IMPROVE- MENTS IN COATING IRON SHEETS OR PLATES TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Joseph Madge, of Swansea, in the County
of Glamorgan, Tin Plate Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COATING IRON SHEETS OR PLATES TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR
Sealed the 25th September 1862, and dated the 1st April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Joseph Madge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st April 1862.
I, HENRY JOSEPH MADGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Tin
Plate Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING IRON SHEETS OR PLATES TO BE USED AS A
SUBSTITUTE FOR TIN OR TERNE PLATES," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in coating iron sheets or plates as a sub-
stitute for tin or terne plates, has for its object to dispense as far as possible
with the use of tin for coating iron sheets or plates, and to employ instead
thereof an amalgam or alloy of metals, which is much cheaper than tin, is not
liable to be injuriously affected by the atmosphere, and will adhere firmly to
the iron, and will consequently protect the same as effectually as tin, so that the
plates may be used for many of the purposes for which tin or terne plates are
now employed. For some purposes I am enabled to dispense entirely with tin,

page_text: and the alloy I employ for coating the iron plates is composed of lead and
antimony, or bismuth, metallic arsenic, tungsten, zinc, or spelter. An alloy of
lead with one or more of the above metals will be found to adhere with great
tenacity to the iron, and the coated plate may be beaten, hammered, or
worked in the ordinary way of working the plates. Occasionally it will be
found advantageous to introduce into the alloy from 10 to 15 per cent. of
tin. Such an alloy containing as above a small proportion of tin may be used
for an ordinary coating, or it may be employed as a second or facing coat after
the cheaper alloy has been used for the first coat. The operation of coating
the iron sheets with the alloy or alloys above mentioned is carried on in the
same manner as when tin or tin and lead are used in the manufacture of
ordinary tin or terne plates, and will, therefore, need no description.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Joseph Madge in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
JOSEPH MADGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Tin Plate Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Joseph Madge, Her special license, that I, the said Henry Joseph
Madge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Joseph Madge, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COATING IRON SHEETS OR PLATES TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR TIN
OR TERNE PLATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Joseph Madge, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Joseph Madge, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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) :-
.
-:
My Invention of "Improvements in Coating Iron Sheets or Plates as a
Substitute for. Tin or Terne Plates," is to coat with a peculiar alloy hereafter
described metallic plates, whether called puddled plates, coke plates, charcoal
plates, or puddled steel plates. The Invention has for its object to dispense
as far as possible, and sometimes entirely with the use of tin for coating such.
metallic sheets or plates, and. to employ instead thereof. an amalgam or alloy
of metals, which is much cheaper than tin. This amalgam or alloy, one of
the principal ingredients in which is antimony, is not liable to be injuriously
affected by the atmosphere, and will adhere firmly to the iron, and will con-
sequently protect the metallic sheets or plates as effectually as tin, so that
such sheets or plates may be used for many of the purposes for which tin or
terne plates are now employed. For some purposes I am enabled to dispense
entirely with tin, and the alloy I employ for coating the plates is composed
principally of lead and antimony. Bismuth, metallic arsenic, tungsten, zinc,
or spelter may also be introduced into the alloy if desired instead of an
equivalent quantity of lead, but their addition thereto is not absolutely
necessary for the purposes of my Invention, as an alloy of lead with antimony.
alone, or with the addition of a small proportion of tin will be found to adhere
with great tenacity to the surface of the iron or steel plates, and such coated
plate may be beaten or hammered, and used for many of the purposes for
which ordinary tin or terne plates are now employed.
As examples of the way in which I propose to carry out my Invention, and
the proportions I have found by experience to be suitable in making the alloy
for the purpose, I may mention that in order to produce a cheap plate I
employ an alloy composed of eighty-eight parts lead and twelve parts of
antimony. Plates coated with this alloy will be found particularly adapted
for lining packing cases, and for other work for which the commoner and
cheaper kinds of tin or terne plates have heretofore been employed; a better
kind of article may be produced by reducing the proportion of lead to eighty-
two parts, and adding six parts of tin, and making up the hundred parts with
twelve parts of antimony, as before. Such an alloy containing as above a
small proportion of tin may be used for an ordinary coating for plates which
may be used for the purposes for which terne plates have been usually
employed. By further increasing the proportion of tin and diminishing the
quantity of lead, the alloy may be advantageously employed as a second or

page_text: facing coat for iron or steel plates after the cheaper alloy has been used for
the first coat. For a superior kind of plate charcoal iron or puddled steel
plates may be coated with an alloy composed of eighty-eight per cent. of tin,
and twelve per cent. of antimony; an alloy of this kind will produce an
improved coating, harder, finer, and resisting the action of the atmosphere
better than the ordinary coating of tin' usually employed for the best
descriptions of tin plates.
The operation of coating the iron or steel plates or sheets with the alloy or
alloys above mentioned is carried on in the same manner as when tin or tin
and lead are used in the manufacture of tin or terne plates by any of the
ordinary or patented processes, and will, therefore, need no description.
Having now described my Invention, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would observe that although I have given
certain proportions in which the antimony may be mixed with the other
metals to produce an alloy suitable for the purposes of my Invention, I do not
mean or intend to confine myself rigidly to such proportions, as they may be
varied without departing from the nature and object of my Invention; I
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,
the use of an alloy composed of lead and antimony, or lead, antimony, and tin,
or tin and antimony, for the purpose of coating iron or steel plates, as herein
set forth. I claim particularly the use of antimony in producing alloys for
coating metallic sheets or plates to be used in place of tin or terne plates, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Joseph Madge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
JOHN WEBSTER HALLAM,
of Swansea.
HENRY J. MADGE. (L.S.)