IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING , AND COLORING METALS AND ALLOYS OF METALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
France, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING
, AND COLORING METALS AND ALLOYS OF METALS."-A communication.
, AND COLORING METALS AND ALLOYS OF METALS."-A communication.
Sealed the 17th April 1855, and dated the 6th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 6th December 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING
: AND COLORING METALS AND ALLOYS OF METALS " to be as follows:-
The precipitation of a metal or alloy upon another metal is generally effected
in the hot, either by means of the battery or by some poisonous substance.
By my process this operation is performed in the cold, without the battery or
any poisonous substance.
Iron is tinned with a salt of tin at the minimum of oxidation by the addi-
tion of a small quantity of-salt of copper. The tinning in this case is white
_and_brilliant,_but_the_tin_is_precipitated-in-a-state-of-alloy. If-copper is
employed-to--produce a white tinning, a much smaller proportion-should-be:

page_text: used than that of tin. By increasing the proportion of salt of copper, an
alloy is obtained which has the color of gold, varying in tint from a golden
green to a golden red. To obtain this precipitate in perfection, it is necessary
to employ the sulphates or tartrates of the metals to be precipitated. The
sulphates give as good a result as the tartrates, provided the bath is saturated
with tartaric acid.
Brass can be precipitated on iron as effectually as the alloy of tin and copper,
and gives a white or a golden yellow color: The precipitation takes place more
easily when the metal to be precipitated is in a minimum state of oxidation.
To obtain this, it is often expedient when the bath is prepared to add a salt of
iron in a minimum state of oxidation. The bronzing of iron is readily effected
in a bath saturated with chloride of iron. The silvering of iron is obtained
with the chloride of silver dissolved in liquid and concentrated chlorides.
Chloride of aluminum makes it white and brilliant; chloride of manganese
gives a dead white color; chloride of iron gives a white, which is preferable.
The bath, therefore, should be prepared with the protochloride of iron saturated
with chloride of silver. The silvering of other metals is effected with cheap
chlorides, with the addition of a small quantity of chloride of ammonium or
sal ammoniac. The silvering of brass may be effected by the concentrated
chloride of calcium, with the addition of a small quantity of sal ammoniac, or
other analogous chlorides, which increase the strength of the chloride of
calcium. By this process the silvering may be done by means of a brush. The
silvering of zinc. may be effected by the liquid chlorides with addition of
other reactive chlorides. The bath should be neutral or alkaline; zinc, being
soluble in alkaline-salts, in ammonia, and in salts of silver, may be silvered by
means of almost all the salts of silver.
Other metals may be precipitated upon zinc by means of weak vegetable
salts, or mineral salts dissolved in the saturated solution of salt of zinc;
it is, however, necessary-to-saturate-the-bath-beforehand-with-chloride_of
zinc.
Zinc steeped in a solution of salt of iron precipitates iron in a uniform and
white coating. A bath composed of a solution of salt of iron serves for coating
zinc or other metals with iron. The metal thus covered with iron will assume
the colors of steel on being heated. As iron precipitated generally oxidises
in a short time, it is necessary to apply a varnish on it. Zinc may be colored
grey by applying a thick grey varnish in a solution of silicate of potassa, or
it may be colored black by applying an acid or alkaline phosphate. Zinc
may also receive a colored varnish by means of an acid or alkaline phosphate.

