IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING IRON FROM OXIDATION
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Auguste Dufrené, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESERVING IRON FROM OXIDATION."-A communication from Monsieur
Alfred Delcelier, residing at Eu, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 21st January 1868, and dated the 23rd July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1867.
I, IIECTOR AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESERVING IRON FROM OXIDATION," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in covering the surface of iron
or sheet iron to be protected from oxidation with a coat of brass. For this
purpose I employ a salt of copper or oxide of copper, which I dissolve in
1.orax (borate of soda); I add to the solution a salt of zinc; I then dip the
articles to be coated into the bath thus prepared, and pass an electric current
through the metal and into the solution, so as to stimulate the deposit of the
alloy of copper and zinc on the iron.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, 'for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hector Auguste Dufrene, Her special licence that I, the said
Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, 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 PRESERVING IRON FROM OXIDATION," (a com-
munication from Monsieur Alfred Delcelier, a person resident at Eu, in the
Empire of France), upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hector
Auguste Dufrené, 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 Hector Auguste Dufrené, 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:―
The Invention communicated to me consists in covering the surface of iron
to be protected from oxidation with a coat of brass, that is to say, with a coat
of an alloy of copper and zinc. For this purpose I employ a salt of copper,
such as sulphate, nitrate, cyanuret, or merely oxide of copper, which is
dissolved either in the hot or cold state in borax (borate of soda) or in boracic
acid. The articles to be covered after being scoured by known means are
dipped in the bath of liquid copper, to which is added a solution of zinc
varying in quantity according to the alloy to be deposited. An electric

page_text: current is then passed through the metal, so as to cause the alloy of copper
and zinc to deposit to a suitable thickness on the surface of the iron. When
electricity is not employed the iron after being scoured can be dipped in a
solution of borax; then in a bath of melted copper, either pure or alloyed with
zinc or tin. These processes are also applicable to steel and cast iron.
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of performing the same, what I claim is, —
Firstly, the employment of copper and zinc dissolved by means of borax for
covering the surface of iron with a coat of an alloy of copper and zinc, as
herein-before described.
Secondly, the employment of copper alone, or mixed with zinc or tin in a
liquid state for covering articles of iron with a coat of copper, or of one of the
said alloys, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
H. A. DUFRENÉ. (L.S.)