AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION OR MIXTURE OF METALS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEATHING FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, BOLTS, NAILS, OR OTHER FASTENINGS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LIONEL HOOD, of Old Broad Street, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of February, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Lionel Hood, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Lionel Hood, my executors, administrators,
and assigus, and such others as I, the said John Lionel Hood, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION OR
MIXTURE OF METALS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEATHING FOR SHIPS
AND OTHER VESSELS, BOLTS, NAILS, OR OTHER FASTENINGS," being a communica-
tion from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said John Lionel Hood, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Lionel Hood, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in certain mixtures of copper, zinc, and lead, with
or without the addition of a small proportion of antimony, tin, or iron, and in
which mixture the copper exists in various proportions up to fifty per cent.,
the object being to produce a compound which is capable of being rolled out
into sheets suitable for the purposes for which copper sheathing has hitherto
been applied, and also for forming ship's bolts, nails, and other fastenings, the
addition of a third or fourth metal to the ordinary ingredients of brass (which
are copper and zinc) being for the purpose of altering the crystaline arrange-
ment of the particles of the metallic compound or brass metal (as such mix-
tures are known to metallurgic chemists to do), so as to enable the manufac-
turer to roll the same into sheets with a smaller proportion of copper than
has hitherto been practised, by which means a much cheaper sheathing is
produced than sheet copper, or the sheathing hitherto known as "yellow
metal;" and also to form a compound which is capable of wearing well, yet
containing a sufficient proportion of copper to render the surface of the plates
susceptible of oxidation at sea, and thereby poisonous, by the formation of the
cupreous salts, so as to resist the attack and adhesion of "barnacles" and
other marine insects, which would otherwise impede the rate of the ship's
sailing. The mixtures here chosen are in such proportion as to combine
chemically or in atomic ratio, taking the prime equivalent (copper) at 32,
according to the authority of the late Doctor E. Turner, Professor of Chemistry
at the University of London. As an example of the requisite proportions to
embody these conditions, the following compounds are given in which the
copper ranges from forty to fifty per cent ·

page_text: Iron may also be employed by forming a mixture in which one atom or
twenty-eight parts of the pure metal are combined with any given number of
atoms or equivalents of copper, the zinc being also employed in atomic ratio. 3
The foregoing mixtures are given merely as examples for the formation of

page_text: possible, the loss
metallic compounds of different densities to be employed in the construction
of rods, bolts, nails, sheets, and other similar articles suitable for marine and
other purposes; but I do not confine myself thereto, so long as the mixture is
in definite proportions, atomic ratio, or chemical equivalents, and forming a
compound in which the copper ranges in proportion not exceeding fifty per
cent. by weight, such proportions forming an economical and useful mixture
for the manufacture of marine sheathing rods, bolts, nails, and other fastenings,
the same not having been hitherto used and employed for such p
purposes. The
best mode of manufacturing is, first to melt the copper in any suitable furnace,
and when completely fused, to add the zinc, lead, and the other metals. If
others are employed in small quantities at a time, so as to avoid "setting" or
cooling down the copper below the point of fusion, waiting a sufficient time
between each addition to allow the proportion last added to become properly
melted and incorporated, taking care to prevent, as much as
of the zinc by volatilization, which object is usually effected by holding each
plate or ingot of zinc down below the surface of the copper by means of a
wooden pole or iron tool till it is completely melted, as is well known to the
workmen employed in making brass and yellow metal, or to melt the entire
quantity of copper first, then add the lead or other metal, and when the mix-
ture is sufficiently fluid, to introduce a wooden pole into the melted metal, and
to stir the mixture well, allowing the pole to burn, so as to liberate the hydro-
genous gases from the wood, similar to the modes generally adopted in "poling
copper "when refining that metal. A portion of charcoal may likewise be
thrown on the surface of the melted metal to prevent loss by oxidation, the
same being regulated by the practical experience of the founder, who should
be well acquainted with the usual modes of refining copper and other metals.
When this is done, the zinc (or spelter) should be added (in the way previously
pointed out, to avoid chilling the metal too much), and when the whole is pro-
perly fused, the charge should be "tapped" or "laded" out of the furnace
without delay, into iron or other suitable moulds to form plates of from one
to two inches in thickness, which should be allowed to get cold, and then
separated from the moulds, and reheated in a suitable furnace to the tempe-
rature of redness, and then passed between the rolling cylinders to reduce
them to the required thickness, stopping the rolling process as the metal chills
below the point of redness, and reheating it as often as it is found necessary;
or the plates, when reduced to about one eighth of an inch thickness, may be
rolled cold, taking the usual precaution of "annealing" them in the furnace
after every two or three times passing between the cylinders. The furnaces
and machinery may be such as is ordinarily employed in melting and rolling

page_text: copper and brass, which are well known, and therefore require no particular
description.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me as
aforesaid, I wish it to be understood, in conclusion, that I do not mean or
intend to confine myself to the precise proportions herein set forth; but I
claim, as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, manufacturing sheathing rods, bolts, nails, and other fastenings
for marine and other purposes, from mixtures of the above-mentioned metals
in atomic ratio in which the copper does not exceed the proportion of fifty per
cent., as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lionel Hood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
R. RICHARDS.
(L.S.) HOOD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Ninth day of August, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Lionel Hood came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of August, in the year above written.