IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF IRON IN TO SHEETS, PLATES, AND OTHER FORMS, IN COATING IRON, AND IN PREPARING IRON FOR COATING, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDMUND
MOREWOOD, of Thornbridge, in the County of Derby, Merchant, and GEORGE
ROGERS, of Stearndale, in the same County, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of De-
cember, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, in the tenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, our exors, adñiors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, our exors,
adñiors, or 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 England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF IRON IN TO SHEETS, PLATES, AND OTHER FORMS, IN COATING IRON, AND IN
PREPARING IRON FOR COATING, AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that we, the said Edmund Morewood and George
Rogers, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the saine, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edmund Morewood and George Rogers, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists, first, of coating iron with a peculiar alloy of tin
and zinc.
Secondly, our Invention consists of coating iron with a product of zinc,
which results from carrying on the process of coating iron with zinc; and this
part of our Invention also consists in using antimony with this product of zinc,
or with other zinc and lead, as an aloy for coating.
Thirdly, our Invention consists of subjecting coated sheets of metal to
pressure, in order to equalize the coating thereon.
Fourthly, our Invention consists of preparing iron for coating.
And, fifthly, our Invention consists of a mode of preparing sheet iron into
corrugations by stamping or pressure.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
In coating iron with molten zinc, the iron is very liable to injury, and the
coating is generally brittle, and is apt to crack and break when being bended,
and the coating will often chip or scale off. In coating iron with tin, the
malleability of the iron is retained, and the adhesion and flexibility of the
coating is uninjured by bending or folding; but a coating of tin does not
protect the iron as a coating of zinc does.
The first part of our Invention is to use a certain alloy of tin and zinc for
coating iron, so as to obtain the protection of zinc combined with the
advantages of tin as a covering, and at the same time to obtain a harder
coating than results from the use of either of those metals alone. We have
found that an alloy of tin with zinc, consisting of fifty parts of tin and fifty
parts of zinc, to be what we consider the best alloy of these metals to be used
as a coating for sheets of iron, hoop iron, wire, and other articles of iron; and
we have also found that if the proportion of zinc be much diminished, the
coating becomes less durable and protective; and, on the other hand, we have
found that if the proportion of tin bediminished, the adherence of the coating
becomes less and less effective, and the iron proportionably injured.

page_text: We would, however, remark that the proportions of the two metals above
given may be varied to some extent, and yet retain considerable benefit. We
have also found that lead may be combined with the alloy when a cheaper or
lower priced coating is desired. In using an alloy of tin and zinc for coating
iron, so far as our experience goes, we have found that, to alter the proportions
beyond sixty-seven parts of zinc to thirty-three parts of tin, and seventy-five
parts of tin to twenty-five parts of zinc, we are no longer able to obtain
the beneficial results of the combined action of the two metals which it is the
object of this part of the Invention to realize; and we believe that every
departure from using equal proportions of the two metals produces a decreasing
beneficial effect, and that in proportion to the greater departure from such
alloy. In preparing an alloy of tin and zinc, we first melt the tin'in a wrought-
iron vessel, and add the zinc by degrees till the whole is melted; we then
run the same into bars or ingots, well understood in making the alloys of
metals. We melt such ingots in a similar vessel of wrought iron, in order
to make a bath for coating iron, and from time to time we put such ingots or
bars into the bath of molten alloy, in order to keep up a proper bath for
coating the sheets or other articles of iron; and we cover the surface of the
molten metal with sal ammoniac. The iron to be coated is to be cleaned
in the ordinary manner, and then coated, as when coating with tin or with
zinc, as is well understood. We prefer to use rollers immersed in the bath of
molten metal, as described in our former Patent, in order to facilitate the
coating of sheets of iron with this alloy of tin with zinc. We would remark
that we are aware that it has before been proposed to alloy tin with zinc for
coating iron, we do not therefore claim the same generally. When using lead
with the above alloy we have found that a good proportion for an alloy is fifty
parts of zinc, thirty-five parts of tin, and fifteen parts of lead; and we produce
such an alloy by melting the tin, then adding the lead, and stirring them well,
and then we add the zinc.
We will now describe the second part of our Invention. It is well known
that in the process of coating iron with molten zinc that a product of zinc
results, which is precipitated to the bottom of the bath, and such product is of
difficult fusion, and may up to this time be said to be a waste product. We
melt such product of zinc in a wrought-iron vessel or in a reverbatory furnace,
and we employ chloride of manganese as a flux on the surface. We dip
articles of iron, such as spikes, brackets, and other articles not requiring
bending, into the bath, and coat the same. And this part of our Invention also
consists of alloying such product of zinc or other zinc with antimony and with
lead, when used for coating iron; for this purpose an alloy consisting of fifty

