A CERTAIN PROCESS FOR UNITING CAST IRON TO CAST IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND FOR UNITING OTHER METALS TOGETHER
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AIME NICOLAS
DERODE, of 37, Rue Saint Roch, Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day
of August (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fifteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Aimé Nicolas Derode, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, scle privilege and authority, that T, the said Aimé
Nicolas Derode, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
AiméNicolas Derode, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in
all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of " A
CERTAIN PROCESS FOR UNITING CAST IRON TO CAST IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND
FOR UNITING OTHER METALS TOGETHER;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that I, the said Aimé Nicolas Derode, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal

page_text: to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reférence being thereunto had,
will more and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Aimé Nicolas Derode, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing herein referred to and hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in the employment of electricity, either magnetic or
electro-galvanic, which I use conjointly with the ordinary process employed for
scouring, and with the addition of heat obtained from ordinary combustibles.
The means which I employ in the uniting of metals effect their expansion,
softening, and liquefaction ina more expeditious manner than those ordinarily
used.
To unite cast iron to cast iron, or cast iron to other metals, and also other
metals together, I operate directly upon the surfaces to be united. If one of
the metals is in the liquid state as when it is cast out of the furnace, I effect
its union with the other metal in the solid state immediately and without
any previous preparation. If the parts to be united are both in the solid
state, it is first necessary to scour them and to apply heat obtained by the
ordinary means. In addition to the two preceding operations, I call in the
co-operation of another agent, much more energetic and less expensive, namely
electricity. I will hereafter describe the accessary agents which I employ
to carry out my Invention; and as my Invention is divided into several
parts, I will successively describe them.
GENERAL VIEW OF MY MODE OF APPLYING ELECTRICITY.
I operate with a current of electricity upon the surfaces to be united, and
according to circumstances, I make use of either one single current from one
of the two poles, or of two opposite currents, the one positive, the other
negative, in such a manner that the two currents meet together and form a
shock. Experiments have led me to ascertain that electric currents and
shocks concur in effecting ny purpose in different ways; the shocks contribute
mechanically, on account of the jerks they produce, to separate by degrees the
molecules of the metals, and to set at liberty the carbon which they held in
combination (when the metal operated upon is either cast iron or steel. The

page_text: currents, on account of the caloric which accompanies electricity, and pro-
bably also by a chemical influence brought into action at the same time, dilate
the molecules of the metals, soften them, and contribute to the separation of
the carbon, which they consume and volatilize wherever it is present. These
electric currents, when they are combined with the caloric produced by com-
bustion, reduce the metals to a state of fusion more promptly, and contribute,
therefore, to unite their particles by disengaging these last from the ingre-
dients interposed between them. These currents produce also magnetic
effects; thus, when a magnet is brought close to a handfull of iron filings
mixed with an equal quantity of coal dust, the iron filings separate from the
coal dust, and attach themselves only to the surfaces of the maguet. From
that exclusive attraction I have concluded that if cast iron, for instance, was
softened and reduced to a state of fusion, electricity, either magnetic or
electro-galvanic, would exert on the said cast iron a similar attraction; that
this attraction would unite together the molecules ofiron, and, finally, that the
molecules of the carbon, not being subject to the same influence, or at least
with not the same energy, the separation of the molecules of iron from those
of the coal must inevitably be the consequence. From what has been herein-
before stated for uniting cast iron to cast iron, or cast iron to other metals,
and also other metals together, it will be seen that I call into combined action
the mechanical, calorific, magnetic, and most probably chemical forces of
electricity.
I observe, with regard to the mechanical effects, that a single shock of the
two opposite electric currents is not sufficient, and that it is necessary to
multiply the succession of shocks with rapidity to obtain thegreatest required
effect. I produce and apply within a few seconds from nine hundred to five
thousand of them, more or less, according to the bulk of the pieces to be
operated upon; and to produce so great a number of electric shocks it is
mercly necessary to interrupt the union of the currents, and to reproduce it
again to reopen and to reclose them alternately with rapidity.
OF THE DIFFERENT STATES OF THE NIETALS ON WHICH ELECTRICITY IS APPLIED
TO OBTAIN EITHER THEIR SOLDERING OR FUSION.
I make use of electricity, first, when the metal is in a cold state; secondly,
when the metal is at a red heat and the pieces to be united are in a solid state;
thirdly, when the metals are at a red and white heat, and in a doughy and
liquid state; fourthly, before the metal reaches the dark red heat.

