AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF WELDING IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF WELDING IRON AND STEEL."
-A communication from abroad by Joseph Popping, of the City
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th December 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF WELDING IRON
AND STEEL," a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved process of welding iron and
steel, and consists in applying between the surfaces to be welded a
compound of borax, iron filings, and prussiate of potassa, and subjecting
the same to a red heat and pressure or percussion, and thereby welding

page_text: the same.
In welding iron it has heretofore been necessary to heat the
pieces to be welded together to a white heat, but while this process
answers for welding iron, it does not, without great care, answer for
welding steel to steel, or steel to iron, for the reason that the white heat
required docs in many instances destroy the steel. Hence more or less
difficulty has always attended the welding of iron and steel together.
By this Invention, however, I am enabled to weld iron to steel and
steel to steel without difficulty. For this purpose I moisten the surfaces
of the metal with water, and sprinkle on the wet surfaces with the
fingers a compound consisting of one pound of pulverized calcined
borax, one pound of fine iron filings, and four ounces of prussiate of
potassa intimately mixed together. The moistening of the surfaces of
the iron causes the above compound to adhere to them. The two
surfaces to be welded are then placed together and wired, or otherwise
held in place, put into a fire, and brought up to a red heat or to a
temperature of six or seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The red-hot
metal is then passed between rolls or placed under a hammer when the
rolling or hammering will complete the process, forming a strong and
perfect weld, the welded surfaces being intimately blended together.
Not only do I produce a perfect weld between the two picces of metal,
but this improved welding process necessarily results in a saving of cost,
for less fuel is required to bring the iron up to a red heat than is
required to bring it to a white heat, the ordinary welding temperature.
The prussiate of potassa used in the above described operation may be
calcined to facilitate the welding. It is obvious that the proportions of
the above ingredients may be varied more or less without particularly
affecting the result.
A good and strong weld for iron and steel may be produced at a red
heat by the use of a compound of one pound of calcined borax and one
pound of iron filings, without the use of the prussiate of potassa, but
the most satisfactory results are obtained by adding to the said compound
the prussiate of potassa in the proportion and in the manner above
named.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special license
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 PROCESS OF WELDING IRON AND STEEL," a communication
to me from abroad by Joseph Popping, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators,
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 William Robert Lake, 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 :-
This Invention relates to an improved process of welding iron and
steel, and consists in applying between the surfaces to be welded a
compound of borax, iron filings, and prussiate of potassa, and subjecting
the iron to a red heat and pressure or percussion, and thereby welding

page_text: the same.
In welding iron it has heretofore been necessary to heat the
pieces to be welded together to a white heat, but while this process
answers for welding iron, it does not, without great care, answer for
welding steel to steel, or steel to iron, for the reason that the white heat
required does in many instances destroy the steel. Hence more or less
difficulty has always attended the welding of iron and steel together.
By this Invention, however, I am enabled to weld iron to steel and
steel to steel without difficulty. For this purpose I moisten the surfaces
of the metal with water, and sprinkle on the wet surfaces with the
fingers a compound consisting of one pound of pulverized calcined
borax, one pound of fine iron filings, and four ounces of prussiate of
potassa intimately mixed together. The moistening of the surfaces of
the iron causes the above compound to adhere to them. The two
surfaces to be welded are then placed together and wired, or otherwise
held in place, put into a fire, and brought up to a red heat or to a
temperature of six or seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The red hot
metal is then passed between rolls or placed under a hammer, when the
rolling or hammering will complete the process, forming a strong and
perfect.weld, the welded surfaces being intimately blended together.
Not only do I produce a perfect weld between the two pieces of metal,.
but this improved welding process necessarily results in a saving of cost,
for less fuel is required to bring the iron up to a red heat than is required
to bring it to a white heat, the ordinary welding temperature..
The prussiate of potassa used in the above described operation may be
calcined to facilitate the welding. It is obvious that the proportions of
the above ingredients may be varied more or less without particularly
affecting the result.
A good and strong weld for. iron and steel may be produced at a red
heat by the use of a compound of one pound of calcined borax and one
pound of iron filings, without the use of the prussiate of potassa, but
the most satisfactory results are obtained by adding to the said compound
the prussiate of potassa in the proportion and in the manner above
named, for by this additional element the scale and other impurities
between the iron unite with the prussiate of potassa and readily yield to
the boracic flux, so that no obstacle is interposed to prevent the perfect
union of the two surfaces.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. For welding purposes a compound of calcined borax, iron
filings, and prussiate of potassa, in the proportions and applied in the
manner herein described.
Second. The process herein described of welding iron and steel,
namely, applying to the surfaces to be welded the compound above
named, joining the prepared surfaces of the metal together, making
them red hot, and hammering or rolling the same.
Third. For welding purposes, a compound of calcined borax and iron
filings as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROB™. LAKE. (L.S.)