US1430651A - Process of coating and treating materials having an iron base - Google Patents

Description

. L. HERMAN PROCESS 0F coATlNG AND TREATING MATERIALS HAVING AN IRON BASE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6, 1922- ?atented 001:. 3, 1922.,

Innenma JOSEPH L. HERMAN, TEORIA, ELLINOIS.

PROCESS OF CQATING- AN D TREATING- MATERIALS HAVING AN TRON BAS. I

Application letl March 6, 1922. Serial No. 541,563.

To all whom t mayconoem:

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 Tmprovements .in Processes of Coating and Treating Materials Having an Tron 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 rand for telephone and other purposes.

' The principal object of this invention is to subject the material to an annealing process and then without allowing 4the annealed material to come into contact with air subjecting the same to -a coating bath and finally subjecting the coated material to a heat-treatment.

y 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 ake off asin the case with heavily lcoated galvanized wire Coated by ordinary processes; the. annealing of the material being for the usual softening purposes. c

A further object of the invention is to permit the use of higher speeds for galvanizingwire 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 to applications for patent filedby me of even date herewith bearing Serial Nos. 541,561 and l541,562 and the application for patent filed by me on February 10, 1922, bearing Serial Number 535,660, 'all directed towards processes for coating and treating materials having an iron base. The invention herein described diifers from those disclosedinsald pending applications, in that the material is annealed and then coated without allow'- ing said material to come into contact with air. A

Galvanized wire which is lto be used for fabricating purposes andmore particularly that which is tobe used in the manufacture of woven wire fencing must have a'relativel i vbe a le to withstand atmospheric corroding conditions, and before my invention was developed this was not possible exceptfat a much increased cost of roduotion.v

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 soluf,

tion; in a solution of hydrochloric` acid and antimony chloride, and in a lead acetate heavy coatingof spelter in order to solution. The copper sulfate test, although` not strictly. quantitative, is comparative when used under known conditions of tempera-Y ture 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 testing'medium for galvanized wire coatings.

At .the present time there are only two (2)' methods in use whereby thesenecessary 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 f be obtained. This method is used for making telephone wire. Tt has serious drawbacks, however, from an economic standpoint, because the wire must travel at a -very slow speed, a very high grade zinc must be used, and, furthermore,A the coated wire cannot be subjected to the action of wire-fence fabricating machines without having considerable of the zinc coating crack or flake off the iron base. The Second method is to cause 'the wire to travel at relatively slow speeds, through a bath of molten spelter, the speed depending on the gauge of wire, the thickness of coating. desired andv the length of the molten spelter bath, and then wiping the wire by passing it between suitable wipers. Tn 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 economic drawbacks, because of the slow speeds required, the long spelter pans necessary and g1ven time.v

5 coming into contact with the air.

consequently the lessening of the tonnage passing through a galvanizing unit in -,a

In the 4accompanying illustrated diagrammatically the usual or ordinary continuous galvanizing or coating apparatus, except that the annealing furi ,nace is not placed as it is ordinarilybut which is placed adjacent the coating bath,

and includes acid bath, flux bath, an-' nealing furnace, coating bath and heattreater. The annealing furnace is shown -in relation to the coating bath so that wire may enter lthecoating bath from the annealing furnace at a high temperature without In the illustration I show this by means of-a tube sealed from the air at both ends by being submergedA below the surface of the lead in the annealingfurnace and below the spelter or other metal of the coating bath. When the tube is heated all the oxygen in the confined air is'` soon used up and both ends being sealed no more air can enter so long as the heat is maintained.

I have discovered that if the material is subjected to an annealing temperature and new, and results in producing a coated wire superior to any which can be produced by ordinary coating processes except in the case of heavy wires where long Vspelter pans are utilized and where relatively slow speeds are used.

I also realize that the annealing temperature will vary for different carbon contents,

orkinds of wire, or whether the annealing is to relieve the strain of bench hardening that comes from the cold working of the wire, vor whether from some other source, as I have stated in my companion application bearing Serial Number 541,561.

By annealingI `refer to softening and by heat-treatment I have reference -to `such treatment -as will produceV a physical or chemical change of they material undergoing treatment, such as I have disclosed in copending application bea-ring Serial lNumber 535,660. c

-F or example, I have taken 4a .bench hardened 0.12%- carbon No.12 gauge wire and passed it through a bath of molten lead drawing there is heated to a temperature of about *12500- F.

for a period of about seven seconds and then without allowing the annealed wire to come.

into contact with air andl preferably while still in a heated condition, immersing the same inmolten spelter at a temperature of about 1200"F for a period of about three seconds and then passing 'the same through a tube heated to` a temperature of about 1250'o F. I then have an annealed product which not only has a smooth even coating but a coating which will also stand approximately four or moreone minute immersions in copper sulfate.

It is Well known to those skillednthe art that an oxidized wire cannot be suitably coated and it is for this reason that I do not permit the heated annealed wire to come into contact with the air before immersingitin the coating bath. In ordinary processes it is necessary to remove this oxide by means of acid or some other `suitable nleansing medium before subjecting the material to the coating bath. And furthermore I. have found that I get-an .improved bonding action between the material and the coatingwhen I pass the material while in a heated state into the molten coating bath.

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 stepy and of material which is annealed in any well known manner prior to the coating thereof. In this application I claimV the annealing of the material and then coating it without allowing the same to come in contact with the air and -in a coating bath maintained at a'high temperature, say about 1300 degrees F. I have found thatl with this process of coating I get very good results with larger gauges of wires, such as No. 9, and createan effective bonding action between the coating and the base material; however, such bonding action 1s not 'as effective in the case of smaller-'gauges `of wire, such as No. 14, be-v cause the small body does not retain a suiicient amount oflieat 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;

y I do not wish to limit myself itc the tem'- peratures and periods of time given above as I have clearly stated and shown in my copending application bearing Serial No. 535,660 that times, speeds, and gauges of wireinay be vutilized in a multitude of combinati'ons without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is: l 1. The process of galvanizing wire, which insonni into contact with air and While maintaining' the Wire at approximately the annealing temperature" subjecting the same to a coating bath.

2. The process of galvanizing Wire, which consists in continuously movi g the Wire and during such movement subjecting the same, first-to an annealing action and then Without allowing the annealed Wire to come into f contact with air subjectingthe-same to va coating bath and finally heat-treating said annealed and coated Wire.

3. The process of treating 11A-annealed materials having an iron base which consists in subjecting the same, first-to an annealing actionand then Without allowing the annealed material to come into contact with air and While maintaining the material at approximately the annealing temperature subjecting the same to a coating bath.

4. The process of treating un-annealed f in Witness whereof, l

materials having an iron base which' consists in subjecting the same, first-to an annealing action and then Without allowing the annealed material to come into contact with air subjecting the same to a coatingv bath, and finally heat-treating said annealed and coated material.

5. The process of galvanizing Wire, whichv 'and during such movement'subjecting the same, firstt0 an annealing action and then while maintaining the Wire at approximately the annealing temperature subjecting said Wire to a coating bath.

6. The process of treating un-annealed materials having an iron base which consists, in subjecting the same, first-to an annealing action and then While maintaining the material at approximately the annealing temperature subjecting said material to a coating bath. f

have hereunto affixed my hand and seal this 4th day of Marcin 1922.,

Josnrjn L. HERMAN. '[L. 8.]

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