page_text: Firstly, use of electricity when the metal is in a cold state.-To operate
on the metal in a cold state, I set in action the currents and the shocks
when the pieces of metal are in the scouring bath, herein-after described,
and in which I immerse them in order to facilitate the cleansing of their
surfaces from their various impurities; when taken out of the bath I rub
these surfaces. The carbon of the cast iron separates with facility, and
imparts a considerable blackness to the cleansing water, at the bottom of which
its black powder is deposited. As the acids composing the bath have not the
property of attacking carbon, it is evident that the speedy separation of the
carbon is more especially the result of the action of electricity, and that the
said action causes the acids to penetrate between the molecules of the cast-
iron and to attack the iron. By these means the acids themselves have also
facilitated the speedy separation of the carbon; after the operations of washing
and rubbing the whitened surface of the cast iron assumes a metallic lustre.
The surface may, nevertheless, be imperfectly decarburretted, so as not to be
yet completely converted into pure iron; but as this is the main point I have
in view to obtain, I have recourse to the use of fire to complete the conversion
of the surface of cast iron into pure iron.
Secondly, use of electricity when the metal is at a red heat and in a solid
state. When the pieces of cast iron, &c., have exceeded cherry heat, and put
on the colour of white red heat, without having, however, reached the fusing
point, I cause directly the electric shocks to be given to produce a more
copious and rapid evolution of the carbon; this effect takes place either on
account of the carbon being totally volatilized by the heat, or beause the
unvolatilized part of its molecules separates and permits the molecules of iron
to be attracted toward each other by the magnetic force. In this case the
fusion of the surfaces of metals takes place more speedily than the colour of
its mass would indicate; in ordinary practice the acceleration of the fusion
may be explained by the superabundance of caloric produced by the electric
currents, and by the chemical influence which they probably exert at the same
time. The truth of what I have just now stated is confirmed by the follow-
ing experiment:-I took 6 and ith ounces of cast iron in three separate pieces,
to melt them in small reverberating furnace, lighted first with charcoal to
quicken the fire, and heated afterwards with coke. I put in action the electric
influence of two batteries, and the cast iron was immediately liquefied. Im-
mediately after that operation, and in the same furnace, I afterwards placed
6th ounces of the same cast iron, divided into four pieces, but without
employing electricity to effect their fusion; after a lapse of time, about double

page_text: the period occupied by the preceding operation, the cast iron had not arrived
at the same state of liquefaction as in the first instance. In each operation
iron wires surrounded the pieces of cast iron, one of their ends protruded out
of the furnace, in order to enable me to attach it to the conducting electric
wire. It appeared to me that after the melting of the cast iron, without the
electric influence, that the iron wire exhibited traces of oxidation, and that no
such result occurred after the fusing operation carried on with electricity. I
wish it to be observed, that the last iron wire was in direct communication
with the decomposing pole, which, in the operation I was performing, was
the charcoal element of the first battery, and which was itself in communi-
cation with the zinc element of the second battery. The furnace I had
employed was externally twenty-three and a half inches high, its internal
diameter in the centre was about seven inches, and the length of the pipes
was about twelve inches.
Thirdly, use of electricity when the metal is at a red and white heat, and
in a doughy and liquid state.-I use the same electric currents as hercin-after
described when the metal has arrived at a liquid and doughy state, such as it
appears when it comes out of the furnace when the pieces are cast in the
founderies. I have thus soldered immediately cast iron in a liquid state
with iron or steel in a solid state, having taken care before to conduct the
operation at a white red heat, and to powder them all round with borax.
Fourthly, use of electricity before the metal has reached the dark red
heat (union of tin with copper). In a bath of tin (banca) of about thirteen
ounces, which I had previously fused in a ladle over the fire of a plumber's
furnace, I melted a strip or band of copper seven and a half inches in
length, and weighing about 6th oz. When the tin bath was at the white
fusion point the copper band was half immersed in it, and at the same
time in communication with the decomposing pole of a battery, taking
care at the same time to withdraw it when any oxide appeared on the
surface of the said band. I then suddenly plunged the copper several times
in succession into a solution of muriate of zinc, and replaced it in the
tin bath. Notwithstanding the cooling effect of such an operation, the melting
of the band was effected in about a quarter of an hour. The surface of the
bath was a little oxidized, and to prevent it I had taken care to throw a few
pinches of pulverized borax upon its surface. On the burning coals of the fire
of the same furnace I had placed another band of copper of the same dimen-
sions, if not somewhat larger, and which did not melt though it reached the
white heat. The melting point of tin is four hundred and forty-two degrees

