Year: 1886

page_text: I PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 6,- Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent 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 is often useful to replace steel in watch-making with a metal, even costly,
which is neither oxidisable or magnetic, but which, however, possesses some of the
properties of steel, that is to say, its small capabilities of expansion, and its hardness.
For the compensation balance and the hair spring, such a metal is especially useful.
It is well known that watches without a compensation balance, if they have a steel
hair spring, lose from 10 to 11 seconds in 24 hours, for an increase of heat of one
degree centigrade, and gain as much for a corresponding decrease.-This variation
proceeds in a great measure from the loss of elastic force in the hair spring, caused
by heat. This loss being in proportion to the expansion of the metal employed, it
follows, that if a steel hair spring is replaced, for instance, by a silver one, the
variation will be nearly doubled.-The compensating balance wheels, which have
been devised for correcting this difference, are composed of an inner and an outer
ring of unequally expanding metals, brazed together and connected to the centro
pivots by one or more arms.-The inner ring, which is of less expansible metal
than the exterior one, under the influence of heat, forces these rings to contract
and approach nearer to the centre, and to expand in the reverse direction, under
the influence of cold, thereby neutralizing the variations of the hair spring.
Hitherto, compensation balances have been made of steel and brass, and the hair
springs of steel-These extremely delicate parts are unfortunately subject to
important causes of deterioration, of which, the principal is rust, an infinitely small
particle of which, especially on the hair spring, being sufficient to destroy the
precision of a chronometer or watch,

page_text: During the last few years, the introduction of powerful electrical machines has
added a new source of ruination to watches. Magnetism affects prejudicially
chiefly the hair spring and balance wheel. The rest of the steel works of a watch
are under the immediate pressure of the motive force, or have only a secondary
function, and magnetism, even when strong, produces no disastrous effects on the
functions of these parts.
A steel and brass compensation balance, moreover, when magnetized, becomes
a compass, the coils of the air spring stick to it, or together, and the watch either
varies considerably, or is stopped altogether. If any part of the watch, a case
spring, for instance, becomes magnetized, it will be sufficient to upset the regulation
of the watch, even if the balance wheel or hair spring is not itself magnetically
affected.
The object of the present invention is to remedy these defects by manufacturing
the balance wheel and the hair spring from metals which are neither magnetic nor
oxidisable. These metals should be capable of but little expansion, should be as
light as possible, and should be very elastic. Unfortunately, of all the known
metals, the lightest are the most expansible, and it is only with the heavier metals
that there is little expansion.-The secondary series of metals, which accompany
Platina, has attracted the attention of the inventor on account of their density,
which is, in some cases, only about half that of Platina, and their small expansibility,
which is nearly the same as that of steel.-The metals of the Platina series which
it is proposed to make use of in the present case, are Rhodium and Palladium, but
these metals, in a pure state, are infusible by ordinary means, and are neither
elastic nor hard, and it is therefore necessary to find alloys which will give them
these qualities. By experiment, the following alloys have been found to give good
results,―

page_text: RIMU
Palladium, Copper, and Steel are the most eggents
tal metals, but steel may be
replaced by mixtures of other metals,
which will give alloys possessing pdch as Silver, Gold, Platina, and Nickel,
The alloys are varied by ctically the same qualities.
metals, Palladium, Copp altering the percentage of the three moro essential
Rhodium, Platina, ander, and Steel, and adding small percentages of Gold, Silver,
the saine qualities Nickel.-The alloys N° 1 to 7, and No 9, give metals having
pensation balan and are suitable for the manufacture of hair springs and com-
only suitables, but N° 8, which acquires great hardness by being tempered, is
great for for rollers, lever escapement wheels, &c., as its expansibility is too
All hair springs or compensation balances.
procthe alloys possess the property of acquiring hardness and elasticity by the
heess used in hardening cymbals and gongs, that is to say, heating to a dull red
fat, and then cooling slowly, as will be hereafter more fully explained when the
manufacture of hair springs is described.
By adding to these alloys a larger proportion of Rhodium, Steel, or Nickel, they
will be made harder, but at the same time less easy to work. If the proportion of
Palladium is increased, the alloy becomes more difficult to melt in an ordinary
furnace. The melting of all these alloys is best effected by first melting all tho
metals with half of the Palladium in a crucible provided with a cover, and adding
thereto a little borax and powdered charcoal, then melting a second time, adding
the remainder of the palladium. The molten metal is then poured into a mould
in the form of a plate, if intended for balance wheels, and in the form of a square
bar, if intended for hair springs.
In order to form a hair spring, the square ingot is heated red hot, and hammered
repeatedly; it is then passed between rollers, and afterwards through steel plates
provided with round holes, being several times heated afresh.-When the wire has
been drawn down to about half a millimeter in thickness, ruby wire gauges are
substituted for the steel ones, and as soon as the wire has been drawn down to a
suitable thickness, it is passed between two polished rollers, or preferably between
two rounded diamonds fixed in a tool which can be opened and closed at will, and
The edges of the
the opening of which is regulated by a fine micrometer screw.
wire, when the wire is brought to the desired thickness, are polished by passing
through a ruby or diamond wire guage.
The wires are now cut to a suitable length, and coiled round inside a barrel
provided with a perforated cover, and having in the centre an arbor with 3 or
4 slits to receive the springs, according as the coils are required more or less apart.

page_text: The arbor, drawing the wires after it, is turned till the barrel is full, and the
perforated cover is removed and replaced by another without holes. The full
barrels are now placed in a copper box, which is packed with charcoal dust,
plumbago, or fire clay.-This box is tightly closed with a cover and heated to a
dull red, and it is then left to cool slowly. If the operation, which requires
practice, has been well executed, the hair springs, when taken out of the barrel, are
perfectly white, of a shape requiring no further finish, and very elastic. Cylindrical
hair springs are coiled by means of a machine for marking the thread of the fusee,
and are then heated as stated above.
Should there be stains on the metal, they may be removed by washing in water
with 10% sulphuric acid, and then cleaning and drying in saw dust.
The three metals, Palladium, Copper, and Steel (or several motuls substituted in
the place of steel), are essential to the formation of the different alloys the inain
metals being Palladium and Copper, the percentage of Palladium, varying from
45 to 72 and the copper from 14 to 20.-These may be still further varied, giving
alloys of the same or similar qualities.
In alloy No 1, Steel may be replaced by Gold, Platina, and Silver.
Inlay No 2, by Flatina, Silver, and Nickel.
In alloy Nortion of the Palladium and Copper, by Gold, Silver, Platina,
and Nickel.
Pallem and Copper, by, Gold, Silver, Platina, and
In alloy N° 4, a portion of
Nickel.
2
In alloy N° 5, Steel is replaced by Gold, part for Palladium, Copper,
Silver Platina and Nickel; and in
alloys Nos 6 and 7, the same metals are substituted in Nickel, are substituted for 2
and Steel; and in alloy N° 8, Silver, Gold, Platina, and
a portion of the Palladium.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nonmunicated to
ture of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as com
me from my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is-
varying 3
and
The mixture of Palladium with other metals, as above described, in
percentages, so as to form a metallic alloy which shall be non-magnetic und
unoxidisable, and shall possess the necessary qualities for making hair springs af
compensation balances; and the application of such alloy to the manufacture:
compensation balances, hair springs, and the other parts of watch, chronometer, 3
clock mechanism, or to other mechanical uses.
Dated this 11th day of M... 1000
C