IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING OR UNITING METALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING OR UNITING METALS."
Sealed the 16th March 1858, and dated the 29th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th December 1857.
I, ALEXANDER PARKES, of Birmingham, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING OR UNITING METALS," to be
as follows:-
•
This Invention has for its object improvements in joining or uniting
metals. For these purposes zine or zinc and mercury are used in place
of the ordinary solders now employed. The zinc may be used in strips with a
flux placed between the edges or surfaces of the metal or metals to be joined
or united, or the zinc or zinc and mercury may be used in a granulaṛ
state with a flux. The surfaces are heated by gas or otherwise, until the zinc
or zinc amalgam flows, when the surfaces are subjected to a higher heat for a
short time, by which the joining or uniting will be accomplished.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd June 1858:

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alexander Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said
Alexander Parkes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alexander Parkes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING OR UNITING METALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Parkes, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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 Alexander Parkes, do hereby declares
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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in joining or uniting metals.
For these purposes zinc or zinc and mercury are used in place of the ordinary
solders now employed. The zinc may be used in strips with a flux placed
between the edges or surfaces of the metal or metals to be joined or united,
or the zinc, or zinc and mercury may be used in a granular state with a flux.
The surfaces are heated by gas, or otherwise, until the zinc or zinc amalgam
flows, when the surfaces are subjected to higher heat for a short time, by.
which the joining or uniting will be accomplished.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
:
In the joining of the edges of a tube or other article of copper or copper
alloyed, I place a strip of sheet zinc between the two edges or surfaces 'to be
joined, or I place granulated zinc, or an amalgam of zinc and mercury (pre-
ferring to employ about one part by weight of mercury to twenty parts of
žinc) between the edges or surfaces to be joined, using in each case a suitable
flux, such as salammoniac, or borax, then by the heat of gas, or otherwise, I

page_text: cause the zinc or the amalgam of zinc to fuse; I then raise the heat of the
parts to redness, and retain them at that heat for a time, by which the zinc will
be found to combine with the metal of the tube or other article, and a very
complete joint produced; or when I have caused the zinc or amalgam of zinc
to "flush" or fuse, I allow the article to cool, and complete the process at a
future time, and this may be conveniently done by packing a number of tubes
or other articles together with fine sand between them, and then heating the
whole in a muffle, or otherwise, to a red heat.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEO. PITT.
ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)