IMPROVEMENTS IN THE AMALGAMATION, ALLOYING, AND SOLDERING OF CERTAIN METALS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WEIGER, of Vienna, but now residing at Leicester Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine and Surgeon Dentist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of December (One thousand eight hundred and
forty-four), in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Weiger, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Joseph Weiger, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph Weiger, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of
Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon Tweed, in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
AMALGAMATION, ALLOYING, AND SOLDERING OF CERTAIN METALS;" in which said

page_text: Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Weiger, to
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Weiger, do hereby declare the nature and intention of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed and put into practical
operation, to be fully set forth and ascertained in the following description and
Specification thereof, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, and the
letters and numeral figures thereunto annexed for the purpose of such
reference, that is to say :-
The nature and intention of my said Invention is the improvement of the
processes of amalgamation, the alloying, and the soldering of certain metals,
that is to say, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and the compounds of such
metals; and this, with the intention of the application of such improvements in
such processes to the practical purposes of the fabrication of the plates,
springs, wires, and other component parts of the mechanical constructions used
by dentists, in and for the management and arrangements of and respecting
the human teeth, either natural or artificial, as regards their holdings, fittings,
fixing, and adjustments to and in their required places, and also to aid in the
fabrication and modes of fixing such artificial teeth as are either in part or
altogether composed of known substances; and I perform and accomplish
such said improvements in manner following; that is to say, I produce an alloy
of platinum with gold in certain proportions, as herein-after stated, or an alloy
of platinum with silver, or an alloy of platinum with a compound of gold with
silver, or an alloy of palladium, either with gold, with silver, or with a com-
pound of gold with silver: and this by the following processes and construction
and arrangement of apparatus for performing the same :-
And first of silver: I purify silver by the usual process of dissolving it in
nitrous acid; next precipitating it with muriatic acid, or with a solution of
culinary salt, and afterwards decomposing the product so obtained by treating
it with vegetable alkali or colophany. As regards gold, I obtain a chloride of
gold by digesting gold in nitro-muriatic acid, composed of nitric acid and
muriatic acid, in the proportions of one part of strong nitric acid to two parts
of muriatic acid. I then obtain pure gold from the foregoing digestion by

page_text: treatment in a solution of sulphate of iron, according to the well-known
process. As regards platinum, I obtain a cloride of platinum by treatment of
the metal in nitro-muriatic acid. The chloride of platinum.so obtained I then
treat with sal ammoniac, and it then affords a triple salt in a yellow powder,
which powder I convert into pure platinum by subjecting it to a red heat
in a furnace, according to the known process, and in a furnace herein-after
described. I obtain palladium by treatment of native platinum, according to
the well-known methods. I then subject the before-mentioned metals, or the
compounds thereof, as above described, to a further process by the action of a
furnace.
For the purpose of incorporating together platinum with gold or with
silver, or palladium with gold or with silver, or platinum with any com-
pound of palladium with gold or silver, I use a furnace of the following con-
struction and arrangement. The Drawing represents the .construction and
arrangement of such furnace,. Figure 1 shewing a view in front elevation, and
Figure 2 a horizontal plan or section of the same, as taken through the dotted
line x, x, of the Figure 1. For the construction of such furnace I take
crucibles of the ordinary form, composed of the usual refractory substances of
which crucibles are formed, in order duly to withstand the higher degrees of
heat required for the due fusion and incorporation of the metals under opera-
tion; Itake two of such crucibles, and prepare and arrange them as shewn
in the Figures.of the Drawing, and as such preparation and arrangement is
herein-after described with reference to such Figures. The dimensions which
in. praetice I find most suitable for the purposes of my aforesaid processes are
the following, that is to say:The internal perpendicular height of each of such
crucibles I take of about twenty-five inches, and the diameter at the mouth
about twenty inches. I form a circular aperture, of about eight inches in
diameter,.in the. bottom of one of such crucibles, so that the air, which during
the process passes through both crucibles, escapes through the aperture in the
bottom of the upper. crucible, and passes off into the chimney. At a small
distance above the bottom of the lower crucible, in its side, I form a small
square, ash-hole, and to this lateral aperture I fit a plug or stopper, composed
in the well-known manner of refractory substances, as pieces of broken
crucibles, &c., and such plug I insert so as to close the aperture during the
process, or to open it at pleasure. In order to render such furnace more firm
and durable I encircle the mouth of each of its crucibles. by a thin metal ring
or hoop, to prevent the rapid destruction of its upper edge by frequent use.
The crucibles, thus arranged, are placed within a cylinder of sheet iron, of
about ten inches more in diameter than the diameter of the mouths of the

