CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING THE OXYDATION OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Pierre Chambeyron, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, in the Empire of France, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING THE OXYDATION OF IRON AND
STEEL."
Sealed the 18th January 1865, and dated the 27th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Pierre Chambeyron,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th July 1864.
I, JEAN PIERRE CHAMBEYRON, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
5 Empire of France, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention 'for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING THE OXYDATION OF IRON
AND STEEL," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in preventing the oxydation of iron and steel by the
penetration or forced incorporation of volatile metals having little affinity for
O oxygen.
Tinning, zincing, and leading only give incomplete results. I have dis-
covered that it is only by incorporating into the iron itself and to a certain
depth a metal or an alloy little affected by the action of oxygen, and considered

page_text: practically inoxidizable that iron and steel can be protected from oxydation in
sea water, and other acidulated waters. The means I employ are to introduce
zinc alone in the state of vapour into the iron or steel when they are only to
be exposed to the contact of oxygen, and to a volatile alloy or compound com-
posed of tin, lead, and zinc in suitable proportions. The proportions are
about th of lead, th of tin, th of zinc, but they may vary when the iron is to
remain in corrosive waters. A high temperature being necessary to vaporise the
metals to be incorporated. The operation is performed in cementing chambers.
To each of the cast-iron heads of the upper retorts is adapted a tube, the lower
extremity of which is immersed in the retort, and the upper extremity is ter-
minated by a funnel, which has underneath a spheroidal reservoir furnished
above and underneath with a tap for shutting off communication either with
the retorts or with the interior of the reservoir. The metals to be incorporated
are poured in a state of fusion into this funnel, whence they fall into the
retort, the high temperature of which converts them very quickly into vapour.
In case the pressure obtained by the vapour is not strong enough to produce
the incorporation 'I cause a part of the gas to flow from the gasometer, where
it is held in reserve, into the retorts. When the metallic vapours have been in-
corporated in the pores of the iron or steel they will be condensed there by a
lowering of the temperature, which is preceded by the introduction of a certain
quantity of borax, which by its volatilisation in the apparatus will fix the
incorporated metals. The retorts will only be opened after having ascertained
by means of the pyrometer that the temperature has fallen below that at
which the volatisation of the most volatile metal takes place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Pierre Chambeyron, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN PIERRE
CHAMBEYRON, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jean Pierre Chambeyron, Her special license that I, the said
Jean Piere Chambeyron, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such

page_text: others as I, the said Jean Pierre Chambeyron, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREVENTING THE OXYDATION OF IRON
AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jean
Pierre Chambeyron, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them,
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 Jean Pierre Chambeyron, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, 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: -
My Invention consists in causing metallic vapours to penetrate into iron
and steel to prevent their oxydation. The valuable properties given to iron
and other metals by my improvements preserves them in an oxydating
medium caused by the dampness of the air, and even when in corrosive waters
such as sea water. The means hitherto employed to prevent oxydation consist
generally in laying on the iron a thin coat of tin, zinc, or lead, and which is more
or less adhering; but these coatings in most cases are without any beneficial
result, the metallic coating being merely combined with the surface of iron by
the agency of acid employed to clean the metal, always leaves some portions
of oxide.which rapidly extend under the protecting coating, and the destruction
of the metal soon becomes perceptible through the inoxydable surface.
By my Invention I incorporate into iron or any oxydable metal, in a state
of metal vapours, either zinc alone when the contact of oxygen is only to be
counteracted, or a volatile. combination composed of eighteen per cent. of tin,
twelve of lead, and thirty-eight of zinc; when the metal is to remain in
corrosive waters, the deleterious action of which is without effect on the metal
so protected, I obtain such results by placing the iron heated to a very high
temperature in a non-oxydating medium, by converting into vapours the
protecting metal, and by causing them to penetrate into the iron by powerful
pressure.
The most suitable apparatus to carry my Invention into effect is the furnace
described in the Patent granted to me the Twenty-seventh day of July One
D

page_text: thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, N° 1876, and which apparatus
therefore it is useless to describe here, as I do not claim in this Patent any
part of it, and the only alteration required in it to carry out my Invention
consists in inserting in the upper part of the retorts described in the Specifica-
tion of that Patent a tube, the lower end of which enters into the retorts.
In the upper end of this tube is a funnel underneath which is a reservoir of
a spheroidal form having at top and underneath a tap to intercept the com-
munication either with the retorts or with the funnel. The metals to be
incorporated into the iron are poured in a molten state into the funnel, and
thence falling into the retorts are instantaneously converted into gases on
account of the high temperature within the retorts. To prevent accidents
which might occur by the sudden transformation of the molten metals into
gases, they are poured in small quantities by regulated flowings in the
spheroidal reservoir. If the pressure created by the gases formed from the
metals should not be sufficiently powerful to complete their incorporation
into the iron the degree of necessary pressure can be easily procured by
obtaining from the gasometer the required supply of non-oxydating gases
which are always therein stored. When the metallic vapours have strongly
penetrated into the pores of the iron they will condense by lowering the tem-
perature in the retorts; this must be preceded by the introduction in the
retorts of a certain quantity of borax, which by its volatilising will fix the
incorporated metals. By means of a pyrometer I ascertain if the temperature
is lower than the degree required to volatilise the most volatile metal before
opening the retorts. It may happen that the spontaneous. condensation of
the metallic vapours will produce suddenly a lower degree of pressure, which
may bring it under one atmosphere; in this case the pressure in the retorts
being lower than the atmospheric pressure the immediate destruction of the
apparatus might be the consequence. To prevent such danger I place at the
union of the compression and gasometer tubes a valve which will give passage
before the pressure is lower than such point to the gas stored in the gasometer.
The valve will close when the equilibrium has been re-established internally,
and externally.
Having now described my Invention, and the best means to put the same
into execution, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to. the
precise details, proportions, or constructions heréin-before described, so long as
the principle of my Invention be retained; but what I claim as my Invention,
and wish to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the mode of protecting iron, steel, and other metals from oxydation arising
from the oxydating medium into which they are placed, by incorporating into

page_text: them the vapours of several metals not oxydable produced at a high tempera-
ture and under a pressure greater than that of the atmosphere in the manner
and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Pierre Chambeyron, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. P. CHAMBEYRON. (L.s.)
Witness,
CH. MICHEL,
Agent Consulaire de S. M. Britannique,
à La Rochelle.
23 Jer, 1865.