Improvements in the Manufacture of Tin and Terne, Plates and other like Metal Coated Plates or Sheets, and in Apparatus employed in the said Manufacture.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 26th June, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 18th Mar., 1898-Accepted, 25th June, 1898
Improvements in the Manufacture of Tin and Terne, Plates and other
like Metal Coated Plates or Sheets, and in Apparatus employed
in the said Manufacture.
We, RICHARD BEAUMONT THOMAS, of Dennel Hill, near Chepstow, in the
County of Monmouth; Gentleman, and HUBERT SPENCE THOMAS, of The Cottage,
Lydbrook, in the County of Gloucester, Tin Plate Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the
manufacture of tin plates and terne plates and other like metal coated plates or
sheets such as leaded plates and galvanised plates or sheets. Our invention
further consists of the apparatus hereinafter described to be used in carrying
our improved process into effect.
our
may
We will describe our invention as applied to the manufacture of tin plates.
understood we
In order that
invention
be the better
Steel
will describe briefly the ordinary manufacture of tin plates.
bars are first converted into "black" plates and the said "black" plates
prepared for tinning, then tinned and cleaned or polished. The "black" plates
are usually prepared for the tinning operation by pickling them in bulk or
handfuls, and by the use of cradles or tongs they are dipped into the pickling
acid and subsequently dipped in bulk or handfuls in water to remove all trace
of the pickling acid. They are then stored in water until required for the
tinning process. The tinman passes them sheet by sheet into a tinning pot or
hath having on its surface a Hux or fluxing material. The sheets are passed
through the flux and melted tin in the bath and from thence through a hot oil
bath, such as palm oil, rolls in the last named bath removing the superfluous
tin from the plates and producing a smooth surface on them. The tinned plates
are finally cleaned by hand or by machinery.
The object of our invention is to simplify the manufacture by reducing the
amount of labour required, to produce by uniform and improved pickling and
swilling processes superior plates, and to prevent the bad effects produced when
there is a check between the swilling and tinning operations as well as to effect
a saving in the materials employed particularly in the metal and acid used.
I carrying our invention into effect we arrange side by side an acid or pickling
bath, a bath of water for swilling the plates. and a tinning bath or pot and by
means of rolls inside or outside the several baths, or by other mechanical means,
the "black" plates are passed one by one and continuously, first through the
acid or pickling bath; next through the water or swilling bath and then through
the tinning pot or bath. Or the plates may be passed continuously through. the

page_text: pickling and swilling baths only, the tinning operation being performed
separately.
The process described may be modified by pickling the "black" plates in bulk
as ordinarily practised, and passing continuously the pickled or cleaned plates
through the water bath and tinning pot or bath.
The minimise the effect of a cold plate entering and reducing the temperature
of the metal coating bath, the water or swilling bath niay be kept hot, and the
plate beated by its passage through the said hot water bath or otherwise, before
it enters the tinning or coating bath.
The pickling bath is usually heated internally by steam. According to our
invention we may heat the pickling bath by external heat alone or by external
heat in conjunction with internal heating.
Our improved process, and apparatus employed in the said process, may be
applied to the manufacture of terne plates, leaded plates and galvanised plates,
and other like metal coated plates or sheets.
By our invention the manufacture of the coated plates or sheets is made a
continuous or nearly continuous process and is much more economical than the
intermittent process ordinarily employed.
Dated this Twenty sixth day of June 1897.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Tin and Terne Plates and other
like Metal Coated Plates or Sheets, and in Apparatus employed
..in the said Manufacture.
We, RICHARD BEAUMONT THOMAS, of Dennel Hill, near Chepstow, in the
County of Monmouth, Gentleman, and HUBERT SPENCE THOMAS, of The Cottage,
Lydbrook, in the County of Gloucester, Tin Plate Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the
manufacture of tin plates and terne plates and other like metal coated plates or
sheets, such as leaded plates and galvanised plates or sheets. Our invention
further consists of the apparatus hereinafter described to be used in carrying
our improved process into effect.
We will describe our invention as applied to the manufacture of tin plates.
In order that our invention may be the better understood we
'
will describe briefly the ordinary manufacture of tin plates.
;
Steel bars are first converted into "black" p
plates and the said black plates
prepared for tinning; then tinned and cleaned or polished. The "black" plates
are usually prepared for the tinning operation by pickling them in bulk or
handfuls and by the use of cradles or tongs they are dipped into the pickling
acid and subsequently dipped in bulk or handfuls in water to remove all trace
of the pickling acid. They are then stored in water until required for the
tinning process. The tinman passes them sheet by sheet into a tinning pot or
bath having on its surface a flux or fluxing material. The sheets are passed
through the flux and melted tin in the bath and from thence through a hot oil

page_text: bath, such as palm oil, rolls in the last named bath removing the superfluous
tin from the plates and producing a smooth surface on them. The tinned plates
are finally cleaned by hand or by machinery.