page_text: crucibles, and the space thus left between the cylinder and the crucibles is
then filled up with sand, powdered charcoal, or any substances which are
imperfect conductors of heat. Furnaces of any suitable form, construction, or
materials, may be used in such processes; but the furnace herein described I
find in practice to be convenient in use, and fully sufficient for the purposes of
the process.
In the Drawing the parts here mentioned are particularly shewn, thus:-
In Figure 1, A, A, A, A, shews a crucible placed upon its bottom, with
its mouth upwards. B, B, is a second crucible of the same dimensions,
placed in an inverted position upon the mouth of the lower crucible A, A, A, A.
I form an aperture C in the bottom of the upper crucible B, B, B, B,
and also an aperture at its upper edge at w, w, which is to be fitted
with a fire-door W. In the crucible A, A, A, A, I form an aperture D
near to its bottom, which is to be closed at pleasure by a proper stopper
as herein-before described. I form several sinall apertures E, E, E, E, E, E,
in the crucible A, A, A, A, at a small distance from the bottom of the
crucible, and at the level of the apertures E, E, E, &c., I pass an iron
cylindrical and annular tube E, E, having at the proper intervals short
nozzles f, f, each of which is inserted into one of the apertures E, E, E, &c.,
and I make a strait tubular passage G, through and by which air enters from
without in the direction of the arrow 9, circulating through the circuit of the
annular tube F, F, and passing through the apertures E, E, E, &c., into the
interior of the crucible A, A, A, A, so as to act on the fire and the matters
subjected to the process. Ou the block 2, which is set in the centre of the
lower crucible A, A, A, A, I place a small crucible I, in which the metals
under operation are to be placed. The crucibles herein-before described
A, A, A, A, and B, B, B, B, are placed on and are supported by a stand
L, L, L, composed of any refractory substance, on which is also placed and
supported an iron cylindrical case K, K, K, K, which is filled with pounded
charcoal or other substance being an imperfect conductor of heat.
bottom of the outer case K, K, K, K, is placed somewhat above the upper
side of the aperture D, in the crucible A, A, A, A, for the purpose of greater
convenience in the management of the ash-hole at D, and to provide an easy
access to the same. The Figure represents a horizontal section of the
Figure 1, taken at the dotted line a, a, the same parts in Figure 2 being
respectively marked with the same letters of reference as in the Figure 1, in
as far as such parts can be seen in both such Figures. The relative dimensions
of the several parts of the apparatus as they are herein-before described for
the specified purposes must be varied to suit the varying circumstances of the
The

