IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING THE SURFACE OP IRON, STEEL, COPPER, BRASS, AND OTHER METALS OR AMALGAMS FROM BEING RUSTED OR OXYDISED BY EXPOSURE TO WATER OR DAMP AIR OR PERSPIRATION
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Alexander Ross, Captain in the Royal
Regiment of Artillery at present doing duty on Her Majesty's
Service at Simla, in the Province of Hindoostan, in the East Indies,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING THE SURFACE OP
IRON, STEEL, COPPER, BRASS, AND OTHER METALS OR AMALGAMS FROM BEING
RUSTED OR OXYDISED BY EXPOSURE TO WATER OR DAMP AIR OR PERSPIRATION."
Scaled the 12th April 1870, and dated the 27th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Alexander Ross
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th October 1869.
I, WILLIAM ALEXANDER Ross, Captain in the Royal Regiment of
Artillery at present doing duty on Her Majesty's Service at Simla, in
the Province of Hindoostan, in the East Indies, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING THE SURFACE
OF IRON, STEEL, COPPER, BRASS, AND OTHER METALS, OR AMALGAMS FROM BEING
RUSTED OR OXYDISED BY EXPOSURE TO WATER OR DAMP AIR OR PERSPIRATION,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention then is to apply hydrated (glacial) phosphoric acid, or
phosphorous acid, or hypophosphorous acid, or other salt of phosphorus,

page_text: but especially phosphoric acid, to the clean surface of iron or copper as
above, either cold on the cold metal, or heated on the hot metal by
rubbing it well in with the blade of a table knife or other smooth
polished iron instrument, by which means the surface of the iron or metal
so treated is chemically acted upon, and a coating of what is at present
termed in chemical works "phosphide of iron" formed, which will preserve
the iron, steel, or metal so treated from the injurious action (in the shape
of rust or other oxide) of water or damp air or perspiration.
And my Invention further is to combine or mix either by the appli-
cation of heat or any other means the said phosphoric acid or other
salt of phosphorus with boracic acid or other chemical salt, or with
spirituous, fatty, oleaginous, resinous or other organic substances in which
it may be soluble, or which it may dissolve, or with all these or any of
them combined, and to apply such combination in the manner above-
mentioned to the surface of the metal to be treated either in a hot or cold
state, and further to mix or combine with such preparation graphite (com-
monly called black lead) silica, alumina, lime, or other of the "earths"
or their salts, and to apply such combination as above explained.
The principle of my Invention is this, phosphoric acid is one of the
most pliant substances known, being able to take up at one time three
equivalents of a basic profoxide, and it is supposed that this quality
making it as it were three acids in one, enables it to hold the prominent
place it does in the vital phenomena, being found in the bones, brains,
hair, and even urine of animals. I knew that phosphorus attacks iron,
and when in the heart of that metal is injurious to it rendering it what
is called technically "cold short" or brittle when cold, and it is probably
this very circumstance which has diverted the attention of chemists and
others from it and its salts as a means of chemically coating iron with
a coat of iron itself, but changed in character. I surmised also from the
prominent place phosphoric acid holds in the human and animal system
that it would dissolve or chemically combine with organic substances
which are waterproof, as oils, fats, resins, caoutchouc, gutta percha,
and from its tribasic capability with iron or other metal also, and thus
form a semi-metallic semi-organic coating absolutely water or damp
Or
The simple coating of "phosphide of iron"
proof.
other metal
which I propose to use for philosophical or surgical instruments, stee
ribs of ladies' corsets, and which is so delicate that the polish of the
steel can be seen through it, though it turns iron nearly white, I propose

page_text: to call "No. 1" or the weakest composition for damp air perspiration.
The other compounds I call "Nos. 2, 3," according to their waterproof
thickness and strength.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Alexander Ross in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALEXANDER Ross, Captain in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Alexander Ross, Her special
licence that I, the said William Alexander Ross, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Alexander
Ross, my 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 "PRESERVING THE SURFACE OF IRON, STEEL, COPPER, BRASS, AND OTHER
METALS OR AMALGAMS FROM BEING RUSTED OR OXYDISED BY EXPOSURE TO WATER
OR DAMP AIR OR PERSPIRATION," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Alexander Ross, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 William Alexander Ross, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
By applying hydrated (glacial) phosphoric acid, or phosphorous acid,

