Ar IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATING IRON AND OTHER PLATES TO BE COATED OR COVERED WITH TIN OR A MIXTURE OF TIN AND LEAD OR OTHER MATERIAL, ALSO APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Nurse, of Pen-y-van House, Ponty-
mister, in the County of Monmouth, for the Invention of "Ar
IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATING IRON AND OTHER PLATES TO BE COATED OR
COVERED WITH TIN OR A MIXTURE OF TIN AND LEAD OR OTHER MATERIAL,
ALSO APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH.”
"
Sealed the 26th September 1871, and dated the 31st March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Nurse at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1871.
I, GEORGE NURSE, of Pen-y-van House, Pontymister, in the County
of Monmouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATING IRON AND OTHER PLATES TO BE COATED
OR COVERED WITH TIN OR A MIXTURE OF TIN AND LEAD OR OTHER MATERIAL, ALSO
APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a certain process for treating iron and other
metal plates which have to be coated with tin or an admixture of tin,

page_text: also to means of keeping the plates apart during the process to prevent
them becoming injured or marked.
I provide three separate pots or cisterns which I respectively number
1, 2, and 3. No. 1 cistern or pot I fill with palm oil or tallow slightly
heated by means of a fire or a gas jet. No. 2 cistern or pot is also
filled with palm oil or tallow licated to a temperaturo of say 300°
Fah'. No. 3 cistern or pot is filled with the melted tin or mixture
of tin and lead or other material which may be preferred. To this
cistern can be fitted an apparatus by which the rack containing the
sheets or plates is kept down during the time they are being coated 1
or covered with the melted metal. I provide a rack which may be
made of iron, copper, or any other substance that may be deemed
advisable; this rack is fitted with handles, also a cover kept in place
by a spring or other fastening to prevent the plates or sheets from
floating. I place the plates or sheets singly into this rack. They can 1
be placed vertically, horizontally, or at any angle between. I prefer to
place them vertically, and when the said rack is full, or otherwise, it is
lifted into bath No. 1, which contains, as before described, palm oil or
tallow slightly warmed; the rack with the plates or sheets is then
transferred to bath No. 2, containing as before described, palm oil or
tallow heated to a temperature of say 300° Fahrenheit, from this bath
the rack containing the plates or sheets is transferred to cistern or pot
No. 3, containing the melted tin or mixture of tin and lead or any other
mixture that may be preferred, heated to a temperature of say 500°
Fah. By placing the plates or sheets first into the comparitive cool a
bath of grease in No. 1 pot they are thoroughly greased, and then by
their immersion into bath No. 2 all the water remaining on the plates
is expelled or evapourated by the high temperature of the grease, the
temperature of the plates being likewise raised, and all of them kept
separate from each other. The melted mixture of metal is required to
be only of a comparatively low temperature to well cover or coat the
plates or sheets, thereby causing the formation of from 70 to 80 per
cent. less of oxide or scruff, the plates or sheets being also free from any
bulges or indentations. After the plates or sheets are taken out of
bath No. 3 coated with the tin or metal, they may be finished off in the
ordinary way. The rack into which the plates or sheets are placed
may be lifted out of the various pots by manual labour or by blocks
and tackle together with a small overhead traveller or a rack may be

page_text: fixed in each of the cisterns or pots, and the plates or sheets placed in
and taken out singly.
My Invention therefore consists in the employment of two separate
chambers or pots filled with grease, one slightly heated, the other heated
to a much higher temperature by means of fire or gas, so as to expel all
water remaining on the plates or sheets before their immersion into a pot
of melted metal, thereby preventing, as before described, a great loss by
the formation of oxide or scruff, also in the employment of a rack by
which the plates or sheets are kept distinct from each other during the
whole process of coating or tinning metal plates. The rack itself may
be made of any form that may be deemed advisable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Nurso in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
NURSE, of Pen-y-van House, Pontymister, in the County of Monmouth,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Nurse, Her special licence,
that I, the said George Nurse, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Nurse, 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATING IRON
AND OTHER PLATES TO BE COATED OR COVERED WITH TIN OR A MIXTURE OF TIM
AND LEAD OR OTHER MATERIAL, ALSO IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREWITH,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Nurse, 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