page_text: parts of zinc, thirty-four parts of lead, and sixteen parts of antimony will be
found to be very useful, but we do not confine ourselves to these quantities;
and in preparing such an alloy, we first melt the lead, which we heat to reduess
before introducing the antimony, and when well stirred we cast the same into
ingots, and after re-melting we add the zinc; and as a flux, we employ chloride
of manganese if the product of zinc before mentioned be used in making the
alloy, or if other zinc be used in making the alloy, we use sal ammoniac.
We will now describe the third part of our Invention, which consists of
subjecting sheets of coated metal to pressure, for which purpose we prefer to
employ rollers, revolving in a flux kept heated to a rather lower degree of heat
than the melting point of the coating metal, by which meaus the coating will
be rendered soft and in a condition to be acted on by pressure; and, as a
general direction, it may be stated that the description of flux used when
coating with the particular metal will be found suitable for this part of our
Invention; we, however, prefer to use palm or rape oil in all cases where the
melting point of the coating is sufficiently low to allow of its use, as is the case
in the coatings above mentioned; or other means may be resorted for soften-
ing the coating metal, such as a charcoal fire. When using a fire, it may be
done by placing a grate containing charcoal along the front of the rollers, so
that as they revolve they may become heated, and the metal by passing over
the fire may become softened, and thus enable the rollers to equalize the
coating metal on the surfaces of the sheets; or the sheets may be heated by
dipping into flux or otherwise to nearly the melting point of the coating metal,
and then pressing between suitable surfaces; we, however, prefer the use of a
flux or fluid matter with rollers for this purpose, as above explained.
We will now proceed to describe the fourth part of our Invention, which
consists of subjecting iron to a process to facilitate the coating of such iron, and
this process consists in causing the iron to be acted on by the vapour of muriatic
acid (or of other matter to prevent or dissolve oxide) confined above the metal
bath. For this purpose we construct a box in the following manner :-The
box is oblong, of wrought iron, open at the bottom, and with a lid at the top,
the bottom is closed by the lower edges dipping into the molten metal. On
one side, about three-quarters of a way up, we make a longitudinal aperture
sufficiently large to allow the article which we intend to coat to pass into and,
when required, out of the box; but as it is desirable to exclude the atmospheric
air and keep in the muriatic acid vapor as much as possible, the aperture,
should be no larger than necessary. The object of having a lid on the top is
to enable us by opening it to have access to the flux or the molten metal in
the bath, and from time to time to clean off impurities or to add metal or

page_text: flux. Into one end of the box we fix a tube, inade of lead or other suitable
material, through which we introduce the vapour which is evaporated from a
solution of muriatic acid contained in a retort; and for this purpose I prefer
to apply this part of my Invention, when using rollers immersed in the metal
bath, as the sheets to be coated can readily be passed through the opening
above mentioned, so as to enter between the rollers, and the sheets-will be
delivered from the bath of molten metal through the flux therein beyond the
box above described.
We will now describe the fifth part of our Invention, which consists of a
mode of arranging machinery for preparing sheet iron, or sheet iron coated, by
corrugating it, in which form it is applicable for various useful purposes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a front view of a machine arranged according to this part
of our Invention; Figures 2 and 3 show two trunsverse sections, the pressing
bar or die and the holding-down bar, both being down in Figure 2, Figure 3
showing these parts just about to press or form another corrugation. a, a, is
the framing of the machine; bis a cranked axis turning in bearings at c, c; this
axis receives motion from an axis d, driven by a winch handle or other means
by the pinion e, taking into the cog wheel, fixed on the axis. On the axis
bare two cranks b', which give motion to the two rods g, g, by means of the
links or connecting rodsk, h, which connects the rods g to the cranks 1. The
rods g, g, slide through and are guided by the fixed bar i, and the lower
ends of the rods gare made fast to the bar, which constitutes the upper die,
being the lower or fixed die; lis the holding-down bar, which holds down
the plate of iron, as shewn at Figure 3, during the time that the presser bar
or die jis making a corrugation; m, m, are rods sliding through the bar i, as
shown, there being a hook at the upper end of each rod, which hooks arc
acted on by the catches m, n, on the axis b, by which the holding-down bar
is lifted. After a corrugation has been made the plate is moved from the first
groove of the fixed die into the second groove of the die, when the holding-
down bar descends into the corrugation and holds down the plates, the
pressing bar or die then descends by the motion of the cranks, and thus are
corrugations successively made.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which'
the same is to be performed, we would have have it understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details, so long as the peculiar character of
either part of our Invention be retained; but what we claim is,―
First, the coating of sheets of iron, and hoop iron, and wire, and other

page_text: articles of iron, with an alloy of tin and zinc within the proportions above
mentioned.
Secondly, we claim the coating of iron with that product of zinc which
results from keeping zinc in a molten state and dipping iron therein; and
we also claim the use of an alloy of such product of zinc or of other zinc with
antimony and lead in coating iron.
Thirdly, we claim the subjecting heated sheets or other suitable surfaces of
coated iron to the pressure of rollers or other suitable surfaces to equalize the
coating thereon.
Fourthly, we claim the subjecting of iron to the action of the vapor of
muriaticacid (or of other matter confined above the metal bath) before coating,
as above described.
And, fifthly, we claim the combination of parts into a machine for cor-
rugating iron, whereby a die or holding bar is used to retain the metal
while a fresh corrugation is made, as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edmund Morewood & George Rogers,
have hereunto set our hand and scal, this Seventh day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.