IMPROVEMENTS IN ROprativa
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Adams, jun", of Boston, in the State of
Massachusetts, in the United States of America, but now of 62,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,. for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROprativa mua
Sealed the 29th July 1870, and dated the 2nd February 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Adams at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
2nd February 1870.
I, ISAAO ADAMS, jun, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, in
5 the United States of America, but now of 62, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN. EFFECTING THE ELECTRO-DEPOSITION OF NICKEL," to be
as follows:-
It is well known among chemists that nickel chemically pure, that is,
0 free from all admixture of foreign metals, and particularly from carbon
and silicon, may be rolled, hammered, or drawn into wire like any other

page_text: malleable or ductile metal. It is likewise well known that tho pure metal
is extremely difficult to melt in quantity. When an amount greater than
about an ounce, for instance, is required, recourse must be had to oxygen
or a mixture of oxygen and atmospheric air in order to fuse it. Further-
more, in order to keep the metal in a state of purity, at least as far as silicon
and carbon aro concerned, owing to the great affinity of nickel for theso
substances at a high temperature, that it is necessary to use crucibles which
contain neither one nor the other. There are but few substances which
fulfil these conditions and are at the same time capable of sustaining tho
high temperaturo requisite. These substances are practically lime, alumina,
and magnesia, and there are practical difficulties which have prevented
up to the present time the manufacture of crucibles from these materials.
In the present stato of chemical knowledge, then, we may safely say that
the difficulties which surround the manufacture of nickel ingots of such
a degree of purity as to be capable of being rolled or hammered into
shape for anodes are practically insurmountable, -as the cost of such
anodes would preclude their employment industrially. We are con-
sequently obliged for economy's sake to resort to an artifice, and that
artifice consists in the addition of silica or carbon, or both, to the pure

page_text: a metal which is electro negative to nickel in the particular bath
employed. Platinum, gold, silver, even copper and lead, may answer in
particular cases. I do not, however, limit myself to these metals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Adams in the Great Scal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
ADAMS, jun", of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, in the United
States of America, but now of 62, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Adams, Her special licence, that
I, the said Isaac Adams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Isaac Adams, 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 Ircland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EFFECTING THE
ELECTRO-DEPOSITION OF NICKEL," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Isaac Adams, my executors or administrators, 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.

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
It is well known among chemists that nickel chemically pure, that is,
free from all admixture of foreign metals, and particularly from carbon
and silicon, may be rolled, hammered, or drawn into wire like other;
malleable or ductile metal. It is likewise well known that the pure metal
is extremely difficult to melt in quantity. When an amount greater
than about an ounce, for instance, is required, recourse must be had
to oxigen or a mixture of oxygen and atmospheric air in order to fuse it.
Furthermore, in order to keep the metal in a state of purity, at least as far
as silicon and carbon are concerned, owing to the great affinity of nickel
for these substances at a high temperature, that it is necessary to use
crucibles which contain neither one nor the other. There are but few
substances which fulfil these conditions and are at the same time capable
of sustaining the high temperature requisite. These substances are
practically lime, alumina, and magnesia, and there are practical diffi-
culties which have prevented up to the present time the manufacture
of crucibles from these materials. In the present. state of chemical
knowledge then we may safely say that the difficulties which surround
the manufacture of nickel ingots of such a degree of purity as to be 1
capable of being rolled or hammered into shape for anodes are practically
insurmountable, as the cost of such anodes would preclude their employ-
ment industrially. We are consequently obliged for economy's sake to
resort to an artifice, and that artifice consists in the addition of silica or
carbon, or both, to the pure metal.
It is desirable in clectro-depositing nickel to use a neutral solution
and, as far as the plating of iron, zinc, and other casily oxidizable metals
is concerned, it is necessary that it should remain so or at least never
become acid.
All nickle solutions, even those prepared under the best conditions,
have a tendency to deposit under the influence of the electrical current a
peroxide of metal on the anode. This formation is injurious, inasmuch
as it points to an unnecessary waste of battery power by forming an
obstruction both electrical and mechanical to the passage of the current,
and besides indicates a weakening or deterioration of the bath. In order
to prevent this deposit, or to materially aid in doing so, and to keep the
bath in the proper degree of saturation, I employ a compound anode of
nickel and carbon.