IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL SHEETS FOR JAPANNERS AND OTHER USES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Parsons, of Pont-ar-Tawe, near Swansea,
in the County of Glamorgan, Tin-plate Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL SHEETS FOR
JAPANNERS AND OTHER USES."
Sealed the 29th September 1859, and dated the 18th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Parsons at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th April 1859.
I, WILLIAM PARSONS, of Pont-ar-Tawe, near Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, Tin-plate Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL
SHEETS FOR JAPANNERS AND OTHER USES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing sheet iron and.
other metal sheets for japanners and other uses. For these purposes sheet
iron has heretofore been usually tinned all over; in some cases, however, the
thin sheets of iron have been coated with varnish or such like matters in
order to protect them from oxydation, but the latter have not admitted of
being readily soldered together at their edges.
Now, my improvements consist in tinning each of the edges of a plate or
sheet in succession and then varnishing or coating the central portion of each
sheet or plate with a suitable varnish or matter to prevent oxydation, by which
on the one hand the sheets or plates will readily admit of being soldered at
the edges, and at the same time much tin will be saved in the manufacture of
japanned articles where tin plate has heretofore been used. The best mode

page_text: of tinning or coating the edges of plates is to employ shallow baths with a
depth of melted tin or tin and lead or other metal according to the quantity
of the edges it is desired to coat, the process of coating with fused metal in
other respects is to be conducted as heretofore practised. In some cases the
coating of the edges may be performed after applying varnish or other matters
to the centre portions of the plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PARSONS, of Pont-ar-Tawe, near Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan,
Tin-plate Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said William
Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Parsons, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL SHEETS FOR
JAPANNERS AND OTHER USES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Parsons, 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 perforined, 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 Parsons, 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
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing sheet iron and

page_text: other metal sheets for japanners and other uses. For these purposes sheet
iron has heretofore been usually tinned all over; in some cases, however, the
thin sheets of iron have been coated with varnish or such like matters, in
order to protect them from oxidation, but the latter have not admitted of
being readily soldered together at their edges.
Now, my improvements consist in tinning each of the edges of a plate or
sheet, and then varnishing or coating the central portion of each sheet or plate
with a suitable varnish or matter to prevent oxidation, by which on the one
hand the sheets or plates will readily admit of being soldered at the edges,
and at the same time much tin will be saved in the manufacture of japanned
articles where tin plate bas heretofore been used. The best mode of tinning
or coating the edges of plates is to employ shallow baths with a depth of
melted tin, or tin and lead, or other metal, according to the quantity of the
edges it is desired to coat; the process of coating with fused metal in other
respects is to be conducted as heretofore 'practised. When the plates have
been thus tinned or coated at their edges, they are covered with varnish or
such like matter, preferring to employ a varnish composed of one pound of
asphaltum dissolved in two gallons of coal-tar naptha. This varnish is best
applied by immersing the plates in a bath containing the varnish, so as to cover
not only the centre of the plates, but also the tinned or coated edges, as the
varnish will not interfere with the soldering the plates together; the varnish
may, however, be applied with a brush to the centre portions only of the plates.
When the plates have been soldered together by the tin plate worker to make
the article desired, they may be japanned in the ordinary manner, as the varnish
originally applied is not intended as a substitute for japan, but only to preserve
the plate until it is required for use. Plates of steel may be tinned or coated
at their edges, and then covered with varnish as above described, and are for
some uses preferable to iron plates. In some cases the coating of the edges
may be performed after applying varnish or other matters to the centro
portions of the plates; the process already described I, however, consider
preferable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parsons, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
TJ thousand night hundrad and fifte ning
WILLIAM PARSONS. (L.S.)