IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PICKLING AND SWILLING METAL PLATES PREVIOUSLY TO THEIR BEING COATED WITH TIN OR OTHER METAL, OR WITH ALLOYS OF METALS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Richard Gibbs at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th January 1878.
JOHN RICHARD GIBBS, of Morriston, near Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan,
Metal Plate Pickler. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS TO BE USED IN PICKLING
AND SWILLING METAL PLATES PREVIOUSLY TO THEIR BEING COATED WITH TIN OR
OTHER METAL, OR WITH ALLOYS OF METALS."
According to my Invention I immerse the said plates in the pickle or acid, and
remove them therefrom in such a manner that blisters are avoided, and acid and
labour are economized.
In carrying out my said Invention I use a machine constructed as follows:-I
construct a trough divided transversely into three compartments or vats, which I
will herein-after refer to as vats Nos. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In or above these
vats I suspend cages (one to each vat), so that they may be readily lowered and
raised. These cages I will herein-after refer to as cages Nos. 1, 2, and 3, respec-
tively, the number of each cage corresponding with that of the vat in or over
which it is suspended. Cages Nos. 1 and 2 are constructed each with two stages or
floors, and are connected by a cord which passes over a pulley mounted in a frame
constructed above the trough, the said pulley being by preference worked by means
of suitable gearing. By this arrangement, when one of the said cages is lowered
the other rises, and vice versa. Cage No: 3 is formed with one stage, and is sus-
pended by a cord which passes over a pulley and is attached to a weight which
counterbalances the weight of the said cage.
At that end of the apparatus at which the vat No. 1 is situated is a fixed table
furnished with rails, on which the plate-carriages herein-after referred to are placed,
and at that end of the apparatus at which the vat No. 3 is situated is a fourth
cage which is capable of being raised and lowered (for the purpose herein-after
described), the said cage being counterbalanced and fixed in either its raised or its
lowered position by means of suitable catches; the floor of the said cage when in its
raised position being on a level with the stage or floor of cage No. 3. To the
inner sides of that part of the framing at which the fourth cage is situated two
shelves are affixed, one at each side, and at such a height as to be a little below the
[Price 2d.

page_text: lower edges of the pickled plates when the carriage containing them is run on to the
floor of the said fourth cage, as herein-after described.
The fixed table and the stages of the cages Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are provided with
rails similar to those of a railway or a tramway, which rails receive carriages which
support racks in which the plates to be treated are placed.
The method of using my apparatus is as follows:- Vats Nos. 1 and 2 are filled
with acid or pickle, and vat No. 3 is filled with water. A carriage bearing a rack
filled with plates to be pickled is then placed on the fixed table. The lower stage
of cage No. 1 is then brought on a level with the said table, and the carriage is
run into the said cage, which is then lowered into vat No. 1, when the upper stage
will be on a level with the fixed table and with the lower stage of cage No. 2.
Another carriage bearing a rack filled with plates is then placed on the fixed table
and run through cage No. 1 on to the lower stage of cage No. 2, which is then
lowered into vat No. 2. By this motion the lower stage of cage No. 1 is brought on
a level with the upper stage of No. 2, over which the first carriage and rack full of
plates is passed to the cage No. 3, which has but one stage. The said cage, No. 3,
is then lowered into and raised from the water contained in vat No. 3, and when
raised the carriage and rack carrying the plates are passed between the aforesaid
shelves on to the floor of the fourth cage, which is then lowered sufficiently to cause
the said carriage to leave the said plates on the said shelves, the ends of the said
plates resting on the said shelves.
The empty carriage is then run back on to the fixed table and removed to be
reloaded with plates. A third carriage carrying a rack with plates is then run on
to the lower stage of cage No. 1, and is lowered into No. 1 vat, No. 2 cage-being
thereby caused to rise, bringing the second carriage and rack full of plates on a level
with the stage of cage No. 3, on to which the said carriage is run. The plates
carried by it are then washed and removed from the rack as described with reference
to the first carriage, and other carriages filled with plates are passed one at a time
into the machine as the washed plates are removed.