IMPROVEMENTS IN TINNING METALS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WALTER
RICHARDSON, of Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, and GEORGE MOTT
BRAITHWAITE, of Manor Street, Chelsea, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of September, in the fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Walter Richardson and George Mott Braithwaite, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Walter
Richardson and George Mott Braitliwaite, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Walter Richardson and George Mott Braith-
waite, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TINNING METALS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that we, the said Walter Richardson and George Mott
Braithwaite, 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, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Walter Richardson and George Mott Braithwaite, do hereby declare 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 state-
ment thereof (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to combining nickel and iron with tin, in order to
improve the tinning of metal surfaces. The nickel is to be either in its
natural state as taken from the mine, or purified; as is well understood,
the latter is preferred. From the mixture of these metals with the tin, as
berein-after described, there results a reciprocity of properties, the iron and
the nickel giving to the tin more consistency; and, on the other hand, the
nickel and iron, from their mixture with the tin, become more ductile, and
therefore mutually contribute to produce the effect described, namely, a tinning
more firm, less fusible, more adherent, and producing whiter surfaces than
what are produced by the ordinary tinning now practised. The proportions of
nickel and iron mixed with the tin in order to produce the best tinning, are
ten ounces of best nickel and seven ounces of sheet iron, to ten pounds of
tin. The temperature at which nickel is fusible being higher than that
required to bring-tin-into-a-state of fusion, it is necessary to prevent the tin,
as it melts, from evaporating; and as it is essential, in order to effect. the
admixture, that these two metals be put into the same crucible, this object
is attained by adding to ten pounds of the composition about one ounce of
borax, and three ounces of pounded glass. The heat soon forces the borax
to bubble up, which augments the volume and causes it to unite with the
melted glass, without at the same time mixing with the metals; the lightness
of these two agents, in comparison with the metals, causing them to rise to the
surface, where they form a crust, which prevents the action of the air on the
metals,-the-fusion-of-which proceeds under the influence of a concentrated
heat. This crust, therefore, on the one hand prevents the tin from evaporating
through the effect of the high temperature necessary to effect the fusion of the
nickel, and on the other hand impedes the action of the air on the metals in
fusion. The fusion of the three metals is completed, and their perfect admix-
ture effected, in the space of about half an hour, when it is then only
necessary to make a hole in the crust formed by the borax and the glass, and
thus run it off.
With regard to the process of application, and the employment of the tin
thus composed, it is the same as those used in ordinary tinning, and is applied
with the same facility as other tinning; and a workman, accustomed to

page_text: practice the old mode, will readily perform the process when nickel and iron
are used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.