IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND IN THE APPLIANCES FOR CLEANING AND TINNING METAL PLATES, AND IN PREPARING FOR WHITE PICKLING AND SO AVOIDING BLACK PICKLING AND ANNEaling.
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Nunn Knight, of Pontypridd, in the
County of Glamorgan, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF AND IN THE APPLIANCES FOR CLEANING AND TINNING METAL PLATES,
AND IN PREPARING FOR WHITE PICKLING AND SO AVOIDING BLACK PICKLING
AND ANNEaling.'
"
Sealed the 1st August 1879, and dated the 6th May 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Nunn
Knight at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th May
1879.
"
WILLIAM HENRY NUNN KNIGHT, of Pontypridd, in the County of Glamorgan.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND IN THE APPLIANCES FOR CLEANING AND
TINNING METAL PLATES, AND IN PREPARING FOR WHITE PICKLING AND SO
AVOIDING BLACK PICKLING AND ANNEALING."
This Invention has reference to a more speedy and economical method of coating
metal plates with grease and metal, and cleaning and finishing the same, and is
specially applicable in the manufacture of tin terne, and other kinds of metal plates
after leaving the pickling process.
For this purpose I employ revolving or otherwise moving flat surfaces or rings
made of wood, metal, or other suitable material, which may be uncovered or covered
with a hard or soft material, according to the special requirements of the operation.
I supply palm oil or other kind of grease to such surface or rings by means of hollow
spindles or hoppers.
The plates can be pushed through the above flat surfaces by hand, or carried
through by aid of rollers made of wood, metal, or any other material, covered or
uncovered, and driven by mechanical appliances such as cog wheels, bands, chains,
eccentrics or other equivalent means.
After the plates are carried through the greasing process they are then taken by
endless chains, bands, rope, or other equivalent means through metal and grease to
be coated with tin or other metal contained in a suitable receptacle or pot.
After leaving the tin pot or receptacle the plates are carried through revolving,
reciprocating, rotating, or stationary brushes made of whalebone or other suitable
31

page_text: material, such as is used at the present time by the washman in the manufacture of
tin, terne, or metal plates.
After passing through the brushes the plates are then carried into other endless
chains, bands, ropes, or other equivalent means and through metal, and then through
grease into the finishing rolls, which can be about 9" diameter and about 4 in
number, and of any suitable length.
The utility of this Invention is that the tinman or tinman and washman for as
many sides as the machines are put to work, can be worked independent of any
alteration in the present arrangements of plant, or partly so, as may be the more
convenient.
There are several plans and motions for working this machine as explained
above.
1. First, the use of six discs, three on top and three on bottom, of such diameter
and position that plate can be passed through or between them of sizes ranging
from 9" square to 28" x 20" by aid of rollers, &c., as before mentioned, and can
be worked as before mentioned, viz., revolve, rotate, &c., and supplied with grease
by hollow spindles or otherwise.
2. Another plan is revolving or rotating rings or discs, or ring or disc, or ring
and ring, supplied with grease, &c., by means of a hopper or other receptacle in top,
side, or bottom, the plates as before mentioned to be passed through the bottom
ring and between the top and bottom and delivered at the bottom, or can be taken
right through.
The bottom ring in this machine can be made to work in and on rollers, balls, or
other mechanical appliance, and driven by cogs, chains, bands, or other mechanical
appliance, and made and covered or uncovered as before mentioned.
The tog ring or disc is carried by a spindle and can be raised or lowered at
pleasure and thus cause pressure as required to properly grease the plates.
3. Another motion is similar to the reciprocating motion made at my firm's
works but to be applied for greasing plates.
Hot water, steam, or friction can be used to heat the oil if required and keep
it at a proper heat.
No. 1 and 2 are also cleaning machines, I propose using bran or pollards mixed
with ground or fine powdered fullers' earth, the plates to be placed in a box con-
taining fullers' earth working on axles with side openings or doors, and thus the
plates remain in contact with the material for, say 2 minutes, more or less, before
being passed to the machine. Racks can be supplied to place the plates in previous
to their being put into the box to enable dispatch, or else the fullers' earth can be
used in the ordinary troughs with or without bran or pollards.
In cleaning the plates do not pass through the india rubber rollers used for
squeezing the water off the plates as in the turning process.
I also employ the use of spring balances attached to the end of levers cranked or
otherwise, that put the required pressure on the finishing rollers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Nunn Knight in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th November 1879.
"
WILLIAM HENRY NUNN KNIGHT, of Pontypridd, in the County of Glamorgan.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND IN THE APPLIANCES FOR CLEANING
AND TINNING METAL PLATES, AND IN PREPARING FOR WHITE PICKLING AND 50
AVOIDING BLACK PICKLING AND ANNEALING."
This Invention has reference to a more speedy and economical method of scouring
and coating metal plates with grease and metal, and cleaning and finishing the
same, and is specially applicable in the manufacture of tin terne, and other kinds of
metal plates after leaving the pickling process.
