A NEW MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Munro, of 32, Bartholomew Close, in the
City of London, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "A NEW
MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES."
Sealed the 1st April 1859, and dated the 28th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Munro at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th October 1858.
I, WILLIAM MUNRO, of 32, Bartholomew Close, in the City of London,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES," to be,
as follows:-
I carefully prepare a sulphate of tin by mixing pure tin, muriatic acid,
water, soda, and sulphuric acid, in certain proportions, to which in part of the
process I apply heat; and when I have obtained my carefully prepared sulphate
of tin, I, by the use of an electrix battery and the putting a plate of pure tin on
one wire and a plate of lead or other metal on another, coat the lead or other
metal with tin. I then manufacture capsules from the coated metals as
ordinarily made, or I can coat articles manufactured of lead or other metals,
such as capsules, &c., with tin. The thickness of such coating in either case
may be regulated for the purposes required, and when the plates are used for
the purpose they may be rolled thinner by ordinary flatting rollers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Munro in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MUNRO, of 32, Bartholomew Close, in the City of London, Manufacturing
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Munro, Her special license that I, the said William
Munro, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Munro, my executors, administrators, or 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 "A NEW
MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Munro, 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 William Munro, do hereby declare
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 the fol-
lowing statement, that is to say :-
=
In carrying out my said Invention I first prepare a sulphate of tin (the
quantities of the 'other materials being varied in proportion to the quantity of
tin used) by placing one pound of tin, cut into thin strips, in a bottle con-
taining two quarts of water; to this I add three pounds of muriatic acid, and
keep the mixture in a warm place for twenty-four hours; I then filter the
same into a vessel capable of holding five gallons. Dutch filtering paper will
be found a suitable filter for this purpose. When the solution. of tin. is filtered
I add to it as much soft water as will make, when mixed, three gallons of the
solution; I then dissolve twenty-eight ounces of common soda in two gallons
of warm water, and pour it gently into the tin solution, when a white carbonate

page_text: of tin will be precipitated; I then empty the vessel, and wash the carbonate
of tin in water, and filter it through cotton, so that it becomes a thick paste,
which I return to the vessel previously used and emptied, and by mixing with
it three gallons of water I bring the solution of tin into a fine cream-like
condition; I then take two pounds of sulphuric acid diluted in two gallons
of water, and stir the same gently into the previously prepared solution of tin,
and thus a sulphate of tin will be produced. Having obtained the sulphate
of tin, I then place so much as may be required of it in a trough of wood
galvanic battery; I then take pieces of the same size of tin
and of lead, well cleaned on the surface, and place them in the trough face
to face, the tin to be on the copper wire, and the lead on the zinc wire of
the galvanic battery; by which means, and by the action of the galvanic
battery, using to create the force one part of sulphuric acid to fourteen of
water, the lead will become coated with tin to any thickness required, and
the combined metal may then be rolled down to a suitable thinness by
ordinary flatting rollers or other suitable means. The sheets so produced
may then be made into capsules or other articles; or, capsules or other
articles previously made of lead may be coated with tin by putting such
capsules or other articles on the zinc wiro instead of the plate of lead.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Munro, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM MUNRO. (L.S.)