DIVERS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING OR MANUFACTURING COPPER AND ITS COMPOUNDS, AND OTHER METALLIC SUBSTANCES, OR ANY OR EITHER OF THE SAME
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EVETTS SHEFFIELD, of the Polygon, Somers Town, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
September, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said William Evetts Sheffield, my exors, adññors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said William
Evetts Sheffield, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might,
during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "DIVERS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING OR MANUFACTURING COPPER
AND ITS COMPOUNDS, AND OTHER METALLIC SUBSTANCES, OR ANY OR EITHER OF THE
SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the
said William Evetts Sheffield, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High. Court of Chancery within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease; determine, and become void,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Evetts Sheffield, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and manner of performing the same, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner following, that is to say:--
My first improvement cloth consist in the working or manufacturing copper
and its compounds, containing chiefly, or for the most or greater part, copper
along with other metals, by subjecting the same copper or its compounds to
the process of cementation by heat in a closed vessel, or furnace along with
charcoal of wood, fossil coal charred, or animal coal, or any other substance
consisting for the most part or proportion of coaly matter, but in general I
give the preference to the charcoal of wood. And that with regard to the
subdivision. of the parts and enlargement of the surfaces of the said copper
or its compounds, whether by granulation or otherwise, and also the manage-
ment and application of the heat, I do conduct my process according to and
in like manner as the well-known processes of technical and philosophical
chemistry relating to cementation, which are generally practised and under=
stood. And I do hereby declare, that the effect of my said process of cementa-
tion upon copper and the compounds thereof, as aforesaid, according to the
extent to which the operator may be required or disposed to carry the same,
is either. that the copper becomes more completely reduced or deprived of
oxigen, or that a portion of the carbonaceous or coaly matter does probably,
may become actually, united or combined with the copper or its compounds
as aforesaid, but that the copper or its compounds, .as aforesaid, do by. such
treatment become, better in quality for various uses, and in particular for
making a very: superior brass; by uniting the same with good zinc, either by
direct. mixture, or by using calamine or other fit ore of zinc. . And farther,
that in my said process of cementation I do, in preference, use a degree of heat
somewhat greater than is .fit and used for annealing of copper, or otherwise I
do carry my beat: as far as that of fusion; and that I do. consider my copper,
or the compounds. thereof, as aforesaid; to be sufficiently and well cemented
when the surface thereof (examined by a magnifier if necessary) does present
a striated or dotted form, structure or appearance, very considerably resembling
that of the skin of the tip or inner extremity of the finger.
ór

page_text: And I, the said William: Evetts Sheffield, do: liereby further. declare, that
the second iniprovément comprehended in: my said Invention doth consist in
the working or manufacturing, copper and its compounds, and other metallic
substances, or any or either of the same, into sound and 'perfect wire, provided
the said copper and. its compounnds, or other metallic substances, or any or
either of the same, be of such nature as to admit. of being wire-drawn; and
for the said purpose I do form my metal into plates, as shewn at A in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and do afterwards, by means of cutting and
rounding cylinders of the nature or description shewn at D, having edges
opposite or very nearly opposite each other, with the usual supports and
adjustments for regulating the distance thereof, divide, or very nearly divide,
the said metal into round or rounded pieces, without producing any flexure or
overlapping of the edges (such as are produced in the common way of making
wire, and do render the same hollow, and unsound). And I do afterwards, if
need be, complete the division by separating the parallel picces by any
ordinary means.
And in case there should be a small portion or fin left upon
the surface of the metal, I do cut off the same by a fit tool or implement, and
do then proceed to draw down my metal into wire of the size required to be
made.
And, lastly, in the said Drawings the Letter B denotes (by a section) the
metallic plate, partly notched or cut by the cylinders, set at one of the dis-
tances by adjustment, and Letter C denotes (by a like section) the same plate
cut thro', or very nearly thro', by the cylinders set close together, or nearly so,
and to be afterwards, if need be, separated by any ordinary means; and E
represents, by a section, a plate or piece of steel or of metal, having a steel
piece at g, at the mouth of the hole g, h; and in either case the steel mouth
at g is formed by external chamfer into an edge, and is used to cut off the
small portion or fin from the surface of the metal as aforesaid, by drawing
it thro' the said hole; and lastly, altho' the said drawings are made to certain
relative dimensions as to the parts thereof, I do, nevertheless, declare that
the same will require to be altered and used according to the size of the
wire, the nature of the work, and other circumstances, which every fit
workman in works of this or the like nature will readily understand.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Evetts Sheffield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
WILL EVETTS (L.s.) SHEFFIELD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1815, the aforesaid William Evetts Sheffield came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowleged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifteen.