IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING METALS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Morewood, of Stratford, in the County
of Essex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING METALS, AND
IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE."
Sealed the 1st June 1866, and dated the 9th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Morewood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1865. .
I, EDMUND MOREWOOD, of Stratford, in the County of Essex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING
METALS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
Hitherto it has been a disadvantage in coating sheets with melted metal
by means of rollers that the distance between the point at which the
sheets to be coated enter the coating metal and the first pair of rollers
under such coating metal has been so short that it allowed some of the
flux or foreign matter (through which the sheets passed immediately
before entering the coating metal) to descend with the sheet and get upon
the rollers between which it travelled in its way through or from the
coating metal or the finishing flux. Now it is desirable that the travel of
each sheet should be such as to ensure the removal of every trace of the
flux, and at the same time I also find it important, especially with heavy
sheets, that they should pass some distance under the melted metal in order

page_text: to give the coating metal time to take a firm hold before the surface of
the plate is nipped by or presses against a roller. With these objects in
view I use an apparatus or rack so arranged that when a sheet is travelling
in it under the melted coating metal the edge of the plate is presented to
the melted metal instead of its broad surface. The rack or apparatus
which I use receives the sheet to be coated and starts from a point under
the surface of the melted coating metal so near to that at which the plates
enter through the flax that each sheet is readily placed in the rack by the
workman, and then the machinery which gives motion to the rack causes
it to swing or travel with its plate under the melted coating metal from
near the entrance side to a sufficient distance towards the exit side of the
bath and until it delivers its plate (free from entrance flux and with the
coating metal sufficiently united to its surface,) into the nip of a pair of
rollers revolving in contact with the melted metal or flux; and the plate is
by such rollers carried out of the flux or metal. This rack or apparatus is
furnished with an arrangement by which the plate is held in its place in
the rack by means of a lever or otherwise until it is withdrawn. The
rollers (which receive the plate from the rack) are arranged lengthways
instead of across the bath of coating metal, and so that the plane in which
the sheet travels is parallel with the axes of the rollers.
I also arrange the machinery so as to give the plates (in process of
coating) a vibratory or to-and-fro motion whilst under the melted metal or
flux. More than one of these racks or receiving and carrying apparatus
may be working in the same bath; in such case the machinery which
gives motion thereto is arranged so.as to cause one apparatus to move back
whilst another is advancing. Instead of delivering its plate under the
melted metal as before mentioned, the rack may swing or travel on until
it raises a portion of the plate above the surface of the melted metal on
the exit side, so that such plate can be withdrawn by a workman or other-
wise. This apparatus may be used with rollers to reduce and finish the
coating of sheets of metal when using grease or flux in a vessel for such
purposes. In some cases two sets of rollers are used in the same pot or
vessel, the upper pair being in the grease or flux, the other pair receives
the sheets from the rack or carrying apparatus, as above explained, and
the finishing rollers receive the sheets from such other pair of rollers. I
also find it advantageous to place two pair of rollers, one above the other,
in the finishing grease or oil, so that the coated plate in rising perpendicu-
Jarly out of the grease passes in succession through two pair of rollers; and
I make one or both pair capable of adjustment so that I may be able to