page_text: Fahrenheit, and by comparing it with the melting point of copper it will be
casily seen that the co-operation of electricity produces an effect about tho
double of that which could be produced by the heat of the tin bath alone.
TESTS TO WHICH I HAVE SUBMITTED SEVERAL PRODUCTS OF MY INVENTION.
I have soldered end to end several bars of cast iron, one of which was as big
as a man's arm, they have all been submitted to a trial capable of breaking
them, and have resisted at the parts where they were soldered, and broke only
in other places. To ploughshares, to the feet of cast-iron scarifiers, I have
soldered steel parts, which until now had only been soldered to iron; they have
worked very well. I have also soldered steel ends to miners' picks and
paviours' cleavers (cleaving hammers), and with these instruments I have
broken paving stones of the hardest granite without the soldering of my
process giving way. Lastly, being desirous of ascertaining whether it would
resist the violent disruptive action of gunpowder, I have manufactured of cast
iron a cannon weighing forty lbs., and had it bored so as to receive as a bore
the barrel of an English musket cut expressly for the purpose. I soldered
together the two pieces. The length of bore of the cannon was about eighteen
and three-quarter inches, and I charged it with three and a half ounces troy of
the finest and most powerful gunpowder. I loaded it to the length of fourteen
and half inches with short hay and paper, and I rammed with a wooden mallet
the four and a half inches remaining up the muzzle. I fired the cannon,
loaded as before stated, six times in succession, and my soldering withstood
this severe trial perfectly well. In following the series of my tests, I have
soldered to cast iron and brass tube plates of the same metals; in the interior
of the tubes I have soldered steel cylinders, and all of them have stood the
test of the discharge of gunpowder similar to that herein-before described.
Lastly, upon cast-iron balls I have soldered leaden casings.
From these trials I have concluded that my Invention would be very useful
for agricultural purposes, to manufacturers, architects, and builders, to miners
in the service of the Royal Navy and Ordnance, &c. &c. &c.
I will now proceed to describe more fully each particular mode of carrying
my process of soldering into operation. The following points demand con-
sideration: 1. Care to be taken in scouring the metals; 2. Preparation of
the solder; 3. Mode of using the fire; 4. Precautions to be taken in
applying electricity. Firstly, scouring for soldering together the parts of
articles cast separately or accidentally broken in pieces, whether of cast iron
or other iron, copper, steel, &c. &c. ; it is first necessary to free their surfaces

page_text: from all impurities, and also from the oxide and coal which would otherwise
be prejudicial to the operation. To effect this object, I commence by immersing
the pieces in a bath composed as follows:-One part muriatic acid, and
fifteen parts of pure water; pour this liquid into a wooden vat or in a
vessel of granite, or else into an earthenware or a brickwork trough coated
internally with gutta percha or tar. I immerse completely the parts to be
soldered in that bath, and leave them there about six hours in summer, and
longer in winter, even from twelve to fifteen hours, according to the tempe.
rature of the place where the operation is carried on. During the winter care
should be taken not to expose the articles in the scouring baths to the external
air, especially during a frost. When the temperature is under zero (32° of
Fahrenheit) the operation of the bath does not proceed. By increasing the
proportion of muriatic acid, or placing the pieces immersed in contact with
the decomposing pole of the battery, and making the water lukewarm, one
hour in the bath will be sometimes sufficient to obtain a perfect scouring.
But it is far better to allow the pieces to remain a longer time in the bath,
and not to increase the proportion of acid which in some degree deteriorates
the metal towards the middle or even at the beginning of the immersion; it
is well to give a few electric shocks, either with a Leyden jar, or still better
with the cog-wheel multiplier herein-after described. When the pieces come
out of the bath I brighten them by brushing them with a brush, scraper, or
with an old hand card and sandstone, until the surface (if it is cast iron or
steel) has assumed a fine metallic white lustre. The oxide and coal removed
by this rubbing imparts a dark dye to the water, which deposits lees of oxide
of iron and coal. The brilliant appearance which the surface of the cast iron
then presents, indicates that the carbon has been released from its combination
with the iron by the joint operation of acids, electricity, and friction. The
cast iron presents also, in that state, a surface similar to that of porous iron.
I submit to the same process of electro-scouring and friction the other
metals which are required to be soldered to cast iron or to be welded to one
another. It is necessary that the pieces should be very clean, which state
may be ascertained by their metallic lustre; the perspiration of the hands and
even the influence of the breath on their surfaces being prejudicial,care must
therefore be taken to wash the pieces with plenty of water, and to plunge them
immediately after into a solution of borate of soda, in the proportion of one
part for fifteen parts by weight of pure water, and this immediate immersion
of the pieces has the effect of preventing their oxidation when in contact with
the air

