IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING OR COATING METALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Samson Thomas, of 17, Cornhill, London,
in the County of Middlesex, and William Evans Tilley, of 6, Kirby
Street, in the Parish of Saint Andrew's, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex for the Invention of 66 TrenDARDIR
on Coimire
DE AMINO
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Samson Thomas
and William Evans Tilley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents;
with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1855.
WC, FREDERICK SAMSON THOMAS, of 17, Cornhill, London, in the County of
Middlesex, and WILLIAM EVANS TILLEY, of 6, Kirby Street, in the Parish
of Saint Andrew's, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLATING OR COATING
METALS" to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in making alloys of silver, tin, copper, and nickel, any
or all of them, and depositing the same upon metals or metallic substances by
means of electricity. The best modes with which we are acquainted for carrying
out this Invention are as follow:-When tin and silver and nickel, or either of
these metals, are to be deposited on iron, in combination or as an alloy, we.
dissolve metallic tin by nitrio-muriatic acid; then precipitate the tin by ferro-
cyanide of potassium. We also, if we wish the tin, to predominate, mix sulphuric

page_text: acid or muriatic acid with the oxide of tin; if to be deposited upon copper,
brass, German silver, or other metals, we precipitate the tin as before, then
wash the oxide, and then take up, the oxide with ferro-cyanide of potassium
boiled in distilled water. We dissolve silver by nitric acid, which we precipitate
by ferro-cyanide of potassium or salt; we then take pearlash with salts of tartar
and ammonia, and fuse these three, latter ingredients; we then add the alkali
so formed to the oxides of silver and tin, and boil them in distilled water; we
then let the solution cool and filter it; the solution is then ready.
If nickel or copper be employed in the alloy, we treat those metals in the
same manner as tin, and employ it with either or both of the foregoing metals.
In any of these solutions the cyanide of potassium might be used, if required,
for the purpose of taking up the foregoing oxides.
Having obtained either of the foregoing solutions, and mixed them in a bath
in such proportions as we may think fit for producing the quality of metal
proposed to be deposited, we then either melt metallic silver and tin together
in such proportions as we think proper, and therewith form the positive pole to
be attached to a battery; or we suspend the oxides of the metals in such pro-
portions as we think fit in a bag in the solution; and in this latter case we use
with the galvanic battery a pole of platinum. The articles to be coated are to
be suspended in the bath formed of either of these alloys, and are to be attached
by wires of copper or brass to the zinc of the battery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Samson Thomas and William Evans Tilley in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK 2
SAMSON THOMAS, of 17, Cornhill, London, in the County of Middlesex, and
WILLIAM EVANS TILLEY, of 6, Kirby Street, in the Parish of Saint Andrew's,
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord 3
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Frederick Samson Thomas and William Evans Tilley, Her special
licence that we, the said Frederick Samson Thomas and William Evans
Tilley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the 8

page_text: said Frederick Samson Thomas and William Evans Tilley, our 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 PLATING OR COATING METALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Frederick Samson
Thomas and William Evans Tilley, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Frederick Samson Thomas and William
Evans Tilley, 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 thereof, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in making alloys composed of any two or more of the
following metals, videlicit, silver, tin, copper, and nickel, and depositing the
same upon metals and metallic substances. For this purpose we proceed as
follows: we first make solutions of the metals of which the intended alloys
are to be composed, proceeding preferably as follows:-
When tin is one of the metals, constituting the intended alloy, we dissolve
metallic tin by nitro-muriatic acid, then precipitate the tin by ferro-cyanide
of potassium. We then wash the oxide, and then take up the oxide with
ferro-cyanide or cyanide of potassium boiled in distilled water. We dissolve
silver by nitric acid, and precipitate the silver from the same by ferro-cyanide
of potassium, or common salt, or any suitable alkali; we. then take pearl-
ash, or ferro-cyanide of potassium, with salts of tartar and ammonia, and fuse
these three latter ingredients; we then add the alkali so formed to the oxide
of silver, and boil them in distilled water, and when the solution is cool we
filter it, and the solution-is then ready.
If nickel enter into the composition of the intended alloy, we treat it in the
same manner as the silver to obtain a solution. If copper enter into the
5 composition of the intended alloy, we form a solution of sulphate of copper,
then precipitate by salts of tartar, and add the alkali, formed as described
above for the silver, which forms the solution of copper; or we employ the
following process:-We dissolve cyanide of potassium in distilled water, which
we place in a suitable vessel or bath; we then take a sheet of copper, which

page_text: we place in the bath and attach to the copper terminal of the battery; we then
place in the solution one or more flat porous cells or vessels, which we fill to
within half an inch of their mouths or rims with the same solution as we have
placed in the bath, and in those porous cells or vessels wo place a sheet of iron
or copper, which we attach to the zine terminal of the battery. These sheets
of iron or copper we also attach to the battery of intensity, and allow them so
to remain until we assume that the solution is of sufficient strength. In any
of these solutions the cyanide of potassium may be used, if required, for the
purpose of taking up the foregoing oxides.
Having obtained the required solutions, we mix them in a bath, in such
proportions as we may think fit, for producing the quality of metal proposed to
be deposited; we then either melt together portions of the same metals as
those contained in the solutions, in such proportions as we think fit, and
therewith form the positive pole to be attached to a battery; or we suspend
the oxides of those metals, in such proportions as we think fit, in a bag in the
mixed solution of the metals employed, and in this latter case we use with the
galvanic battery a pole of platinum. The articles to be plated or coated are
to be suspended in a bath formed of a solution of the intended alloy, and are to
be attached by wires of copper or brass to the zinc of the battery.
In plating upon iron, either wrought or cast, with any of the foregoing
metals or alloys, but especially with tin and nickel, or in cases where it is
wished that both or either of these metals should greatly predominate, and
in case we wish to prevent rust from the iron exuding through the plating, we
first cover the surface of the iron with a coating of copper. To effect this
object, we either make use of any of the commion processes now in use for
coating iron with copper, or we employ the process for forming a solution
of copper herein-before described. Having thus obtained a solution of
sufficient strength, we then take out the porous cell or cells, and place in
the bath the iron articles intended to be plated, attached to the zinc terminal
of the battery. It is to be understood that the iron to be coated with copper
is first to be cleansed by any of the ordinary processes.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and what we deem the
preferable mode of carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood
that we do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein-before described, as
some of these may be modified without departing from the principle of our
Invention; but we claim as constituting our Invention,―
Firstly, the plating.or coating metallic surfaces with alloys formed of: any
two or more of the following metals, videlicit, tin, silver, nickel, and copper, by
forming solutions of the metals composing the intended alloy in any suitable

page_text: way, but, preferably, in the manner herein-before described, then mixing the
solutions in any desired proportions, and finally depositing the alloy upon the
articles to be plated by means of a battery.
Lastly, the mode of forming the solution of copper herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick Samson Thomas and William
Evans Tilley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day
of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
Witness,
JAMES MURDOCH.
FRED S. THOMAS. (L.S.)
W. E. TILLEY.
(L.S.)