IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING AND COATING IRON AND COPPER"
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, of Enfield,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRYING AND COATING IRON AND COPPER"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Morewood and
George Rogers at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 14th February 1856.
We, EDMUND MOREWOOD and GEORGE ROGERS, of Enfield, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRYING AND COATING IRON AND COPPER," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to drying and coating iron and copper in the form of
sheets, or otherwise suitably formed, to admit of the same being passed between
pressing rollers; and the improvements consist, first, in drying or partially
drying such iron or copper (after it has been placed in a bath to be cleansed,
or to be coated by the deposition of metal), by causing the same to pass
between pressing rollers, which are preferred to be heated by steam or
otherwise, but the heating is not essential.
Second, the Invention consists of causing such descriptions of iron and
copper (coated or uncoated with other metal), when coating them with
varnish or water-repellant matters (as described in the Specifications of
former Patents granted to us), to be subjected to pressure between rollers, to
equalize or lessen the varnish or coating thereon; and when only a part
of the length or breadth of the metal is coated, the pressure of the rollers
spreads and extends the coating matter, and causes those parts not previously
coated to become so.

page_text: Third, the Invention consists of employing racks, bars, rods, or wire of the
coating metal to be placed in the coating solution, in order that the iron or
copper about to be coated therein by deposition may rest on or be supported
by such racks, rods, wire, or bars; or in place of using bars, rods, wire, or
racks of the coating metal, wood or other racks, bars, or supports may be
used, and have applied thereto projecting pieces or surfaces of the coating
metal, so that the iron or copper about to be coated may rest against or be
supported by such projections or surfaces of the coating metal; or the before-
mentioned metallic rests or supports may be of such other metal as, either
from its own electrical condition or from that imparted to it, will aid in
causing the metal in solution to be deposited as a coating upon the iron or
copper resting on or against it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, EDMUND
MOREWOOD and GEORGE ROGERS, of Enfield, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, Her special licence
that we,. the said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edmund Morewood
and George Rogers, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DRYING AND COATING IRON AND COPPER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers,
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

page_text: 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 Edmund Morewood, on the part of
myself and the said George Rogers, 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-
The first part of our Invention consists in drying or partially drying sheets
or suitable forms of iron or copper after they have been placed in a bath to
be cleansed, or to be coated by deposition of metal, by causing the same
to pass between pressing rollers, which we prefer to be of wrought iron, and
made hollow, so as to admit of being beated by steam or otherwise, but the
heating is not essential. We prefer to proceed as follows:-We have a frame
containing four pairs of iron rollers of equal diameter, each pair being placed
in a horizontal line behind the other, and revolving at a like surface speed;
each pair are at such distance apart that a portion of the plate enters the
following pair of rollers before it leaves the preceding pair of rollers. The
pair of rollers between which the plate to be dried is first introduced may or
may not be hollow and heated; the three after rollers we prefer to be hollow and
heated by steam. The pair of rollers are caused to revolve by a steam engine
or other convenient means in such a manner, that when a plate or suitable
form of iron or copper has been introduced between the first pair of rollers it
is carried forward to and through between the succeeding pairs by their
revolutions, and comes out from the last pair of rollers sufficiently dried. If
through any accident some of the plates come out insufficiently dried, we
complete the drying by laying them for a sufficient time on a rack placed
immediately over the heated rollers.
The second part of our Invention consists in causing sheets or suitable forms
of iron or copper (coated or uncoated with other metal), when coating them
with varnish or water-repellant matters (as described in the Specification of
former Patents granted to us), to be subjected to pressure between rollers to
equalize the varnish or water-repellant coating thereon; and when only a part
of the length or breadth of the metal is coated with such varnish or water-
repellant matter, the pressure of the rollers on the surface spreads and extends
the coating matter, and causes those parts not previously coated to become so.
In carrying out this part of our Invention we proceed as follows:-We place
the iron pan or trough containing varnish or water-repellant matter in a
solved, melted, or fluid state, (as, for instance, rosin, or a mixture of one-half
rosin and one-half shellac, dissolved in what is termed methylated spirit or

