IMPROVEMENTS IN AMALGAMATING METALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Wall, of the East India Road, Poplar, in
the County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AMALGAMATING METALS."
Sealed the 9th February 1858, and dated the 19th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Wall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1857.
I, ARTHUR WALL, of the East India Road, Poplar, in the County of
5 Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AMALGAMATING METALS," to be as follows:-
I use zinc, lead, bismuth, copper, and metallic mercury (quicksilver):
I melt the lead, adding thereto zinc; I melt the copper separately, then mix
it with the zinc and lead, adding, while these metals are in a fluid and
thoroughly mixed state, bismuth and meroury, stirring the mass till it be
perfectly mixed; it is then run off into ingots, which are subsequently rolled
into thin sheets, applicable to ships' sheathing and many other useful purposes,
When I use this amalgamated metal for sheathing, roofing, and other similar
purposes, I coat it with a solution of mercury. In some cases, instead of the
metals, lead and copper, I employ the arsenites thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Wall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
WALL, of the East Road, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, 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 Arthur Wall, Her special licence, that I, the said Arthur Wall,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Wall, 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
AMALGAMATING METALS," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said
Arthur Wall, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Wall, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My Invention or mixture of metals is brought into combination by their
elective affinities, or by having those affinities stimulated by electric currents,
and no heat is used either in combining them in the first instance, or rolling
them afterwards. The sheets of metal formed by my combination equal if
they do not surpass those formed or made under "Muntz's" Patent, and are
entirely free from fouling when at sea. Before proceeding to describe the
modus operandi of my Invention, I would observe, that the opposite electric
conditions of matters in solution in sea water with metals subjected to its
action was never so perfectly exhibited as in the late Sir Humphry Davy's
experiments. His combination was strictly voltaic, and on the same principle

page_text: as the battery of the present day, with the ocean the menstruum for working
it; the positive bases of sea water (lime and magnesia) flew to the negative
copper, and covered it like whitewash, leaving the foundation for weeds and
shell-fish to rest and grow upon, whilst the negative element, chlorine, flew to
the positive metal, iron or zinc, which it soon destroyed; but before this
destruction in the zinc or iron took place, the damage was done, deposits had
had already taken place on the copper (as in ships at sea), which prevented
all approach of the surrounding elements, and fouling consequently proceeded
in definite ratio to the time the copper remained at sea. His (Sir H. Davy's)
experiment went to prove the axiom, that all metals must oxidise to keep
clean, but left the amounts necessary for ensuring this desideratum untouched
or unexplained. My mode of treating metals for ships' sheathing makes
all metals positively electric, on the same principle visible in the voltaic
pile composed of platina and zinc. The copper is negative, while the
zinc is positive or corrodable, and as long as the zinc remains, the copper
or platina is untouched by the acid, however strong. The combination
by my Invention is an amalgam, in which the negative metal, mercury, is
never touched in the menstruum, sea water; and as the metal with which it is
combined oxides in infinitesimal small quantities, the longer it is exposed to
the action of the sea water the less will oxidation. progress, as the mercury,
however minutely spread over the surface, will still continue to keep its hold
from its elective affinities for metal. It might be supposed that, as oxidation
proceeded, this metal (mercury) would wash off with the oxide by aqueous
friction; such is by no means the case; it (the mercury) has no affinities for
oxides of metals of any kind, as they are all absorbed by, the metal with which
it is in combination, whether copper, zinc, or other, and hence the abscence of
fouling by any of the bases soluble by or in solution in sea water, lime, and
magnesia. It might be supposed, also, that lime and magnesia, positive
bodies, would fly to the negative mercury, as it did in Sir H. Davy's experi-
ments in reference to the negative copper; such is not the case. The mercury
has no affinities (as above stated) for oxides (either in solution or otherwise)
whilst in combination with a metal, and it stands (as it were) guard over the
oxidizable metal, zinc or copper (as the case may be), protecting it from the
violent dash of its negative and corroding enemy or element the sea water
(chlorine), and yet constituting that metal which it thus guards corrodable,
but in a less degree than normal metals. The amalgam or amalgamation
forming the object of my Invention consists in alloying or amalgamating
metals, and forming a compound that will offer a successful resistance to the
action of either simple or compound atmospheres (such as air and sea water,