page_text: or hypophosphorous acid, or other salt of phosphorous, but especially
phosphoric acid, to the clean surface of iron, copper, or alloy of metals
or other metal but especially to iron, brass, or bronze, either on the
cold metal or alloy or on the same heated to a greater or less extent by
rubbing it well in with the blade of a table knife or other smoothi
polished instrument of a similar metal to that which is the subject of
treatment, by which means the surface of the iron or metal treated is
chemically acted upon and a coating of what is termed phosphide or
sub-phosphide of iron formed, which will preserve the iron, steel, metal,
or alloy so treated from the injurious action (in the shape of rust or
other oxide) of water or damp air or perspiration.
And my Invention further is to expose the iron, steel, metal or alloy
under treatment to the action either hot or cold of the above-mentioned
phosphoric acid or other salt of phosphorus in a liquid state, with oil
floating on the surface (which prevents the absorption of damp from
the atmosphere during the process) for a lengthened period of time, as
twelve or twenty-four hours, or even longer, by which process a stronger
coating of the sub-phosphide is obtained although the iron may be
slightly attacked thereby, or to steep the metallic article in this manner
in a solution of gutta percha or other organic waterproof substance
obtained by boiling it in liquid phosphoric acid, or by obtaining a
coating of the sub-phosphide of the metal operated on by reducing the
phosphate of the (prot) oxide with charcoal at a high temperature or
by heating the metal in vapour of phosphorus.
And my Invention further is to chemically combine or mix either by
the application of heat or any other means the said phosphoric acid or
other salt of phosphorus with spirituous, fatty, oleaginous, resinous, or
other organic substances in which it may be soluble, or which it may
dissolve, or with all these or any of them combined, and to apply such
combination in the manner above mentioned to the surface of the metal
to be treated either in a hot or cold state, and further to mix or combine
with such preparation graphite (commonly called black lead) carbon,
silica, alumina, lime, or other of the "earths" or their salts, or common
oil, paint, or other mechanical laquer or coating, and to apply such
combination as above explained either in addition to and over the
sub-phosphide of the metal previously obtained or in combination
with it.
The principle of my Invention is this, phosphoric acid is one of the

page_text: most pliant substances known, being able to take up at one time three
equivalents of a basic protoxide, and it is supposed that this quality
making it as it were three acids in one enables it to hold the prominent
place it does in the vital phenomena, being found in the bones, brains,
hair, and even urine of animals. I knew that phosphorous attacks iron
& other metals, and when diffused through the substance of the former
is injurious to it, rendering it what is technically termed "cold short "
or brittle when cold, and it is probably this very circumstance which
has diverted the attention of chemists and others from it and its salts
as a means of chemically coating iron with a covering of its own
sub-phosphide. I surmised also from the prominent place phosphoric
acid holds in the human and animal system that it would dissolve or
chemically combine with organic substances which are waterproof, as
oils, fats, resins, caoutchouc, gutta percha, &c., and from its tribasic
capability with iron or other metals also, and thus form a semi-metallic,
semi-organic coating, absolutely water or damp proof.
The simple coating of sub-phosphide of iron or other metal or alloy I
propose to use for philosophical or surgical instruments for the purpose
not only of preserving the surface, but of intensely hardening the edge,
and for steel ribs of ladies' corsets, &c. is so delicate that the polish of
the steel can be seen through it, while the more impervious and stronger
preparation as above explained can be adopted for metallic articles
required to be exposed for a long time to the influence of water either
salt or fresh.
The novelty of my Invention consists in the fact that phosphorus
or its salts so far from being supposed to afford protection to iron or
other metals was universally believed to be most injurious to them.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alexander Ross, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
W. A. ROSS. (L.S.)
Captain Royal Artillery.