US1753162A - Alloy - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN E. WOODWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO KASTENHUBER & LEHR- FIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A PARTNERSHIP F CHARLES F. KASTENHUBER, WIL- LIAM F. LEHRFELD, AND HUGO R. LEHRFELD ALLOY No Drawing. Original application filed December 19, 1927, Serial No. 241,278. Divided and this application filed May 22, 1929. Serial No. 365,232.

This invention relates to alloys and more particularly to an alloy for a pen point though it is noted that the invention is not limited to pen points.

One of the main objects of my invention is to provide an economical osmium alloy for use as a pen point.

Another object of my invention is to provide an economical osmium alloy that is l0 tough, durable and which will take a high polish.

Another object of my invention is to provide a base alloy of nickel and tungsten that can be shipped to manufactuirers of pen points who can then alloy the base alloy with osmium in the way I shall describe later.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an alloy of osmium with tungsten and nickel which will be tough, acid resisting, have a durable wearing surface, take a high polish and be economical to produce.

And still another object of my invention is to provide a pen point made of an alloy osmium, tungsten, nickel and if desired platinum, which will take a nigh polish and have durable wearing surface, and be tough, fusible with great difficulty, be readily capable of soldering or freezing to a gold nib, and yet be economical to produce.

Still other objects of my invention will appear as the description proceeds; and while herein details of the invention are described and claimed, the invention is not limited to these.

The matter herein described and claimed is described in my co-pending application Serial No. 241,278 filed Dec. 19, 1927, for Pen point alloys, of which application the present application is a division.

It is a well known fact in the art of making alloy pen points that osmium is a desirable hardening constituent in pen point alloys. It has been found that the hardness of such alloys increases in proportion to the amount of osmium present therein. pure state is incapable of use in the above respect- It is too brittle and friable. After fusion, and upon cracking or crushing, a pure osmium button (or even the native 50 osmiridmm button) powders readily. This Osmium in the results in a very serious loss since these metals are rare and precious, and much of the powder gets lost.

It is therefore necessary to add a so-called toughening agent or metal to osmium in order to give it the strength required for practicable and economical commercial use. Toughening metals that have been added heretofore are either of two kinds (a) Metals of the platinum group.

(6) Base metals such as nickel, cobalt, etc,

or any element or combination of elements which can impart the required strength and toughness to the osmium metal.

The objection to the use of the platinum metals other than osmium by themselves is that they are comparatively soft, and therefore reduce the hardness of the resultant alloy with osmium. The objection to the use of the base metals alone is that they do not form true solutions or alloys with osmium. Thus upon cooling, segregation takes place and the resultant alloy is not of a homogeneous texture. Consequently a high polished surface of uniform appearance cannot be procured.

Now I have discovered an alloy and a method of producing the same which will overcome all the above obstacles. I have discovered a method of introducing a toughening alloy into the osmium metal whereby a perfectly homogeneous alloy is produced and what is most important very little of the hardness of the osmium is lost. 7

I have found that although the metal tungsten when melted with osminum does not form a true solution, yet if the tungsten be first dissolved in nickel, an alloy results which will form with osmiuma true solution and alloy, that will-impart to osmium the desired toughness, homogeneous texture and durable wearing surface.

In fact a dual advantage is accomplished by my newly discovered process. It will be observed that I substitute a larger percentage of base metals for rare or 'semirare metals heretofore utilized in this art, and yet I am able to equal any of the characteristics of the expensive rare metal alloys.

It will furtherbe noted that I provide a sten (M. P. 3500 C.) as the nickel fuses.'

The proportions for a given batch of base alloy, as I prefer to call this alloy of nickel and tungsten, is 75% of tungsten and of nickel. At about 1900 C. it was found that a true solution took place. That is to say the base alloy melts at about 1900 C.

It exhibits a uniform texture on polishing thus showing that it is free from segregation and is a homogeneous alloy.

I then may chill the tungsten-nickel solution, or I may add the osumium metal. I use 80% of osmium (M. P 2400 C.) and 20% of the base alloy for a given batch of my final alloy. I find that at 2400 C.a true solution of osmium, tungsten and nickel results. The resulting alloy at this point, upon chilling, has a uniform homogeneous texture and takes a very high olish.

NowI can use other meta s of the nickel grou such as cobalt. I can likewise use other metals of the tungsten group as molybdenum. Although I have given 80% of osmium as a preferable proportion of that metal, I have found that I can use from 7 0-85% of osmium and from 30-15% of my base alloy and still get good results.

To utilize my alloy a button of it is stamped, cracked or crushed to obtain pieces for freezing on to gold nibs and finishing as pen points and similar wearing surfaces. I find that my alloy does not power when crushed. I get an alloy which hangs together when crushed and does not powder. I get articles suitable for polishing and working.

then, greatly reduce the loss due to powdering and yet use inexpensive materials. The texture is uniform and homogeneous and the surface of the pen point takes on a very high polish thus resulting in a smoothly writing point.

The osmium alloy need not be formed immediately after the nickel-tungsten alloy. After the base alloy has been formed, I can chill it and ship it to pen manufacturers. In other words I thus provide a basic material or intermediate as a new composition of matcentages stated, since the characteristics of the alloy are still preserved if the ranges of percentages of the final alloy do not exceed the following: 10-20% of tungsten, 3-8% of nickel and 7 0-85% of osmium.

What I claim is 1. A process of producing an alloy of osimum for pen points comprising the steps of adding tungsten to nickel as the latter fuses in the proportion of 75% of tungsten to 25% of nickel, heating until a temperature of about 1900 C. is reached adding osmium to the tungsten-nickel alloy in the proportion of 80%. of osmium to 20% of the latter until a temperature of 2400 C is reached, and finally chilling the resulting solution for further use in making pen points.

2. An alloy having a melting point of about 2400 C. and capable of taking a very high polish, said alloy comprising 70-85% of osmium and 15-30% of a base alloy-composition principally comprising a metal of the tungsten group, and a metal of the nickel group alloyed in a proportion of about 3 parts of the metal of the tungsten group to one part of the metal of the nickel group.

3. An alloy comprising 80% of osmium; and 20% of a base alloy comprising 75 parts of tungsten to 25 parts of nickel.

4. An alloy comprising 10-20% of a metal of the tungsten group; 3-8% of a metal of the nickel group; and 70-85% of osmium.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 16th day of May, A. D. 1929.

JOHN E. WOODWARD.

ter.

Although, this material may not be of much use itself, yet upon being processed with osmium in the proportions described abovea finished product is obtained that can then be used in the manner I have outlined above.