210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCO VERY. 



The improved alloy is composed only of silver, copper, and purified nickel ; 

 which metals may be combined in any suitable proportions, but the following 

 are preferred: Silver 20 parts, nickel from 25 to 31 parts, and the rest up to 

 100 parts in copper. An alloy is thus produced containing 20 per cent., or 

 thereabouts, of silver, and constituting silver of the third degree of fineness, 

 thus reversing the proportions of the ordinary composition of the second de- 

 gree; this latter containing 800 parts of silver and 200 of alloy, whereas the 

 improved compound contains 200 parts of silver, and 800 parts of alloy. The 

 copper employed must be the purest obtainable in commerce ; and the nickel 

 should be purified by some suitable process. Although the proportions above 

 given are those generally employed for the production of the improved alloy, 

 the proportion of silver may be variously increased up to the following limit : 

 silver 30 parts, nickel 31 parts, and copper 49 parts. Total, 110 parts. It 

 is advantageous, first, to melt the copper and nickel in the granular state, and 

 afterward to introduce the silver ; and the flux to be employed in this state 

 consists of charcoal and borax, both in the state of powder ; and the ingots 

 obtained are to be rendered malleable by annealing for a considerable time in 

 powdered charcoal. It has also been ascertained that phosphorus can be 

 usefully introduced into these alloys, and, in certain cases, extracted after the 

 required effect has been produced by it. The operation is as follows : Phos- 

 phuret of copper is prepared in the ordinary way, and its richness in phos 1 

 phorus is ascertained by analysis. This phosphuret of copper is then re- 

 melted and granulated; after which the following mixture is melted: Phos- 

 phuret of copper 49 parts (of such a strength as to be capable of introducing 

 into 100 parts of the alloy from 1 to 20-1000ths of phosphorus), nickel 31 

 parts, and silver from 20 to 40 parts, or more, as desired by consumers. It 

 must be well understood that the silver must not be introduced into the alloy 

 until the phosphuret of copper and the nickel are completely melted, and 

 combined or mixed. The effects produced by this introduction of phosphorus 

 are to augment the fusibility of the alloy, causing it, when melted, to run in a 

 very limpid state, to obtain a closer grain, to avoid all porosity, and to have 

 a greater homogeneity, and finally to render the whiteness greater. 



Alloys for Journal Soxes. The following claim for a new alloy for journal 

 boxes has been patented by Joseph Garrat, Sen., of Indianapolis, Ind. : "I 

 claim the production of an alloy of a bluish gray color, which, while it has 

 unsurpassable anti-friction qualities, has also sufficient tenacity to allow of 

 journal boxes being formed of it, that do not require the protection of outer 

 casings of a harder metal ; the said alloy being composed of zinc, copper, and 

 antimony, in about the following proportions, viz., seventeen parts zinc, one 

 part copper, and one part and a half of antimony, or any other mixture sub- 

 stantially the same, and which will produce the same effect." 



"Boxes," says the Scientific American, "formed of this alloy, possess in- 

 herent strength and hardness sufficient to prevent them being pressed out of 

 form, as is the case with Babbitt metal. The latter has to be encased with 

 brass or some very hard substance. This new alloy causes as little, if not 

 less friction, than brass boxes, or those formed with the Babbitt metal. They 

 are easily worked, receive an excellent polish, and as they can be mauufac- 



