CERTAIN IMPROVED ALLOYS OF METALS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEPOSITION OF METALS
Year: 1847

page_text: LYONS AND MILLWARD'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MORRIS
LYONS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Chemist, and WILLIAM
MILLWARD, of the same place, Silver Operator, 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 Twenty-third day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the tenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Morris Lyons and William Millward, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that we, the said
Morris Lyons and William Millward, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Morris Lyons and William Millward, our exors,"
admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times 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, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED
ALLOYS OF METALS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEPOSITION OF METALS;"
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Morris
Lyons and William Millward, or one of us, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under our bands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
in

page_text: 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,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Morris Lyons and William Millward, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:-
Our Invention consists, first, of manufacturing alloys of copper with platina
and palladium.
Secondly, our Invention consists of improvements in the solutions employed
when depositing metals by means of electric currents; and
Thirdly, our Invention consists of improvements for producing designs, sunk
and in relief, in certain metals, when using deposition of metals for such
purposes.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood, and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
And, first, of the improved alloys of metals. We fuse for three hours in a
crucible placed in a casting furnace, nine ounces of copper and one ounce of
platinum, to which a small quantity of borax is added as a flux; then add one
ounce of palladium, and keep up the heat until they are well incorporated,
occasionally stirring them and adding more borax. The proportions of the
platinum and palladium may be slightly varied, producing different shades of
colour.
We will now describe the second part of our Invention. This part of our
Invention consists in adding compounds of sulphur or carbon to solutions of
metals to be employed by us for the purposes of deposition, and we add these
compounds either at the time of preparing such solutions, or at any time when
the solutions are being used; and we have found that salts or oxides of the
metals dissolved in the cyanurets of potassium or sodium, and prepared accord-
ing to our present Invention, produce better results than other solutions, for
which reason we prefer to employ these solutions in carrying out this part of
our Invention, but do not confine ourselves thereto. By the application of our
present improvements we are able to obtain more compact and rapid deposits
of the metal in solution when employing a weaker current of electricity, and
allowing the operator to produce, if he desires, a bright or brilliant surface
during the whole time that the deposition proceeds, in place of the crystalline
or dull surface which is almost invariably produced by the means hitherto used.
Substances or compounds that we employ under the first head of this our

page_text: Invention are the bisulphuret of carbon, terchloride, or other chloride of
carbon, chloride, sesquichloride, or other chloride of sulphur, byposulphites
of potash and soda, sulphuric or other ethers, and the hydrocarbons, separately
or combined one or more together; but the precise method we prefer is as
follows: We take bisulphuret of carbon and combine it with the metal to be
deposited, previously dissolved in a solution of the cyanurets of potassium or
sodium, in the manner well known, and proceed as follows:-We place six
ounces of bisulphuret of carbon in a stoppered bottle, and pour over it a gallon
of the cyanide solution, from which we are about to deposit; we allow this to
remain twenty-four hours. We then decant carefully a portion of the solution
which will have combined with a part of the bisulphuret of carbon, and for:
every twenty gallons of solution to be acted upon, we add about two ounces of
the solution containing the bisulphuret of carbon and stir it well with the
twenty gallons, when it is ready for use; but we find it necessary to add fresh.
portions of the solution containing bisulphuret of carbon every day when in
use in about the same proportion; but in case the solution has remained many
days upon the bisulphuret of carbon, a smaller portion than two ounces will
suffice to produce the effect. We have found the other named ingredients
when used in larger proportions to produce similar results; but not so advan-.
tageously as the bisulphuret of carbon, and we have found that a much larger
proportion of the bisulphuret of carbon produces an improved dead deposit in
place of the bright effect previously described. And we would state that the
bisulphuret of carbon may be combined with solutions of metals by other
means than the one described. We have succeeded by first dissolving it in
sulphuric ether (or hydrocyanic acid with the aid of heat), and find the effect
upon the solutions to be the same.
We will now describe the third part of our Invention, and in doing so we
would first remark that it has been proposed to produce designs or figures on
metal surfaces, both sunk and in relief, partly by the aid of the deposition of
metals and that Letters Patent has been obtained for the same. We mention
this circumstance, in order to state, that this part of our Invention consists of.
certain processes whereby designs and figures sunk or in relief on metal.
surfaces may be more beneficially obtained when employing the deposition of
metals for such purposes, and in order that this part of our Invention may be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to
describe the means pursued by us, and we would state that our Invention is
applicable to producing designs or figures sunk and in relief on surfaces of
gold, silver, copper, and their alloys, Britannia metal, iron, steel, zinc, and
type metal. In operating according to our Invention on copper or alloys of