page_text: The zinc may also receive a colored varnish by means of a phosphate or silicate
containing copper in solution. The bronzing of zinc is effected with alkaline
carbonates and phosphates containing copper, and also with barytes, chlorides,
sulphates, and with acetates and tartrates. The alloy of copper and tin may.
be precipitated on zinc in the following manner:-Tin may receive the.color
of gold by means of copper held in solution in sulphuric and hydrochloric
acids, or in a vegetable acid. Lead may be alloyed on its surface with copper
by precipitation, forming a dark-colored bronze; on adding a white metal, a
brighter color can be obtained. Vegetable acids, hydrochloric acid, chlorides,
alkaline phosphates may be used to precipitated metals or alloys upon lead.
Brass and bronze may be silvered either in a bath or by a brush with any
of the liquid chlorides containing chloride of silver; they may be coated with
lead, iron, tin, platina, or antimony; liquid chlorides are preferable for holding
in solution the metals to be precipitated. A diluted solution may be employed
for platina; sometimes two colors are obtained from the same bath by varying
the direction of the operation, or the quantity of metal in solution.
The tinning of yellow copper is effected in the cold with chlorides, tartrates,
and several other salts; cadmium or its alloy may also be precipitated upon
copper or other metals, either for coating or giving them a golden color.
Yellow copper may also be bronzed, and bronze may be precipitated on iron
or other metals. I mean by bronzing to precipitate various coats of metal
upon copper, and also to modify its surface by oxidation.
A solution of neutral tartrate of potash saturated with caustic potash gives
almost instantaneously to yellow copper a yellowish purple, blue, or black tint,
according to the length of the operation. The alkaline phosphate of potash
containing zinc in solution gives to copper a brilliant black color, and without
zinc a dark blue color. Pure silicate of potash gives to copper a dark blueish
hue, and with the addition of carbonate of potash a dark liver color. The
liquid chlorides precipitate zinc on iron, or iron upon zinc, at option. To
assist the zinc precipitate, a little copper or other metal in solution is added.
Zinc precipitates manganese from a saturated solution of chloride of manga-
nese with the assistance of zinc; manganese can be precipitated on other
metals.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, Patent Agent, send greeting.
at any
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, & assigns, or such .others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
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 of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COATING AND COLORING METALS AND ALLOYS OF METALS," cominunicated to me
by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I; the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comite de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described & ascer-
tained in & by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention relates to the processes for precipitating metal or alloys of
metals in cold solutions without the aid of the battery or poisonous substances
upon metals and alloys of metals, and are as follows:-
By my process iron is tinned by a salt of tin at its lowest point of oxidation,
and the addition of a smaller quantity of salt of copper.
The presence
of copper or other metal is necessary to prevent the precipitation of the
tin-in-the crystalline-form. The tin coating thus obtained is white and
brilliant, but the tin precipitated is in a state of alloy. If copper is employed
for the white coating, a smaller quantity of that salt in proportion to the

page_text: quantity of tin should be used. By increasing the proportion of salt of
copper, alloys are obtained of a golden color, varying from the green to the
red gold tint. To obtain these precipitates with brilliancy, it is necessary to
employ sulphates of the metals to be precipitated, or tartrates, which I consider
preferable. Sulphates give as good results as tartrates if the bath be super-
saturated with tartaric acids.
Brass can be precipitated on iron like the tin and copper alloy, and produce
a white or golden yellow color. The precipitation is more easily effected when
the metals to be precipitated are at their lowest point of oxidation. To obtain
this result, it is often advantageous when the bath is prepared to add to it a
salt of iron at its minimum of oxidation; old cleansing waters are made use
of for this purpose. The coating of iron with brass is readily effected in a bath
saturated with chloride of iron.
The silver plating of iron is effected by chloride of silver dissolved in
deliquescent concentrated chlorides. The chloride of aliminium gives a fine
and brilliant white coating; the chloride of manganese gives a fine dead white;
but the chloride of iron, which is the final state of the bath, gives a white,
which should be preferred. For this purpose the bath is prepared with proto-
chloride of iron saturated with chloride of silver. The silver washing of
commerce is effected either by hot solutions or by friction, on account of the
chlorides employed being but little soluble, and the bath not having a suffi-
cient degree of concentration. By the employment of deliquescent chlorides
a saturation is obtained of a degree more than sufficient for operating by cold
solutions.
.
The silvering of other metals is performed by other cheap chlorides, to which
a little chloride of ammonium or sal ammoniac is added. The silvering of
brass may be effected by means of concentrated chloride of calcium, to which
are added a little sal ammoniac and other similar chlorides, by which its
energy is increased. In this process the silvering solution may be laid on with
a brush.
The silvering of zinc may be performed by deliquescent chlorides with the
addition of other active chlorides. It is necessary for this metal to keep the
bath as far as practicable neutral, or even alkaline; zinc, being soluble in
alkaline solutions and in ammonia, as well as salts of silver, can be coated by
almost all the salts of silver. The precipitation of other metals on zinc can
be effected by means of feeble vegetable salts, or of mineral salts dissolved in
saturated solutions of salt of zinc. If, for instance, the precipitation is per-
formed with metallic chlorides, the piece of zinc in becoming covered_with
another metal is partly dissolved; forming a chloride of zinc; it is then

