US424379A - Process of uniting metals - Google Patents

Description

UNHE STATES arena @rrren,

PROCES$ (3F ijiiiiTlNG METALS- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters E'atent No. 424,379, dated March 25, 1890.

Application filed November 1, 1889.

Serial No. 328,956, (No specimens) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ronnn'r Jonxsox 'lnq- FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of .lel'" .i-so11 and State of Kentucky, have inventor, a certain new and useful Process for Unilisg Iiietals; and ldo declare thcfollowirr; to be a lull, olcar, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itapperlains to make and use the same.

ily invention relates to an improved process of welding iron to steel or steel to steel, in both cases the sections to be united having different percentages of carbon.

lleretoforc many attempts to perfectly weld such metals have been attempted, but in so far as I am aware without success. The most common method known to me consists in arranging steel and iron in a pile, subjecting said. pile to a welding hear, and thereafter subjecting it to "rolling, hydraulic pressure, hammering, or all. The product obtained by such methods is suitable for some purposes; but, generally speaking, is commercially unsatisfactory by reason of the fact that when subjected to shocks or concussions above a certain degree it has its coherency destroyed and the iron splitor separated from the steel, the resultbciug that the product is fractured.

By my improved process I avoid the objections attendant upon previous methods, and I am enabled to produce a compound product in which the welding of the two metals to be united is so thoroughly cll'ected that their allied faces become practically obliterated and the metal homogonemis thercat.

In conducting weldingl'iporations in accordance with my said process set forth herein 1. have found that important and valuable resuits are also obtained by employing a stool previously treated in accordance with the Letters Patent No. 397,170, issued February 5, 1885), to myself and one ll. Til. ltedcmann, to which reference may be had for a more complete understamliug ol' the said process and the condition of the product before and after such trialmont. lly l'QlQI'CllCO to said patent it will be found that the improved process set forth and claimed therein relates.

to subjecting Bessemer and other low grades of steer heated to such heat as may be do sired to a proviously-prepared liquid bath of such character that the contact of metal and liquid bath induces hyd rocarbon gases, which are absorbed or taken up by the metal, the latter being permitted to remain insuch bath at pleasure or until substantially cool or un-- til such l'0(lll::1i()li of heat is made that it will no longer iulce up hydrocarbon gases. The results consequent upon such patented pro- 6e ccss are stated to be inexpensive production of a highergradu of steel, minimum degree of labor involved therein, and the procurement of a producthaving a molcctilarchange from a coarse grain to a line grain or silk vfrabture (0 increase tensile strength, elasticitv, toughness, and ductility, and to greatlyincrease the carbon. The principal elements of. the bath mentioned are glycerinc and'waterinthc proportion of three ounces ofglyccrinc to one-halt gallon of Water. To such elements may be added spirits of niter, aqua ammonia, chloride of ammonium, sulphate of zinc, sulphate of alumina, and ammonia.

The steps and agents involved in said patcnted process have been here detailed, for when the product thereof is used in the process forming the subjectunatter of the pres cut application such steps and agents constitute a sub-process and will be directly relate-d thereto. It; is further, pro'perto hcre;. state that one of the advantagessccured for stceltreated by said patented process isits capacityforresistingimpairinentbyrehoatingdfi such reheating is-conducted at any tempcraf turc representing a degree of heat below what wouldbc required to effect in part or wholl the destruction of the steel qualities of the article.

In carrying out the present process in the 9c event of the union of iron to steel two or more furnaces are employed, and the irolnwh oh is the wrought-iron of connncrcc,is heated in one furnace to a high degree, equivalent to a dazzling while or just below its melting- 9 point. The steel to be united therewith, heated in a separate furnace to a degree approaching incipient redness, is placed in contact with the iron, the surfaces, if desired, having been previously lluxcd or otherwise 10L prepared to contribute to the union of the two metals. The relatively-arranged iron and steel are then placed in either of the two furnaces mentioned or in a separate furnace,

user AVAILABLE copy and are then gradually heated until the steel assumes substantially a bright-red color, at which period the metal is either hammered or rolled, or both, to condense and reduce it completely into a compound product, in which the iron and steel exist in a perfect union or weld. By heating the iron to a degree so much higher than the steel, contact with the steel will, by reason of its greater heat-,begin to withdraw apart of the carbon of the steel, which becomes incorporated in the said iron or portion of said iron at about the instant the two metals are brought in contact, the union finally becoming so complete that the g steel merges into the iron regularly and evenly, and thereby avoids the weakness that would exist were the junction of the two more sharply defined.

. It will be understood that by heating the iron to the high degree mentioned and the steel to an incipient redness, and then arranging them relative to each other, it will not be necessaryin the succeedingoperations required to reduce and complete the compound article to heat the external faces of the steel to an excessive extent in order to raise the covered face or portion adjacent to the iron to a welding degree. By such practice I am enabled to avoid the burning out or deterioration of the steel, which gcnerallyattonds the practice where the metals are arranged in a pile before heating.

I do not wish ,to be understood as limiting myself in the present process to the welding with iron or low-grade steel of a, steel produced by said patented process previously mentioned, as it will be quite obvious that other kinds of steels of varying quality or grade may be successfully welded to each other or to iron.

In giving the steel a preliminary heating, where considered ncccssary,.o[ comparative low degree, before arranging it relative to the iron, undue or sudden expansion, when brought into proximity to the highly-heated iron, is avoided, and hcnc'e liability to cracking or fracture; is avoided. I

As before stated, the process is applicable for securing a regular and complete welding of high and low grade sleol or of steel generally with iron.

In the within description, when iron is mentioned the wronghl-iron oi conunerce is referred to,and win-n such iron is (o be united with stcelit will be with cithcrof thequalities known as high and low grade cast-steel of the Bessemer production. When steel is to be united to steel, the description contemplates two independent teel sections having pronounced d iil'ercncos of carbon, thus constituting the same relative relation and character that exists between wrought-iron and steel.

I claim-- I. The improved stop in the art of uniting wrought-iron and steel or steel to steel having different percentages of carbon, the same consisting in heating the metal lowest in carbon to a degree equivalent to white heat, heating the metal highest in carbon to an. incipient red heat, and thereafter placing the two diffemntlydicated metals in contact, substantially as set forth.

2. The process of uniting wrought iron and steel or steel to steel having dilferent percentages of carbon, the same consisting in heating the metal lowest in carbon to a white heat, heating the metal highest in carbon to an incipient red heat, placing both metals in contact in a furnace and heating to a welding heat, and finally subjecting to a further welding action, substantially as set forth.

3. The processof uniting steel withanietal having a comparative lower percentage of carbon, consisting in first subjecting steel at a white heat to the action of a liquid bath evolving hydrocarbon gases, heating the metal low in carbon to a high temperature, and then arranging the steel relative thereto, and finally uniting, substantially as shown and set'forth.

4. The process of uniting steel withamet-al having a comparative low percentage of carbon, consisting in first subjecting steel at a white heat to the action of a liquid bath signature evolving hydrocarbon gases until said steel.