IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Gravelly Hill, near Bir-
mingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF METALLIC ALLOYS."
Sealed the 29th July 1878, and dated the 13th May 1878.

page_text: ore, by preference the oxide or carbonate of copper and carbon,
usually in the form of anthracite coal. Or in place of using the metallic
ores in their natural states artificial preparations may be employed,
and other metallic ores or preparations, as, for example, the oxide of
nickel, may be added to the mixture. I expose these materials in a t
powdered state, and well mixed to a moderate heat in a closed retort or
vessel, and I maintain the heat for a considerable time. I then allow
the charge to cool, and if the operation has been properly conducted the
mass will be found friable and easily crushed, and with the metal in
minute globules diffused through it. I crush the mass and separate the 1
metallic particles by winnowing or washing. Afterwards I melt the
granules either alone or with other metals to produce alloys of any.
desired per-centage. I can also produce alloys of nickel and manganese
without copper by the process above described, substituting an oxide of
nickel for that of copper, alloys of copper and manganese are especially ]
useful as the basis of white metallic mixtures resembling German
silver.
The proportions of oxide or carbonate of manganese I prefer in making
manganese alloy will vary according to the per-centage of manganese I
wish to reduce in alloy with the copper. I take about 150 lbs. black
oxide to 100 lbs. oxide of copper or carbonate of copper, and 100 to
150 lbs. of carbon; or if I wish a richer alloy in manganese I employ
larger proportions of manganese, either black oxide or carbonate to the
oxide or carbonate of copper, say, about 200 lbs. oxide manganese to
100 lbs. oxide of copper, and 150 lbs. of carbon.
1
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PARKES, of Gravelly Hill, near Birmingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Parkes, Her
special licence that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander>
Parkes, 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.
mako, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC ALLOYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors.
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or.
one of their hands and seals, 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
6 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Parkes, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
1
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
metallic alloys.
Many attempts, more or less successful, have been made to produce
alloys of copper with manganese, and a Patent relating to this subject
5 was granted to me dated 26th March 1849, No. 12,534.
Now according to my present Invention I produce such alloys by
mixing a manganeso ore, by preference the black oxido with a copper
ore, by preference the oxide or carbonate of copper and carbon, usually
in the form of anthracite coal. Or in place of using the metallic ores
in their natural states artificial preparations may be employed, and other
metallic ores or preparations, as, for example, the oxide of nickel, may
be added to the mixture. I expose these materials in a powdered state,
and well mixed to a moderate heat in a closed retort or vessel, and I i
maintain the heat for a considerable time. I then allow the charge to "
5 cool, and if the operation has been properly conducted the mass will bo
found friable and casily crushed, and with the metal in minute globulcs
diffused through it. I crush the mass, and separate the metallic
i

page_text: particles by winnowing or washing. Afterwards I melt the granules
either alone or with other metals to produce alloys of any desired per-
centage.
The following is the manner in which I prefer to operate:-I take
from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. black oxide of manganese in a state of fine
division, 100 lbs. oxide of copper, 150 lbs. carbon, by preference
anthracite coal, also in fine division, all being well mixed together. I
put, say, 100 lbs. of this mixture into a closed clay retort or vessel placed
one or more in a furnace, and heated by coal, coke, or gas flame, as is
well understood. I continue the heat for 6 or 10 hours to cause a
cementation of the metallic substances into an alloy in fine division.
The heat necessary for cementation is a full red heat, and for the last
two hours or thereabouts I raise it to a white heat; but I never allow
the heat to become so intense as to cause the metallic matters to fuse
into a mass, as if so much heat is used I find great danger to the retorts
or other vessels used, and the alloy produced under such circumstances
is not of any regular proportion, or of so good a quality, as when the
lower cementing heat is continued to the end of the operation, and by
thus carefully conducting the reduction of the metallic substances I
am enabled to use my retorts or other vessels over and over again, for
my retorts will be found but little acted on after several operations.
The mass is drawn from the retorts and crushed, and the metallic
particles or granules are separated by means of sieves. Or a more
complete separation may be made by means of winnowing and
washing.
I mix the metallic particles or granules obtained from a number of
similar operations, so as to obtain a bulk, and then I melt the material
in pots, such as are used in melting brass or steel, and cast it into
ingots for sale to manufacturers of metallic alloys, or to be cast
into articles such as are now commonly made of brass or German
silver
I find an alloy of copper 75 parts, manganese 25 parts very white,
and may be used for casting with or without zinc or other metals. For
white sheet metal or wire, or coinage, an alloy containing copper 65 parts,
manganese 25 parts, zinc 10 parts, may be employed. Or an alloy of
copper 65 parts, manganese 15 or 20 parts, nickel 5 or 10 parts, zinc 10
or 15 parts.

page_text: The material from which the metallic particles is separated consists of
carbon unreduced, metallic oxide, and metal in a fine state of division.
This I subject to a second treatment, mixing it with the materials of a
new charge.
Sometimes in place of working with oxide of manganese in its crude
state I first convert it into carburet. The time necessary for the
cementation process will in this way be shortened.
I can also produce alloys of nickel and manganese without copper by
the process above described, substituting an oxide of nickel for that of
copper. I make a mixture of 100 parts oxide of nickel, 100 parts oxide
of manganese, and 150 parts of carbon, all in fine powder, and I operate
as already described. ·
What I claim is, the manufacture of alloys of copper and manganese
(with or without other ingredients) by a process of cementation, by
which I mean by a reducing process conducted substantially as above
described in such a manner and at such a heat as to reduce the metal
from the mixture under process, and leave it disseminated through the
mass or charge from which it may afterwards be separated for use.
I also claim the manufacture in a similar manner of alloys of nickel
and manganese with or without other ingredients.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
ALEXANDER PARKES
(7.)