IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE BOXES FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOLLERS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Keates, of the firm of Newton,
Keates, and Company, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Merchants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE BOXES
FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOLLERS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Keates at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd December 1852.
I, WILLIAM KEATES, of the firm of Newton, Keates, and Company,
of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE
BOXES FOR LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS" to be as follows:-
Fire boxes are now chiefly composed of copper. Now I propose
to construct my fire boxes of an alloy of copper and zinc, or of
copper and tin, whereby they will be equally durable, but be very
much cheaper. The fire boxes may be constructed of rolled and

page_text: hammered plates rivetted together, or of partly cast and partly
rolled and hammered plates, or altogether of cast plates, or they may
be cast complete in one piece.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Keates in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM KEATES, of the firm of Newton, Keates, and Company, of
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year. of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Kentes,
Her special licence that I, the said William Keates, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Keates, 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 terin 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE BOXES FOR
LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Keates, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 seven calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Keates, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be perforined, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:

page_text: Whereas the fire boxes of locomotive and other steam boilers are
now for the most part composed of copper, which metal, although
possessing considerable tenacity, is destitute of the requisite stiffness,
and is also in certain other respects, especially its liability to oxidation
and corrosion by the sulphur contained in the fuel, insufficiently
adapted for the said purpose. Now my Invention consists in construct-
ing the said fire boxes of brass or other alloys, or nixtures of copper
with zinc or tin, or with both of these metals, whereby I am enabled
to produce fire boxes possessed of superior durability with those of
copper, and at the same time at a material reduction in cost. The
alloys which I prefer to use for the purpose of my Invention are
those of copper and zinc, within the proportions of froin 40 to 75
parts of zinc to every 100 parts of copper, and of copper and tin,
within the proportions of from 3 to 20 parts of tin to every 100
parts of copper, and within these limits any alloy of copper with
zinc or tin will be a useful one. I also employ alloys of copper with
both zinc and tin in any desirable proportions, but do not recommend
such alloys. In making my fire boxes I construct them altogether of
wrought plates, as is practised when copper plates are used, or partly
of wrought and partly of cast plates, or altogether of cast plates,
according to the circumstances of cach particular case, such as the
heat to be withstood, or the pressure of the steam to be generated,
or the peculiarities in the construction of the boiler. When wrought
plates are employed, a mixture of copper and zinc in the proportion
of 100 parts of copper and 63 parts of zinc is what I prefer to use.
And here I would observe that the proportion of zinc just stated
is that which should exist in the manufactured alloy, and allowance
for waste by volatilization in melting, &c. must therefore be inade
according to the mode of operating in mixing the metals. This
remark will apply also in other cases, where I mention definite pro-
portions of metals to be used in making the alloys. For making
wrought plates the alloy is cast in cast iron moulds into cakes or
ingots of suitable weight for the required plate; and I recommend
that the cakes should be cast at least three times the thickness of the
required plate, as the fibre of the alloy is much improved by rolling

page_text: or forging; the cast cakes are then rolled or forged at a red heat in
the usual manner to the proper dimensions, care being taken not to
continue the rolling or forging after the plates cease to be visibly
hot, and to reheat the same, if required, during the process, in order
to maintain the heat of the cakes during the rolling or forging at as
high a point as may be, and prevent the necessity for frequent
reheating. I heat the rolls or the anvil on which the cakes are
being forged, and by this means am enabled to expedite the rolling
or forging very materially. When the plates are required to be
flanged or bent to particular forms I flange or bend thein upon cast
iron blocks, moulds, or forms of the necessary shape, both plates
and forms being first brought to a red heat, which prevents the
too rapid cooling of the plates, which are to be reheated as often as
needful. When cast plates are employed the alloys of any of the
above-mentioned proportions of metals are cast in sand or loam
moulds, by any of the methods in common use for such purposes,
into plates of the exact required form and dimensions; the rough
castings are then dressed in the usual manner; and when they are
composed of copper and zinc the plates should be well planished by
hammering cold, which greatly improves their surfaces and increases
their durability; the holes for the insertion of tubes, rivets, &c. are
then drilled out in the usual way for making cast plates from alloy
of copper and zinc. I prefer that the alloy be composed in the
proportion of 100 parts of copper to 45 parts of zinc, and when an
alloy of copper and tin is used the proportions which I recommend
are 100 parts of copper and 10 parts of tin for cast plates; but if for
wrought plates the proportions should be 100 parts of copper to 3
parts of tin. The plates, whether wrought or cast, after having been
drilled with the necessary holes for the tubes, rivets, &c., are put
together into the form of fire boxes, and secured by screws or rivets,
in the usual way practised in the construction of fire boxes from
plates of copper; the screws or rivets may be composed of the same
alloys as are used for the plates or of copper. Instead of constructing
the fire boxes from plates screwed or rivetted together, they may be
cast from any of the alloys before mentioned in a single piece, with

page_text: ribs or feathers, where additional strength is required, and the moulds
used may be of sand or loam, as may be preferred.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim in respect thereof is,-
The use of alloys of copper with zinc or tin, or with zinc and tin,
for the construction of fire boxes for locomotive and other steam
boilers, as herein-before described. And I also claim the rolling or
forging of such alloys in heated rolls or on heated anvils, and the
flanging or bending the same on heated blocks, moulds, or forms, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Keates, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
War KEATES Gol
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