page_text: that metal, we proceed as follows:Dupposing the article to be a roller suitable
for printing calico, whether the same be of copper: or of an alloy of copper; and
this description.will..equally apply to a sheet or other surface of such metal;
we cause the surface. to be coated all over thinly: with silver or. with gold by
electro-deposition,. preferring to. uso: a coating of silver; we then cause the
desired figure or design to be drawn or painted on to the surface, by preference
with copal varnish, or we print, transfer, or stencil, or otherwise produce the
design thereon; we then immerse it in a solution of cyanide of potassium, .con-
taining one pound of cyanide. of potash to one gallon of water, and allow it to
remain in connection with electric currents till the coating metal. has been
removed.;. we then remove the cylinder or other article from the solution of
cyanide of potash, and immerse it. in a solution of nitrate of silver, composed
by dissolving one ounce of silver in one ounce of pure nitric acid and two
ounces of water, and allow it to remain until the copper surface has been sunk
to the desired depth, or. instead thereof we use a solution of sulphate of silver
or perchloride of iron. In this manner will a relief engraving be produced by
the processes of deposition of metals, first,,by depositing silver or gold on to
the copper, then by removing by a depositing process so much of the coating
as.is not stopped out.by. the varnish employed, and then using the process of
eating-in to the copper by a solution as. herein described, which, will not act
on the silver .or gold, which. remains on the copper; and when; we desire to
produce a sunken design.or.figure, on to a roller or other surface of copper or
its alloys, we first draw, paint, or otherwise produce the design in copal varnish,
and, then cause the other portions of the surface, to be coated with silver or
gold as aforesaid,.and.: then wash off the varnish: with turpentine or caustic
potash, and immerse the article or surface in a solution of nitrate. of silver or
other solution, as before explained, till the desired depth has been obtained in the
metal;., the coating of gold or silver remaining on the cylinder or other surface
may, if desired, be removed by, friction or otherwise.. In this manner,may beautiful
designs.be.produced on surfaces of copper, and its alloys, and we would state, that
in place of the solution of nitrate of silver a weak solution of nitric acid may be.
employed; we prefer to employ the nitrate of silver. In like manner by the
deposition of metals may surfaces of iron, steel, Britannia metal, type metal, and
zinc have, designs, or figures produced thereon; but for these metals,, although
silver or gold may be used as before.. directed for the protecting metal: to the
surfaces, we prefer to use a coating of copper, which we, deposit.by electricity.
from, a solution of copper in cyanide of potash, as is, well understood. Upon
this coating, of, copper we paint or otherwise, produce the design, as before
directed for copper and its alloys, and, employ a solution of cyanide of potash,

page_text: as before directed, with an electric current for the purpose of removing the
copper which has not been covered by the design. We then cause. the article
to be placed in a solution of sulphate of copper, having a little free sulphuric
acid or nitrate of copper, and allow it to remain till the desired depth is
obtained, or if the design required is to be sunk, we paint or otherwise produce
the design on to the surface before coating the same with copper, in which case
the coating. of copper will only be applied to the parts which form the ground-
work of the design; we then remove the varnish from the surface and place
the article in a solution of sulphate of copper or nitrate of copper; as above.
explained. When we wish to act on surfaces of gold, silver, or copper, or the
alloys of either of these metals, so as to produce designs in relief, we employ a
coating. of iron caused by depositing the same, which we prefer to do. by.
electric currents, from a solution of muriate or sulphate of iron.. We then
cause the desired design to be drawn, painted, or otherwise produced thercon
with varnish, as before..directed. We then immerse the article in a dilute.
solution of muriatic or sulphuric acid, and with or without the aid of electricity
dissolve the deposited iron which is not protected by the varnish... We then
immerse the article in a solution of cyanide of potash, and by the aid of elec-
tricity deposit from the surface of the article to the desired depth. The varnish
may then be washed off, and the remaining iron removed by immersing the
article in a dilute solution of muriatic or other acid. Or, if a sunken design
or figure be required, we first paint or produce the design on to the gold or
silver surface, and then deposit a coating of iron, as before directed. We then
remove the varnish and immerse the article in a solution of cyanide of potash,
as above described, and by the aid of electricity deposit from the surface to
the required depth; the remaining coating of iron may then be removed as
before directed. We would remark, that although we have been thus par-
ticular in describing the precise means of employing the materials herein
mentioned in combination with processes for the deposition of metals, in order
to produce figures and designs sunk and in relief, we do not confine ourselves
to the precise details, so long as the particular materials and processes herein
mentioned are employed. We would here remark that metal surfaces which.
have thus been acted on so as to produce designs sunken and in relief may
have the sunken parts partially or wholly filled in with other metals simply by
causing the other portions of the surface to be stopped out by varnish whilst
the deposition of the other metals is taking place by the aid of electricity in
the sunken parts of the designs.
.
We would wish it to be understood that what we claim as the third part of
our Invention is the employment of silver, gold, or iron, as the protecting

page_text: metal for copper and its alloys when combined with the use of cyanide of
potash, nitrate of silver, sulphate of silver, nitric acid, or perchloride of iron
for the purposes of producing designs or figures sunk or in relief on copper or
its alloys, as herein described.
We also claim the employment of silver and gold as the protecting metals to
Britannia metal, zinc, and type metal when combined with the use of cyanide
of potash, nitrate of silver, sulphate of silver, nitric acid, or perchloride of
iron, for the purposes of producing designs or figures sunk or in relief on the
surfaces of such metals as herein described.
We also claim the use of gold, silver, and copper, as the protecting metal
to iron, steel, Britannia metal, zinc, and type metal, when combined with the
use of cyanide of potash or sulphate or nitrate of copper, for the purpose of
producing designs or figures sunk or in relief on the surfaces of such metals.
And we also claim the employment of a coating of iron to copper, silver, or
gold, and their alloys, when combined with the use of cyanide of potash for
the purpose of producing designs sunk and in relief.
In witness whereof, we, the said Morris Lyons and William Millward,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-third day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.