AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING COPPER-COVERED IRON OR STEEL WIRE
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st December 1871.-A communication from abroad by Selah
Hiler, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
COPPER-COVERED IRON OR STEEL WIRE," a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to the fabrication of iron or steel wire
coated with copper by surrounding a mass of iron or steel of which it is
intended to fabricate the wire with a quantity of copper granulated or
otherwise reduced to small particles (the iron or steel being covered
with a suitable flux) within a fireproof crucible or retort, and by
subjecting the whole to the action of heat until the copper is melted
and the iron or steel is sufficiently heated to cause the copper to become

page_text: united to its surface by the two metals becoming alloyed; then by any
suitable means rolling or otherwise drawing the mass into a rod or rods
while hot, and afterwards by the ordinary process drawing the same
into wire of the required size.
In carrying this Invention into practice, I take a mass of iron or
steel of cylindrical shape and as large as can be conveniently mani-
pulated and heated in a retort or crucible, and having cleansed its
surface thoroughly by acids or otherwise, I cover it with a flux, say of
borax, with which sufficient water is mixed barely to dissolve it; I then
have a crucible or retort made of same fireproof material, preferably of
black lead, although good fire-clay will answer the purpose, of sufficient
size to contain the cylinder of iron or steel standing upon its end. The
interior of the crucible should be cylindrical or nearly so, and of
sufficient diameter to contain between its walls and the surface of the
cylinder of steel or iron when placed centrally within it, the amount of
copper to be deposited on the steel or iron. An additional amount
should be added covering the top of the steel or iron to allow for the
shrinkage of the mass when melted. Some suitable means should be
employed to hold the cylinder of iron or steel centrally within the retort.
When thus prepared I place the retort with its contents in a rever-
beratory or other suitable furnace, where the entire crucible and
contents can be uniformly heated, and raise its temperature until the
copper is fully melted; the iron or steel being at the same time heated
to a bright red or white heat; when this is done the copper will
become completely and uniformly alloyed with the surface of the steel
or iron. Then removing the retort and its contents from the furnace
and allowing them to cool until the copper sets or becomes solid, I
remove the metal from the retort, when it may be immediately either
hammered or rolled into a bar or rod without disturbing the copper or
stripping it from the iron or steel. Then by the common process the
rod thus formed may be drawn into wire of any desired size; and it
will be found that the relative proportion of the copper and iron or
steel existing when taken from the retort will be substantially main-
tained throughout the operations.
•
It is important that the cooling of the contents of the crucible should
be so managed that the shrinkage of the copper shall not make unsound
places anywhere along the bolt of iron or steel. To avoid this result
the copper should commence chilling at the bottom, and become chilled

page_text: at the top last. To this end when removed from the furnace the
crucible may be covered with charcoal, the ignition of which will keep
up the temperature of the top until the bottom is chilled and becomes
solid, and the chilling will take place gradually from the bottom
upward.