THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD IN A NEW FORM, AND ITS USE IN SUCH FORM FOR FILLING OR PLUGGING TEETH
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
January 1860. A communication from abroad by Alfred Joseph Watts,
of Utica, in the State of New York, United States of America, Chemist.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD IN A NEW FORM, AND ITS
USE IN SUCH FORM FOR FILLING OR PLUGGING TEETH," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the conversion of gold by electricity into a
peculiar crystalline form not previously known, which the Inventor terms
crystal gold, and which in such form may be used for the purpose of filling or
plugging teeth.
To obtain crystal gold I first take a glass dish, and having fastened on the
bottom of it a coating of heavy gold foil, it is filled with a solution of muriate
of ammonia, with the addition of a solution of perchloride of gold. I now
take any convenient quantity of gold rolled into plate, and exposing nearly as
much surface as the coated bottom, and suspend it enclosed in fine muslin in
the solution by any suitable means. I connect the suspended gold to the
positive end of a battery, and the coated bottom of the dish to the negative
end by a thick gold wire covered with gutta percha enclosed in a fine glass
tube. The battery consists by preference of a series of two or three cells of
Daniell's, and instead of charging it in the usual manner with sulphuric acid
a neutral solution of sulphate of copper is used in the negative or copper cups
and a strong solution of common salt in the positive or zinc cups. This
:

page_text: arrangement is preferred, although the crystal gold may be made with the
battery charged in the usual manner. Connected with and in the circuit of
the electric current is the first turn of a long coil of ordinary copper bell wire;
the coil is on a cylinder of wood with a deep groove cut on its face along its
whole length; one end of this coil is free, the other is connected with the
protected gold wire; in the decomposition dish a stout copper wire with a
snake head bite is attached to the wire running to the negative end of the
battery, and the bite being made to clasp or gripe the first turn of the coil of
wire, the circuit is established, and the full power or nearly so of the battery
acting upon the solution causes it to evolve bydrogen freely from the negative
pole. I now interpose in the path of the current several turns of coil by means
of the snake head above described till the evolution of hydrogen ceases, and
the very black surface of deposit becomes lighter colored; a few more turns of
the coil may then be interposed at intervals, carefully watching the surface,
and waiting the effect of each change until it begins to glitter in parts here
and there. The surface gradually becomes covered with a bright glitter; these
are the forming crystals. With a large battery and under some peculiar con-
ditions pot well understood no further manipulation is required, and the crystals
or leaves will become perfectly formed.
I have above described the use of one solution of gold and one mode of
manipulating that solution, but there are many other solutions from which
exactly the same material may be made, as the double chloride of gold and
sodium, the treble chloride of gold and sodium and ammonia, and the treble
chloride of gold and potassium and ammonia. The manipulation for procuring
the crystal gold may also be differently conducted.
In the case above described I began at the top of the coil, and caused the
evolution of hydrogen, but I sometimes begin and generally prefer to do so.
from the bottom of the coil without producing hydrogen at all, that is, I inter-
pose one hundred and eighty turns of the coil, and gradually advance upwards
till I attain the desired result, reaching a point where the deposit glitters, and
then fades, and after that conducting it along exactly in the same manner as
before described; I also can procure the crystal gold by varying the arrange-
ment of vessels for making and receiving it. If the battery is not large enough
or deficient in power to cover the extent of surface on the bottom of the dish
above described, I employ a smaller disb, or use a large porcelain vessel filled
with the solution before described containing the same materials, but varied in
quantity according to the amount of liquid in the vessel, and in that vessel
place a smaller one of any convenient height with its bottom coated with gold,
like the one previously described, and suspend over it in the solution a plate of

page_text: gold, and proceed exactly as before described; I also do not confine myself to
that peculiar mode described of using a coil of wire to control the amount of
electricity passing through the solution, but I lessen or increase the distance
between the poles, or strengthen or weaken the gold solution, and make
use of these well known methods, as well as all others familiar to
electricians.
The object of the Invention in all cases is to obtain a current giving the
same quantity and intensity for many days in succession; I also employ as an
auxiliary help a compass to compare the battery, to measure its force or power,
and particularly to measure the current as it flows through the solution. I
can make the crystal gold without the aid of a compass, but with it I can work
more easily, as it quickly denotes those changes, calling for an alteration in the
length of the coil interposed, the advantage of which will readily occur to the
experienced electrician.
The deposit which the Inventor terms crystal gold, and which forms the
subject of the present Invention, is in the form of bright & glittering crystals,
and in making it no other deposit of gold must be mixed with it, for just in
proportion as there is any admixture of any other deposit so will the working
qualities of the material as a filling for teeth be damaged, the crystals alone
possessing the distinguishing quality which constitutes the value of this form of
gold, viz., adhesiveness.
I have thus shewn that by a certain arrangement of some of the salts of
gold and the alkalies, and by graduating the strength of the solution in relation
to the quantity and intensity of electricity decomposing it, a form of gold
hitherto undescribed, and entirely unknown to science can be obtained. The
bright leaves or leaf-like crystals thus obtained form after proper burning a
soft, plastic, tough, and tenacious mass of gold, which may be more readily,
easily, and perfectly consolidated by pressure than any other form of gold
hitherto known. It is used for filling or plugging teeth in the same manner
as the other forms of gold, as foil or sponge heretofore used for the purpose
by dentists.