IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING SHEETS OF METAL WITH OTHER METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Whytock, of 12, Little Saint Andrew Street,
Upper Saint Martin's Lane, in the County. of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING SHEETS OF METAL WITH OTHER
METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 13th March 1860, and dated the 11th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Whytock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1859.
I, ANDREW WHYTOCK, of 12, Little Saint Andrew Street, Upper Saint
Martin's Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING SHEETS OF METAL WITH OTHER
METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in coating sheets of metal
with other metals and other substances. Heretofore sheets of metal have
been coated by dipping them separately into the molten metal or other fluid
substances used for coating, and it is well known, that, for various purposes,
lengths of coated sheet metal are required greater than the length of a single
sheet, and that in such cases it has been usual to connect several sheets
together by grooving, linking, rivetting, or otherwise, after they have been
separately coated with the metal or other coating substance. Now, my

page_text: improvements consist in combining sheets of iron or of other metal together at
their edges by any of the ordinary means above mentioned before they have
been coated; or such connecting of the sheets together may be only temporary
where it is desired simply to obtain the advantages of a more continuous
process of dipping a series of plates or sheds into a coating fluid. The joined
or connected series of plates or sheets are then immersed in succession into
the bath of melted metal or other substance with which they are to be coated.
By which means not only will the general surfaces be coated, but the
permanent joints will also be coated, and the joints or seams thereby more
advantageously made, and at the same time the connecting of several sheets or
plates together before coating them will facilitate their being moved into and
from the melted coating metal or substance, and will also facilitate the move-
ment of a succession of plates or sheets into and through a hot chamber, in
order that they may become heated, and be caused in passing out of the hot
chamber to enter the flux (floating on the bath of coating metal) in a more
highly heated state, whereby the coating of the sheets or plates in some cases'
will be more effectually accomplished. By thus joining or connecting together
numerous sheets or plates of iron or other metal, the manufacturer will be
enabled to supply his customers with great lengths of coated steel metal, from
which may be cut any desired lengths, and the user will be saved much of the
trouble of connecting the parts, and the manufacturer will, by connecting the
sheets or plates either permanently or temporarily, be advantaged, by rendering
the process of coating more continuous as compared with the coating the
sheets or plates separately.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Whytock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
WHYTOCK, of 12, Little Saint Andrew Street, Upper Saint Martin's Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andrew Whytock, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew
Whytock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,

page_text: the said Andrew Whytock, 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 SHEETS OF METAL WITH OTHER METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Whytock, 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 Andrew Whytock, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in coating sheets of metal
with other metals and other substances. Heretofore sheets of metal have
been coated by dipping them separately into the molten metal or other fluid
substances used for coating, and it is well known, that for various purposes
lengths of coated sheet metal are required greater than the length of a single
sheet, and that in such cases it has been usual to connect several sheets
together by grooving, linking, rivetting, or otherwise, after they have been
separately coated with the metal or other coating substance.
Now, my
improvements consist in combining sheets of iron or of other metal together at
their edges by any of the ordinary means above mentioned before they have
been coated; or such connecting of the sheets together may be only temporary
where it is desired simply to obtain the advantages of a more continuous
process of dipping a series of plates or sheets into a coating fluid. The joined
or connected series of plates or sheets are then immersed in succession into the
bath of melted metal or other substance with which they are to be coated,' by
which means not only will the general surfaces be coated, but the permanent
joints will also be coated, and the joints or seams thereby more advantageously
made, and at the same time the connecting of several sheets or plates together
before coating them will facilitate their being moved into and from the melted
coating metal or substance, and will also facilitate the movement of a succession
of plates into and through a hot chamber, in order that they may become
heated, and be caused in passing out of the hot chamber to enter the flux

