IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO- COATING IRON
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Puls, of Soho Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-
COATING IRON."
Sealed the 30th November 1855, and dated the 5th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Puls at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th June
1855.
I, FRANCIS PULS, of Soho Square, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-COATING IRON " to be as follows (that is to say): -
My Invention has for its object the coating of iron with zinc in solution, so
as to protect the surfaces of the iron from oxidation, and render the said metal
more durable and less subject to be injuriously acted upon by atmospheric and
other influences. For this purpose I cause the surfaces of the said iron to be
submitted continuously, to the action of electric currents, by which I am enabled,
in connection with other mechanical arrangements, to effect a more perfect
deposit (composed of smaller particles of zinc) upon the iron, thus attaining a
perfect adhesion of the zinc to the iron, thereby rendering the iron by coating
more durable, as aforesaid I claim the regulating and modulating of the

page_text: intensity and quantity of electric currents proportionately to the surfaces of
the iron to be coated, thus causing the zine to be deposited upon the iron in the
smallest possible particles or atomis, and thereby securing a perfect adhesion of
the zinc to the-iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the. Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Puls in the Great Seal. Patent, Office on the
5th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PULS, of Soho Square, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Puls, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Puls, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Puls, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at anytime hagrée
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 ELECTRO-COATING
IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Puls, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Francis Puls, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say):
My Invention, which has for its object the coating of iron by a clcáp pro-
cess with zine in solution, through the medium of tho electric current of a
galvanic battery, so as 'to protect the surfaces of the iron from oxidation, and
render the said metal more durable and less subject to be injuriously acted
upon by atmospheric or other causes, consists in first preparing the iron to be

page_text: coated by cleansing it in the common way in diluted acids, but leaving the
surfaces thereof rough, and therefore better suited for uniting the coating of
zine with the iron, so that the said coating is prevented from peeling or scaling
off by rolling, bending, or hammering" the metal; therefore, when the iron is
taken out of the diluted acid, I wash it only in water with a brush or rag,
which method leaves the surfaces of the iron in a rough state, so that the
zinc with which it is to be coated can better adhere than by the method at
present in use of scouring the iron with sand, &c. I next cause the surfaces
of the iron to be submitted continuously to the to action of an electric current,
which current proceeds from a galvanic battery through the bath in which the
articles, a are to be immersed for the purpose of being coated with zinc, in the
manner following (that is to say):-The electric current should in all cases be
so regulated that the resistance against the electric current in the bathin
which the articles are placed or immersed may be rendered equal or nearly
so to that in the battery; to obtain which effect the surfaces of the effective
or active sides of the positive plates of the battery should be equal or rather
greater that the surface of the articles to be coated, otherwise the deposit
of the zinc upon the iron will be but slow and uncertain, and the articles
rendered rough and unservicable.
I am enabled to employ a weak solution of the sulphate or hydrochlorate of
zinc, or double or treble salts of the same, with potash, soda, and ammonia,
the solution not being required to contain more than from eight to ten per
cent. of the salts in proportion to the water, whilst at the same time the exciting
fluid in the battery should contain not more than one part of sulphuric or
hydrochloric acid to twenty or thirty parts of water, or about equal proportions
of hydrochlorate or sulphate of soda, or potash, or ammonia and water.
said solutions are to be changed when the solution in the battery has become
saturated with zinc, and. the solution in the bath exhausted of zinc, by sub-
stituting one for the other.
The
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would have it clearly under-
stood that I do not by any means confine myself to the precise details herein-
before set forth, as the same might be varied without departing from the
general principle of these my said improvements; but that which I do claim
as new and of my said Invention is,
Firstly, the regulating or modulating of the intensity or quantity of the
electric current from the battery proportionately to the surfaces of the iron
to be coated, thus causing the zinc to be deposited upon the iron in the

page_text: smallest possible particles or atoms, thereby securing a perfect adhesion of
the zinc to the iron.
Secondly, the employment of the cheap salts of zinc above mentioned, viz.,
sulphate or hydrochlorate of zinc, or double or treble salts of the same, with
potash, soda, and ammonia, for the purpose above described. .
And, thirdly, the re-using of the exhausted fluid from the bath in the battery,
and that from the battery in the bath.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Puls, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
FRANCIS PULS. (L.S.)