method of cleaning
and scaling, to leave the said metals with a smoother, closer, and
more even surface, whereby they will be the better fitted for any
subsequent process or processes of manufacture; and, practically, the
nature of the manipulation of our said improved process consist
in bringing the various metal articles intended to be cleaned into
contact, whilst immersed in the cleaning mixture or pickle, with a
_metallic conducting medium, which is also in close metallic contact
with a mass of metal, likewise immersed in the same cleaning mixture
and in an electro-positive state as regards the said metal articles.
The electro-positive mass we prefer to consist of zinc; and, when
using this metal, we inclose it in a porous cell or cells, or enveloping
diaphragm, by the intervention whereof the injurious effects arising
'from the metallic and other deposits (which, but for such protecting
inclosure, would interfere with and to a great extent prevent the
said cleaning operation) are effectually avoided, and which injurious
result is inseparable from the immersion of zinc so in metallic
connection with the articles to be cleaned, into the same pickling
mixture, unprovided with such protecting diaphragm. By this
arrangement the metallic articles to be cleaned are not injuriously
acted upon or corroded by the pickle or cleaning mixture used,
which, during the operation of cleaning, acts upon the scale and dirt
only, without attacking the already cleaned or partially cleaned
surface.
In carrying out our Invention, we find it convenient to employ a
tank, fitted up as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1, is a plan view; Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section, taken in
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and shewing the arrangement of the zinc
plates enclosed in porous cells; Fig. 3, is a longitudinal section,
taken in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, is a cross section, taken
in the line 5, 6, of the same Figure. a, a, is the tank, which is to
contain the pickle, and also the articles to be cleaned. On the floor
of the tank a steam pipe b, b, is arranged for heating the pickle,

page_text: when it is required to expedite the cleaning action. The tank is
divided into two parts, by the porous cells c, c, which are situated
in the middle of the tank. These cells are carried by a frame, which
will admit of their being readily lifted out when required. d, d, are
zinc plates, attached by clamps or solder, to an iron rod e, which is
secured to a cross bar, that rests upon the ends of the tank, and is
held in position by pins, as shewn in the Drawing. By this means,
the zinc plates are suspended in their cells, and are brought into
electric connection with each other, while, at the same time, great
facility is given for removing the plates, when required, from their
cells. The two divisions of the tank are provided with adjustable
platforms, for supporting the articles to be operated upon. These
platforms may be of wood, and should be perforated, to allow of the
scale and dirt, which result from the cleaning operation, being
deposited beneath them, and clear of the articles in the pickle.
Attached to the upper surface of the platforms, is an iron rod g,
bent to a serpentine form, as shewn at Fig. 1, and intended to
furnish a means of metallic contact with the articles subjected to the
cleaning operation, and by that means to bring them within the
circuit of the currents of electricity pervading the tank. One end
of the rod g, is connected by a copper wire h, with the rod e, which
carries the zinc plates, and the electricity generated by the action on
the zinc of the exciting liquor in the porous cells is conducted to
that end of the serpentine rod g, in connection with the copper wire,
whence it passes, or is presumed to pass, over the whole surface of
the rod g, and the metallic substances (if any) in contact therewith,
and finally completes its circuit by means of the conducting power
of the exciting liquor or cleaning solution. In order to insure as
perfect metallic connection as possible between the metallic articles
to be cleaned and the electric conducting surfaces, we vary the mode
of arranging the articles in the tank according to their nature. Thus,
when small articles, of various sizes and irregular forms, are required
to be operated upon, we throw them into the tank in a heap, and
ely upon their own gravity for establishing a proper metallic contact
between themselves and with the iron electric conductor g. When,
however, articles of a regular figure, and uniform size, such as plates,