page_text: finish), in front of a pair of iron rollers, round which we put a layer or coating
of calico. In putting on this calico, we begin by dipping the edge (which we
first place upon and along the rollers) to the extent of three or four inches in a
thin solution of rosin, dissolved in alchohol, naptha; methylated spirit, or what
is terined finish. The edge of the calico is thus rendered inore or less adhesive,
and when placed upon and along the roller forms a starting point, from which
we wrap a layer of calico completely round the roller; we thus cover both the
upper and lower rollers. The surface of the pair follers thus prepared or
coated give way or yield, and a more equal deposit upon the prominent and
hollow parts of the sheets is thus obtained. The rollers being in order, and
caused to revolve by means of an engine or other convenient mode, we dip the
metal which is to be coated into the solved or fluid varnish or water-repellant
matter contained in the trough or pan, to the extent of the breadth which will be
presented to the rollers on the plate being introduced between them, and to
the depth of a few inches; and on withdrawing the sleet or plate with a
portion of sucli varnish or water-repellant matter upon the surface thereof, we
introduce the portion so dipped between the pair of pressing rollers, which, by
their pressing upon the sheet or plate, spread such varnish or water-repellant
matter over the whole surface of such sheet, or piece of iron or copper.
The third part of our Invention consists of employing racks, bars, rods, or
wire of the coating metal in the coating solution, in order that the iron
or copper about to be coated by deposition may rest in or be supported by
such racks, rods, wire or bars; or in place of using bars, rods, wire, or racks
of the coating metal, wood or other racks, bars, or supports may be used, and
have applied thereto projecting pieces or surfaces of the coating metal, so that
the iron or copper about to be coated may rest against or be supported by such
projections or surfaces of the coating metal; or the before-mentioned metallic
rests or supports may be of such other metal as, either from its own electrical
condition or from that imparted to it, will aid in causing the metal in solution
to be deposited as a coating upon the iron or copper resting on or against it.
In carrying out this part of our Invention, if coating with zinc, we employ
bars, racks, rods, or wire of zinc in the solution of zinc (say chloride of zine),
and we prefer to use upright bars or rods of zinc, or when coating with tin, we
use upright bars or rods of tin in the coating solution of tin employed, (say;
chloride of tin) mixed with an equal portion of chloride of zinc; such bars of
metal; whether of zinc or tin, we strengthen by casting the same round a rod
of iron, about the eighth of an inch in diameter and of the required length, so
that the iron rod forms a core to the bar of tin or of zinc. We generally make
our bars of zinė or tin square, and about an inch thick; we then fasten one

page_text: end of these bars into suitable holes, which we make in a plank of wood, and
when fixed in their holes the bars stand upright, about two inches apart from
outside to outside. The metal bars being thus fastened, we place the plank of
wood in a wooden tank, which is to contain the coating solution. We make the
plank secure to the bottom by wedging it or otherwise by wooden fastenings;
and placing it so that when the wooden tank is filled with the coating solution
the upright bars from stays or supports to the pieces of iron or copper to be
coated, and also keep the pieces apart from one another; we then connect
such bars, racks, or supports with the zinc plate of a separate battery, or with
the negative pole in the coating solution, by metallic contact through a copper
wire or otherwise; and when the pieces of iron or copper (which are to be
coated), after being cleaned with acid, as is well understood, are in their places,
and resting against such supporting bars of metal in the coating solution, and
the wooden tank is sufficiently filled with the coating solution, we place a rod
or suitable piece of the coating metal (as a positive pole in the coating
solution) near, say, within half an inch of, but not in contact with, the piece of
iron or copper to be coated, such positive pole of the coating metal being of
course nearer to the piece of iron or copper which it is to assist in causing to
be coated than to any other piece of metal in the wooden tank, and we connect
such piece of coating metal by metallic contact with the negative plate in a
separate battery. The battery we prefer to use consists of two cells, each
containing a plate of copper and a plate of zinc about the size of the pieces of
iron or copper to be coated, and we use diluted muriatic or sulphuric acid as
the exciting fluid in the cells, but other forms of batteries may be employed ;
if we use wooden or other racks, bars, or supports, with projecting surfaces of
the kind of metal to be deposited, against which the pieces of iron or copper
which are to be coated may rest,) we connect such projecting surfaces of the
coating metal by a copper wire or other bright metallic contact with the zinc
or positive plate of the separate battery, and when the pieces of iron or copper
to be coated are in the coating solution, and resting against such projecting
pieces of metal, we place in the solution, and near but not in contact with
the piece of iron or copper in the coating solution, a rod or suitable piece of
such kind of metal as we wish to deposit upon the iron or copper in the
solution, following the same course as when the upright bar is of metal instead
of wood or other substance with metallic projections, and we connect it witli
the copper or negative plate of the separate battery, as before described. We
also use upright bars or supports of zinc, placed as before described, in a coating
solution of chloride of tin contained in a wooden tank, and resting the pieces of
iron or copper against them and in the solution, they obtain a depcsit of tin
'

