Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-02-26
THE NEW ART OF SOLID COLOR
ING.

About thirty months ago an inventor IN
New York while seeking some means oil
making barrel slaves imperyious to petro-
leum, aocidently used piece of marble to
wedge the barrel he was experimenting
upon into its place in the vat containing
the solution with which be was trying to flI
the pores of the wood. On taking out the
marble he noticed that it was beautifully
stained but threw it aside without further
thought About month later lin Septem-
Der, lS6S,l he picked it up, examined it,
tried to wash it clean, failed, broke it with
hammer stroke, aud 10 the color had pene-
trated the whole mass Perceiving the
almost infinite value of the discovery he
had so happily stumbled upon, he began
new investigations, and associated others
with him in the enterprise. A suitable
laboratory was obtained, communications
we're quietly opened with leading marble
men, a series of about twenty five thousand
experiments we're instituted, and now, after
more than two years of patient toll, this
happy discovery is set forth to the world
Yesterday a number of gentlemen were
invited to call at the laboratory of the Inter
national Marble Coloring Company. No.
70 Third avenue, northeast corner of
Twelfth street, second story Here they
found an Italian sunset imprisoned in en-
during stone. Here we're snow white mar
bles from Vermont, turned by wizard touch
of chemie art into scarlet splendor, not
found In nature save in the gem, the flower
and the cloud. On one hand the purple of
the Cesars cleaned in solid stone, and on
the other mantel's yellow luster rivaled
the rarest marble from Sienna auarries
Here plain white chimney piece had been
tinted with dove colored hues softer than
those of the choicest Lisbon stone, and there
the wondrous touch of this new art bad !
created a massive black-veined emerald, !
eclipsing in beauty the finest yerd- antique |
that nature ever stained. In a word, more
than six hundred hues and fiuts and shades,
all the work Of mans adorning finger. |
shimmered and blazed on every side with
confusion and glory of color that it hath
not before entered into the heart ola man
to conceive as possible in the domain OF
architecture. This invention consists simply
10 the discovery ofa certain mordant, with
which the proper dyes are mixed, forming
solution. In shallow bath Of this the mar
ble is placed, molecular action Immediately
eusues, and in few hours or days the
whole mass is saturated with color The !
segerest tests from acids and exposure to
the elements show that these coors are
more durable than those of nature. The |
interstices Of the marble being thoroughly !
filed, grease cannot penetrate it, and Sc
verest weather can scarcely wear il, and it |
becomes susceptible Of the highest polish. |
Iu fact this single, easy, and responsive !
process secures at once the three great ends |
Of beauty, durability aud economy. \ plas /
ter cast has just been completed of bap- |
tismal font, sculptured with cross and |.
wreathed with vine, which is 10 be repro
duced in blood red marble, the sacFfcial |
hue For a white marble altar 10 a new
cathedral at Albany S65.000 in gold have
been appropriated This company have
offered to put up one of purple for SO, 600 !
in greenbacks.
Not only can marble, granite, and all sim
liar materials be solidly colored 10 this way
but so can wood, the result being cheap
durable and exquisitely beautiful material
which requires neither painting nor Yarnish- |
ing. The vista of architectural magni6-
cence opened to the view by this discovery
must be left to the readers Imagination, the
Arabian Nights being the only suitable
treatise on the subject that now suggests
itself Apropos of this, it may be noted
that certain common crystals were lately
subjected to this process, and afterward
submitted to a leading jeweler of this city.
who declared himself unable to distinguish
them from genuine emeralds