page_text: Figure 15 represents an endless scraper; Figure 16 represents several scrapers
united in a bundle.
PREPARATION OF THE SOLDERING.
The solder may vary as to the proportion of its ingredients. The yellow
copper solder, the brass or red copper, link or German silver, operate also
according to the proportions herein-before described, and under the influence
of the agents which I have already pointed out. But this kind of soldering
possesses less solidity and gives rise to more or less difficulty in carrying it out
practically. This is the reason why I prefer making use of a mixture com-
posed of two parts of yellow copper solder, one part of brass cut into picces,
and one six-hundredth part of nickel in a state of powder; in all three parts
and one six-hundredth. To render that solder harder, it is necessary to add a
link of red copper, and to increase the proportion of the nickel. The whole
must be immersed in a saturated solution of borate of soda. I give to the
pieces to be soldered the position they are to occupy after soldering by uniting
them firmly together with iron wire. I lay the solder on them in sufficient
quantity to fill up all the interstices as far as to the point of junction. I
sprinkle them afterwards with borax reduced to a very fine powder, and in
the borax itself I sprinkle also some powdered glass and sandstone, in order
to prevent the borax from scaling or peeling off during the calcination, and the
solder from running off the surfaces of junction. The calcination must be
conducted upon a slow fire until the solder, the borax, and the other sub-
stances become incorporated and brought to the consistence of plaster, when it

page_text: The use of the bellows must be avoided as much as possible, as the wind of the
bellows has the prejudicial effect of oxidizing the metal, which,as herein-before
stated, prevents the solder from taking. A furnace, with a good draught and
fed with coke or charcoal, answers perfectly well. When the pieces are red
hot I throw upon them some powdered borax, which melts immediately; the
mixture and the soldering becoming melted together runs between the surfaces
of junction of the pieces. It is necessary to pay the greatest attention to this
part of the process, of which the following are the principal features:-The
borate of soda is seen melting.and the soldering lessening in volume, sinking,
liquefying, and presenting a bright reflecting surface, from which finally a
small white and blue flame is emitted. It is at this precise moment that the
electric shocks are to be applied; and to effect this I connect one of the poles
of the battery with one of the pieces to be soldered, and the second pole is in
like manner put in communication with the second piece, which is to be
soldered to the first, therefore the electric current is closed at the soldering
points, and it is at that said point that the two opposite currents of the electric
fluid meet and produce the shock. I cause a few electric shocks to take place,
and the solder then liquefies more completely, penetrating deeply between
the molecules of the metal, which have been separated by the combined
influence of heat and electricity; the empty interstices of the pieces are by
these means entirely filled and the pieces of metal firmly united.
PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN WHEN APPLYING ELECTRICITY.
To touch the pieces to be soldered with the copper wires connecting the
electric currents, I roll up the wires round wooden handles in such a manner
that the end of the wire may protrude; it is with that end that the communi-
cation is established with the pieces in the fire. When large pieces are operated
upon, having some parts out of the fire, they can be touched by using any
isolating agent. Any kind of working electric battery can be used, though I
prefer to employ the ordinary battery with amalgamated zinc and charcoal
elements, as being the most easy and convenient. The charcoal element is
placed in a cup or cell of porous earthenware containing nitric acid; in another
larger vessel of glass or porcelain, containing a liquid composed of water and
sulphuric acid, the proportions of which the workman will easily find, the
amalgamated zinc element is plunged; the porous vessel is placed within the
larger one. In order to give the electric shocks with the required rapidity, I
use an ordinary electric multiplier, having a cog wheel, and consisting chiefly

page_text: of a piece of soft iron traversing an induction cylinder, round which the con-
ducting wires are rolled in a contrary direction, that arrangement com-
municates to the iron when placed in contact with the fluids of the battery
the properties of a magnet. On the same plate as that of the bobbin
a copper wheel is fixed, in the centre I place a copper axis, isolated
from the wheel, and having a crank, the arm of which is provided with a
needle or pointer setting the axis and the wheel in communication; one of the
wires of the cylinder communicates with the wheel, and the other wire with
the axis. When the needle is made to turn, it multiplies the galvano-magneto-
electric currents as often as it touches a cog of the said wheel, intercepting the
electric currents at each interval between the several cogs of the wheel. The
needle performing three revolutions per second, and the wheel being divided
into one hundred teeth, it follows that three hundred shocks can be produced
in a second, and consequently that the molecules of the metals to be united or
soldered together can receive the same number of shocks. To give more
power to the multiplier, I have increased the size of the iron serving as a
magnet, and also the length of the conducting wires rolled round the induction
cylinder.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
precise details and proportions herein-before described, so long as the general
features of the process and the various arrangements be retained for the
carrying out of the said Invention; but what I claim as my Invention, and
intended to be protected by the said Letters Patent, is,-
Firstly, the uniting metals by the agency of electricity (either magnetic or
electro-galvanic) with the usual scouring process, and with the addition of
ordinary heat, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the combining of electrical agency, either magnetic or electro-
galvanic, with the scouring process, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the application of the electrical multiplier to the scouring process,
and to soldering of metals, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Aime Nicolas Derode, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two.
A. DERO (L.S.) DE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Aime Nicolas Derode came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.