For this purpose I employ machines in which flat or otherwise surfaces or rings
are made to revolve or otherwise move. When used for scouring such rings have a
rubbing surface of emery or other rough substance. In other cases they may be
made of wood, metal, or other suitable material, which may be uncovered or covered
with a hard or soft material, according to the special requirements of the operation.
I supply palm oil or other kind of grease to such surface or rings by means of hollow
spindles or hoppers.
The plates can be pushed through the above flat surfaces by hand, or carried
through by aid of rollers made of wood, metal, or any other kind of material,'
covered or uncovered with a grease holding covering, and driven by mechanical
appliances such as cog wheels, bands, chains, eccentrics, or other equivalent means.
After the plates are carried through the greasing process they are then taken by
endless chains, bands, ropes, or other equivalent means, through metal and grease,
to be coated with tin or other metal contained in a suitable receptacle or pot.
After leaving the tin pot or receptacle the plates are carried through revolving,
reciprocating, rotating, or stationary brushes, made of whalebone or other suitable
material such as is used at the present time by the washman in the manufacture of
tin, terne, or other metal plates.
After passing the brushes the plates are then carried into other endless chains,
bands, ropes, or other equivalent means, and through metal, and then through grease
into the finishing rolls, which can be about 9" diameter (more or less), and about 4
(more or less) in number, and of any suitable length.
The utility of this Invention is the rendering unnecessary the labor of the tinman,
or tinman and washman, also scouring of the surfaces of the plates, and so avoiding
black pickling, and annealing for same for as many sides as the machines are put to
work, or the machine can be worked independently of any alteration in the present
arrangements of plant, or partly so, as may be the more convenient.
My Invention may be carried out in different ways, as for example:-
1stly. The use of six discs, three top discs and three bottom discs, of such diameter
and position that plates may be passed through or between them, of sizes ranging
from 9" square to 28" x 20" by aid of rollers, etcetera, as before mentioned, and
such discs can be operated by the machines before mentioned, so as to be caused to
revolve, rotate, etcetera. They are supplied with grease by hollow spindles or
otherwise.
2ndly. The employment of one or more revolving or rotating rings or discs, or
ring and ring supplied with grease, etcetera, by means of a hopper or other arrange-
ment in the top, side, or at any other suitable part of the machine, the plates, as
before mentioned, being passed through the bottom ring and between the top and
bottom, and delivered at the bottom, or they may be passed right through.
bottom ring in this machine can be made to work on friction rollers, balls, or other
mechanical appliances, and made covered or uncovered, as before mentioned.
The
The

page_text: top ring or disc is carried by a vertical spindle, and can be raised or lowered at
pleasure, and thus cause pressure as required to properly grease the plates.
3rdly. Another method consists in greasing the plates by means of rubbing surfaces
moved by a reciprocating motion of any known type.
The apparatus mentioned firstly and secondly are also cleaning machines, for the
removal of grease, but previous to passing the plates through the cleaning machine
I pass them through the pouching machine, where they are kept in contact with bran
or pollards mixed with ground or fine powdered fullers' earth or other substance,
Buch pouching machine working on axles with side openings or doors, and thus the
plates remain in contact with the inaterial for, say 2 minutes, more or less, before
being passed to the machine. Racks can be supplied to place the plates in pre-
vious to their being put into the box to enable dispatch, or else the fullers' earth
can be used in the ordinary troughs with or without bran or pollards.
In cleaning the plates do not pass through the india rubber rollers used for
squeezing the water off the plates as in the tinning process.
I also employ spring balances attached to the end of levers, cranked or otherwise,
which regulate the pressure on the finishing rollers.
Referring to the accompanying three Sheets of Drawings,-
1
Figures 1 and 2 are respectively an outline sectional end elevation and a front
elevation of a greasing machine, constructed in accordance with this Invention.
are rollers, the exterior cylindrical surface of which is of india rubber or other
suitable elastic material for removing any water there may be on the surface of the
plates to be operated on; 2 are revolving discs covered with a soft porous material;
3 are shafts on spindles, on which the revolving discs are fixed, one of which shafts
passes through the framing of the machine, where it is connected in any of the
usual methods with the prime mover, or both of such shafts or spindles instead of
one only may be so arranged; the inner faces of the discs are supplied with grease
or flux by means of the supply tube 4, which passes through one of the shafts 3 to
the face of the disc which it supplies; 5, 51, and 52 are steel rolls; the plates as
they come from the greasing process between the discs pass down between rolls 5'
and 52 into the tin pot, or bath, or vessel 6, where they are raised upward out of
the tin bath by any suitable contrivance between the rolls 5 and 5', and passed
between brushes; I prefer to drive the upper rolls 1 and the lower rolls 5, 5¹, and
5 by means of a spiral cord, as used for drilling machines, but they may also be
driven by means of toothed gearing or other ordinary appliances.
