Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 31st July, 1889-Accepted, 31st Oct., 1889

page_text: Besides the process itself my invention consists of the general method dependent
upon the contact of two metals, iron and copper, or iron and tin for example, which
contact serves to effect without the aid of an external current, the deposit of a third
metal, not as happens, for example, in the gilding or silvering of iron, by dipping
iron previously coppered and which is due to the substitution of copper for gold or
silver in the solution; but by a kind of electric action, resulting from the intimate
contact of the couple, iron and copper, iron and tin, and so forth in the body of the
exciting liquid, exercising on it a chemical action. And the proof of this is that con-
trary to what takes place in gilding and silvering by dipping, those objects of copper
which can be gilded or silvered by dipping in baths which gild or silver coppered iron
cannot be nickeled by dipping in the bath which serves to nickel coppered iron as
above described.
The couples iron and copper, iron and tin, and so forth are not the only ones capablo
of producing the deposit; successive layers of metal, iron, tin and copper for example
produce the same result. In other words one may firstly, tin the iron, secondly,
copper it, and thirdly, deposit on these three metallic coatings (iron, tin and copper)
a fourth coating of nickel by the method above described. I can also obtain a fifth
coating (gold or silver) on the four metallic coatings, iron, tin, copper and nickel in
the gilding or silvering dipping baths.
(d) FOR GILDING AND SILVERING ON THE PRECEDING NICKELING.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Dipping Process for Depositing Metals upon
Iron and Steel.
I, ALFRED LEVY, of 120 Rue Lafayette, Paris, in the Republic of France, Chemist,
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, that is to say :-
}
The object of this invention is to deposit metals upon wrought or cast iron or steel
without the use of a galvanic battery or of a dynamo electric machine.
For this purpose I employ the following processes :-
(a) FOR BRONZING.
1. I take an ammoniacal solution of any salt of copper (especially the chloride)
for example, one composed of 30 grammes of chloride of copper dissolved in a
sufficient quantity of Ammonia to re-dissolve the precipitate, and I pour it into a
clear solution of salt of tin (a perfect solution due to the presence in the liquid of one
or more mineral or organic acids, preferably organic) for examplo, into a solution
composed of 1 kilogramme of tartaric acid, 250 grammes of oxalic acid, 200 grammes

page_text: 1. The objects previously coppered by any suitable process, but preferably by the
processes above described, are placed in a bath of simple, or complex, nickel salt, com-
posed, for example, of 1 kilogramme 500 grammes of chloride of nickel 3 kilogrammes
of sal ammoniac 1 kilogramme of sea salt and 20 litres of water. The coating of
copper is immediately covered with a very regular and adherent layer of nickel the
thickness of which increases with the duration of the immersion. The higher the
temperature of the nickel bath the better and more rapid are the results obtained;
when the bath is boiling, somewhat less than a minute is amply sufficient to obtain a
good deposit of nickel of sufficient thickness.
2. The previous coppering may be replaced by a previous tinning by dipping as
described in the second section of paragraph a hereof; then the nickeling is to be
effected as above described. The results obtained are equally fine.
Besides the process itself, my invention consists of the general method, dependent
upon the contact of two metals, iron and copper, or iron and tin for example, which
contact serves to effect, without the aid of an external current, the deposit of a third
metal, not as happens, for example, in the gilding or silvering of iron by dipping iron
previously coppered, and which is due to the substitution of copper for gold or silver
in the solution, but by a kind of electric action, resulting from the intimate contact of
the couple, iron and copper, iron and tin, and so forth, in the body of the exciting
liquid, exercising on it a chemical action. And the proof of this is that, contrary to
what takes place in gilding and silvering by dipping, those objects of copper, which
can be gilded or silvered by dipping in baths which gild or silver coppered iron, cannot
be nickeled by dipping in the bath which serves to nickel coppered iron as above
described.
The couples iron and copper, iron and tin, and so forth, are not the only ones capable
of producing the deposit ; successive layers of metal, iron, tin, and copper for example
produce the same result. In other words one may, firstly, tin the iron; secondly

page_text: process above described and then placing them in the gilding and silvering baths;
this is a very convenient process because it is composed of three successive and very
rapid immersions.
(e) FOR DEPOSITING COBALT AND ALUMINIUM.
These deposits are obtained in exactly the same way as the nickeling above described
by using solutions of cobalt and of aluminium. For example, in order to deposit
cobalt, a solution may be employed composed of 1 kilogramme of chloride of cobalt,
4 kilogrammes of sal-ammoniac, 2 kilogrammes of sea salt, and 20 litres of water;
and in order to deposit aluminium a solution may be employed composed of 500
grammes of chloride of aluminium, 1 kilogramme 500 grammes of sal-ammoniac,
kilogrammes of sea-salt, and 20 litres of water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
First. For obtaining a deposit of yellow brass bronze on iron or steel, the process
which consists in immersing the iron or steel object in a bath composed of a clear and
perfect solution of salt of tin containing an ammoniacal solution of any suitable
cupric salt, such as chloride of copper for example, as hereinbefore described.
Second. For obtaining a deposit of yellow brass on iron or steel, the process
which consists in first tinning the iron or steel object in a boiling solution of a salt
of tin in water in presence of oxalic acid, and in then immersing the said object in a
rather weak solution of red copper as hereinbefore described.
Third. For obtaining a deposit of gold or silver on iron or steel, the process which
consists in coppering the iron or steel object by one or other of the processes herein-
before described, and in then immersing the said object in the gilding or silvering
solution, as herein before described.
Fourth. For obtaining a deposit of nickel on iron or steel, the process which
consists in coppering the iron or steel object by one or other of the processes berein-
before described, or by any other suitablo process, in then immersing the said object
in a solution of a simple or complex salt of nickel, such as chloride of nickel with
sal ammoniac and sea salt for example, as hereinbefore described.
Fifth. For obtaining a deposit of nickel on iron or steel, the process which
consists in tinning the iron or steel object in the manner forming the subject of the
second claim clause horeof, and in then immersing the said object in a solution of a
simple or complex salt of nickel, as herein before described.
Sixth. For obtaining a deposit of gold or silver on iron or steel, the process
which consists in first nickeling the iron or steel object by one or other of the pro-
cesses forming the subject of the fourth and fifth claim clauses hereof, and in then
immersing the said object, so nickeled, in a gilding or silvering solution, as herein-
before described.
Seventh. For obtaining a deposit of cobalt or aluminium on iron or steel, the
process which consists in first coppering or tinning the iron or steel object, and in
then immersing the same in a solution of cobalt or aluminium as hereinbefore
described.

page_text: Eighth. For obtaining any metallic deposit on iron or steel the general method
which consists in first covering the iron or steel object with copper or tin, and in then
depositing a third metal, such as gold, silver, nickel, cobalt, or aluminium for example,
by a kind of electric action, resulting from the intimate contact of the primitive
couple, (iron and copper, or iron and tin for example) in the body of an exciting
liquid, exerting upon it a suitable chemical action, as herein before described.
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