Improvements relating to the Treatment of Metals, and to Products Resulting therefrom.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Jan., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 30th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 21st Nov., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Treatment of Metals, and to Products
Resulting therefrom.
I, EMILE PLACET of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a mode of introducing pure chromium into metals and
alloys, and consists in introducing directly into the metal or alloy, in a state
of fusion, the chromium which has first been covered, by means of electrolysis or
otherwise, with a layer of metal (copper, nickel, aluminium, silver, etc.), which
prevents the oxidation of the chromium at the moment of its introduction into the
metal or alloy.
The temperature of the bath may be less than that required to fuse the
chromium, the metals in a state of fusion serving, it would seem, to dissolve the
chromium.
This dissolution may be hastened or improved by the addition of what may be
called auxiliary metals, such as zinc, manganese, magnesium, aluminium, antimony,
bismuth, palladium, amalgam of sodiun, etc.
In some cases may be added oxides or salts of metals, such as oxides of zinc or
manganese, permanganates, fluosilicates, borates, cyanides, fluorides, chlorides,
phosphides, silicides, of alkalies, or of the metals which it is desired to alloy.
The addition of chromium in small quantities has the effect of increasing the
hardness and tenacity of the metals, thus, bronzes and similar metals may be
rendered less brittle; monetary alloys less liable to deterioration by friction;
printers type will more readily resist pressure etc.
Metals and alloys treated with the chromium may be subjected to higher
temperatures, which renders them useful for tuyeres &c. They will also resist the
action of acids, alkalies, and other chemical products, which makes them useful for
the manufacture of chemical apparatus.
The addition of chromium improves the sonorousness of the metals, rendering
them more useful for the manufacture of musical and other sound-producing
instruments than heretofore.
The chromium added to various antimagnetic metals increases their anti-
maguetism, thus rendering them increasingly useful for watch, clock, and other
instruments, which should remain insensible to magnetic action.
Dated this 3rd day of January 1896.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Treatment of Metals, and to Products
Resulting therefrom.
I EMILE PLACET of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris in the Republic of
France, Chemist do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
It has been proved by numerous experiments, that metals and alloys are
considerably improved by the addition of even a small quantity of chromium.
No practical results could, however, be obtained from these experiments,
because the chromium hitherto obtained was not pure metallic chromium, but only
a more or less impure carburet of chromium.
It was found impossible, in fact, to get rid of the carbon and other impurities
contained in the chromium carburet, and consequently, when attempts were male
to produce alloys with this chromium carburet, these alloys were found to be
impaired by the presence of carbon and other impurities which the chromium
carburet contained.
Such is not the case, however, with the chromium which is now obtainable by
electrolysis.
This chromium is absolutely pure; it improves all metals and alloys with which
it is mixed, by imparting to them the qualities peculiar to itself. It renders them
harder, more resistant to shocks, tension, and friction, and also renders them more
proof against the destructive action of the air, moisture, acids, and high
temperatures.
These new alloys are obtained by introducing into the metal or alloy, whilst in
a state of fusion, pure chromium in any desired proportions, according to the
quality of metal which it is desired to obtain.
Although pure chromium melts only at an extremely high temperature, and one
very difficult to attain in ordinary furnaces, perfect alloys of chromium with other
metals and alloys can be obtained without it being necessary to attain the melting
point of the chromium.
This singular fact may be explained by saying that there is produced, in this
case, an atomic dissolution, or a spreading of the chromium throughout the other
metals in fusion.
Sometimes, in order to facilitate the formation of the alloy of chromium with
other metals, there may be added to the alloy, during formation, one or more
metals which serve as auxiliaries, such as zinc, manganese, magnesium, aluminium,
antimony, bismuth, palladium, sodium amalgam, &c.
Or, preferably, there may be added oxides or salts, which, by their decom-
position at a high temperature, leave in the alloy a metal or body which facilitates
the fusion or formation of the alloy, such as oxide of zinc, oxide of manganese,
permangates, fluosilicates, borates, cyanides, fluorides, chlorides, phosphides,
silicides, &c. of alkalies, or of the metals which it is desired to alloy.
For the purpose of preventing the oxidation of the chromium at the moment of
its introduction into the alloys, the pieces of chromium are first covered or coated
by electrolysis, or otherwise, with a layer more or less thick of some metal
which protects them, such as copper, nickel, gold, silver, zinc, aluminium, tin,
platinum, &c.
Some thousandth parts of pure chromium added to copper, nickel, aluminium,
gold, silver, zinc, lead, tin, &c., suffice to augment the hardness and tenacity of
these metals in a very remarkable manner.
The chromium is most frequently employed in the proportions of from 0.5 to 15
or 20 per cent.

page_text: The alloys containing larger proportions of chromium are generally so hard that
they cannot be worked except with a grindstone.
The following, by way of example, are some of the advantageous effects
produced by chromium, when added to some metals and alloys.
Chromium added, in the proportions of 0.5 to 20 per cent., to copper and its
alloys, such as bronze, brass, German silver, etc., improves these metals to such an
extent that their breaking strain becomes at least equal to that of steel.
A small quantity of chromium added to monetary alloys, renders them much
more durable and more resisting to friction.
A little chromium added to alloys used for type founding, readers them more
resisting to pressure and to the indispensable washings.
Chromium also renders metals and alloys more resistant than heretofore to high
temperatures, which renders them highly suitable for the manufacture of tuyeres,
hearths, fire-irons &c.
It also renders them more resistant to the action of acids, alkalies, and other
chemical products, so that they are more suitable for the manufacture of chemical
apparatus, and also of culinary utensils, than heretofore.
The chromium, by increasing the durability of metals, augments also their
sonorousness, which renders them more suitable for the manufacture of bells, gongs,
trumpets, piano strings, etc. than heretofore.
Chromium increases the electrical resistance of manganese, ferro-manganese,
ferro-nickel, and other metals, employed in the manufacture of conductors of high
electrical resistance.
Chromium added to copper, platinum, palladium, manganese, tungsten,
cadmium, etc., increases the anti-magnetic properties of these metals, so that
they may be used with advantage for the construction of watches, chronometers,
and other instruments which must be non-sensitive to magnetic disturbances.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The mode of treating metals and alloys herein described, and consisting in
introducing directly into the metal or alloy, whilst in a state of fusion, pure
chromium, the pieces of which have been previously coated (by electrolysis or
otherwise) with a metal (copper, nickel, aluminium, gold, silver, &c.), for the
purpose of preventing the oxidation of the chromium at the moment of its
introduction into the metal or alloy; the atomic dissolution of the chromium in, or
the spreading of the chromium throughout, the fused metal, being facilitated by
the addition of auxiliary metals, of oxides, or of salts, substantially as has been
specified above.
2. The products which result from the mixture of pure chromium with metals
and alloys.
Dated this 18th dox of Sentember 1896
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.