page_text: upper
flatten the plate whilst lessening or improving its surface coating. All the
rollers are coated with the coating metal: I heat one roller of each pair by
making it hollow and introducing hot air; I make the other roller of each
pair moveable by causing it to work in connection with a spring, or with
such an arrangement as enables it to give or yield readily to the pressure
of a thick plate passing between it and the other roller of the pair. If the
right-hand roller of the lower pair be moveable, I heat that of the left hand,
and vice versa as to the upper pair. In passing up from the grease between
these rollers one side of a plate first touches the heated roller of the lower
pair, and then the other side that of the upper pair; and the plate is acted
upon first on one side and then on the other by rollers at a temperature
above that of the average of the grease; or I obtain a result in some
degree equivalent by introducing a tube with cold water passing through
it, or other arrangement, as a means of keeping the grease cooler in most
parts than about the rollers. In such case I apply heat to the exterior of
the grease pot, but I aim to keep the line of travel of the plate through
the grease before it reaches the exit rollers cool. I occasionally feed the
of such pair of rollers with melted coating metal by means of a ladle
or other instrument. I also use three rollers abreast revolving in the
finishing grease, one object being that the plates introduced hot from the
coating metal may furnish a considerable portion of heat to the rollers
between which they enter into the grease pot, and thus enable me to
have the temperature of the rollers above that of the grease, another
object being to take off the surplus metal when the plate enters hot
from the coating metal pot through the rollers into the grease, and to
finish and improve the conting when the plate passes out after being
cooled by its travel through the grease. When I work thus the coated
plate enters the grease pot between the roller on the entrance side and
the centre one, and by their revolution is carried downward and dropped
into a rack or apparatus in the grease pot, and is raised by suitable
machinery into the opening between the centre roller and that which I
call the exit roller, or the one against which the plate did not enter. The
centre roller communicates some heat to this exit roller by revolving
against it and touching it; but if I desire to give it more, I do so by
making the roller hollow and applying hot air to it; or, with the same
object, I use two-pair of rollers abreast instead of three rollers. In such
case one pair carry the plate down, the other pair bring it up; or four
rollers abreast may be worked so as to form two outer pairs for carrying
the plates down, and one ioner or centre pair from bringing them up; or

page_text: one pair may be used if the motion of the rollers is reversed when the
plate is to rise up and pass out between them, my object being. to reduce
the coating when the plate is hot, and to finish and improve the surface
when it has been somewhat cooled by the grease. I make one part of the
bottom of the grease pot lower than the other part, so that the coating
metal which drops from the rollers may flow to one side. I apply heat so
as to keep such coating metal fluid, and I place a tube in the grease pot
so that the lower part of it dips down into the coating metal at the bottom
of such grease pot; and inside such tube or in connection with the melted
metal is a can or arrangement for removing such coating metal from the
bottom of the grease pot with as little disturbance to the grease as may be.
I also arrange so that this tube shall be kept at the melting point of the
metal which has to be withdrawn through it. As it is very important to
avoid any jogging motion from the wheels in the process of coating,
especially in the wheels of what I call the finishing rollers, or the last pair
through which the plate travels when making its exit from the flux or
metal, I use a worm or screw taking into and driving a worm or screw
wheel on the finishing or other rollers used in the process.of.coating.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Morewood in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
MOREWOOD, of Stratford, in the County of Essex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edmund Morewood, Her special licence that I, the said
Edmund Morewood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edmund Morewood, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING METALS, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said Edmund

page_text: Morewood, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Edmund Morewood, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Hitherto it has been a disadvantage in. coating sheets with melted metal
by means of rollers that the distance between the point at which the sheets
to be coated enter the coating metal and the first pair of rollers under
such coating metal has been so short that it allowed some of the flux or
foreign matter (through which the sheets passed immediately before entering
the .coating metal), to descend with the sheet and get upon the rollers
between which it travelled in its way through. or from the coating metal or
the finishing, flux.... Now it is desirable that the travel of each sheet should
be such as to ensure the removal of every trace of the flux,,and.at the same
time I also find it important, especially with heavy sheets, that they
should pass some distance under the melted metal in order to give the
coating metal time to take a firm hold before the surface of the plate is.
nipped by or presses against a roller. With these objects in view. I use
an apparatus or rack so arranged that when a sheet is travelling in it under
the melted coating metal the edge of the plate is presented to the melted
metal instead of its broad surface. The rack or apparatus which I use
receives the sheet to be coated and starts from a point under the surface of
the melted coating metal so near to that at which the plates enter through.
the flux that each sheet is readily placed in the rack by the workman, and
then the machinery which gives motion to the rack causes it to swing or
travel with its plate under the melted coating metal from near the entrance
side to a sufficient distance towards the exit side of the bath and until it
delivers its plate (free from entrance flux and with the coating metal suffi
ciently united to its surface,) into the nip, of a pair of rollers revolving in
contact with the melted metal or exit flux and the plate is by such rollers
carried out of the flux or metal. This rack or apparatus is furnished with
an arrangement by which the plate is held in its place in the rack by means
of a lever or otherwise until it is withdrawn. The rollers (which receive
the plate from the rack) are arranged lengthways instead of across the

