US38301A - Improved alloys of aluminum - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES G. FARMER, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED 'A'LLOYS OF ALUMINUM.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,30l, dated April 28, 1862 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mosns G. FARMER, of

lhe city of Salem, in the county of Essex, in

of alloys which may be variously and advantageously used in the arts, some of which are of use in the place of composition or the alloy commonly used for bearings in machinery, others of which are particularly valuable for gunmetal. Others, from their color, texture, and luster, are peculiarly well adapted for use as substitutes for gold in the manufacture of watchcases, chains, and ornamental jewelry, while others are applicable for varioususes as in springs, sheet metal, wire, sheathing, 850.

My invention consists in combining copper and aluminum, or an alloy of these metals, with one or more light-colored metals within the limits of the proportions herein specified, the variations within said limits being made for the purpose of producing certain desirable qualities in the alloys resulting from said combination, so as best to adapt them for specific purposes.

In the practice of my invention I combine the copper and the aluminum and the other light-colored metal or metals, in the manner usually practiced by metallurgists in mixing metals, in any proportions between eighty per cent. of copper to twenty per cent. of the lightcolored metals and ninety-eight per cent. of

copper to two per cent. of the light-colored metals, the proportion of aluminum to the whole quantity of light-colored metals used varying from ten to ninety-five percent. The copper being the first element of my combination and the aluminum being the second, I propose to use for the third or the other light-colored metal ormetals silver or zinc, tin, nickel, platinum, or iron, or other light-colored metals having substantially similar properties with those enumerated, or any desired mixture or alloy of the metals embraced in the third element of my combination within the proportion which they bear to the second element, as be fore specified.

As metals combine best in certain definite or equivalent proportions, I propose to state in tabular form some of the combinations embraced within my invention, together with some of the properties of said combinations or variations within the proportions given for my alloys, it being understood that the examples given are illustrations only, and do not embrace all the changes which are comprehended within my invention.

It is to be noted that in this specification one equivalent of each metal as compared with hydrogen (equal 1) is as follows:

Aluminum (A1) 13.70 Copper (Cu) 31.71 Iron (Fe)... 27.18 Nickel (Ni) 29.62 Platinum (Pl) 98.84 Silver (Ag). 108.30 Tin (Sn). 58.92

Zinc (Zn).. 32.31

The four following formulae produce alloys which, from their color and fineness of texture, nearly resemble gold, whence I term the alloys chrysoid, they being well adapted for use in the manufacture of watch-cases, chains, and ornamental jewelry:

The three following formulae produce alloys which may be used as substitutes for composition-that is, the alloy now used in machinery:

These alloys are hard and tenacious, but are characterized by considerable shrinkage in cooling from a molten state, the last-mentioned alloy havingconsiderably more shrinkage than either of the others preceding it. The said alloys have, when drawn into wires of about onethirtieth of an inch in diameter, a tensile strength to the square inch of section, in the preceding order, of about ninety thousand, one hundred and three thousand, and eighty-four thousand pounds.

The following alloys are remarkably well adapted for gun-metal, being hard, tenacious, laminable, and ductile:

Cu Al Fe The tensile strength of the above alloys, when reduced to wire, as above referred to, is for the square inch of section about eightytwo thousand pounds for the first of the last series of formulae, eighty-four thousand five hundred pounds for the second, and one hundred and seven thousand seven hundred pounds for the last.

\Vhere zinc or tin, or both, enter into the alloys in the place of silver, the color of the resultant alloys is somewhat affected and the luster is diminished.

In the following alloys nickel forms the third element of the combination of the first formula and platinum the third element ofthe combination of the second formulae:

Cu Al Ni Ni1+ G(Al1+Cnc):.9129+.0634+.0237=The alloy.

011 Al P1 P1 1-1-21 (Ali-l-Cn .9117-|-.0G56 +.0225: The alloy.

Those alloys into which I introduce platinum are less affected by acids than are those in which silver takes the place of platinum.

Either the platinum or the silver gives a high luster to the alloy, platinum producing this result in a greater degree than silver.

In those alloys into which I introduce iron orplatinum, orotherlight-colored metals which are difficult of fusion, I prefer to bring the easily-fused metals into a molten state, and then to mix those less fusible with them in the form of shreds, particles, finewire, or thin plates.

The metals used should be those which are most nearly pure, as found in the market, it not being necessary to have them absolutely or chemically pure.

The copper, which constitutes the largest ingredient of my alloys, I prefer to have the best Lake Superior copper, or else the copper deposited by the eleotrotype process, which frees it from many impurities.

My alloys are well adapted for the alloying of gold, particularly these alloys designated herein under the name of chrysoid.

I claim The alloys within described as compounded substantially of the metals and in the proportions set forth.

MOSES G. FARMER.

Witnesses:

. R. H. MATHIEs, J. B. ORosBY.