AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING METALS."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Ford Sturges, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING METALS.""
Sealed the 4th July 1854, and dated the 25th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Ford Sturges
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1854.
I, RICHARD FORD STURGES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING METALS" to be as follows:-
.
My said Invention relates to the joining or soldering of such metals or
alloys as are or may be used in the manufacture of articles to be electro-plated,
such as copper and the alloy called German silver. In joining such metals
and alloys by the solder called soft solder, it is found difficult to cause the
silver to adhere to the said solder by the process of electro deposition. My
said Invention consists in the use of the metal cadmium as a solder for joining
the parts of articles to be electro-plated. Articles made up of parts joined or
soldered by cadmium receive the silver deposited by electro deposition equally
well on all parts, that is to say, both on the parts uncovered by the said
cadmium and on the parts covered therewith. Although I have found pure
cadmium to answer well in practice, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as the
said cadmium may be alloyed more or less with other metals, and the said
alloy of cadmium be used with the same or nearly the same effect as pure
cadmium.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Ford Sturges in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
FORD STURGES, of Birmingham, in the County. of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April,-in-the-year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Ford Sturges, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Ford Sturges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Ford Sturges, 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 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING METALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Ford Sturges, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Richard Ford Sturges, 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):-
My said Invention relates to the joining or soldering of such metals and
metallic alloys as are or may be used in the manufacture of articles to be
plated or coated with gold or silver by the electrical method, such
as copper
and the alloy called "German silver." In joining or soldering the metals and
metallic alloys of which articles to be electro-plated are usually made, it is
common to use the alloy called "soft solder or "silver solder" for that purpose;
but in electro-plating articles the parts of which are joined by soft solder, the
gold or silver attaches itself imperfectly to the said solder. My said Invention
consists in the use of the metal cadmium as a solder for joining or soldering
the parts of articles to be electro-plated. Articles made up of parts joined or.

page_text: soldered by cadmium receive the gold and silver deposited by electro deposition
equally well on all parts, that is to say, on the parts uncovered by the said
cadmium and on the parts covered therewith. Although in carrying my
Invention into effect I have found pure cadmium to answer very well, yet I
do not limit myself to the use of pure cadmium, as the said cadmium may be
alloyed more or less with other metals, and the alloys of cadmium with other
metals may be used with the same or nearly the same effect as pure cadmium,
if the said alloys consists mainly of cadmium. As the said cadmium or alloy of
cadmium is used in precisely the same manner as soft solder, I do not think
it necessary to enter into further details respecting it.
Having now described, the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise method herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as
my Invention, joining or soldering metals or metallic alloys, to be afterwards
electro-plated with gold or silver by means of a solder consisting wholly or
mainly of cadmium.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Ford Sturges, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT.
RICHARD FORD STURGES. (L.S.)