IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING IRON OR OTHER METALS WITH COPPER OR COPPER ALLOYS AND THE PREPARATION OF A MATERIAL TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Maitland, of Thurloc Square,
in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COATING IRON OR OTHER METALS WITH COPPER OR COPPER ALLOYS AND
THE PREPARATION OF A MATERIAL TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN.
د,
Sealed the 5th December 1871, and dated the 16th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry.
Maitland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th September 1871.
I, WILLIAM HENRY MAITLAND, of Thurloe Square, in the County of
5 Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING IRON OR OTHER METALS WITH COPPER OR COPPER
ALLOYS AND THE PREPARATION OF A MATERIAL TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be
as follows:
The Invention relates to the employment of electro-metallurgy in
O covering iron or other metals with a coating of copper or its alloys, such
as brass and bronze.

page_text: After the iron or other article to be coated has been cleaned in any
usual manner, for instance by immersing it in a bath of acidulated
water, then washing it with fresh water, rubbing it with sand and water
rendered slightly alkaline, and again washing it with fresh water, I
submit it to the following operation: I prepare a bath by heating in
a copper vessel about 56 lbs. of carbonate of potash with about 70 lbs. of
the horns or hoofs of sheep or other animal nitrogenous matter, together
with about 10 lbs. of copper turnings or scales until a tolerably tranquil
fused mass is formed. This mass is allowed to cool, then reduced to
powder, and all the soluble portion is removed and dissolved out by
percolating with sufficient water to produce 100 lbs.. of solution.
In this solution the article to be coated is placed with a plate of copper
facing each side, the surface of which plates should be as much as is
practicable equal to that of the article to be coated. If a bath of brass
or of bronze is required a suitable proportion of zinc or tin is employed
to give the desired result according to the shade to be obtained.
The copper plates should be immersed in the bath with the aid of brass
hooks suspended from a brass rod traversing the vessel, upon the sides
of which it rests. One or more brass clips holding the article to be
coated extend out of the bath and are connected to the positive con-
ducting wire of an electric battery or pile, the negative conducting
wire being attached to the rods which support the copper plates. The
galvanic current causes the bath to attack the copper to dissolve it, and
by the effect of the pile to carry it in a metallic state on to the article
to be coated. The action being kept up the iron or other article is in
about 5 minutes coated with copper. The iron or other metal being
preserved from oxidation by the bath, which has an alkaline character,
receives the copper in a metallic state in all its pores. The layer of
copper or copper alloy may be increased by immersing the iron or other
article for about 48 hours in a second bath formed of sulphate of copper
dissolved in water, as much as the water can dissolve, an electric or
galvanic current being kept up in this bath also.
This treatment in the second bath does not however form part of my
present Invention, which consists essentially in the preparation of a bath
or solution from carbonate of potash, nitrogenous matter, and copper
turnings, as before described, and its employment in the manner before
explained for the purpose of coating iron or other metals with copper or
its alloys.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Maitland in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 15th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY MAITLAND, of Thurloe Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Henry Maitland, Her special
licence that I, the said William Henry Maitland, my executors,
adıministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Henry Maitland, my 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 COATING IRON OR OTHER METALS WITH
COPPER OR COPPER ALLOYS AND THE PREPARATION OF A MATERIAL TO BE EMPLOYED
TREREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Henry Maitland, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 I, the said William Henry Maitland, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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:―
The Invention relates to the employment of electro-metallurgy in
covering iron or other metals with a coating of copper or its alloys, such
as brass and bronze.

page_text: After the iron or other article to be coated has been cleaned in any
usual manner, for instance by immersing it in à bath of acidulated
water, then washing it with fresh water, rubbing it with sand and water
rendered slightly alkaline, and again washing it with fresh water, I
submit it to the following operation:-I prepare a bath by heating in
a copper vessel, or in a crucible, or iron vessel, or (preferably) in an
iron vessel lined with copper, about 56 lbs. of carbonate of potash with
about 70 lbs. of the horns or hoofs of sheep or other animal nitrogenous
matter, together with about 10 lbs. of copper turnings or scales until a
tolerably tranquil fused mass is formed. This mass is allowed to cool,
then reduced to powder, and all the soluble portion is removed and
dissolved out by percolating with sufficient water to produce 100 lbs. of
solution. In this solution the article to be coated is placed with a plate
of copper facing cach side, the surface of which plates should be as
much as is practicable equal to that of the article to be coated. If a
bath of brass or of bronze is required a suitable proportion of zinc or tin
is employed to give the desired result according to the shade to be
obtained. The copper plates should be immersed in the bath with the aid
of brass hooks suspended from a brass rod traversing the vessel, upon
the sides of which it rests. One or more brass clips holding the article
to be coated extend out of the bath, and are connected to the positive
conducting wire of an electric battery or pile, the negative conducting
wire being attached to the rods which support the copper plates. The
galvanic current causes the bath to attack the copper to dissolve it, and
by the effect of the pile to carry it in a metallic state on to the article
to be coated. The action being kept up, the iron or other article is in
about 5 minutes coated with copper. The iron or other metal being
preserved from oxidation by the bath, which has an alkaline character,
receives the copper in a metallic state in all its pores. By slightly
heating this bath the action takes place more rapidly. The layer
of copper or copper alloy may be increased by immersing the
iron or other article for about 48 hours in a second bath formed of
sulphate of copper dissolved in water, as much as the water can dissolve,
and slightly acidulated, an electric or galvanic current being kept up in
this bath also.
This treatment in the second bath does not however form part of
my present Invention, which consists essentially in the preparation of
a bath or solution from carbonate of potash, nitrogenous matter, and

page_text: copper turnings, as before described, and its employment in the
manner before explained for the purpose of coating iron or other metals
with copper or its alloys.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Maitland, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twelfth day of March One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
J