page_text: 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 George Nurse, do hereby declaro the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:—
This Invention relates to a certain process for treating iron and other
metal plates which have to be coated or covered with tin or a mixture 1
of tin and lead, or other material, and also to means or apparatus for
keeping the plates apart during the process to prevent them becoming
injured or marked.
The Invention will be well understood by referring to the annexed
Sheet of Drawings and to the following description thereof.
I employ three separate cisterns or pots A, B, C, Figures 1 and 2,
into which the plates to be coated or covered with the material or
materials before mentioned are immersed in consecutive order by means
of a rack D, in which they are arranged vertically.
The first of the three cisterns or pots A contains palm oil or tallow :
in a fluid state and heated slightly by a fire E or gas flames, as found
convenient. The cistern is of square or rectangular shape and sufficiently
deep for the tallow or oil to cover the plates when placed in it, tho
'platès being in a rack with division bars or rails to keep them apart
'as will be seen in the transverse sectional view Figure 3, the rack D
being suspended by a chain F from an overhead travelling carriage or
trolly G, which runs upon a tram depending from girders I directly
over the series of cisterns. The rack is filled with the plates to be
treated while on the floor I of the building, and is then lifted by a
pulley on the crane jib J to clear the top edge K. The crane is then
swung inwards to bring the rack under the trolly G, the chain of which
is then hooked to the shackle L and the rack is supported thereby.
The rack with the plates are now ready to be immersed into the first
cistern or pot A, and this is accomplished by moving the trolly along
the tram to directly over the pot and then by slackening the chain F.
After the plates with the rack have been immersed a sufficient time in
this cistern to become heated and to be covered with the fluid tallow
or oil which it contains, they are lifted therefrom and held suspended

page_text: over it for a short time to permit of the superfluous grease draining
from them, but not so long as to interfere with the heat which has been
imparted to them by the immersion; the trolly with the suspended rack
is then moved along on the tram to bring the rack with the slightly
heated and greased plates over the second cistern or pot B, into which
they are immersed, as in the previous cistern. This second cistern also
contains palm oil or tallow, but the heat of it is much higher than
the heat of the grease in the first cistern. In practice I prefer that
the heat of the grease in the second cistern should be about 300°
Fahrenheit. The plates with the rack are lifted from the second cistern
or pot B and suspended over it a short time to drain off the superfluous
grease, and then the trolly with the rack and plates are moved to over
the third cistern or pot C, which contains tins or a mixture of tin and
lead, or other material, heated to about 500° Fahrenheit, into which the
rack and plates are immersed and with which the plates become.coated
on both sides. The plates after having been sufficiently long in this bath
to become coated are lifted with the rack and are kept suspended for
a time for the tin or mixture of tin and lead to cool. The rack is then
removed from the trolly and the plates taken out to be rolled or other-
wise operated upon, according to the usual methods of finishing such
plates ready for the market.
Among the advantages to be gained by treating plates in the manner
as heretofore-explained are three of great importance:-1; a less per-
centage of oxide or scruff is produced than by any process at present
known; 2, the plates are free from bulges or indentations because
they are not lifted or touched by tongs during the process; and 3,
manual labour is reduced to a minimum by the employment of a rack
which is dipped with the plates into each of the cisterns.
I have in the foregoing given what may be considered a practical
mode of treating iron plates, but many modifications in the details may
in some cases be introduced, for instance, it is not necessary to employ
a crane to lift the filled rack nor a travelling overhead trolly to carry
the rack from one cistern to the next, as the rack can be lifted and
inserted by hand or by other mechanical means; neither is it necessary
that the plates should be arranged vertically in the rack previous to
dipping, as they can be arranged in an inclined or in a horizontal
manner, as deemed advisable, the division bar or bars being arranged
in either case to keep the plates from touching each other. If the bar

page_text: or bars are so arranged I provide a cover to the frame which can be
kept closed by a spring or other fastener to prevent the plates floating
or shifting their position when in either of the baths.
.
In the Drawings I have shown an arrangement of flues N, N, and
fire-places E, E, such as I propose, but any other arrangement can be 5
adopted for economising fuel and obtaining the greatest amount of
heat therefrom before the waste gases pass away to the chimnics P, P.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
Firstly. The improved process of treating metal plates as heroin- 14
before described.
Secondly. The employment of racks for containing metal plates to
be treated as hercin-before described, when such racks are dipped
successively into cisterns or pots containing grease and tin, or țin and
lead, or other material for the purposes set forth.
And thirdly. I claim the employment of movable racks for con-
taining metal plates as herein-before described, which plates require to
be prepared in grease and afterwards coated with tin, or a mixture of
tin and lead, or other material.
1
In witness whereof, I, the said George Nurse, have hereunto set 20
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
CTORAL NIDOD
.