page_text: (floating in the bath of coating metal) in a more highly heated state, whereby
the coating of the sheets or plates in some cases will be more effectually
accomplished. By thus joining or connecting together numerous sheets or
plates of iron or other metal, the manufacturer will be enabled to supply his
customers with great lengths of coated sheet metal, from which may be cut
any desired lengths, and the user will be saved much of the trouble of con-
necting the parts, and the manufacturer will, by connecting the sheets or
plates either permanently or temporarily, be advantaged, by rendering the
process of coating more continuous as compared with the coating the sheets or
plates separately.
Having thus stated the nature of iny said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The peculiarity of this Invention consists in connecting numerous sheets of
metal together, so that there will (except at the time of starting and finishing)
be part of the whole length immersed in the bath part which is coated, and
part which has not entered the bath, and so that as each part becomes coated
and is progressively drawn out of the bath, the uncoated parts will be moved
into the bath, the part in the bath being kept stretched. When about to cont
a series of sheets of iron or of other metal (which are to remain permanently
connected together), the edges of the several sheets are to be connected in a
permanent manner, by any of the means ordinarily resorted to by tinmen and
others when joining sheet metal, such as by grooving, linking, rivetting, or other-
wise, and so as to produce a fixed joint without solder, and which joint or
connection between the ends of each two neighbouring sheets will in each case
be improved and rendered more sound by being coated with the melted coating
metal, or material contained in the bath. The desired lengtli of a series of
sheets being made up and connected together, each end of such series has
attached to it wires or strips of metal or chains, or other connecting pieces,
in order to lead the first end of the long series through the bath and 'to'conduct
that end round a drum or otherwise, so as to keep the series extended and
tightly pulled on, which is important throughout the process, and the wires,
strips, or chains, or other connecting pieces of metal fixed at the other end of
the long series of combined sheets are to hold the last end of such series, till
such last end has passed through the bath and has become cooled. The sheets
are as heretofore when they enter the bath to be in a clean state and free from
scale or oxide, all which is well understood when coating separate sheets as
heretofore with like melted metals or materials, and such cleansing separately
forms no part of my Invention, nor does the coating with zinc, tin, or other
material separately form any part of my Invention. By thus having such long

page_text: series of connected sheets, not only will the process of coating be greatly faci-
litated, but where the thickness of the metal requires it, the process of drying
and heating such connected sheets before they.in succession come up to and
enter the bath of melted coating metal or material will also be facilitated, as
the same may be progressively, and with greater convenience, moved through
an oven or heated chamber, so as to come up to and enter the bath at any
desired temperature, which cannot be done with equal convenience when the
workmen have, as heretofore, by hand to move separate sheets into and from the
bath of melted inetal or material. The first end of a series of connected sheets is
caused to descend into a bath and under a roller or bar, or otherwise im-
mersed below the melted metal or material in the bath, and near the side of
the bath where the first end enters, then under another bar or roller (also
below the melted material) near the exit side or end of the bath, or otherwise
kept immersed, then up out of the bath by the aid of the wires, strips, or
chains, or other connecting pieces of metal, the other ends of which are
attached to a drum or other receiver. The other parts of the series of sheets
are wound around another drum or holder, and the connected series of sheets
is wound off one holder on to the other, the surfaces of the connected
sheets becoming coated as the series progressively passes through the bath.
Although this Invention is more particularly applicable when coating in
succession a series of sheets of metal permanently connected together or other-
wise, so as to produce a long continuous sheet, as compared with the length or
size of the bath, yet the Invention-is also applicable, and with advantage in
respect to sheets of iron or of other metal, which are not to be permanently
connected together for a long continuous length composed of temporarily con-
nected sheets, which may, in like manner to what has been above described,
be caused to be moved into, through, and out of melted metal or material in
a bath with greater facility than when the workinen have, as heretofore, by
hand to immerse and remove separate sheets of metal. When a series of
sheets are to be temporarily connected so as to produce a long continuous
sheet, the connections of the edges of the succeeding sheets may be accom-
plished by screw or other clamps or fasteners, which may be blacked or coated
over in such manner as to prevent the melted metal adhering thereto, which
clamps or fasteners are to be removed after the sheets have come out of the
bath and the sheets have cooled, care being observed that the parts of the
sheet metal in contact with or covered by the clamps or fasteners are as small
as may be to ensure a sufficient holding of the edges of one sheet to the edges
of the next sheets, and for the time being well to retain the several sheets
securely together during the process of passing them in succession into and

page_text: through the oven or heating chamber (when used), and through the melted
metal or material in the bath. Taking care also, that the parts of the series
which are in the bath, and the parts which have last come from the bath are
kept extended and not free to bend by the heat of the bath, or by the cooling
after leaving the bath.
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 the
subjecting of sheets of iron and other metal when connected together into a
long or continuous sheet to the process of coating, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Whytock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
ANDREW WHYTOCK.
(L.S.)