Untitled record

United States Patent Office.

JAMES SPRATT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN ALLOYS FOR POINTS OF LIGHTNING-RODS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 7,008, dated January 8, 1850.

To dll whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, James Spratt, of the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton, in the State of Ohio, have invented a new Combination or Alloy of Metals for the Manufacture of Spears or Points of Lightning-Conductors, of which the following is a specification.

The natureof my invention consists of forming an alloy of the metals, &c., in the following proportion, namely: I fuse together sixty pounds of English block-tin, five pounds of oxide of tin, fourteen pounds of antimony, fourteen ounces of bismuth, eight pounds of refined silver, two ounces of platinum, and as much silex as the metals will take up. I arrange the metals, &c., in the melting-vessels as follows: I put the silex, when pulverized and mixed with a little potash to serve as a flux, at the bottom of the crucible, on the top of which I pour on the oxide of tin, to which I add the block-tin and bismuth. When any of the above assume a fluid state I add the antimony, and, lastly, when it has got its proper heat, I add the silver and platinum, the whole of which forms the said alloy for lightningrod points.