US1155652A - Process of forming metal sprouts. - Google Patents

Description

.J. GOEGLEIN.

PROCESS OF FORMING METAL SPROUTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.25.1914.

Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

IN V EN TOR. v7.1 6057/9? VITNESSES: ffiM/ZV i A TTORNEW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. GOEGLEIN,

OF GOLDFIELD, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO E. A. COLBURN, JR., OF VICTOR, COLORADO.

PROCESS OF FORMING METAL SPROUTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1915.

Application filed March 25, 1914. Serial No. 827,159.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

' a citizerrof the United States, residing at Goldfield, in the county of Teller and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Forming Metal Sprouts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a process of producing ornaments from reticulate formations of gold and silver, commonly known as sprouts, and its primary object resides in providing a simple and effective method of forming said sprouts to correctly represent known objects commonly used in the manufacture of jewelry, such as stars, crescents, horse-shoes, crosses of different forms, etc.

In the production of ornaments of the character stated, from gold, the first step of the process consists in alloying gold with another metal such as silver, copper, lead or zinc by cupellation or fusion, the proportions of the two metals differing in accordance with the character of the metal to be combined with the gold, and other circumstances, a ratio of one part of gold to at least three parts of the other metal has been found to be best adapted for the purpose.

The alloy obtained in the first step of the process, (gold-silver, gold-copper, gold-lead or gold-zinc) is parted in a solution of nitric acid (HNO,) in water, a ratio of one part of acid to three parts of water having been found to produce satisfactory results. The object of this. the second step in my process, is to obtain the gold in a pure state and in granular form, while the metal with which it was alloyed passes into solution, andeproduces in accordance with the metal Iused AgNO Pb(NO etc. These solutions may. be considered as waste with the exception of the silver-solution, AgNO which may be precipitated with sodium chlorid (NaCl) or hydrochloric acid (HCl), and the precipitate (AgCl) fused and returned to the metallic state for use in making other alloys.

The granular gold obtained in the second step of the process is now subjected to a cleansing and p rification action for the purpose of separating therefrom, all impurities and foreign substances that may still be associated with the gold at the completion of the parting action. While in many instances but one treatment is necessary to completely remove all of the metal used in the gold-alloy and all metallic impurities that may have been combined in the same, it has generally been found advisable to subect the granular substance to two consecutive treatments in order to obtain the degree of purity required in the further treatment of the gold to form it into sprouts. The first and principal purification action consists in subjecting the gold to a fresh solution of nitric acid (HNO which dissolves any of the remaining metals used in the gold-alloy as well as any slight metallic impurities that -may have been combined with the same.

sure the solution of both of the above salts.

After the granular gold'thus purified and cleansed, hasbeen washed and dried, it is ready to be formed into sprouts of the desired contour. This is accomplished by placing the gold in molds made especially for the purpose, of a mixture-of fire-clay, cement and plaster Paris in proportions of 5 to 1 to 1 respectively. This mixture after having been moistened sufficiently to be rendered plastic, is shaped in a form suitable to be handled by means of tongs, and the pattern of the desired sprout-design is placed in the upper surface of this form, which is then allowed to partially dry and set, after which the pattern is removed and the form thoroughly dried for use in the furnace.

The patterns above referred to are made of lead or parafiin which is carved and shaped in thedesired design which may. be of any character to represent a star, crescent, diamond,-Maltese cross, horseshoe 0r othen objects and forms too numerous to mention. The dry granulated gold is placed in the molds thus made, and the latter are p aced in a furnace heated to about 2097 Fahrenheit or 1147 centigrade, around the melting point of gold. The mold is allowed'to remain in the furnace sufthe sprouts.

ficiently long to melt the edges of the gold granules and fuse them together, but not long enough to melt the entire granules so that they would run together in the form of a button. Removing the mold from the oven and subsequently cooling the same, finishes the process.

The gold which during the melting action has obtained the contour of the pattern in the mold, has at the same time become reticulate in appearance and when removed from the mold presents an ornament well adapted for use in the manufacture of jewelry, such as scarf pins, watch charms, breast pins, etc.

It should 'be understood that the product obtained by my process is entirely novel over that obtained by ordinary sprouting of gold or silver, and that to the best of my knowledge, similar articles have never been produced by any method whatsoever.

The method of producing silver sprouts differs from the process hereinabove described in that the first and second steps thereof'are omitted, it bein unnecessary to usethe metalin granular orm to produce Any ordinary pure silver is adapted for the purpose of producing the reticulate or naments in accordance with my invention.

The silver is placed in molds of the character hereinabove described, after it has sprouted in a heated scorifier. As rapidly 'as the sprouts are formed in the scorifier by the natural process, the silver is torn apart by means of carbon pencils or other suitable tools, and the fragments are placed in the molds and melted until their ed es adhere, to produce an integral article 0% manufacture.

The breaking of the metal inithe scorifier by means of carbon pencils or the like, may likewise be employed in the process of forming the sprout-ornaments of gold, it having been found to be advantageous in many instances in the practice of this process, to remove the scorifier from the furnace after the metal is melted and then suddenly stir the latter by means of the carbon-pencils, after it has cooled to a point just prior to solidification. This action breaks the metal into fine particles of crystalline structure which are placed in the molds and heated until they melt together. 1

While the formation of the sprouts by molding them in matrices of artistic contour, is preferable by virtue of the splendid results obtained thereby, the metal, especially the gold, may be shaped by pincers. and

other tools, after it'has been heated in the scorifier to the melting point and stirred by means of the vcarbon-pencils. This method, however, while being entirely practical, requires considerable skill and more labor than that of forming the sprouts in molds, while obviously the product has not the degree of uniform correctness of the desired designs which is invariably the result of the molding process.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mold in which the granular metal is subjected to heat for the purpose of forming it into sprouts, Fig. 2, a perspective view of the pattern used to produce a cavity ofthe desired-form in the upper surface of the mold, and Fig. 3, a perspective view of the product of my process in which the mold shown in Fig. 1 has been used, drawn to an enlarged scale.

In the drawings the reference numeral 2 designates the mold which in the construction shown is made of cylindrical form and in its upper surface has a depression 3 shaped in accordance with the desired contour of the ornament to be produced. The depression is made by pressing -a pattern designated in the drawings by the numeral 4, into the upper surface of the mold while the material of which it is composed is in a plastic condition. After the mold has partially dried this pattern is removed as hereinbefore described.

The reference character 5 designates the finished product of the process after it has been removed from the depression in the mold in which it is formed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. The herein described process of producing metal sprouts of determinate contour consisting in heating granular metal in a mold of the desired form to a degree at which its constituent granules coalesce at their points of contact with each other.

2. The herein described process of pro ducing metal sprouts of determinate contour consisting in forming metal in a divided condition, into a sprout by heating the same to a degree at which its constituent particles coalesce at their points of contact with each other, while the metal is being formed into a contour of predetermined design.

In testimony whereof I "have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM J. GOEGLEIN.

Witnesses:

A. S. LEITCH, GUY C. SmsoN.

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