page_text: differences that
may
arise in practice in the scale of the operations; but in
general practice and in operating with moderately small quantities or volumes
of metals, say, as an example, of about three pounds of troy weight, I find
the relative dimensions herein-before set down for the construction and
arrangement of the apparatus to be practically efficient and perfect in its
action. The quantities of each of the before-mentioned metals respectively
which I employ in forming the compounds herein-before mentioned are in each
of such compounds respectively as follows, that is to say:-I prepare the several
metals herein-before mentioned, for the purpose of compounding them, in the
following manner: For gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, the gold, silver,
and palladium are first to be fused together, and the platinum gradually added
to the mass in a reduced or comminuted state, and in the required proportions,
and so subjected to the operation of the furnace. Or, if such metals are.
already in the form of leaves or thin sheets, such leaves or thin sheets must be
formed into rolls of small diameter, and such rolls cut into small pieces, which
reduced pieces must be spread open and again formed into still smaller rolls,
or such metals may be reduced to the state of wire of small diameter. I use
borax as a flux in the proportion of one fifth part of the volume of the metals under.
operation, to which flux I also add tartrate of potassa, in the proportion of one
twenty-fifth part of the volume of the metals under operation. In the conduct
of the process of fusion, as herein-before described, I cause the fusion of the
gold or silver to take place first, I then add the required quantity of platinum
or palladium to the metal or metals so already fused; and in the ease of
platinum I make such addition of platinum gradually and slowly, and I add
the fluxes to the mass of metal either at or near the commencement of the
process, when the gold or silver is in the state of powder. I then reduce the
platinum also to the state of powder, and, after mixing those metals intimately
together in the required proportions, I fuse them together. In all cases the
platinum must be already either in the state of what is termed spongy pla-
tinum, or be reduced in small pieces or otherwise comminuted, as herein-before
described. It will be obvious that platinum being used in my aforesaid pro-
cess in a chemically pure state of powder I am enabled to use all small frag-
ments of the metal remaining after the processes, and also that I am thus
enabled, in this my herein-before described process, to use platinum in its raw
or crude state, and so to effect a great economy in the cost of the process, as
also in a modified degree in the cases of gold and silver. The relative quan-
tities or proportions of the several metals I use in the processes herein-before
described are as follows:-For one composition I take two third parts of pla-
tinum and one third part of gold. For another composition I take two third

page_text: parts of platinum, one sixth part of gold, and one sixth part of silver. For
another composition I take two fourth parts of platinum, one fourth part of
palladium, and one fourth part of silver. For another composition I take nine
twelfth parts of platinum, two twelfth parts of gold, and one twelfth part of
silver. For another.composition I. take six ninth parts of platinum, two ninth
parts of gold, and one ninth part of silver. For another composition I. take
two third parts of platinum -and one third part of silver. For another com-
position I take ten twenty-fourth parts of.platinum, six twenty-fourth parts of
gold, and eight twenty-fourth: parts of palladium. For another composition
I take.fourteen.twenty-fourth parts of:platinum, six twenty-fourth parts, of silver
and four twenty-fourth parts of gold. In practice that composition is to be
chosen in which the conditions of most importance to the occasion are best
embodied:;. as in one case lightness of weight.is secured, in another case more
elasticity, or in another a more decidedly golden colour. The most perfect
imitation of gold as regards.color. I find to be produced by a composition of
eight twelfth: parts of gold; three. twelfth parts. of platinum, and one twelfth
part of silver. 1. vary these proportions. within small limits according to the
especial requirements.of. the case, but in general practice the proportions given
I find the most serviceable. The composition I use in the process of soldering
is.composed solely of pure gold or pure silver, or of pure gold and silver.com-
bined. I solder.platinum with pure gold or silver, or with a composition of
pure gold and silver; and I solder compositions of platinum with gold-with
pure gold; and I use a composition of two third parts of silver and one third
part of gold. to solder any other metals or their compounds. I further declare
that I apply the compositions herein-before described to any purpose. or pur-
poses in the constructive arts to which their metallic properties. render them
advantageously applicable.
Having now.described the nature and intention of my said Invention, and
also, the manner in which the same is to be carried into practical effect, I
declare that I claim as of my Invention therein the compositions, the pro-
cesses, and the means of conducting them, prepared, compounded, and con-
ducted, as they are severally herein described, for the purposes and the
applications.to.the objects of my said Invention, and as such objects are herein-
before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Weiger, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand sight bandwad and forty-five
JOSEPH WEIGER. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of June, in the
eighth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Joseph
Weiger came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and