IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLDERING METALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle
Street Holborn, (City), London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SOLDERING METALS."--A Communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Lora-
doux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th July 1854.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn
(City), London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLDERING METALS" to be as follows:-
A new & improved mode of soldering the bottoms & heads to the
bodies of cans and other vessels; and of soldering seams or joints of various
forms in articles of various descriptions, by laying the two parts of the seam
or joint together and applying the whole length or circumference thereof at
the same time to the heated exterior surface of a furnace or heater, of suitable
construction to apply the heat to the seam or joint without applying it to the
whole of the vessel or article, using as solder, for the purpose of uniting the

page_text: seam or joint, either the tin which was applied to the plate in the tiuning
process, or a strip, ring, or piece of solder of suitable form to cover or lay in
contact with the whole length of the joint.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 19th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I,
the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SOLDERING METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
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 a new and improved mode of soldering the
bottoms and heads to the bodies of cans and other vessels; and of soldering
seams or joints of various forms in articles of various descriptions, whereby

page_text: the process is performed much more expeditiously and with less solder than
when performed in the old way. The nature of the Invention consists in
laying the two parts of the seam or joint together, and applying the whole
length or circumference thereof at the same time to the heated exterior
surface of a furnace or heater, of suitable construction, to apply the heat to
the seam or joint without applying it to the whole of the vessel or article,
using as solder, for the purpose of uniting the seam or joint, either the tin
which was applied to the plate in the tinning process, or a strip, ring, or
piece of solder of suitable form to cover or lay in contact with the whole
length of the seam or joint.
The method of performing my Invention is illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, in which—
Fig. 1 is a section through the axis of a cylindrical tin can for preserving
vegetable or animal substances, the head of which is supposed to have been
soldered by my Invention, without using any solder in addition to the tin on.
the plate, and the bottom of which is applied with a ring of solder, ready to be
heated and soldered.
Fig. 2 is a section of the same, transversely to the axis, and shows the manner
in which the ring of solder is applied.
Fig. 3 is a vertial section, on a scale half the size of Figs. 1 and 2, of a
furnace employed in soldering the head and bottom of the cans, showing a
can undergoing the operation of soldering on its head. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts where they occur in the different Figs.
Of all the soldering operations to which my Invention is applicable, perhaps
the most important, and that to which its application will be most widely
extended, is that of soldering on the bottoms or heads to the bodies of different
kinds of vessels, and for that reason I have chosen to illustrate the soldering
of the head and bottom of a preserve can, which will serve also to explain its
application to other purposes.
A is the cylindrical body of the can, which may be supposed to have been
already constructed. H is the head, which has a piece turned up all around,
to form a lap to fit tightly around the end of the body. The head is placed
on the body, and the lap closed in a machine, or by any convenient means.
The partly-formed can is then placed with the head downwards, as shown
in Fig. 8, on the top of the furnace F. This furnace is of cylindrical form
externally, and has an open, cylindrical, or slightly conical tube T passing
through its centre. The diameter of the top of the central tube is about one-
fourth of an inch less than the can. The space between the exterior and the

page_text: central tube T forms the fire space, and has an annular grate at the bottom,
upon which the fire rests. The top of the furnace, which covers the fire space
but not the central tube, has a recess 1, 2, all round the central tube, which is
large enough to receive the head of the can and deep enough to receive the
whole of the lap. The top of the furnace is kept at such a heat that the tin
on the inner surface of the lap of the head, and on the outer surface of that
part of the body covered by the lap, will melt and unite, so as to form a per-
fectly tight joint all round the can. The part of the head which does not
rest on the top of the furnace is kept at a moderate heat by the air which
enters the tube T, so that the tinned surface is not injured in quality or
appearance. B is the bottom of the can, which has a portion turned up all
round, to form a lap to fit around the body, like the head H, but cannot be
soldered perfectly without additional solder, as in order to effect that, it is
necessary to close the lap more perfectly than can easily be dono when the
opposite end of the can is not open, especially when the can is filled, as is
frequently the case, before the bottom is put on. The strip of solder for
soldering on the bottom is bent into the form of a ring to fit the inside
of the body of the can, the bottom of the can having a groove or channel g
made in it to receive the said ring. Tho can is then placed on the
furnace with the bottom downwards, and the solder is melted by the heat of
the furnace, and caused to run into the joint or seam, being confined and pre-
vented running away from where its presence is required by means of the
groove or channel g. The joint around the bottom, when soldered, will
present the same appearance as the joint around the head, represented at
the top of Fig. 1, except that the solder which will be at the bottom of the
groove will make that part of the plate thicker.
In soldering on the bottoms or heads of any tin-plate vessels, where there
is good facility for closing the lap very perfectly, I would never use any solder
but the tin which the plate received in tinning; but where that facility is not
afforded, it will be necessary to use a strip of solder, laid upon or in close
proximity to the joint or seam. It is hardly necessary to say, that in soldering
any other metal than tin-plate the strip of solder S, S, must be used. Joints
or seams of straight or any other form can be soldered in the way I have
described. It is only necessary to perform my Invention successfully to con-
struct that part of the furnace or heater to which the joint or seam is applied
of a proper form, to heat the whole lapping parts which are to form the
joint or seam at once. The lap may be formed in all cases in the same
manner as for soldering in the old way with the soldering iron.

page_text: I claim the within-described mode of soldering, by exposing at once the
whole length or circumference of the laps of those parts of the plate or
plates which are to be united to the heated exterior surface of a furnace or
heater, of suitable construction, whether the soldering be effected solely by the.
tin which was received by the plate or plates in the tinning process or by a
loose strip of solder.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1855.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)