IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET
IRON." A communication from abroad by Benjamin Morison, of
DL
1
D
.
דד
Sealed the 26th March 1872, and dated the 5th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th February 1872.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SHEET IRON," a communication, to be as follows:-

page_text: uniting with it any of the softer and more fusible metals; the object of
the said Invention being the rendering of the said scale oxide more
flexible, soft, adherent, and less liable to rust, and the sheet iron also
more perfectly annealed and flexible.
It is important to the best results in carrying out my said Invention
that the sheets be made of the best charcoal bloom iron, and that the
scale oxide thereon be even or of uniform thickness and unbroken; and
in order to produce such a scale oxide it is recommended that the usual
rough and imperfect scale be removed (by means of weak acid in the
usual manner practiced in the process of coating sheet iron with zinc by
immersion), and that the sheets be then passed between a pair of smooth
pressure rolls, and finally subjected to a sufficient heat to produce
thereon a new and uniform scale oxide.
Having a box or case made of wrought iron, fire-clay, or other suitable
material, and of sufficient capacity to hold a number of the sheets
slightly isolated from each other, and also provided with a lid or cover,
and with a hole near the bottom of one end for the insertion of one end
of a gas pipe, I place the sheets successively in the box, isolating them
by means of numerous small fragments of hard burnt clay or other
suitable incombustible material, apply the lid or cover, and lute the
intervening joints with plastic clay. I now place the box or case in the
chamber of a furnace adapted to gradually bring the temperature of the
said box or case up to a low or scarcely visible red heat; I then insert
the nozzle of the gas pipe into the hole in the box or case, and introduce
hydrogen gas under a pressure about equal to the propelling pressure
required for the distribution of the illuminating gas in cities. As the
clay dries it shrinks and leaves cracks or fissures sufficient for the slow
escape of the compressed gas and the aqueous vapour produced by the
combination of the oxygen of the scale oxide on the sheets and the
hydrogen. In the course of an hour (more or less) the scale oxide will
have become sufficiently deoxidized, and the box or case may then be
withdrawn from the hot chamber and allowed to cool gradually, the
hydrogen gas in the meantime continuing to pass through it as before to
preclude the entrance of atmospheric air, and after the enclosed sheets
have become cool enough to handle the gas should be stopped off and
the sheets taken out and treated as follows, viz. :—
Having prepared saturated or strong aqueous solutions of the salts of
the more fusible metals, say sulphate of zinc, chloride of zinc, chloride

page_text: of tin, acetate of zinc, acetate of lead, chloride of nickel, or of the salt
of any other readily fusible metal that will amalgamate, unite, combine,
or alloy with the deoxidized scale on the iron at a strong or bright red
heat (or at a heat a few degrees above the melting heat of the metal or
3 metals of the applied solution) under hydrogen or carburetted hydrogen
gas, I immerse the deoxidized sheets in either one or a mixture of two
or more of the said solutions for five or ten minutes, or apply the
solution by rubbing it on the sheets by means of a sponge or soft brush;
I then let the excess of the solution drain off and the remaineder
crystallize or dry upon the surfaces of the sheets.
I now replace them in the box or case in the same isolated manner as
before described, replace and lute the cover or lid thereon, and place the
box or case in the heating chamber of the furnace; I then introduce the
hydrogen gas as before, and slowly heat the box or case up to a scarcely
visible red heat for an hour (more or less) to allow of the reduction of
the oxide of the applied solution, after which the heat should be increased
to a bright red, or to a heat a few degrees above that which may be
required to fuse the now reduced softer metal or metals resulting from
the solution previously applied, and cause the same to amalgamate,
blend, unite, or alloy with the deoxidized and consequently soft and
porous scale on the iron.
The box or case may now be withdrawn from the hot chamber of the
furnace and allowed to cool slowly with the hydrogen gas still con-
tinuously passing through it to preclude the entrance of atmospheric air
until the sheets have become cold enough to handle, after which the gas
should be shut off and the sheets taken out of the box or case.
If brightness of the surfaces of the sheets be desired it will be readily
produced by passing them severally between and in contact with a pair
of cylindrical rapidly rotating bristle brushes; and if afterward intended
to be put up in packs for storage or shipment the sheets may, as a further
protection against dampness, be dipped into any suitable hydrocarbon oil,
and then drained, and the superfluous portion wiped off.
To economize time the process may be expedited by rubbing the
solution upon the surface of the scale, and drying it thereon before the
sheets are deoxidized, thus making one heat sufficient...

