other Metals with Tin, Lead, or Terne.
Year: 1886

page_text: other Metals with Tin, Lead, or Terne.
I, ADOLPH GUTENSOHN, of Mile End Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturing 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) :-
;-
My present invention relates more especially to the manufacture of tin or terne
plates, consisting of sheets of iron or other metal coated with tin, lead, or terne (a
compound of both metals); and it is also applicable to the purpose of tinning and
soldering generally, and of coating iron or other metals in any other form as well
as sheets, with tin, lead, or terne.
In the process of manufacturing tin or terne plates it is of great importance not
only that the cost of labour should be reduced to the lowest possible point, but
that the process itself and the materials used should be as simple and cheap as
possible, without deterioration in the quality of the plates produced, and my
present invention has for its object an improved process by which great economy
and cheapness in the manufacture are attained.
The use of different substances as fluxes has been proposed for the purpose of
facilitating the tinning or coating of the surface of iron or other plates, but they
have generally had the disadvantage of corroding the iron beneath the surface
of the tin or other coating metal, and prejudice against their use has thus been
caused.
By my present invention I use a flux of an entirely novel composition.
For this purpose I take a solution of the following ingredients, viz: Salammoniac,
Boracic (or Boric) acid and chloride of tin, to which a small proportion of glycerine
is added.
The solution containing these ingredients may be made in different ways, but
I prefer the following. I make a precipitate of Borate of tin by adding a solution
of borax to one of chloride of tin in such proportions that all the tin is precipitated,
and I redissolve the Borate of tin in diluted hydrochloric acid, but without entirely
saturating the hydrochloric acid, of which a very small proportion is left free.
The solution contains therefore chloride of tin and boracic acid with a small
proportion of free hydrochloric acid, and to it I add salammoniac in such quantity

page_text: as the solution will dissolve, and a very small proportion (say two to five per cent :)
of glycerine.
The addition of glycerine however small the proportion may be is very important,
as being readily converted into carbon it rises to the surface of the molten tin,
lead, or terne, and carries with it the other ingredients of the flux so that no
traces of the same are left on the article to be coated when finished. The solution
when made as above described is then ready for use, and can be kept until
required without deterioration by crystallization or otherwise. The proportions
of the several ingredients may be varied more or less to suit varying circumstances.
The iron or other plates or articles to be tinned or coated are pickled by acid in
the usual way before being dipped into the solution, which I prefer to use hot.
After having been dipped and allowed to drain they are dipped into molten tin
or other metal with which they are to be coated, and are then finished in the
usual way. Any apparatus used for the purpose of so tinning or coating and
finishing may be employed, the improved flux being applicable to them.
For the purpose of avoiding the process of what is known in the manufacture of
tin or terne plates as the white pickling, I use such an addition to the above
mentioned small proportion of free hydrochloric acid that it suffices to pickle the
plates, and so saves the necessity for carrying on such pickling process separately.
All other fluxes, used for making tinplates can by the addition of hydrochloric or
or other acid used in such fluxes in a sufficient quantity be thus made to do the
white pickling as well as the fluxing, simultaneously in the same bath or receptacle,
and in this way great saving of time and economy are effected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. As a flux for the purpose of preparing the surface of iron, steel, or other
metal, to receive a coating of tin, lead, or terne, the solution consisting of the
ingredients herein before described.
2. In a flux for the purpose of preparing the surface of iron, steel, or other
metal, to receive a coating of tin, lead, or terne, the use of boric acid either free in
a metal solution or combined with a metal.
3. In a flux for preparing the surface of iron steel or other metal, to receive a
coating of tin, lead, or terne, the presence of glycerine in combination with the
acids or metallic solutions described, substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described.
4. In a flux for preparing the surface of iron, steel, or other metal, to receive a
coating of tin, lead, or terne, the presence of an excess of free acid, by which the
two processes of pickling and fluxing (by fluxing being understood the rendering
of the surface capable of receiving a firmly adhering coating) can be carried on
simultaneously and in the same vessel, all substantially as described.
Dated this 12th day of May 1886