page_text: bath of coating metal, and so that the plane in which the sheet travels is
parallel with the axes of the rollers...
I also arrange the machinery so as to give the plates (in process of coating)
a vibratory or to-and-fro motion whilst under the melted metal or flux.
More than one of these racks or receiving and carrying apparatus may be
working in the same bath; in such case. the machinery which gives motion
thereto is arranged so as to cause one apparatus to move back whilst
another is advancing. Instead of delivering its plate under the melted
metal as before mentioned, the rack may swing or travel on until it raises
a portion of the plate above the surface of the melted metal on the exit
side so that such plate can be withdrawn by a workman or otherwise..
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shows a vertical section of
an apparatus constructed in the manner above described, so that the plate
to be coated is placed into a rack which carries it edgewise through the
melted coating metal and delivers it to a pair of withdrawing rollers, the
axes of. which are parallel or nearly so with the plane in which the plate
is carried through the metal. In the arrangement shown in the Drawing
three travelling racks are employed in one bath of melted coating metal,
and the racks are arranged each to deliver in succession a plate to the
withdrawing rollers. Each of the racks is carried at the lower end of a
long arm which swings on an axis at its upper end, and the rack is thus
caused to move to and fro in the bath of coating metal. In place of this
the rack may be otherwise supported and moved.
a is the bath of melted coating: metal; b are the racks carried at the
lower end of arms c, which at their upper ends turn on an axis c¹; on the
bottom of the racks are pins 6', which are received in guiding grooves a¹
formed in a plate placed at the bottom of the bath a; these grooves are shown
in the plan view (Figure 2) of the bath or pot, the pins working in the
grooves guide the racks in their movement to and fro. And in order further
to ensure that the racks shall travel correctly as they swing to and fro the
arms o are, by preference, caused to work against or between guide bars
placed above the bath of metal, these guide bars are not shewn in the
Drawing; d, d, d, are three eccentrics for giving motion to the arms c;
from each eccentric is a rod d', which at its further end is formed, to catch
ovor a pin carried on the arm to which it has to transmit motion. On
each rod is a projection which comes against an inoline e so soon as the
rod has moved the arm c with which it works to the required extent, the
rod is thus raised and set free from the arm, the. arm is then caused at
once to swing back by a counterbalance weight fon arm c', which projects

page_text: at right angles from the arm c. As each of the racks is in succession
moved to the exit side of the bath it delivers the plate it is carrying to a
pair of withdrawing rollers h, h, which raise the plate out of the rack and
deliver it to the finishing rollers k, k, which revolve in contact with the
grease or flux above the surface of the metal.
The apparatus shown in the Drawings is also arranged to give a
vibratory to-and-fro motion to the plates whilst they are under the coating
metal. In the arrangement shown this is accomplished by three arcs g,
one only, of which is shown in the Drawing; the arcs are caused to vibrate
to and fro by the eccentrics d, as is shown, and on the outer circumference
of each arc corrugations or inclines are formed which act on projections
c on the arms c¹, one such projection being on the under side of each arm.
The arms which carry the arcs g each have a slot formed through them for
the eccentric rods d² to pass freely through. The action of the apparatus
is as follows: When the workman has placed a plate into one or other of
the racks (the rack at this time being in state of rest at the entrance side
of the bath) the arc g, which is to give the vibratory motion, comes against
the projection c² on the arm c², the corrugations or inclines on the arc then
in succession raise this arm, whilst the counterbalance weight causes it to
fall back to its original position, so swinging the plate which is in the rack
to and fro whilst it is underneath the coating-metal; one advantage of so
swinging the plate is that the plate is effectually freed from any flux which
may have carried down with it on entering the metal. As soon as the
are has moved back to the position shewn in the Drawing, the eccentric
∙rod ď¹ catches over the pin on the arm b, and commences to draw the arm
forward so as to move the rack carried by it towards the exit side of the
bath. When the rack has completed its movement in this direction it has
brought the plate carried by it into a position to be taken hold of by the
withdrawing rollers h, h, which raise the plate out of the rack and deliver
it to the finishing rollers k, k, as above described. The eccentric rod d'
is then raised by the incline e and the arm c is thus.set free, the counter-
balance weight on the arm c³ then brings back the rack to the entrance
side of the bath, where it remains in a state of rest whilst the eccentrics
are making about a quarter of a revolution, and during this time another
plate is placed into it by the workman. It is preferred that the eccentric
shaft should make about three revolutions a minute, but this may be varied.
The form of rack which I prefer to employ for carrying the plates is shewn
on a larger scale at Figures 3, 4, and 5, each rack being furnished with an
arrangement for holding the plate in its place in the rack; this is more
it

