AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF ELECTRO-PLATING IRON AND STEEL WITH GOLD OR SILVER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS OF ELECTRO-PLATING IRON AND STEEL WITH GOLD OR
SILVER." A communication from abroad by Alexander Lawe, of
Kingston, Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, Gentleman.
Bealed the 17th January 1871, and dated the 16th November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1870.
I, GEORGE HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," South-
ampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF ELECTRO-PLATING IRON AND STEEL
WITH GOLD OR SILVER," a communication, to be as follows:-
To electro-plate iron or steel with gold I employ a voltaic battery
composed of zinc and copper, and use a bath of sulphate of copper.
When the battery is ready the gold solution is prepared in the following
manner :-I take one ounce of cyanuret of potassium, and dissolve it in
two pints of soft water, then, having fastened a piece of gold to the

page_text: positive pole of the battery, and a piece of copper to the negative pole
of the same, I immerse both poles with the metals attached in the
solution of cyanuret of potassium. In a short time the piece of copper
attached to the negative pole of the battery will be found coated with
gold. The gold solution is then ready for use. I now take the object,
whether iron or steel, which is to be plated and having first cleansed it
with dilute muriatic acid attach it to the pole to which the piece of
copper was previously attached, viz., the negative pole of the battery;
I then pour out the bath of sulphate of copper and substitute for the
same a bath of salt and water.
To electro-plate iron or steel with silver I follow the directions above
given until the iron or steel object to be plated is covered with a thin
coat of gold, I then proceed to electro-plate with silver in the ordinary
way. I may also electro-plate the metals direct without prior use of
gold with silver by substituting a piece of silver for the gold, and
otherwise following the same modus operandi as first described. The
process as secondly described is however considered the more preferable
for electro-plating iron or steel with silver.
With the foregoing general description of my Invention, I beg to state
that I am aware iron and steel are plated commonly with the precious
metals, but not with the aid or by the means of electricity. I am also
aware that both iron and steel have been electro-plated occasionally
with gold and silver by the ordinary process, but this process is very
uncertain, and therefore practically useless to the trade. There is no
uncertainty whatever about the improved process herein described. The
use of chloride of gold, nitrate of silver, or other analogous preparations
will be entirely dispensed with in my process of electro-plating. The
solutions of gold or silver obtained directly from the precious metals will
be used in place thereof.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Haseltine, Her special
licence that I, the said George Haseltine, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Haseltine, my exe-
cutors, 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 OF ELECTRO-PLATING IRON AND STEEL WITH GOLD OR SILVER," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Alexander Lawe, of Kingston,
Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, Gentleman, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Haseltine, 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
<

page_text: Third. Electro-plating iron or steel with silver direct by the use of a
silver solution, composed of silver, cyamunt of potassium, and soft water
with a voltaic battery, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)