AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ARTIFICIAL COATINGS FROM METALLIC SURFACES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ARTIFICIAL COATINGS FROM METALLIC SURFACES."
-A communication from abroad by Byron Horatio Harmon, of
Clifton Springs, and Philip Henry Rose, of Canandaigua, both in
the State of New York, United States of America.
Scaled the 1st January 1870, and dated the 7th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th July 1869.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF

page_text: AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ARTIFICIAL COATINGS PROM METALLIC SURFACES,"
a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a method of removing artificial coatings
from metallic surfaces by subjecting the same to a current of hot air,
steam, or gases, or any of them combined, and agitating the mass while
under action for the purpose of detaching the coatings and removing
them when melted. It also consists in the apparatus by which this result
is secured.
A retort or closed chamber, is provided having a water vessel at the
bottom for catching the melted droppings, and serving also as a steam
generator when desired. An induction pipe or pipes enters the bottom
of the retort 'and is connected with a suitable furnace for hot air or gases.
An eduction pipe also extends from the top of the retort to a chimney.
A receptacle having an open bottom and sides and receiving mechanical
agitation in any desired manner is situated in the retort, and contains
the mass to be subjected to action. It is preferably agitated by means
of a rod having at its top a loop wherein plays a cam which alternately
raises it and allows it to fall, the receptacle striking a stop in its descent
and thereby producing the necessary concussion.
This Invention is adapted to removing various kinds of metallic
coatings, such as the tin or scraps of tin plate or old ware by simply
placing them in or on the receptacle and subjecting them to heat and
agitation as described.
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 7th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, South-
ampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, 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 William Robert Lake, Her special

page_text: licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my exécutors, 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 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ARTIFICIAL COATINGS
FROM METALLIC SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1, 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 consists in a method of removing artificial coatings
from metallic surfaces by subjecting the same to a current of hot air,
steam, or gases, or any of them combined in a retort provided with a
receptacle for holding the material, which receptacle receives mechanical
agitation to detach the coatings as they become melted.
consists in the construction and arrangement of the apparatus by which
this result is secured.
It further
In the Drawings Fig. 1 represents a central vertical section of the
apparatus, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of the receptacle detached.
In the Drawings, A indicates a retort or closed chamber, which may
be of cylindrical or other form, and whose bottom a rests over a water
vessel b for receiving the melted coatings as they are detached, and which
also serves as a steam generator when it is desired to employ steam
in the process.
Induction and eduction pipes B, B, C, are employed
connecting respectively with the bottom and top of the retort, having a
considerable space between, in which rests the receptacle E for holding
the scraps or other material from which the coatings are to be removed.

page_text: The induction pipes B, B, connect with an air or gas heating furnace D,
and open in the retort a suitable distance apart so as to best distribute
the heat through the receptacle holding the material being acted upon.
The eduction pipe leads off into a suitable chimney. The receptacle E
is of such form as will best hold the material to be acted on, and it
receives mechanical agitation in any desired manner. It is preferably,
made of the basket form shown, with perforated or grated bottom and
sides, and it receives the agitation preferably by means of a rod or
connection with a loop c at the top alternately raised and dropped by
means of an abrupt cam d. Any equivalent form of the receptacle or
the means of operating it may be employed, as the only object is to hold
the material to be acted upon and to agitate it to loosen and detach the
coatings as they become melted. When the receptacle drops from the
cam it may strike upon a stop s to produce the desired concussion. The
material to be acted upon is simply placed in or upon the receptacle, and
heat applied either in the form of hot air, steam, or gases, or any of them
combined, while the receptacle itself receives a suitable agitation to
detach the coatings as they become melted.
This
process may be applied to the removing of coatings either of sheet
or solid metal, such as bars or pieces. It is especially effective, however,
in removing the coatings of tin from scraps or chips of what is called in
market "tin plate," old ware, &c. The coatings thus removed are
remelted in mass and serve for subsequent use as well as at first.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention as coni-
municated to me by my foreign correspondents, I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent,-
First. The method of removing artificial coatings from metallic
surfaces by subjecting the same to a current of hot air, steam, or gases,
or any of them combined in a closed retort, substantially as herein set
forth.
Second. The method herein described of removing artificial coatings
from metallic surfaces by subjecting the same to agitation while being
subjected to heat in a retort, substantially as described.
Third. The combination with a retort provided with an agitating
receptacle of an induction pipe or pipes below and an eduction pipe
above for the passage of hot air, steam, or gases, or any of them con-

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. J. GEDGE,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.