The object of our invention is to simplify the manufacture by reducing the
amount of labour required, to produce by uniform and improved pickling and
swilling processes superior plates and to prevent the bad effects produced when
there is a check between the swilling and tinning operations, as well as to effect
a saving in the materials employed, particularly in the metal and acid used.
In carrying our invention into effect we arrange side by side or end to end
an acid or pickling bath, a bath of water for swilling the plates and a tinning.
bath or pot and by means of rolls inside or outside the several baths, or by other
mechanical means, the "black" plates are passed one by one and continuously,
first, through the acid or pickling bath; next through the water or swilling: bath
and then through the tinning pot or bath.
Or the plates may be passed continuously through the pickling and swilling
baths only, the tinning operation being performed separately.
The process described may be modified by pickling the "black" plates in bulk
as ordinarily practised and passing continuously the pickled or cleaned plates
through the water bath and tinning pot or bath.
To minimise the effect of a cold plate entering and reducing the temperature
of the metal coating bath the 'water or swilling bath may be kept hot and the
plate heated by its passage through the said hot water bath or otherwise before
it enters the tinning or coating bath.
The pickling bath is usually heated internally by steam. According to our
invention we may heat the pickling bath by external heat alone or by external
heat in conjunction with internal heating..
We will describe our invention as applied to the manufacture of tin plates
in connection with the apparatus represented in the accompanying drawings
which we prefer to employ in conducting our improved method of manufacture.
Figure I of the drawings represents the said apparatus in longitudinal section
and Figure 2 in plan.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 are modified parts of the apparatus.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures
of the drawings,
}
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a is an acid or pickling bath; b a water bath
or "bosh" for swilling the plates; e a tinning bath or pot and d a grease pot,
the baths a, b, c and grease pot d being arranged end to end or in series.
The bath a contains the pickling acid into which the plates to be treated are
introduced singly by hand the said bath being provided with a series of rotating
discs e, e, e, e with fingers, catches or pushers e², e², e, for engaging with the
rear edges of the plates and carrying them through the bath a. By the action
of the acid on the plates any oxide of iron thereon is removed as is well under-
stood. Across the exit end of the bath aa dividing plate a³ is preferably
arranged so that its lower edge dips below the surface of the acid and divides
the bath into two parts. By the said division plate as the scum, slime and other
foreign matter which rise to the surface of the bath at or near the front end is
prevented from contaminating the surface of the acid in the rear part of tho
bath which is thereby preserved clear or nearly so. Two or more division plates,
one behind the other may be employed but we have found in ordinary practice
one to be sufficient.
The fingers or catches e², e carry the plate forward until it is seized by a pair
of draining or drip rolls ff by the action of which superfluous acid is removed
from the plate and the said plate is fed to a pair of rolls g, g rotating in or over
the water "bosh or bath b. The rolls f, f, and also the rotating discs e, e of the
first or pickling bath a, are preferably made of gun metal or other metal or alloy
not injuriously affected by pickling acid.
"
By the action of the rolls g, g the plate is swilled and all traces of dirt or

page_text: foreign matter which would impede the tinning process removed. The rolls 9, 9
feed the swilled plate to the first pair of rolls h, h of the tinning bath c the
front end of which bath c is filled with a flux. From the said first pair of
rolls.h, the plate is passed through the molten tin in the bath c to the second
pair of rolls h, 2 by which it is transferred to the grease pot d. The first pair
of rolls, in the grease pot d carry it to the other rolls 22, 22 and 3, by which
the sheet is delivered in a finished state from the apparatus.
The acid bath a is heated by the application of external heat or by passing
steam therein or partly by the one and partly by the other; and the swilling
bath 6 may be similarly heated so as to ensure the plates passing into the tinning
bath in a hot state and without materially diminishing the temperature of
the molten tin in the bath c.
One roll only of the pair of rolls g, g or both may be wholly or partly immersed
in the swilling water. Where the bottom roll only is covered by the water the
swilling may be facilitated by a stream of water (preferably hot) or steam or
by water and steam delivered on to the top roll.
By the method of manufacture described the process of tinning is a continuous
process and is much more economical than the intermittent process ordinarily
employed.
Instead of transferring the plates from the acid or pickling bath a to the
swilling bath b in the way herein before described the said plates may be carried
through the acid and swilling baths by fingers or pushere k³, on an endless
chain or band supported or working over the said baths a, bas is represented
in Figure 3, the said baths a, b being provided with guides between which the
plates to be treated are passed and work.
Where the plates to be treated are very thin we prefer to employ fingers of the
shape indicated at in the said Figure 3. Or the plates may be carried forward
in the acid bath by the use of pairs of rolls as is illustrated in Figure 4.