page_text: The pure oxides of the said softer or more fusible metals may be, if
desired, mixed and applied with lard or oil and carburetted hydrogen gas
used instead of pure hydrogen.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON," a communication to
me from abroad by Benjamin Morison, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 a
Letters Patent.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-.
The nature of my Invention consists in deoxidizing the scale oxide
adherent to sheet iron, and amalgamating, blending, or intimately
uniting with it any of the softer, and more fusible metals; the object of
the said Invention being the rendering of the said scale oxide more
flexible, soft, adherent, and less liable to rust, and the sheet iron also
more perfectly annealed and flexible..
It is important in carrying out my said Invention that the sheets be
made of the best charcoal bloom iron, and that the scale oxide thereon
be even or of uniform thickness and unbroken; and in order to produce
such a scale oxide it is recommended that the usual rough and imperfect
scale be removed (by means of weak acid in the usual manner practiced
in the process of coating sheet iron with zinc by immersion), and that
the sheets be then passed between a pair of smooth pressure rolls, and
finally subjected to a sufficient heat to produce thereon a new and
uniform scale oxide.
Having a box or case made of wrought iron, fire-clay, or other suitable
material, and of sufficient capacity to hold a number of the sheets
slightly isolated from each other, and also provided with a lid or cover,
and with a hole near the bottom of one end for the insertion of one end
of a gas pipe, I place the sheets successively in the box, isolating them
by means of numerous small fragments of hard burnt clay or other
suitable incombustible material, apply the lid or cover, and lute the
intervening joints with plastic clay. I now place the box or case in the
chamber of a furnace adapted to gradually bring the temperature of the
said box or case up to a low or scarcely visible red heat; I then insert
the nozzle of the gas pipe into the hole in the box or case, and introduce
hydrogen gas under a pressure about equal to the propelling pressure
required for the distribution of the illuminating gas in cities. As the
clay dries it shrinks and leaves cracks or fissures sufficient for the slow
escape of the compressed gas and the aqueous vapour produced by the
combination of the oxygen of the scale oxide on the sheets and the
hydrogen. In the course of an hour (more or less) the scale oxide will
have become sufficiently deoxidized, and the box or case may then be
withdrawn from the hot chamber and allowed to cool gradually, the
hydrogen gas in the meantime continuing to pass through it as before to
preclude the entrance of atmospheric air, and after the enclosed sheets.

