AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR JOURNAL BOXES OR BEARINGS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR JOURNAL BOXES OR BEARINGS."
-A communication from abroad by George Myers and George Harper,
both of Upper Sandusky, in the State of Ohio, United States of
America.
Sealed the 4th December 1866, and dated the 8th June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th June 1866.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR JOURNAL
BOXES OR BEARINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel composition for lining journal boxes or
bearings. The composition is made of copper and glass fused and thoroughly
mixed or united, using for the so uniting of the two ingredients borax and.
prussiate of potash. For light boxes or journal bearings where the notion
and friction is less some lead or other equivalent soft metal may be used,
though the leading feature of the Invention consists in the composition of
copper and glass for the purposes named, whereby a combined metal and
mineral produces an alloyed metal that is very tough and easily worked, but

page_text: a very great resistant of friction and wear and requiring but little lubrication.
For light journal bearings the ingredients may be used in about the following
proportions, viz. :-Copper, one pound; glass, two ounces; borax, one ounce;
prussiate of potash, half an ounce; lead, eight ounces. Though these propor-
tions produce for the purpose a very valuable composition I reserve the right
to vary them for the different purposes to which the composition may be
applied, and claim the composition so long as it is made of copper and glass.
The borax and prussiate of potash are to aid in fusing and mixing the copper
and glass, and of course disappear under the process and form no part of the
finished product. The lead is only used when the friction and wear of the
box or journal or both is not excessive. When the journal or its bearing is
to sustain a very great weight, or is subjected to sudden strains or jars, the
lead may be omitted, or so much of it as will leave the composition hard
enough to sustain such weight or jar, and in reducing the quantity of lead,
the quantity of borax, prussiate of potash and glass may be increased to make
the composition harder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
'said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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
"AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR JOURNAL BOXES OR BEARINGS," being a com-
munication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel composition for.lining journal boxes or
bearings. The composition is made of copper and glass fused and thoroughly
mixed, or united by the aid of the two ingredients borax and prussiate of
potash. For light boxes or journal bearings, where the motion and friction
is not severe, some lead or other equivalent soft metal may be used, though
the leading feature of the Invention consists in the composition of copper and
glass for the purposes named, whereby a combination of metallic and mineral
substances produces an alloyed metal that is very tough and easily worked,
and is
a very great resistant of friction and wear, and requires but little
lubrication. For light journal bearings the, ingredients named may be used
in about the following proportions :-Copper, one pound; glass,. two ounces;
borax, one ounce; prussiate of potash, half an ounce; lead, eight ounces.
Though these proportions produce for the purpose a very valuable composition
I reserve the right to vary them for the different purposes to which the com-
position may be applied, and claim the composition so long as it is made of
copper and glass. The borax and prussiate of potash are to aid in fusing and
mixing the copper-and glass, and of course disappear under the process and
form no part of the finished product. The lead is only used when the friction
and wear of the box, or journal, or both is not excessive. When the journal
or its bearing is to sustain a very great weight, or is subjected to sudden
strains or jars, then the lead may be omitted or so much of it as will leave
the composition hard enough to sustain such weight or jar, and in reducing
the quantity of lead the quantity of borax, prussiate of potash, and glass
may be increased to make the composition harder.
To prepare the composition I proceed as follows:-I take a crucible of any
suitable known kind, and put into it the copper and glass, and place the
crucible in an ordinary blacksmith's fire, or any other suitable fire, and heat
up the contents. When the copper and glass are at a red heat the borax
is introduced, and when in a fusible or fused condition the prussiate of potash
is added, and when the contents of the crucible are all melted the dross or

page_text: slag is skimmed off, and the lead poured or put in, and unites with the mass.
The composition in its fluid state may be poured into the boxes or around the
journals or into a mass to be afterwards remelted and used. If not poured in
and allowed to cool immediately after putting in the lead it (the lead) will
by oxidation or vaporization be lost. In remelting the composition after it has
been made and cooled I find that it becomes more thoroughly mixed than in
the first process.
For ordinary purposes I use and prefer to use lead as above stated, yet I
may dispense with its use or use it in small quantities, even smaller than
those above mentioned. But the leading characteristic of the Invention
consists in hardening copper for journal boxes or bearings by mixing with it
in a fused state glass, and expediting or attaining more perfect fusion and
union by the use of borax and prussiate of potash in the composition. .
Having thus fully described the Invention which has been communicated
to me as aforesaid, and having explained the mode of making and using the
same, what I claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, a composition for journal boxes, bearings, and other
purposes composed of copper and glass, and mixed or fused in the presence of
borax and prussiate of potash, or their chemical equivalents, and with or
without lead, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
W. E. NEWTON.
L.S.)