IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-METALLURGY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire
of France, and 10, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-METALLURGY."-A communication from Théophile Chutaux,
residing at Cité Bergère, in Paris, aforesaid, Electrician.
Sealed the 20th May 1870, and dated the 23rd November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd November 1869.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent
Offices, 18, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 10,
Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-METALLURGY," a communication from Théophile Chutaux, a person
resident at Cité Bergère, in Paris, aforesaid, Electrician, to be as
follows:-
The said Invention relates to improvements in the system of electro-

page_text: and consists in maintaining the said solutions equally rich throughout,
and in obtaining a more perfect and uniform deposit of metal in a much
shorter space of time than what is now necessary. These improvements
are effected by keeping the solution constantly agitated by any suitable
contrivance, and to operate this contrivance by the same electric battery
which serves to apply the metals on the objects to be electro-plated;
this is done by placing a revolving shaft with a helice at its lower end
vertically in the middle of the receptacle containing the solution; its
upper end crossing a support composed of isolating material resting on
the receptacle is attached by an endless band passing over grooved
pulleys to the shaft of a fly wheel operated by a connecting rod attached
to an armature acted upon by the electro-magnet attached to the
battery. The rotation given to the shaft is transmitted to the helice, an
ascending current is established in the middle of the receptacle, and a
descending current towards its sides in such a manner that all the parts
of the objects operated upon are in continual contact with a liquid of
equal richness throughout, and the metal is thus deposited regularly
and uniformly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18,
Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 10, Sackville
Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special
licence, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henri Adrien
Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
J

page_text: after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-METALLURGY," a communication from
Théophile Chutaux, a person resident at Cité Bergère, in Paris, aforesaid,
Electrician, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, 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 montlis, next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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 :-
The Invention communicated to me relates to improvements in the
system of electro-plating with gold, silver, or copper by means of metallic
solutions, and consists in maintaining the said solutions equally rich
throughout, and in obtaining a more perfect and uniform deposit. in
a much shorter space of time than is now necessary. These improve-
ments are effected by keeping the solution constantly. agitated by any
suitable contrivance, and to operate this contrivance by..the same
electric battery which serves to apply the metals on the objects to be
electro-plated. This is done by placing a revolving shaft with a helice at
its lower end vertically in the middle of the receptacle containing the
solution; its upper end crossing a support composed of isolating material
resting on the receptacle is attached by an endless band passing over
grooved pulleys to the shaft of a fly wheel operated by a connecting
rod attached to an armature acted upon by the electro-magnet attached
to the battery. The rotation given to the shaft is transmitted to the
helice, an ascending current is established in the middle of the receptacle,
and a descending current towards its sides in such a manner that all the
parts of the objects operated upon are in continual contact with a
liquid of equal richness throughout, and the metal is thus deposited
regularly and uniformly.
Having thus briefly described the nature of these improvements, I will
now proceed to describe the same more fully, reference being had to the

page_text: accompanying Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
in which Drawings Figure 1 is an elevation in perspective of the vessel
containing the metallic bath supposed to be made of glass or crystal,
also a side view is shewn in this Figure of the electro-motive mechanism
and an elevation of the galvanic battery, the whole combined and con-
nected together, Figure 2 is a plan or top view of the vessel and of the
electro-motive apparatus, the battery being supposed underneath the
same. In these two Figures similar letters of reference indicate like
parts.
It is generally known that the lower parts of metallic baths where
the liquid is stable are enriched to the detriment of the upper parts,
also that the liquid becomes impoverished in a horizontal direction
in the space between the anode and the cathode. The current of the
battery in a stable liquid is still more energetic in the impoverished
parts, by reason that there is not the same quantity of metal to reduce,
and that the chemical product acting as conductor and dissolver is
stationary in these parts in a greater proportion. It results that the layer
of metal deposed on the upper parts of objects dipped perpendicularly
in the bath adheres imperfectly, that the molecular depot is rougher,
more porous, and of a bad color, and that the molecules of metal forming
the layer do not adhere to one another perfectly. In the middle of the
vessel, which is preferably circular, containing the metallic bath is placed
vertically a shaft a, at the lower end of which is mounted a helice b.
The lower end of this shaft reposes and turns in a kind of socket of
glass or crystal c fixed to the bottom of the vessel. Its upper end is
maintained and turns in an opening made in a wooden disc d, or in a
disc of any other non-conducting material fixed in a copper ring in
communication with the positive pole of the battery through one of the
four arms at rest on the edges of the vessel and which support said
ring. To this ring are hung the soluble or insoluble anodes g. On the
upper end of the vertical shaft is keyed a grooved pulley h, which
receives an endless band i transmitting to the shaft the rotating move-
ment imparted to it by the electro-motive apparatus. The objects to be
electro-plated are hung at an equal distance from the centre of the
vessel to a copper circle m placed inside said vessel at a few inches from
the sides of the same. This circle is supported by arms n reposing on
the edges of the vessel, and it is in communication through one of these
arms with the negative pole of the battery. When the rotating move-
ment is imparted to the helice an ascending current is established in the

page_text: middle of the vessel with horizontal waves, and a descending one along
its sides in such a manner that the lower parts of the bath are con-
tinually replacing the upper ones, and vice versa. Thus all the parts of
the bath are maintained in the same condition, and all the objects being
placed at the same distance from the centre and the sides of the vessel
it follows that the same layers of liquid successively pass thereon, and
that the metallic depot is operated regularly on all their parts.
The electro-motive apparatus connected to the galvanic battery is
composed of two electro-magnets o fixed firmly on a board p, and between
the poles of which is placed a moveable hard wooden armature q furnished
on either side with an iron plate of the same width as the head of the
poles. This armature is jointed by one of its extremities to a bridge r fixed
on the board p, whilst its other extremity is connected to the rod s, itself
connected to the bent shaft of a fly wheel t on whose end is keyed a
grooved pulley which receives the band i to transmit the movement
and impart the rotation to the vertical shaft a, and to the helice b of the
vessel by the intermediate grooved pulley h. The movement of the rod
is effected by means of the alternate attraction exercised by the two
electro-magnets o on the armature q. The new form given to said
armature, viz., more width at the part where it is jointed than at the
part where it is connected to the rod, causes the attraction to take place
immediately after the alternate interruption of the current and annuls
the dead points in a part of the shaft's revolution, which is greater
than in any other arrangement or with any other form of armature used
heretofore.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood I do not confine myself to the
precise details herein indicated and represented in the accompanying
Drawings, as these may obviously be modified without departing from
the principle of the said Invention; but what I claim and desire to
secure by the said Letters Patent is,-
1st. The continual agitation of metallic baths for the galvanic plastic
process during the operations whatever be the apparatus employed, as
described and set forth.
2nd. The application of the electric battery as motive power to impart
motion to the apparatus above mentioned and herein described to put in
agitation metallic baths for the galvano-plastic process, as described and
set forth.

page_text: 3rd. The amplified form of the armature above described at the part
where it is jointed to the board which supports the same, as described
and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)