US1430650A - Process of coating and treating materials having an iron base - Google Patents

Description

J. L. HERMAN.

PROCESS OF COATING AND TREATING MATERIALS HAVING AN IRON BASE.

I ,43Ufi5fl. Patented Oct. 3,1922

HEAT- TREATER COAT/N6 BATH AND ANNE LEE DRIER Patented ct. 3, ll

JOSEPH L. HERMAN, 01E PEOBIA, ILLINOIS.

4 PROCESS OF GOATING AND TREATING MATERIALS HAVING AN IRON BASE.

Application filed March 6, 1922. Serial No. 541,562.

T 0 all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, JOSEPH L. HERMAN, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Coating and Treating Materials Having an Iron Base, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to a process of coating and treating materials having an iron base and particularly the coating and treatment of wire used in the fence industry and for telephone and other purposes.

The principal object of the invention is to subject the material to a simultaneous annealing and coating process and subsequently heat-treating the coating. Such heat-treatment has for its object an improved coating which will be more resistant to atmospheric, rusting and corroding conditions than is ordinary galvanized Wire, and which further will permit a heavier coated wire to be used in wire fabricating machines Without causing the coating to crack or flake off as is thecase with heavily coated galvanized Wire coated by ordinary processes; the annealing of the material being for the usual softening purposes.

A further object of the invention is to permit the use of higher speeds for galvanizing wire than can be used under the ordinary galvanizing processes where heavier coatings are desired and at the same time causing a heavier coating to be formed on the wire.

This application is a companion lA) applications for patent filed by me of even date herewith bearing Serial Nos. M1561 and 541,563 and the application for patent filed by me on February 10, 1922 hearing Serial Number 535,660, all directed towards processes for coating and treating materials having an iron base. The invention herein described difi'ers from those disclosed in said companion applications, in that the annealing of the material takes place simul taneously with the coating thereof.

Galvanized wire which is to be used for fabricating purposes and more particularly that which is to be used in the manufacture of woven wire fencing must have a relatively heavy coating of spelter in order to be able to withstand atmospheric corroding conditions, and before my invention was developed this was not possible except at a much increased cost of production.

The universal practice for testing the relative value of spelter on galvanized wire is by the so-called Preece or copper sulfate test. There are other tests, however, which are used for quantitatively determining the amount of spelter on galvanized wire, such as stripping the coating in caustic soda solution; in a suitable hydrochloric acid solution; in a solution of hydrochloric acid and 6 antimony chloride, and in a lead acetate solution. The copper sulfate test, although not strictly quantitative, is comparative when used under known conditions of temperature and strength, and being a quick test, and one which can be performed by any one after a. little experience, has come to be ,the routine testin medium for 'alvanizcd wire coatings.

At the present time there are only two ('2) methods in use whereby these necessary heavy zinc (spelter) coatings may be obtained by the hot process of galvanizing. The first method is to pass the wire very slowly as it emerges from the galvanizing bath, through finely divided charcoal. By such a process a smooth, thick coating may be obtained. This method is used for making telephone wire. It has serious drawbacks, however, from' an economic standspelter, the speed depending on the gauge of wire, the thickness of coating desired and the length of the molten spelter bath, and then wiping the wire by passing it he tween suitable wipers. In other words, a

wire will have a heavier galvanized coating,

as measured by the copper sulfate test. the longer it remains in the molten spelter. This latter process, too. has its econom c drawbacks, because of the slow speeds re quired, the long spelter pans necessary and consequently the lessening of the tonnage passing through a galvanlzing unit in agiven time.

without 90 In the accompanyin drawing there is illustrated diagrammatically the usual or ordinary continuous galvanizing or coating apparatus, except the annealing furnace, which is not placed as it is ordinarily, and includes the acid bath, flux bath, coating or galvanizing bath and my heattreater associated therewith, butin this instance my coating bath is used as a combined coating bath and annealer.

I have discovered that if the, material is subjected to a molten coating bath the temperature of which is high enough to cause annealing, I obtain a heavily coated material and at the same time eliminate the usual annealing furnace. If this-material then subjected to a heat-treatment such as I have disclosed in said copending application bearing Serial Number 535,660, I have acoated product superior to that which can be obtained by ordinary galvanizing processes.

I realize that annealing per se is not new and also realize that coating is not new, but the process by which I perform these operations and which I have described is new, and result in producing a coated wire superior to any which can be produced by ordinary coating processes except in the case of heavy wires and where long spelter pans are utilized and where relatively slow speeds are used.

I also realize that the annealing temperature will vary for difi'erent carbon contents, or kinds of wire, or' whether the annealing is to relieve the strain of bench hardening that comes from the cold working'of the wire, or whether from some other source, as I have stated in my companion application bearing Serial Number 541,561. By an-- nealing I refer to softening and by heattreatment I have reference to such treatment as will produce a physical or chemical change of the material undergoing treatment, such as I have disclosed in my copending application bearing Serial Number 535,660.

For example, I have taken a bench hardened 0.12% carbon No. 12 gauge wire and passed it through molten spelter held at a temperature of approximately 1250 F. for a period of approximately eight seconds and then passed the coated wire through a tube heated to about 1250 F. for a period of about eight seconds and I then have an annealed product which not only has a smooth even pliable coating, but it will also stand approximately four or more one minute immersions in copper sulfate.

I have discovered that by coating material in a spelter bath held at elevated temperatures which are suitable for annealing, I obtain a firmer bonding between the coating and the material than is the caselwith material galvanized by ordinaryprocesses.

In my companion application bearing Serial Number 535,660 I have disclosed the heat-treating of coated materials having an iron base, such for instance as coated wire, after the coating st'ep,and of material which is annealed in any well known manner prior to the coating thereof. In this application I claim a simultaneous annealing and coating of material in a coating bath maintained at a temperature high enough to anneal, atisay about 1300 degrees F. I have found in the coating of fence wire that I get very good results by simultaneously annealing and coating larger wire of gauges such as No. 9, and create an effective bonding action between the coating and the base material; however, such bonding action'is not as effective in the case of smaller gauge-s of wire, such as No, 14, because the small body does not retain a sufficient amount of heat to be as effective as the larger bodies and therefore the subsequent heat-treatment is desirable and is employed for the purpose of'accomplishing similar results as that disclosed by the use of the heat-treater in my companion application bearing Serial Number 535,660.

I do not wish to limit myself to the temperatures and periods of time given above as I have clearly stated and shown in my copending application bearing Serial Number 535.660 that times, speeds and gauges of wire may be utilizedin'a multitude of combinations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is 1. The process of galvanizing wire, which consists in continuously moving the wire and. during such movement subjecting the wire to a simultaneous annealing and metallic coating action.

2. The process of galvanizing wire, which consists in continuously moving the Wire and during such movement subjecting the same, first to a simultaneous annealing and metallic coating action and then heat-treating said coated and annealed wire.

3. The process of treating un-annealed materials having an iron base which consists in subjecting such material to a simultaneous annealing and metallic coating action.

4:. The process of treating un-annealed materials having an iron base which consists in subjecting the same, first to a simultaneous annealing and metallic coating action and then heat-treating said coated and annealed material.

' In witness whereof, I have hereunto afiixed my hand and seal this 4th day of March,

JOSEPH L. HERMAN.

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