Or a vertical acid bath may be employed as is represented in Figure 5 the
plates being fed singly into the bath and falling by their own weight on to a
cradle m near the bottom of the bath, which cradle m is permitted to descend
and is afterwards raised to such a height by the action of an eccentric n as to
permit of the plate being seized by the rolls f, f.
Although we prefer to make the whole series of operations a continuous process
we wish it to be understood that the pickling and swilling of the plates may be
conducted in an apparatus consisting of the baths a and b only, the tinning
operation being performed separately.
Or the plates may be pickled in bulk in the ordinary way, that is, by the use
of a machine where the plates are loaded in a cradle and dipped first in an acid
bath and then in a water bath and afterwards unloaded and placed in water
boshes to prevent oxidation until they are required by the tinner. The plates
thus pickled and treated in bulk are subsequently treated singly in an apparatus
consisting of the swilling bath b tin bath or pot c and grease pot d Figures 1
and 2.
Our improved process, and apparatus employed in the said process, may be
applied to the manufacture of terne plates, leaded plates and galvanised plates
and other like metal coated plates or sheets.
By our invention the manufacture of the coated plates or sheets is made a
continuous or nearly continuous process and is much more economical than the
intermittent process ordinarily employed.
Although we have described the continuous or nearly continuous process of
manufacture constituting part of our invention as carried into effect by the use
of the apparatus constituting the other part of our invention yet we wish it to
be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the use of the said apparatus as
other apparatus or machinery of a like kind may be employed in the carrying
of the said continuous or nearly continuous process of manufacture into effect.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim as
our invention of "Improvements in the manufacture of tin and terne, plates and
other like metal coated plates or sheets and in apparatus employed in the said
manufacture" --
First; Manufacturing by a continuous process tin and terne plates and
other like metal coated plates or sheets by treating them singly or one by one
in an apparatus consisting essentially of an acid or pickling bath, a swilling
bath or water "bosh," a bath of molten metal and a grease pot or combined bath
of molten metal and grease pot the said baths and grease pot being preferably
arranged end to end and the process of manufacture conducted substantially as
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
"2
Secondly-In the continuous manufacture of tin and terne plates and other
like metal coated plates or sheets hereinbefore described and claimed in the-
prior claim, heating the acid or pickling bath or the swilling bath or water
bosh or both by the application of external heat or by the introduction of
steam into the said bath or baths or partly by the application of external heat
and partly by the introduction of steam substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described.
Thirdly Manufacturing by a nearly continuous process tin and terne plates
and other like metal coated plates by treating them singly or one by one in an
apparatus consisting essentially of a pickling bath and a water or swilling bath
the pickled and cleaned plates being subsequently tinned or metal coated by
a separate operation substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
Fourthly Manufacturing by a nearly continuous process tin and terne plates
and other like metal coated plates or sheets by treating or pickling them in bulk
or handfuls in the ordinary way and subsequently treating them singly or one
by one in an apparatus consisting essentially of a swilling bath or water bosh,
a metal pot or bath and a grease pot or combined bath of molten metal and
grease pot, the nearly continuous process of manufacture being conducted sub-
stantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Fifthly; Manufacturing by a continuous process tin and terne plates and
other metal coated plates or sheets by treating them singly or one by one in an
apparatus consisting essentially of an acid or pickling bath a provided with
fingered carrying discs e, e and draining or drip rolls f, f, a swilling bath or
water bosh b with pair of rolls g, g a metal pot or bath c with rolls h¹, h¹ and h³, hª
and grease pot d with rolls, ¹ ª, 2ª and 2³, 3, or combined bath of molten
metal and grease pot the series of baths and grease pot being arranged end to end
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Sixthly; In the apparatus claimed in the preceding claim;-facilitating
the washing or swilling of the plates as they pass through the swilling bath or
water bosh b by the application to the upper roll of the pair of rolls in the said
swilling bath of a stream of water or jets of steam substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Seventhly In the manufacture of tin and other like metal coated plates or
sheets by the continuous or nearly continuous process claimed in Claims 1 and 3,
the use of an acid or pickling bath a and a swilling bath or water bosh b pro-
vided with an overhead endless travelling fingered band or chain k as herein-
before described and represented in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings
whether the said pickling and swilling baths be used alone or in combination
with any kind of metal pot or bath and grease pot.
Eighthly In the manufacture of tin and other like metal coated plates or
sheets by the continuous or nearly continuous process claimed in Claims 1 and 3,
5 the use of the acid or pickling baths and appliances connected therewith herein-
before described and represented in Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying draw-

page_text: ings, whether the said acid or pickling baths and appliances be used' alone or in
combination with any kind of metal pot or bath and grease pot...
་་་་
Dated the Twenty-first day of February 1898.
1-1
RICHARD BEAUMONT THOMAS
HUBERT SPENCE THOMAS.