page_text: especially necessary when coating plates whose specific gravity is less than
that of the coating metal. Each rack is composed of a bottom bar / which
carries fixed side rods ', between which the plate is passed; the bar
carries also an axis, around which the tube is capable of turning; this
tube carries bent rods m³, the upper ends of which can be caused to press
against the side of the plate by turning the tube on its axis; this is accom-
plished by the tube having an arm m³ upon it, which by a rod m³ is
connected to the weighted lever arm n, the rods m² are by this means
constantly turned into such a position as to press against the plate. When
the workman is about to place a plate into a rack he raises the weighted arm
n by the lever handle n³, and after inserting the plate he allows the weighted
arm again to fall, and so causes the rods m¹ to press against the plate. In
place of the apparatus being arranged as shown in the Drawing in such
manner that the moving racks deliver the plates to withdrawing rollers
working in the coating metal or flux, it may, as before stated, be arranged
in such manner that the rack shall swing or travel onwards until it brings
a portion of the plate above the surface of the melted metal on the exit
side of the bath,. so that such plate can be withdrawn by a workman or
otherwise.. Or the bath containing the before-mentioned racks may be
filled with flux suitable for finishing coated plates in place of the coating
metal. In such case I keep the temperature of the grease as low as I can
consistently with the proper action of the finishing rollers, and the arrange-
ment of apparatus above described is a very convenient one to use when
employing two sets of rollers, one above the other, for withdrawing a plate
from the finishing pot or vessel of flux as I now propose to do; both sets
of rollers are coated with the coating metal, and I occasionally feed the
upper of such pair of rollers with melted coating metal by means of a ladle
or other instrument, the lower pair receives the sheets from the rack or
carrying apparatus as above explained, whilst the upper finishing pair of
rollers, which are only immersed in the grease to just above their centre
line, receive the sheets from the lower pair and complete the finishing of
their surface; by thus using two pair of coated finishing rollers, one above
the other, to withdraw the plates from the grease in the finishing pot I find
that the surface of the plate is much improved.
Other arrangements of apparatus than that shewn in the Drawing may
'be employed when using two pair of rollers, as above explained, to raise the
plates perpendicularly out of the grease. I heat one roller of each pair by
making it hollow and introducing hot air, and I then make the other
roller of each pair moveable, so that it may readily yield to pressure and

page_text: move to or from the heated roller, as described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to me on the 14th January 1863 (No. 123). If the right-
hand roller of the lower pair be moveable I heat that of the left hand, and
vice versa as to the upper pair. In passing up from the grease between
these rollers one side of a plate first touches the heated roller of the lower
pair and then the other side that of the upper pair, and the plate is thus
acted upon first on one side and then on the other by rollers at a tempe-
rature above that of the average of the grease; or in place of this I
may obtain a result in some degree equivalent by introducing a tube
with cold water passing through it, or other arrangements, as a means of
keeping the grease cooler in some parts than about the rollers. In such.
case I apply heat to the exterior of the grease pot, but in all cases I aim.
to keep the line of travel of the plate through the grease before it reaches
the exit rollers cool. When thus using two pair of rollers I, by prefer-
ence, make one or both pair capable of adjustment, so that if the plates be
curved I may be able to flatten the plate whilst lessening or improving its
surface coating. For finishing sheets of coated metal I also employ an
apparatus consisting of three rollers abreast, coated with the melted
coating metal, and partly revolving in the grease contained in the finishing
pot, the rollers being immersed in the grease to just above their centre
line, as is usual when employing rollers to take tin plates from the finishing
pot, or with the grease just below their centre line, as is the case when
passing terne plates up between the finishing rollers. The plate after
being coated is, whilst hot, introduced between one of the outer rollers
and the central one, and is by them drawn down into the grease and is
received into a rack. The rack is then moved sidewise, and the plate is by
a lifting apparatus (such as is described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to me on the 14th January 1863, No. 123,) lifted out from it and
its upper edge presented between the central roller and the other outer
roller, and these rollers draw the plate out from the grease; or the rack
itself may rise and lift the plate till it reaches the opening between the
rollers. One advantage of this arrangement is that the plates being
introduced into the grease between the rollers when hot from the coating
metal impart to them a considerable portion of heat, and I am thus enabled
to keep the rollers hotter than the grease, which is advantageous. Another
advantage is that the surplus metal is by the first pair of rollers taken from
the plates whilst they are hot from the coating metal, and then after the
plates have been cooled by the grease their surface is improved by their
being passed between the second pair of. rollers. The centre roller com-