page_text: advantageous previously to saturate the. bath with chloride of zinc. For the
salts of zinc that are soluble. in alkalis, the most of the salts can be employed'
for precipitating, according to the nature of the article and the brilliancy
required. Zinc immersed in a solution of a salt of iron precipitates the latter
metal in white and even layers. With this bath zinc or other metal can be
coated with iron. The metal thus coated with iron can receive by means of
heat all the tints of steel. In most cases the precipitated iron becomes oxidised
in a short time; it is therefore necessary to apply a coating of varnish to
prevent the formation of rust. Zinc can be coated with a solid grey and
brilliant varnish in a solution of silicate of potash, or by a black varnish by
means of an acid or alkaline phosphate. A colored varnish can also be given
to zinc by means of a phosphate or silicate holding copper in solution. The
coating of zinc with brass is effected, 1st, with phosphates and alkaline car-
bonates containing copper; 2ndly, with borates; 3rdly, with chlorides; 4thly,
with sulphates; 5thly, with acetates & tartrates.
The alloy of copper and tin can also be precipitated on zinc. A gold color
can also be given to tin by means of copper, by employing the latter metal
dissolved in sulphuric, muriatic, and vegetable acids.
Lead can also receive a surface coating of copper by precipitation. The
bronze thus formed is of a dark color, but in adding a whiter metal a lighter
tint can be attained. Vegetable and muriatic acids, chlorides, and alkaline
phosphates can also be employed in the precipitation of metals and alloys
on lead.
Brass & bronze can be silvered by immersion with a brush by means of
deliquescent chlorides containing chloride of silver. These two alloys of
copper can be coated with lead, iron, tin, platina, or antimony. Deliquescent
chlorides are to be preferred for holding in solution the metals to be preci-
pitated; a diluted solution can sometimes be employed for platina.
-According-to-the-length_of_the_operation_or_the_quantity of metal in solu-
tion, two shades of color are sometimes obtained from the same bath; thus,
by coating copper with antimony, violet or antimony grey can be obtained.
The tinning of yellow copper is effected in cold solutions by means of
chlorides, tartrates, and many other salts. Pure alloyed cadmium can also be
precipitated on copper & other metals either for plating or producing a gold
coloring.
Yellow copper can be bronzed either in the massive state, or precipitated on
iron or other metals. By the word bronzing, as -here employed, is understood
the giving to yellow copper, either massive or precipitated, various colors by
oxidation, or other chemical modification of their surfaces. A solution of

page_text: neutral tartrate of potash super-saturated with caustic potash gives almost
instantaneously to yellow copper a purple, yellow, blue, & black tint, ac-
cording to the duration of immersion. The alkaline phosphate of potash
containing zinc in solution gives to copper a brilliant black, and without zinc
a deep blue color. Pure silicate of potash gives
Pure silicate of potash gives to copper a deep bluish
tint, and with the addition of carbonate of potash a deep liver color.
These colors are .durable, and do not scale off. The deliquescent chlorides
permit of precipitating zinc. on iron, or iron on zinc, at option. For the
precipitation of zinc, a little copper or other metal in solution becomes useful.
Zine precipitates manganese from a saturated solution of chloride of manga-
nese; manganese can be precipitated on other metals by means of zinc.
And having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the sanie into execution, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise mode of operation herein laid down; but what I
claim is, the processes for precipitating a metal or alloy of metal on other
metals or alloys of metal without heat, battery, or the aid of poisonous
substances, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)
L DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)