Instead of the method hitherto in use of regulating by hand the pressure of the
rolls used in the tin terne plate manufacture I regulate such pressure by means of
spring balances in connection with levers which act against the bearings of the
rolls, thus ensuring an equable pressure automatically and effecting a great saving
of block tin. Figures 3 and 4 show a modification of the machine represented in
Figures 1 and 2, the boards 2 being used instead of discs. One or both of these
boards are operated by a reciprocating motion, thus subjecting the plate which
passes between them from the upper roller 1 to a rubbing process; the inner
surfaces of these boards are covered with a flexible material, as in the case of the
discs before mentioned. A spring balance for regulating the pressure of the rolls,
us before described, is shown in this Figure. Figures and 6 are respectively an
elevation and plan of a machine constructed in accordance with this Invention for
scouring, greasing, or for operating the removal of grease from the surface of tin
terne plates. 1 is the framing of the machine which carries the driving wheels; 2
is the driving pulley; 3, cones for driving and regulating the speed of the rolls 4,
and consequently of the plates themselves in their travel between the revolving
rings 5 and 6; 7 is a lever which carries and supports the vertical shaft round
which revolves the upper ring 5, and which, in connection with a band wheel and
screw, regulates the pressure between the inner or rubbing surfaces of the two
rings. The upper and lower rings 5 and 6 are driven from the driving pulley 2
through the intermediate pulleys 2a, 2b, 2°. When used for scouring the inner or

page_text: rubbing surfaces 8 of the upper and lower rings 5 and 6 are made of emery or
other rough substance in segments or otherwise; when used for cleaning their
inner surfaces are provided with a covering of felt or other suitable material. The
plates under treatment are passed between the rings 5 and 6 and between the
rolls 4, afterwards falling down into a receptacle or endless band provided for them
below the machine, this being rendered practicable by reason of the lower ring
being an open ring without arms, it being supported and revolving on friction
rollers and guided by guide wheels 10, and are dropped between sloping boards
or dusters after being cleaned.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 are respectively a side elevation, a plan, and an end elevation
of a machine similar to that represented in Figures 5 and 6, but without the feed
rolls and guide sheaves, the bottom ring having a boss working round the axle or
spindle which works in axes at the bottom of the machine and guided by it, which
are only necessary in the case of plates of large dimensions. In practice I find it
advantageous to first pass the plate to be operated on partially between the rings,
then withdraw it and pass the other end or part in and out again, finally with-
drawing the plate from the exterior of the machine instead of allowing it to drop
down through the lower of the two rings. In this machine the parts similar to
those of Figures 5 and 6 bear little numbers of reference.
Figure 10 is a side elevation of a pouching box constructed in accordance with
this Invention for the purpose of removing the bulk of the grease from the plates
operated on before passing them to the cleaning machine (as represented in Figures
5, 6, 7, 8, and 9); Figure 11 is a front view of the same.
A is a box made of wood or other suitable material about half full of fullers'
earth, or fullers' earth mixed with bran or pollards or other substance; B are doors,
one of which is shown open; Care axles on which the box A turns; D, a cog
wheel; E, a worm wheel; F, operating spindle; G, framing on which the apparatus
is supported; H, catches made of metal for fastening the doors; I, removeable racks
for holding plates to be cleaned, one of which racks is represented in elevation and
plan in Figures 12 and 13. I first place plates, the plates from which grease is to
removed, in the racks I; I then place the racks in the box A, securely close the
doors, then by operating the spindle F I turn the box A upside down; thus the
plates within the box are held in contact with the fullers' earth or other suitable
material in the lower part of the box, and remains so until, by operating the
spindle F, the position of the box is brought back to its former or other position,
as may be required.
When sufficient time for the absorption of the grease from the plates within the
box A has elapsed the doors B are opened and the plates removed and passed on to
the cleaning machine.
The various machines before described, in which the metal plates are subjected
to a rubbing operation, may be constructed with such rubbing ring, discs, or flat
surfaces either in the horizontal or vertical position.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same may be carried into practical effect, I would have it understood that
do not
limit myself to the precise details hereinbefore described, as the same may be
varied without departing from the nature or principle of my said Invention; but
what I claim as novel and original, and therefore secured to me by the hereinbefore
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The construction of machines for cleaning, greasing, and scouring tin terne
plates or for polishing various articles by means of revolving rings having rubbing
surfaces of emery or porous or flexible material, according to the operation for
which they may be required, substantially as hereinbefore described and represented
in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Second. The construction and use of pouching machines for the removal of the
heavy portion of the grease from tin terne, and other plates before passing them to
the cleaning machine, the application of fullers' earth mixed or not with bran or
.

page_text: pollards or any suitable substance, substantially as hereinbefore described and
represented in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Nunn Knight, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
WILLIAM HENRY NUNN KNIGHT. (LS.)