page_text: municates some heat to the outer roller on the exit side by revolving
against it, but if I desire to give it more, I do so by making the roller hollow
and applying hot air to it.
In place of the above arrangement two pair of rollers abreast may be
used instead of the three rollers; in this case one pair of rollers carries
the plate down into the grease and the other pair lifts it out therefrom.
Or four rollers abreast may be worked so as to form two outer pairs for
carrying the plates down, and one inner or central pair for bringing
them up. Or one pair of rollers may be used if the motion is reversed
when the plate is to rise up and pass out between them, my object being
to reduce the coating when the plate is hot, and to finish and improve the
surface when it has been somewhat cooled by the grease. In order to be
able to regulate with facility the height of the grease in the grease pot,
and
to avoid disturbing it, I make one part of the bottom of the grease pot
lower than the other parts, so that the coating metal which drops from the
rollers may
flow to one side. Sections of pots formed in this manner are
shown at Figures 9 and 10. I apply heat so as to keep such coating
metal fluid. From the lowest part of the pot a tube rises, and through
this tube any excess of metal can be removed. In the arrangement shown
at. Figure 9 this is effected by means of a can dipped down into the
tube from time to time as required, and in the arrangement shewn
at Figure 10 it is effected by a plunger x, which when pressed down forces
the metal up the tube. I arrange so that this tube shall be kept at the
melting point of the metal which has to be withdrawn through it. As it
is very important to avoid any jogging motion in the rollers employed in the
process of coating and finishing the plates, I use a worm or screw taking
into and driving a worm or screw wheel on the finishing or other rollers
used in the process of coating. Figure 6 shows an end view of a pair
of rollers so driven; Figure 7 shews a plan view of the end of the
roller; and Figure 8 is a side view of the same. The rollers are carried
by a frame that is immersed in the pot containing the melted metal or the
finishing grease as the case may be; each roller at its end has fixed upon it
a worm wheel into which a screw or worm gears as is shown, the axis of the
worm is driven by a driving band passing around a pulley as shewn, or by
other suitable means. When a worm and worm wheels are employed to
give motion to the rollers as above described, the worm and worm wheels
may all be situated below the surface of the melted metal or the grease,
and little or no jogging motion will be experienced, as is the case when
toothed wheels are employed which gear together close to the surface of
1

page_text: the metal or grease; the jogging motion, which is caused by dirt or foreign
matter on the surface of the metal entering between the teeth of the
toothed wheels, being by this means avoided.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,―
First, the combination of apparatus first herein described, consisting of a
moving rack which carries the plates to be coated edgewise through the
coating metal as described.
Second, the process of giving to the plate a vibratory to-and-fro motion
whilst under the coating metal or flux.
'Third, the causing the plates whilst undergoing the finishing process to
be raised perpendicularly from the grease or flux employed through two
or more pairs of rollers arranged as above described.
Fourth, the combined arrangements herein described whereby the plate
as it comes from the bath of coating metal is passed perpendicnlarly into
the grease or flux of the finishing pot through rollers which take the
excess of metal from it, and then after the plate has been somewhat cooled
in the grease it is raised up through rollers to improve its surface.
Fifth, the constructing the grease pot in the manner described with
reference to Figures 9 and 10.
Sixth, the constructing the apparatus employed for coating and finishing
the plates in such manner that motion is imparted to the rollers employed
in the processes of coating and finishing by means of a worm and worm
wheels, whereby I am enabled to place the whole of the gearing below the
surface of the metal or flux as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Morewood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
EDMUND MOREWOOD. (L.B.)