AN IMPROVED COMPOUND METAL OR ALLOY CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR DEOXIDIZING AND COATING METAL PLATES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Harris Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st August 1883. Communicated
to him from abroad by John Benbow Jones, of Brooklyn, New York United
States of America.
HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND METAL OR ALLOY
CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR DEOXIDIZING AND COATING METAL PLATES "-[A communi-
cation to him from abroad by John Benbow Jones, of Brooklyn, New York United
States of America.]
The object of this invention is the production of a compound metal or alloy
chiefly designed for deoxidizing and coating iron plates, the said compound being
electro-positive to the iron and having its melting point so low as to permit the
use of vegetable oil or animal fats rich in carbon, upon the surface of the compound
while in a melted state and forming a fluid compound adapted to cover the iron
with a thin coating so that such coated iron will resist atmospheric oxidation
more effectually than when coated with tin, as now practised, and without
increasing the cost of production of iron plates so coated as compared with tin
plates, and improving the iron for manufacturing purposes.
My invention consists in a compound metal or alloy composed of metallic sodium,
lead, tin and zinc compounded for use as a metal bath, into which iron plates, or
sheet-iron, iron sheets or other metal articles, are immersed and deoxidized and
thereby coated so as to prevent future oxidation.
To carry my invention into practical effect I employ the following proportions of
metallic sodium, tin, lead and zinc, viz from one half (1/2) part to five (5) parts
of metallic sodium in four hundred and eighty (480) parts of the volume required,
so that eight hundred and twenty eight (828) parts of lead, two hundred and thirty
six (236) parts of tin, and three hundred and ninety one (391) parts of zinc
would require from one half (1/2) part to fifteen (15) parts of metallic sodium.
These proportions may however be slightly varied. The metallic sodium, tin,
zinc and lead, are to be melted in a large crucible and thoroughly intermixed to
form my improved alloy. On the surface of this mixture, while in the melted

page_text: state, I place a vegetable oil or animal fat high in carbon to prevent oxidation and
subserve the general purpose of a flux bath.
This alloy or compound metal may be cast in ingots to be re-melted as desired
for use, or it may be poured into the tank or kettle as soon as compounded, the
articles to be coated being immersed in the bath in this tank or kettle in the usual
way until the desired coating is obtained.
If it is desired that the articles or metals coated shall have a white or silvery
appearance I vary the proportions above given to from fifteen (15) to thirty (30)
per cont of zinc, the other metals being used in the quantities stated. If metals
to be coated are intended to be used for roofing or other purposes which will
necessarily expose thom to the action of the atmosphere, appearance being of
secondary consideration, the proportions stated will be varied as follows according
to the quantity of alloy required, vis from one hundred and seventy five (175) to
two hundred and sixty five (265) per cent of lead and from fifteen (15) to one
hundred (100) per cent of zinc the proportions of metallic sodium and tin
remaining as before.
My.improved alloy is more electro-positive to the iron than tin alone or tin and
lead, and renders the coated material less liable to oxidation.
The use of the metallic sodium. increases the electro positive character of the
alloy and diminishes the melting point of the compound to such an extent that
vegetable oils, or animal fats, high in carbon, can be employed and thus oxidation
be prevented or arrested, which will not be the case when any alloy now known
which is electro-positive to the iron is used as a coating, because any metal, or
compound metal, whose melting point exceeds 500° when brought to the working
temperature would instantly ignite oils or fats if employed as described.
In use, my improved alloy can be employed to coat metals in the same manner
as tinning is now done instead of operating in the same way as the more expensive
process of galvanizing, and thus I can coat metals with iny improved alloy at
considerably less expense than can be done with the galvanizing process.
Metals coated with my improved alloy have as much (if not more) resistance to
oxidation as galvanized metals, and much greater resistance than ordinary tin
plate or sheet-tin.