A MEANS OF PROTECTING IRON OF EVERY KIND AGAINST THE ACTION OF THE WEATHER AND OF VARIOUS CORRODing Substances; so that IRON THUS PROTECTED WILL ANSWER FOR ROOFING, CISTERNS, BATHS, GUTTERS, F
Year: 1853

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION- filed by the said Nicholas Callan at
the Office of the Commissioners, of Patents, with his Petition and-
Declaration, on the 12th October 1853, pursuant to the 9th section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852...
I, NICHOLAS CALLAN of the R. C.. College of Maynooth, in the
County-of-Kildare, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "A MEANS OF PROTECTING IRON OF EVERY KIND AGAINST THE
ACTION OF THE WEATHER AND OF VARIOUS CORRODing Substances; so that
IRON THUS PROTECTED WILL ANSWER FOR ROOFING, CISTERNS, BATHS, GUTTERS,
F

page_text: PIPES, WINDOW FRAMES, TELEGRAPHIC WIRES, FOR MARINE AND VARIOUS
OTHER PURPOSES," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say):
Iron of any kind is first coated (in the way in which it is usually
tinned) with tin or with an alloy of lead and tin, which alloy contains
a moderate quantity of lead. When coated with tin alone, or when
the quantity of lead in the first coating is not sufficient for the purpose
for which the iron is intended, the coated iron is dipped into melted
lead, or into an alloy of-lead and tin, which alloy contains a consider-
able quantity of lead compared with that of tin, or into melted
antimony, or into an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, or of tin and
antimony, or of lead, tin, and zinc, or into an alloy of these four
metals. The melted metal or alloy is covered with some fatty substance
or other material to prevent oxidation. Iron coated in any of the
above-mentioned ways will be protected against the action of the
weather and of various corroding substances, and will answer for roof-
ing for cisterns, baths, gutters, pipes, window frames, telegraphic wires,
for marine and various other purposes. When the iron is coated with
an alloy of lead and tin, in which alloy the quantity of lead is five or six
times as great as that of tin, it will resist the action of concentrated nitric,
sulphuric, or muriatic acid, at least as well, and, I think, much better,
than lead, and infinitely better than galvanised iron, the zinc coating
of which is rapidly dissolved by any of these acids, even when they are
diluted with a considerable quantity of water. The hardness of the
coating is increased by adding a little zinc to the alloy of tin and lead;
but its power of resisting the action of acids is diminished. The
addition of a little antimony to the alloy of lead and tin increases the
hardness of the coating and improves its power to resist corrosive
action. The power of an alloy of lead and tin to resist the action of
corroding substances is increased by increasing within certain limits
the proportion of lead in the alloy. Iron coated with an alloy of lead
and tin, in which alloy the quantity of lead is equal to that of tin, or
5 or 6 times as great as that of tin, will probably answer for vitriol
chambers better than lead. Iron coated with an alloy of tin and some

page_text: of the other negative metals will be protected against corrosion but
these alloys are too expensive.
Claims. I claim as my Invention the coating of iron of any kind
with an alloy of lead and tin, which alloy contains a moderate, but
not an exceedingly great quantity of lead compared with that of tin,
or with an alloy of lead, tin, antimony, and zinc, or with an alloy of
tin with one or more of the other three, as a means of protecting the
iron against the action of the weather and of various corroding sub-
stances, and the application of iron thus protected to roofing, to the
making of cisterns, baths, gutters, pipes, window frames, telegraphic
wires, to marine and various other uses.
I recommend that the alloy of lead and tin with which the iron is
coated contain as much lead as tin, and not more than seven or eight
times as much lead as tin, and that when antimony or zinc is added
there be about one part by weight of each or of either to eight or
twelve of lead. But I do not bind myself to these proportions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Callan, of Maynooth
College, in the County of Kildare, Ireland, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
NICHOLAS CALLAN.