page_text: have become cool enough to handle, the gas should be stopped off, and
the sheets taken out and treated as follows, viz. :-
:—
Having prepared saturated or strong aqueous solutions of the salts of
the more fusible metals, say sulphate of zinc, chloride of zinc, chloride
of tin, acetate of zinc, acetate of lead, chloride of nickel, or of the salt
of any other readily fusible metal that will amalgamate, unite, combine,
or alloy with the deoxidized scale on the iron at a strong or bright red
heat (or at a heat a few degrees above the melting heat of the metal or
metals of the applied solution) under hydrogen or carburetted hydrogen
gas, I immerse the deoxidized sheets in either one or a mixture of two
or more of the said solutions for five or ten minutes, or apply the
solution by rubbing it on the sheets by means of a sponge or soft brush;
I then let the excess of the solution drain off, and the remainder
crystallize or dry upon the surfaces of the sheets.
I now replace them in the box or case in the same isolated manner as
before described, replace and lute the cover or lid thereon, and place the
box or case in the heating chamber of the furnace; I then introduce the
hydrogen gas as before, and slowly heat the box or case up to a scarcely
visible red heat for an hour (more or less) to allow of the reduction of
the oxide of the applied solution, after which the heat should be increased
to a bright red, or to a heat a few degrees above that which may be
required to fuse the now reduced softer metal or metals resulting from
the solution previously applied, and cause the same to amalgamate,
blend, unite, or alloy with the deoxidized, and consequently soft and
porous scale on the iron.
The box or case may now be withdrawn from the hot chamber of the
furnace and allowed to cool slowly with the hydrogen gas still con-
tinuously passing through it to preclude the entrance of atmospheric air
until the sheets have become cold enough to handle, after which the
gas should be shut off and the sheets taken out of the box or case.
If brightness of the surfaces of the sheets be desired, it will be readily
produced by passing them severally between and in contact with a pair
of cylindrical rapidly rotating bristle brushes, and if afterwards intended
to be put up in packs for storage or shipment the sheets may, as a further
protection against dampness, be dipped into any suitable hydrocarbon oil,
and then drained, and the superfluous portion wiped off.

page_text: The solution of the salt of sulphate, or of the acetate of zinc forms,
with the deoxidized scale on the iron an excellent protective coating of
great flexibility; about three parts of the solution of the chloride of
zinc, mixed with two parts of the solution of the chloride of tin will
make with the deoxidized scale on the iron a more flexible and lighter
coloured coating; three parts of the solution of the acetate of zinc mixed
with two parts of the solution of the acetate of lead, and one part of
the solution of the chloride of tin will make, with the deoxidized scale
on the iron a very suitable coating for sheet iron intended to be used in
the construction of stoves, stove pipes, coal scuttles, and the like; a
solution of the chloride of nickel makes with the deoxidized scale on
the iron a very hard and inoxidizable coating, but requires a high heat
to alloy it with the deoxidized scale on the iron; a small quantity
of the solution of the chloride of tin, or of the acetate of lead added to
the solution of the chloride of nickel makes the coating softer and more
flexible, but as the predominant metal in the coating is the deoxidized
scale oxide of iron the number and proportions of the solutions of any
metals intended to be applied thereto may be increased and varied as
the coating may require.
Sheet iron treated as herein-before described will be soft, flexible, and
thoroughly annealed, and the metallic coating will be more adhesive,
soft, and flexible, less liable to crack and scale off either in bending,
seaming, or double seaming the sheet, and much less liable to rust than
any of the sheet iron heretofore produced in this country.
To economize time the process may be expedited by rubbing the
solution upon the surface of the scale and drying it thereon before the
sheets are deoxidized, thus making one heat sufficient; but as the
deoxidized scale is porous the solution saturates or penetrates it, and is
therefore more readily applied than it can be upon the hard smooth
scale oxide; and furthermore, there is a certainty in the former case that
the scale will be thoroughly deoxidized before the softer metals are
reduced and fused, a certainty which is of the highest importance, and
may not always be attainable by the one heat process.
The pure oxides of the said softer or more fusible metals may, if
desired, be mixed and applied with lard or oil, and carburetted hydrogen
gas used instead of pure hydrogen, but the presence of carbon not only
tends to stain or darken the coating by uniting with it but also to
carburize the iron.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The process consisting in deoxidizing the scale oxide adherent.
to sheet iron, and amalgamating, blending, or intimately uniting it with
any of the softer or more flexible metals, substantially as and for the
purpose herein described.
Second. Sheet iron having a surface coating consisting of the
deoxidized scale oxide amalgamated, blended, or united with any of the
softer or more fusible metals, substantially as and for the purpose herein ]
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
.
two
1
'Witness,
CHAS: J. GOOCH.
W. ROB. LAKE. (L.S.)