AN IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and Anselme de
Fontenay, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineers, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOY."
Sealed the 19th May 1854, and dated the 30th, December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Catherine Camille
de Ruolz and Anselme de Fontenay at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 30th December 1853.
We, HENRI CATHERINE CAMILLE DE RUOLZ and ANSELEME DE FONTENAY, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METALLIC
ALLOY" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the production of an alloy having the appearance
of silver.
. To this end we combine silver, copper, and nickel in suitable proportions,
prefering that the alloy shall contain 20 per cent. of silver.
The copper employed must be the purest obtainable in commerce, and the
nickel must be purified by some suitable process. The means which we prefer
for the purification of the nickel are as follows:-Firstly, when treating
impure nickel of commerce, the metal is to be dissolved in aqua regia .or
dilute sulphuric acid; in the latter case the dissolution must be expedited by
electric or galvanic action. It is then submitted to a current of chlorine, and
the iron precipitated by boiling with carbonate of lime. The nickel is then
precipitated by carbonate of soda, and taken up again by hydrochloric acid, &
diluted with a large quantity of water.

page_text: The solution is then saturated with chlorine gas, and an excess of carbonate
of baryta is added thereto.
The liquor must then be left in repose, and the nickel precipitated in the
metallic state by a galvanic current, or precipitated in the state of oxide, which
may be afterwards reduced in the ordinary manner.
When treating speiss, take of this substance 100 parts; nitre, 20 parts;
and feldspar, 100 parts; and by this means cobalt is produced in the state
of blue glass. This is to be roasted and washed; and dissolved in sulphuric
acid.
~ 33
The remainder of the process is effected in the same manner as that
described for the first operation..
In forming the alloy we prefer, first, to melt the nickel and copper, and to
introduce the silver little by little into the mass while in a state of fusion, and
to mix it well by stirring. It is then to be cast into. sand....
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and Anselme de Fontenay
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRI
CATHERINE CAMILLE DE RUOLZ and ANSELME DE FONTENAY, both of Paris, in
the Empire of France, Civil Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year. of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and Anselme de Fontenay, Her
special licence that we, the said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and
Anselme de Fontenay, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and Anselme "de
Fontenay, our 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 "AN IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henri Catherine Camille
de Ruolz and Anselme de Fontenay, by an instrument in writing under our
hauds and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly

page_text: 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 we, the said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz
and 'Anselme de Fontenay, do hereby declare the nature of our said 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)
тр
This Invention of An Improved Metallic Alloy consists in the production.
of an alloy which may be employed for almost all purposes to which silver is
usually applied. The improved alloy is composed only of silver, copper, and
purified nickel, which metals may be combined in any suitable proportions;
we, however, prefer the (following, viz'):-Silver, twenty parts, nickel, from
twenty-five to thirty-one parts; and the rest up to one hundred parts in copper;
thus producing an alloy-containing twenty per cent or thereabouts of silver,
and constituting-silver of the third degree of fineness, thus 'reversing the
proportions of the ordinary composition of the second degree, this latter'
containing eight hundred parts of silver and two hundred of alloy, whereas
our improved compound contains 'two hundred parts silver, and eight hundred
of alloy.!!
The copper employed must be the purest obtainable in commerce, and the
nickel should be purified by some suitable process. The means which we
prefer for the purification of the nickel are as follows:-When treating
impure nickel, of commerce, the inetal is to be dissolved in 'a mixture of
hydrochloric and nitric acid, or in. dilute sulphuric acid. In the latter case
the dissolution must be expedited by electric or galvanic agency, and the
operation should be carried on in vessels of platinum. The solution is then
submitted to the action of a current of chlorine, and the iron impurities
precipitated therefrom-by boiling with carbonate of lime, care being taken not
to have too great an excess of this latter substance.
The nickel is then precipitated by carbonate of soda, and, taken up again
by hydrochloric acid, and diluted with a large quantity of water. The solution
is then saturated with chlorine gas, and an excess of carbonate of baryta is
added thereto. The liquor must then be left in repose in a cold state, and the.
nickel may either be precipitated in the metallic state by means of a galvanic
current, or precipitated in the forni of an oxide, which oxide may be afterwards
reduced to the, metallic state in the ordinary manner...
mail.
When treating speiss, take of this substance one hundred parts; nitre,
twenty parts; and feldspar, one hundred parts; and by this means cobalt is

page_text: produced in the state of blue glass. This is to be roasted and washed, and
dissolved in sulphuric acid. The remainder of the process is to be effected in
the manner above described for the treatment of impure nickel.
Although the proportions above given are those we generally employ for
the production of our improved alloy, we would here observe that the pro-
portion of silver may be variously increased up to the following limit (viz¹),
silver, thirty parts; nickel, thirty-one parts; and copper, forty-nine parts;
total, one hundred and ten parts.
It is advantageous, first, to melt the copper and nickel in the granular state,
and afterwards to introduce the silver; and the flux to be employed in this
case consists of charcoal and borax both in the state of powder, and the ingots
obtained are to be rendered malleable by annealing for a considerable time in
powdered charcoal.
Having now described our Invention of "An Improved Metallic Alloy," and
set forth the best means with which we are acquainted for carrying the same into
effect, we desire it to be understood that we do not mean or intend to confine
ourselves rigidly to the precise proportions above set forth, as they may be varied
to some extent, without departing from the nature and object of our Invention;
but that which we consider to be new, and therefore desire to secure under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, is, the production of an alloy com-
posed of silver, copper, and nickel in whatever proportions these metals may
be combined, which alloy has all the appearance of real silver, and may be
used for various purposes as real silver.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henri Catherine Camille de Ruolz and
Anselme de Fontenay, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
ED" BAREAU,
N° 98 bis Chaussée d'Antin,
à Paris.
H. C. C. DE RUOLZ. (L.S.)
A. DE FONTENAY.
(L.S.)