page_text: are to be subjected to the clectric action, we provide guide frames, as
shewn at i, i, between which the plates may be held in a vertical
position, and apart from each other, so as to allow of the pickle acting
upon the entire surface of the plates during the whole time they are
immersed, and thereby preventing the necessity of manual labour, as
litherto required, to separate them, while the cleaning operation is
proceeding, for the purpose of exposing the surfaces, previously
covered by overlying plates, to the action of the pickle. The inner
edges of these frames i, i, are furnished with vertical notches or
grooves, formed of or covered with iron, and between these notches
the plates to be cleaned are dropped, and firmly secured by wedges,
their weight being taken by the platforms on the serpentine rod g, of
which their lower edges rest; metallic contact is thus secured between
all the plates in each division of the tank, and when the electric action
is set up in the tank, the cleaning and scaling operation will, by the
combined action of the pickle and the electric current, be expeditiously
performed. To allow of plates of varied dimensions being arranged
vertically in the tank, the frames i, i, are made capable of adjustment,
to meet different lengths of plates, and by blocking up the platforms
at a different level, narrower or wider plates may be readily intro-
duced. In order to admit of this change of level in the conducting
rod g, the copper wire, which is attached to the end thereof, is
twisted into a helix, and thereby it will allow of elongation and
contraction, as circumstances may require.
If the articles to be cleaned consist of wrought iron, and they are
allowed to rest upon a cast iron grating, instead of upon the platform,
as explained, the zinc and porous cells, with their suspending frame,
may be dispensed with, as the electric action on the cast iron grating
(whilst the grating is immersed in the cleaning mixture, and in contact
with the articles to be operated upon) will protect the said articles
from being injuriously acted upon or corroded beyond the removal
therefrom of the scale, oxide, or dirt. Or, this protecting action may
be further aided by the use in addition of cast iron inserted in the
porous cells, in place of zinc, and in metallic connection with the
metallic grating above mentioned. The intention of the porous
cells is, in this case, as when zinc is used, to prevent the resulting

page_text: oxide from mixing with the cleaning mixture. The effect, however,
of this admixture, where cast iron is used, we do not find to be
practically disadvantageous, as regards the impeding of the cleaning
operation, as would be the case if zinc were employed unprotected
by a porous cell or diaphragm. The cleaning operation, however,
by means of cast iron only, is so much less rapid than when zinc is
employed, that we prefer the use of the zinc.
.
.
In cleaning wire, we suspend the hanks in the pickle, connecting
one or both of the free ends of each hank with the notched frames
before described for sheets, by wedging such free end in the notches
of the frames, so as to insure close metallic contact therewith; and
these frames we connect with the metal in the porous cells, or with
the cast iron grating, or metal supports, as the case may be.
The treatment for cleaning articles of copper, brass, or gun metal
is in all respects analogous to that of iron, as before described,
excepting that, for copper and its alloys, separate and distinct tanks
or vessels should be used, to prevent the accidental presence of any
of the salts of copper in the pickle wherein iron is being cleaned; or
in the tanks or vessels used for iron articles, as the metallic copper
would be precipitated by the action of the electric current, and con-
sequently discolor the iron.
The pickle, or cleaning mixture, we employ in the tanks and
porous cell consist of, say fifty pounds weight of salt to every
hundred gallons of water, to which, according to the rapidity with
which we desire the cleaning operation to be performed, we add
either sulphuric or-muriatic acid, in about the proportion of half a
pint of acid to cach gallon of mixture. We do not, however, confine
ourselves to these proportions, as regards the saline or other pickling
solution employed, or to the details of manipulation or of mechanical
construction given above, so long as the principle of our said improved.
process of cleaning or scaling metallic surfaces and thereby preventing
the saline or other pickle solution used from acting injuriously upon
the metals, is adopted, adhered to, and practically carried out.
When the cleaning operation is being conducted on a large scale,
and where several tanks, charged with the articles, are simultaneously
in use, we sometimes prefer a modification of the above process, as

page_text: follows: Instead of connecting the articles in each separate tank
with the positive metal in such tank, we bring the whole of the tanks
into the condition of having one continuous current of electricity:
established through the whole number or series thereof, by making
metallic connection between the positive metal in the one with the
metal articles in the next; and so on, throughout the entire series
of tanks or vessels intended to be brought into action; and then
establishing metallic connection between the positive metal of the
last with the metal articles in the first of such series, substantially
in the manner of ordinary galvanic batteries.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that,
under the above in part recited Letters Patent, we claim,―
First, the cleaning and scaling of metallic surfaces by the combined
action of a saline solution (whether acidulated or not) and electric cur-
rents, when such currents are produced through the agency of zinc
contained in a porous cell or cells, or of cast iron employed as above'
set forth.
Secondly, we claim arranging metallic sheets, for the purpose
of scaling and cleaning them, in tanks, as above described, whereby
the pickle is allowed free access to the surface of the sheets during
the whole time they are exposed to the cleaning action.
And we further claim, clamping articles to be cleaned or scaled
to the electric conducting medium, for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Symonds and George
Mouchet, have hereunto set our hands and scals, the Eighth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN SYMONDS. (L.S.)
GEO. MOUCHET. (L.S.)