page_text: without any connection with a separate battery. In this case we keep the
solution as warm as the hand can well bear, say, about one hundred
and twenty to one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit. When coating
iron or copper plates of about the size of tin plate in this way, we fix
the bars of zinc in a wooden tank, one to one and a half inches apart
in one direction, and about six inches apart in the other direction, from
outside to outside, so that when the pieces of iron are in their places their
surface rests against the zinc bars at intervals of six inches apart, and each
plate has a bar of zinc close behind, say, not over one and a half inches
from it, and corresponding to that against which its front rests. If the
pieces of iron or copper be of other size, we vary the distance of the zinc bars
accordingly, but we consider it desirable that their distances apart should not
exceed six inches from outside to outside. We use a wooden tank, six feet
six inches long by two feet eight inches wide and two feet deep, and we coat
in it at one time about eighty plates, each being about twenty inches long by
fourteen inches wide; and after the bars, racks, rods, or wire are in their
places, we begin by filling our wooden coating tank with water slightly
acidulated with muriatic acid, say, a pint of the acid of commerce to one
hundred and eighty gallons of water, and after it has stood twelve hours we
place the pieces of iron or copper to be coated in the liquor, in such a manner
that they rest against, and each piece of the iron or copper to be coated touches
one or more of the zinc bars, racks, rods, or wire at a point under the liquor;
we then add to the liquor about half a pint of chloride of tin, which has been
made by dissolving tin in the acid of commerce until the solution has become
nearly, if not quite, neutral; we add it in such manner that it shall be pretty
equally distributed through the coating tank. The coating process then com-
mences immediately. After the lapse of about three quarters of an hour, a
workman with a pair of tongs slightly shifts the position of the plates in
relation to the bars; but he does this without raising them out of the solution,
merely moving them a little more towards one side of the tank or the other.
In doing this, the bars being stationary, the part of the iron or copper being
coated, which before moving rested against the bar, is moved from it and
becomes exposed to the solution, and a part of that which was before exposed
to the solution rests against the bar. After the further lapse of an hour, we
raise the pieces of iron or copper being coated, and clean them from any loose
matter on their surface, by giving them a quick brush with a stiff hair brush,
and immediately return them to their place between the racks, varying their
position only so far that the part which before rested against the bar shall
afterward be exposed to the solution. As soon as we have thus brushed over

page_text: the tank, we add to the solution another half-pint of chloride of tin, dis-
tributing it pretty equally as before. After the lapse of another two hours
we repeat the brushing over, and add a still further half-pint of chloride of tin.
We usually repeat the brushing over three or four times before withdrawing
the plate finally and drying it, and the workman generally shifts the plates
once without raising them out of the solution between each brushing over.
This shifting is also desirable when a separate battery is used. The workman
on raising a plate may judge, in case of a separate battery, as to the desirable-
ness of brushing it, and the sufficiency of the coating. Or in coating in
connection with a separate battery, as before described, the metal bars, racks,
and rods, wire or supports, which have metallic contact with the zinc or
positive plate of the separate battery, may be of other than the metal to be
deposited; as, for instance, in coating with tin, such bar or support may be of
copper or other metal, as such metal rods, racks, wire, or bars, being connected
by metallic contact with the positive or zinc plate of the separate battery, form
a negative pole in the coating solution, and aid in causing the coating metal to
be deposited from solution upon the pieces of iron or copper which are to be
coated, and which rest against them; but the metal which is in contact with
the negative plate, and which we place in the solution (as the positive pole)
near to, but not in contact with, the iron or copper to be coated, we use of the
description which is to be deposited as a coating.
We would remark, that the peculiarity of this part of our Invention consists
in using bars, racks, rods, or wires which are fixed and immersed in the coating
fluid, and which act as stays or supports to the iron or copper to be coated
in the solution, and enable us to move such iron or copper in the solution
with great facility, and at the same time aid electrically in causing metal to be
deposited from solution upon the pieces of iron or copper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Morewood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
Wч BRASIER.
EDMUND MOREWOOD. (L.S.)