THE FORMA- TION, COATING, AND COVERING OF VESSELS OR PACKAGES FOR CONTAINING, PRESERVING, CONTAINING, AND TRANSPORTING GOODS AND PRODUCTS, WHETHER IN LIQUID OR SOLID FORMS, AND FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DICKINSON, of New Park Street, Southwark, in the County of Surry, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-six, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself,
His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Dick-
inson, His especial licence that I, the said Robert Dickinson, my exors,
adors, or assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Dickinson, my
exors, adiñors, 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 "THE FORMA-
TION, COATING, AND COVERING OF VESSELS OR PACKAGES FOR CONTAINING, PRESERVING,
CONTAINING, AND TRANSPORTING GOODS AND PRODUCTS, WHETHER IN LIQUID OR SOLID
FORMS, AND FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a pro-
viso obliging me, the said Robert Dickinson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the saine to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within

page_text: 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 said proviso, I, the said
Robert Dickinson, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof, that is to say :-
The said Invention consists in the construction of certain hollow vessels,
such as tanks, barrels, casks, and packing cases of sheet or rolled iron, coated
or covered with a certain composition or alloy of metals and other materials,
as herein-after described, which will protect and render more durable the iron
of which such vessels are constructed; and, moreover, for the better adaptation
of certain of such coated iron vessels to the purposes for which they are
designed, I employ certain contrivances, also described hereafter, which I also
claim as part of my said Invention. Now, as far as regards the fabrication of
the vessels before named, I cause them severally to be made in the manner
well known to and customary with good and sufficient workmen, by bending,
hammering, rivetting, brazing, soldering, and so forth, according to the forms
required for the several kinds of vessels, most of which, as to form, having
been commonly and for a long period in use, do not here require more
particular description. But as one kind of the aforenamed 'vessels which I
more particularly intend for the package, keeping, and conveyance of provisions
and other solid matters which it is desirable to protect as much as possible
from the action of the atmosphere, differs in some respects from the mode in
which vessels for such purposes have been. heretofore ordinarily constructed,
I consider it necessary here to describe more especially the nature of such
peculiarities of construction. The vessels to which the following.description
belongs are barrels or cases, having one of their heads or ends removeable at
pleasure, and capable of being re-applied in such a manner as shall cause the
place of junction betwixt the head and case to be nearly air-tight. The mode
in which I effect this close adaptation is as follows:-The vessel, which may
be either cylindrical or prismatic, is fashioned in the usual workmanlike way
as to its circumference or sides and one of its ends, these being all turned,
bent, and rivetted together in the customary manner; but at the end to which
the moveable head is to be fitted I cause the edge of the iron plate, to; the
extent of about one half or three quarters of an inch, to be turned inwards by
hammering or bending in the way well known to workmen, so as to form a
ledge at right angles to the sides of the vessel. On the outside of this end of

page_text: the vessel so turned in I cause to be rivetted a broad hoop, which shall extend
beyond the inverted margin about one inch and a half each way, and this hoop
I strengthen by rivetting on the outside of it another hoop of thicker metal.
This a formed a suitable resting place for the moveable head, which is fashioned
and secured as follows: A flat plate of metal is cut to the size of the inner
measure of the projecting hoop, and its margin strengthened by a flat border
or rim of iron cut or forged to its shape and rivetted thereon. At certain
distances near the circumferences of the head, sliding bolts are attached, moving
under bridges rivetted upon the single plate, and the bolts have a bend to allow
them to rise over the prominent rim, and moving outwards are pushed into
slits or holes perforated through the two outward hoops. Now for the purpose
of procuring pressure of the head towards the inverted ledge before spoken of,
the substance of each bolt is drilled in that part which passes over the flat-
strengthening rim of the head, and the holes are tapped to receive square-
headed screws, which on being turned in force the head inwards towards the
ledge, the outward end of the bolts abutting and pressing against the side of
the slit or bolt holes in the loop, with the view of rendering the junction of the
head and barrel as nearly as possible imperviour to air and water. I interpose
betwixt the inner face of the head at its margin and the ledge towards which
it is pressed by the action of the screws a gasquet or gaskin, which is commonly
made of felt or thick woollen cloth, single or folded, but which I make for this
purpose of a flat circle of thin iron plate, tinned or coated otherwise or not, as
may be suitable, and which, being cut to the proper form, I cover with cloth,
linen, woollen, or cotton, in one or more folds, so as to give elasticity, and over
the whole I aflix by sewing a covering of thin oiled or varnished silk, or fine.
cotton, linen, or other impervious fabric, such as is prepared for many purposes.
requiring a fabric impervious to water or air. This covering of waterproof
silk or cotton or other substance, by preventing the transmission of fluid by
capillory attraction, renders the gasquet more efficient for the purpose of an
impervious joint, and this mode of forming the same I claim as my Invention,
the exclusive use of which for the term of this Patent rests with me. Now, for
the preservative covering of the iron plate used in the fabrication of the above-.
named vessels, it is prepared and applied in the following manner:-The iron
plate, either before or after being made into vessels, is prepared in the usual
method for tinning, by removing the oxided surface by the action of dilute acid,
in the way well known to workmen, and is then immersed in melted tin,
according to the ordinary process. After this first coating of pure tin has been
applied, the surface is again covered with an alloy or mixture of metals and
other matter, composed in this way:-Tin 75 parts, zinc 20 parts, and finely

page_text: powdered glass 5 parts, are put together into a crucible, and exposed to the heat
of a furnace or open fire. When in fusion a small quantity of borax is added,
to promote combination, and when incorporated the alloy is cast into ingots.
The composition of this alloy is not strictly limited to the above pro-
portions, admitting of some variations, and even of the admission of small
quantities of other metals, as bismuth, lead, &c.; but the above proportions
answer, according to my experience, for the greater number of purposes, and the
alloy so described is the basis of that which I claim as my particular Invention,
for the preservation of iron as used in the vessels described in this Specification.
The second or even subsequent coatings of the compound metal are applied
over the surface of tinned iron in the way commonly followed in the applica-
tion of the first coating of pure tin, the plates or vessels being immersed in a
quantity of the fused alloy. In some cases I coat the second time with a
mixture of finely powdered glass in boiled linseed oil, the glass in this case
being a substitute for white lead, free from its deliterious properties. The use
of this coating or coatings of tin and alloy, as above described, I claim as my
exclusive right during the term of this Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Dickinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.