IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD AND SILVER WIRE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond Radisson,
residing in Lyons, France, No. 7, Rue de la Préfecture, for. the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD AND SILVER
WIRE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benoit Xavier Richard
and Raymond Radisson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 9th April 1864.
We, BENOIT XAVIER RICHARD and RAYMOND RADISSON, residing in Lyons,
France, No. 7, Rue de la Préfecture, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD AND SILVER WIRE,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of gold
and silver wire.
For this purpose we cast silver or gold into an ingot, which we pierce
through the centre of its length with a hole, into which we run rose or refined
copper or other suitable metal. Afterwards, when the solidification is com:
plete, this compound ingot is rolled or drawn down until it is reduced to the
dimensions required for the wire to be produced, the wire being subjected to
the annealing and other operations of wire drawing. The copper in the
interior of the ingot is drawn down, together with the exterior metal, the two
metals forming but one and the same body. The interior metal may be
introduced into the ingot in any other suitable manner, as, for example; by

page_text: electrotype processes, or by introducing mechanically, or by the aid of solder, a
metallic core into the ingot, or by casting silver or gold around an interior
We do not limit ourselves to the use of copper for forming the core of
the ingot, as other metals may be employed for this purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond Radisson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 7th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BENOIT
XAVIER RICHARD and RAYMOND RADISSON, residing in Lyons, France, No. 7,
Rue de la Préfecture, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and gränt unto us,
the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond Radisson, Her special licence
that we, the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond Radisson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Benoit Xavier Richard
and Raymond Radisson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF GOLD AND SILVER WIRE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond Radisson,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or them, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond
Radisson, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Our Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of gold
and silver wire

page_text: For this purpose we cast silver or gold into an ingot, which we pierce
through the centre of its length with a hole, into which we run rose or refined
copper or other suitable metal. Afterwards, when the solidification is com-
plete, this compound ingot is rolled or drawn down until it is reduced to the
dimensions required for the wire to be produced, the wire being subjected to
the annealing and other operations of wire drawing. The copper in the
interior of the ingot is drawn down, together with the exterior metal, the two
metals forming but one and the same body. The interior metal may be
introduced into the ingot in any other suitable manner, as, for example, by
electrotype processes, or by introducing mechanically, or by the aid of solder, a
metallic core into the ingot, or by casting silver or gold around an interior
'We do not limit ourselves to the use of copper for forming the core of
the ingot, as other metals may be employed for this purpose.
core.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer, first, to cast an ingot of gold or
silver, the gold or silver employed being nearly pure, in order that it may be
sufficiently malleable and ductile. The shape to which the ingot is cast should
be such that the ingot may readily be adjusted in a lathe or boring machine in
order to have a hole bored longitudinally through it. For this purpose we
usually form the ingot square in section. We prefer to make the ingot about
14 inches long by 24 inches square, but ingots of any size may be produced.
After the ingot is cast it is placed in a lathe or boring machine, and a hole is
drilled longitudinally through it, care being taken to make the hole pass
through the centre of the ingot. The size of the hole will depend upon the
relative proportions it is desired the core should bear to the exterior coating
of silver or gold. In place of boring a hole through the centre of the ingot
the hole may be produced therein by introducing a mandril into the mould,
which is withdrawn after the ingot has cooled. In order that the interior of
the hole may be perfectly clean and free from grease, the interior is washed
with a weak solution of potash or soda. The ingot is afterwards freely washed
with water, and is then heated to about 550° or 650° Fahrenheit. The
melted copper or other metal or alloy with which the centre of the ingot is to
be filled is then, when well hot, poured into the centre of the ingot, care being
taken to pour in the metal quickly, in order that it may cool in one homo-
geneous piece, and not in a number of layers one above the other. The ingot
is then hammered whilst in a heated state, so as to draw down the ingot, and
make its exterior of a cylindrical form. One of the ends of the ingot is also
drawn down into a point, in order that it may pass through the holes of a draw
plate to be taken hold of by the pincers which are to draw the rest of the
ingot through the holes. We ordinarily hammer down the ingot to about 1

page_text: inches in diameter, and then commence to draw it down through the holes of
a draw plate. After the ingot has been drawn down five or six times the
ingot is annealed, and afterwards drawn down to the size required ordinarily
without being again annealed, this, however, will depend upon the purity of the
metals employed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Benoit Xavier Richard and Raymond
Radisson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witnesses,
A. BRUSSIEUX,
J. DERVIEUX.
BENOIT XAVIER RICHARD. (L.S.)
RP. RADISSON..
(L.S.)