A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING IRON CHAIN CABLES, IRON BOILERS, AND IRON TANKS, FROM THE CORROSION PRODUCED UPON THEM BY THE ACTION OF WATER
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
REVERE, of Weybridge, in the County of Surrey, Doctor of Medicine, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of November,
in the first year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Revere, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that "I,
the said John Revere, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF PROTECTING IRON CHAIN
CABLES, IRON BOILERS, AND IRON TANKS, FROM THE CORROSION PRODUCED UPON THEM
BY THE ACTION OF WATER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said John Revere, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, fully to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Revere, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is fully described and ascertained
as follows, that is to say :--
My new and improved method of protecting iron chain cables from the
corrosion produced upon them by the action of water consists in attaching, by
means of rivetting or soldering, or both rivetting and soldering, one or morc
pieces or plates or masses of zine, to some part of each link, or to the bracc
or stud of each link of the iron chain cable intended to be protected from the
corrosion produced by water. The said pieces, plates, or masses of zinc, I
denominato " protectors." The part in which I find it most convenient to
attach the said protector or protectors is on the brace or stud before mentioned,
which in iron chain cables in ordinary construction crosses each link to give it
the firmer support. The brace, or stay, or stud is usually made of cast iron,
and is hollowed out at each end so as to receive the sides of the link. In order
to secure an intimate metallic contact between the ends of the brace and those
parts of the link where the said link and brace join (which contact is indis-
pensable when the protector is to be applied to the stud for the purpose afore-
said), both the ends of the said brace should be carefully cleaned by filing or
other means before it is introduced into the link. In order to afford a con-
venient and safe place for the reception of the protector, I recommend the said
stud to be made flat with a ridge on the edge, so as to preserve the protector
from accident. This mode of forming the stud will be farther explained by
reference to the diagram in the margin, and the following explanation thereof,
that is to say:-A, A, represents a link of an iron chain cable; B, B, the stud or
It is plain that if the edge of the stud or brace C, C, be a little raised,
that a suitable place or cavity D will be formed, in which the protector may be
applied, while the said protector will be preserved from accidents by the edge
C, C, of the brace B, B, projecting above them. A zinc protector may be
applied to one or each side of the stud; it is desirable, however, that the zinc
plate or plates should present a surface which should bear a proportion to that
of the whole link, at least, as five to one hundred. It is also desirable that
the protectors should be of such thickness as will preserve them from the
accidents to which, from the nature of the case, they will be exposed. The
protectors may be attached to the stud or brace by soldering or rivetting, or
both, or by any other method, provided the said protectors and the stud are
placed in intimate metallic contact, and present surfaces bearing about the
above-named proportions of five to one hundred. This I consider a convenient
mode of applying the protectors, but any other mode may be adopted, provided.
the above-described rules are observed, when the iron chain cables thus pro-
tected from the corrosion produced by water are not in use; if they are kept.
brace.

page_text: immersed in fresh or, salt water (weak brine is preferable), .they will remain free
from corrosion..
My new and improved method of protecting iron boilers and iron tanks.from
the corrosion produced upon them by the action of water, consists in applying..to
the inner surface of the iron boilers and tanks, zinc plates, which I denominate
"protectors," by means of rivetting or soldering, or both by rivetting and solder-
ing, or in any other, way so, as to, secure intimate metallic..contact between the
protectors and the inner surface of the boiler or tank; the surface of the said
protectors should bear, at least; a proportion to that of the boiler or tank, of
five to one hundred. The precise form of the protector is not essential, nor is
it indispensable that they should be applied to any particular part of the boiler
or tank; these circumstances must often depend upon the form of the boilers
or tanks. It should be laid down as a rule, however, that it is best to apply
the protectors in narrow plates of from one to four inches in width, according
to the size of the boiler or tank, and that the said protectors should be dis-
tributed at equal distances from each other over the inner surface of the said
boiler or tank, so that their protecting influence may be equally diffused over
the whole surface of the same. When it is of a cubical form, for example,
which is often the case with tanks, plates of zinc formed in strips may run
down the middle of the sides, and cross each other on the bottom; if the pro-
tection be about a quarter of an inch in thickness, they will be found convenient
for use. Though I prefer that the protecting plates of zinc should present a
surface which, when compared to that of the tank or boiler, should bear a pro-
portion as five to one hundred; yet this is not indispensable, a less proportion
will answer, say, as three to one hundred; but I prefer the former, as pro-
ducing a more certain effect; when the surface of the zinc is still greater, it
increases the energy of the protecting influence. If the zinc be combined with
small proportions of the other metals, as copper, iron, tin, lead, nickel, or
bismuth, its protecting power is not essentially diminished; but I prefer to use
protectors of pure zinc, especially for tanks. I consider the following as the
most certain and convenient method of securing zinc protectors to the inner
urface of the tanks or boilers:-I first attach them firmly by rivets, I then
connect, by soldering, a small space, say, an inch in length of the edge of the
inc plate to the inner surface of the boiler or tank, and at a part nearli to
ach rivet.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Revere, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, One thousand eight
1.1.
JOHN (L.S.) REVERE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-sixth day of
January, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Revere came before
our Lord the King in Ilis Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year_above written,