page_text: or air charged with sulphurous or other acid gases), in the proportion of from
1 to 2 or 3 times greater than the resistance offered by any or either of the
normal metals used in my alloy or amalgam when taken separately. To
obtain these results, I melt copper in a crucible, in combination with any of
the ordinary fluxes; and in another crucible I melt lead and zinc, at the
ordinary temperature for melting these metals, and add bismuth and mercury.
When all are in a proper state of fusion, I empty the contents of one crucible
into the other, and then remove them from the fire. A slight covering of
sawdust or charcoal should be strewn over the metals before and after melting,
and during the time of mixing, which should be carefully continued for some
minutes after the molten mass is withdrawn from the fire. The charred matter
is then removed, and the metal poured out or emptied into moulds or ingots.
The proportions I use for rolling are about as follows:-Of lead 87, zinc 9,
copper 2, mercury 1, and bismuth; total, 100 parts. As loss in some of
these metals is liable to take place by an injudicious management of the fire,
and as all the metals used may be more or less adulterated with foreign alloys,
the smelter, who is cognizant of these facts, will be guided by the result of his
assays before smelting. I do not use this composition solely for rolling into
sheets; it is found eligible for the bearings of axle boxes and bearers for other
rolling parts of machinery. For sheathing ships or other vessels, I prefer to
alloy or amalgamate metals as follows:-The sheets of metal selected may be
zinc, copper, or lead; if zinc, I have the sheets cut into any convenient size,
and place them in tanks (or other suitable vessel or vessels); these I fill with
acid and water of specific gravity, the solution being not less than 2 and up to
32 degrees of the acid meter scale (I use sulphuric acid for this operation in
preference); to this solution I add sulphate of copper. A great deal depends
on the knowledge and discretion of the operator; for instance, if the sheet of
zinc be only 12 ounces to the superficial foot, and it be desirable to make it
14 ounces, he must work with a surplus of oxide in solution for every super-
ficial foot to be processed; his solution tanks being prepared, the sheets to
be processed are immersed and allowed to remain until their own natural
affinities or currents of electricity, generated by either a thermal or voltaic
hattery, produce the complete amount of covering required, which can only be
accurately ascertained by the sheets being weighed both before and after
undergoing the process. I need not enter into a description of electrotyping
or gilding metals by this process, which is now well known, but this process
in a great measure be dispensed with by using the battery, per se, formed
by two metals of opposite electric conditions, such as is formed by mercury
and zinc. This is effected by dipping the zinc previous to placing it in the.
may

page_text: sulphate of copper bath, in which sulphuric acid and water forms the
menstruum, and in which mercury is dissolved in the proportion of an ounce
of solution, specific gravity, of mercury to 80 of water and acid. The zinc
being first dipped in this bath for a few seconds (on the same principle as that
explained by Madeiros in the Specification of his Patent, 1853,) and then
placed in the copper bath, makes a deposit to any required amount uniformly
and complete. When the sheet is withdrawn from the copper bath it is
replunged into the mercurial bath, when complete amalgamation of the surface
and molicules takes place, and the operation is finished. Metal, such as thin
sheets of lead or thin sheets of copper, are similarly treated by applying any
of the oxides of any of the three metals to the other, or any two of them, or
all together, care being taken that the last covering be mercury. Oxidation of
metals going on in sea water according to their negative or positive conditions,
the advantage of my combination is, that the oxidizable zinc being covered
or shielded from the active agent of sea water, chlorine, which must first pass
through the negative copper before the more positive metal is touched,
oxidation can only take place in an infinitesimal degree. Or again, copper,
which becomes positive in combination with the last covering, mercury, is
shielded from the action of chlorine (which is the negative element in sea
water) as the chlorine at its entrance to attack the positive metal meets the
mercury, which is also negative, and between them no attraction or affinities
exist, thus rendering this amalga-alloy far superior in duration to copper or any
other known compound metal.
Having now described the nature of my Invention for "Improvements in
Amalgamating Metals," I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not
confine myself to the exact proportions or quantities of metal or material
indicated as used or employed in performing my operations, inasmuch as
each and all may vary in quality, as herein-before explained, or in some other
way that may test the skill of the operator to rectify, and cause a variation in
the proportions given or rules I have laid down for obtaining the results of
my Invention, but such variation or departure will not at all interfere with or
compromise the principle of my improvements, as berein explained. I claim
no exclusive use of any of the metals or materials mentioned in my description
as being parts used in my improvements, except when the whole are used in
combination and for the purposes of my Invention; nor do I claim any
machinery or apparatus for making or manufacturing my amalgam, as I use
whatever means I find most convenient or applicable for my purpose; but
what I do claim is the exclusive manufacture and use of the amalgam (whose
manufacture is herein-before described) which, while permitting oxidation of

page_text: metals to take place, effectually prevents the fouling of the surfaces of such
metals when they are submerged in sea water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Wall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
W. E. GEDGE,
4, Danes Inn.
ARTHUR WALL. (L.S.)