CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOYS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Webster, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED
METALLIC ALLOYS."
Sealed the 18th June 1858, and dated the 18th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Webster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1858.
I, JAMES WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN NEW
IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOYS," to be as follows:-
OR
My said Invention consists of metallic alloys having the compositions
respectively herein-after described, which said alloys are applicable to a variety
of purposes the most important of which are herein-after enumerated.
In carrying my Invention into effect I first make an alloy composed of
three parts by weight of nickel, six parts of copper, twelve parts of tin, and
I make another
one part of antimony; I call this alloy number one alloy.
alloy by the use of two parts by weight of the alloy number one, twenty parts
of tin and one-fourth of a part of antimony; I call this alloy number two alloy.
I make a third alloy of twenty parts by weight of copper, twenty parts of zinc,
and one and a half parts of alloy number one. The alloy number one may
be used for making reflectors or specular for optical instruments and other

page_text: purposes, but I use it principally for making the alloy number two as described.
The alloy number two when annealed and rolled may be used for the purposes
to which white alloys are on may be applied
applied. The said alloy number two may
be further alloyed with lead for the production of a cheap white alloy applicable
to a variety of purposes. The alloy number-three may be used for the bearings
of shafts and other such like purposes, and being very sonorous it may be
advantageously employed for bells.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight,. in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Webster, Her special licence that I, the said James Webster,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others. as I, the said
James Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and 'no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN NEW OR
IMPROVED METALLIC ALLOYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Webster, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 James. Webster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention. consists of the metallic alloys having the; respective.com-

page_text: positions herein-after explained; the said alloys are applicable to a variety of
purposes, some of the most important of which are herein-aiter enumerated.-
In carrying my Invention into effect I proceed as follows:-1 first make
an alloy composed of three parts by weight of nickel, six parts by weight of
copper, twelve parts by weight of tin, and one-part by weight of antimony; I
call the alloy having the composition just described number one alloy. I make
another alloy by taking two parts by weight of number one alloy and alloying
therewith twenty parts by weight of tin, and a fourth of a part by weight of
antimony; I call the alloy, the composition of which is last described,
number two alloy. I make a third alloy in the following manner:-I take
twenty parts by weight of copper, twenty parts by weight of zinc, and alloy
therewith one and a half parts by weight of number one alloy. The last-
described or third alloy I sometimes modify in the following manner, that is to
say, instead of employing the proportions described, I employ the following
proportions: I take twenty-one- parts by weight of copper, and fifteen parts by
weight of zinc, and alloy therewith one and a half parts by weight of number
one alloy. In fusing together the ingredients of the alloys constituting my
Invention I prefer to employ a furnace of the kind represented in vertical
longitudinal section in Figure 1, and horizontal section in Figure 2 of the
accompanying Drawing, and to conduct the fusion in the manner explained.
The same letters indicate the same parts in both Figures. r, a, are the fire
bars, and b the ash-pit. Upon the bed c of the furnace I place the copper
and nickel, the said metals requiring a high temperature for their fusion, and
I place in the hollow bridge of the furnace, the zinc, tin, and antimony.
The copper and nickel are introduced into the furnace through the opening é,
in the side of the furnace, and the zinc or other casily fusible metal is intro-
duced into the hollow bridge d, through the opening f; the said openings e
and are closed after the introduction of the metals by sliding doors and h
.respectively. The flame and heated air from the furnace a impinge upon the
metal on the bed c, and fuse the said metal; the flame and heated air circula-
ting around the exterior of the hollow bridge d heat the said bridge, and
thereby fuse the zinc or other metal in the said bridge. The said fused metal
escapes from the bridge d, through the slot or opening d³, the said slot opening
underneath the surface of the fused metal on the bed c of the furnace. The
zinc or other easily fusible metal thus mixes with the metal on the bed, c; the
alloy is drawn from the furnace through the opening i; the fire of the furnace
is regulated by the damper ; as is well understood. The draught of the
furnace may also be regulated by the plate 1, sliding over the grating m,
covering the ash-pit b.. Instead of fusing the materials forming my alloys in a

page_text: reverberatory furnace as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, I sometimes fuse the
materials in a crucible placed in a furnace of the kind represented in transverse.
section in Figure 3, and in horizontal section in Figure 4. The crucible or
pot n in which the alloy is made is of the ordinary kind, and the copper and
other materials requiring a high temperature for their fusion are first put into
the said crucible n, and fused before the zinc, antimony, or tin are introduced.
A funnel o, made of iron and provided with a pipe p of fire clay, is fixed on the
top of the furnace in the position represented in Figure 3, the bottom of the
pipe p dipping underneath the surface of the melted copper.or copper and
nickel in the crucible n. The zinc, antimony, and tin are introduced into the
crucible through the funnel o and pipe p, the said metals, zinc, antimony,
and tin being by preference fused before being passed into the crucible, but
this is not necessary, as the said zinc, antimony, and tin may be poured in the
form of lumps or powder down the pipe p. The drauglit of the furnace
Figures 3 and 4 may be regulated by a damper. and plate sliding over the ash-
pit as described and represented with reference to the furnace Figures 1 and 2.
By the methods described of introducing the more fusible metals under the
surface of the less fusible metals, there is less tendency to the volatilization of
the more fusible metals than when they are poured upon the surface of the
less fusible metals. The alloy which I have herein called number one alloy
may be used for making reflectors or specula for optical instruments and for
other purposes where a hard white metal having little tendency to tarnish is
required, but I use it principally for making the alloy I have herein called
number two alloy. The said number two alloy when annealed and rolled may
be used for the purposes to which white alloys are or may be applied, that is,
to the manufacture of such articles as are usually made of the alloy called
German silver, or the said number two alloy may be alloyed with lead for the
production of a cheap white alloy to be used for various purposes, such as the
manufacture of the articles usually made of Britannia metal; the quantity of
lead employed may vary so as to produce alloys of different values. The alloy
I have herein called number three alloy, as well as the modification thereof I
have described, may be employed for the bearings of shafts and axles, slide
valves and other parts of engine work subjected to great wear, as well as for
general casting, where a hard white alloy is required. The said number three
alloy and its modification being very sonorous, they may be advantageously
employed for bells.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied with-

page_text: ou
arting from
metallic alloys having the respective compositions herein-before described,
or such compositions as shall essentially resemble the compositions herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Webster, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES WEBSTER. (L.S.)