IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEPOSITION OF CERTAIN METALS. AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
POOLE, of Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses
Poole, Her especial licence. full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Moses Poole, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as 1, the
said Moses Poole, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEPOSITION OF CERTAIN METALS. AND IN
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," communicated from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that 1. the said Moses Poole, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery 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 same proviso, I, the said
Moses Poole, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
The improvements consist in the employment of certain solutions of gold,
silver, and copper, not hitherto employed, for the purposes of deposition,
and also in the application of a thermo-electrical battery or apparatus in
connection with the same, and which may be employed with other known
solutions.
Preparation of Silver Solution.-I dissolve one pound troy of silver in nitric
acid, and dilute with one gallon of water; precipitate the silver by adding a
solution of carbonate of soda (in water) of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
(One pound of carbonate of soda is sufficient if the nitrate of silver contains no
free acid.) I wash the precipitate with warm distilled water, and filter. In
another vessel I dissolve eight pounds of hyposulphite of soda in two and
a half gallons of water at one hundred degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts,
and add thereto one pound of carbonate of soda with the precipitated car-
bonate of silver, stirring the same until the silver is re-dissolved, which will
be the case in a few minutes, and filter the solution, which will then be fit
for use.
Note. In practice I have found it advisable that the solution contain free
hyposulphite and carbonate of soda, and for this purpose I add one pound
avoirdupois hyposulphite and one-third pounds of carbonate of soda, in
proportion to every pound troy of silver that may be deposited.
Note. In place of hyposulphite of soda, hyposulphite of potash may be used,
in the proportion of five pounds of hyposulphite of potash to one pound of
silver in the state of carbonate, and in working the same I add six ounces of
hyposulphite of potash and five ounces of carbonate of soda to every one pound
troy of silver deposited therefrom.
What I claim as this part of the Invention is, the use of a solution of
carbonate of silver in hyposulphite of soda or potash, as above described.
Secondly. Or, I prepare a solution of silver, as above, and boil the same
for one hour; during which time, a portion of silver is precipitated and the
hyposulphite changes, forming a new and distinct salt. The solution is filtered
and is then fit for use. In both the above cases currents of electricity are
used when depositing.
I also claim the solution of silver formed by boiling hyposulphite of soda
(or potash) with carbonate of silver, as above described.
Preparation of Gold Solution-I dissolve one ounce troy of fine gold in

page_text: nitro-muriatic acid, and evaporate the solution until it assumes a deep red
color, and chrystallizes upon cooling; I then dilute the remaining solution
with one pint of distilled water, and filter; I then heat the clear solution of
gold to about two hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and precipitate the gold by
adding a solution, liquor ammoniac; 1 then pour the precipitate gold upon a
I then dissolve this precipitate
filter and wash it several times with hot water.
of gold in one gallon of water, containing eight ounces hyposulphite of soda,
or an equivalent quantity of potash, and boil the same together for one hour;
I then filter the solution, and it is fit for use. During the process of gilding,
I prefer to warm it to about one hundred or one hundred and fifty degrees
Fahrenheit. In using the above, I employ a small anode of gold, say, about
one-tenth the size of the article to be gilt, and a current of two pairs of plates
(if I employ the ordinary galvanic battery); but the effect may be varied by
altering the power of the battery and the size of the anode, at the pleasure of
the operator.
I claim the use of a solution of gold in hyposulphite of soda (or potash) in
the manner above described, and in connection with a current of electricity, for
the purpose of gilding metals.
Preparation of Copper Solution. I dissolve one pound carbonate of copper
in eight pounds hyposulphite of soda (or an equivalent of potash) and one
pound carbonate of soda, dissolved in two and a half gallons distilled water, at
one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabouts, and filter to obtain a clear
solution. It is then fit to use with currents of electricity, and I prefer to
use it at one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
1 claim the solution of copper in hyposulphite of soda (or potash), as above
described, with a current of electricity, for the purposes of deposition.
DESCRIPTION OF THE THERMO-ELECTRICAL BATTERY.
I take one hundred pieces of German silver containing twenty to twenty-five
% of metal and one hundred pieces of iron, every piece being one inch wide
and one foot long, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness. These two hundred
pieces are soldered so to each other that iron is always combined with German
silver (Figure 1). To get a compact form, I arrange first ten rows, every one
of twenty pièces, or ten pairs, and solder these rows so to each other that they
are parallel, and the whole take the form of a square, in the manner shown at
(Figure 2), taking care that the several pieces are soldered together in such
a way that iron will always be in connection with German silver. When the
whole is united I place it into a rim or frame of iron plate G, Figure 3, (one
foot two inches high,) but so that the metals do not touch each other nor the

page_text: iron rim or frame, and fill the rim with plaster of Paris or clay, but so that all
soldered parts of the series of plates or bars are uncovered, that is, the under
ends one inch and the upper ends three inches; the clay is covered at the
surface (a) with a layer of pitch. The frame containing the series of bars or
plates is so placed that the lower ends of the series (one inch) lip into a
sand bath B. which is heated nearly to redness by the fire C; the upper ends
(three inches) are to be kept as cold as possible, and for this purpose I cause
a current of cold water to flow from the vessel D over the battery to the
vessel F the upper end of the metals (three inches) may be covered with a
lac or varnish. I have found this battery sufficient for general purposes, and
probably one formed of fifty pairs only would answer the purpose when small
articles only are required to be coated.
I claim, in reference to this part of the Invention, the use of a thermo-
electrical battery as above described, for the purpose of generating electrical
currents applicable to the deposition of metals.
And claim the use of thermo-electricity as a means of depositing metals
from their solutions.
In witness whereof. I. the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November. in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
MOSES (1..S.) POOLE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1843. the aforesaid Moses Poole came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.