The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-08-15
A COSTUME Of SILVER.
1t Can Be Obtained by Any One
Wiling to Wear II.
The Art OF Silver Plating 80 Perfected
That II Stops ut Eoshtn--Achicve.
Ment> Which, Soon Alincs. Mi,ucu.
lo~us-Ix:osstvs Fluids.

plated raan.H asked q leading n,anufact-
urcr Of c!cc:.o-p.ated wares to u rcp-e-
sentative Of tho New York Herald.
IA si%lvcr-platcd man::'
"Ycs. q ran with a coating OF solid
silver as thick ;s ho could paw TO. 1t on
such parts of his body as would Ecs:. tho
pressure. Wouldn't no bc u good dino
museum frcak?:"
.'Can a man he si~lvcr-platcd::"
cit is merely . question of purse and
pluck" answered tho manufacturer.
's;ilvcr-plat;ng has become an art of
high degree since old Prof. Jacob acci-
dcntally discovered the secret of plating
~non-,netal!ic substances over a coating
Of plu.nhaso in st. Petersburg in 1855.
i could take - man into my works and
rig him out with bracelet of silver or
gold, or copper if lie preferred it, in a
weeks time, or wen less. All tho man
would have to Ito would he to submit his
arm to my treatment, and then paticnt-
ly hold that mcmlc. i'll tho electro bath
until the dynamos had time to finish
tho work. l plato on wool. plaster and
glass every day, and human flesh would
hc no harder to cover with silver than
either of tho former substances"
To those who have devoted 10 study
to tho recent improvements iii electro
plating. the present achievements of
tho manufacturers arc almost mirara-
lous. In the factory which ! visited /
saw many startling evidences of tho al
v%arccacnt of the art.
A pair of glass vases originally worth
81. were marked $500. and they wcre.
cheap at tho price. They arc covered
with $40 worth of silver. which grace
fully twincs around the glass in thr form
OF II vino. Two or three clusters of
grapes hang from tho vino, lalf-con-
ccaled by the leaves.
After the vase receives its coating OF
silver. which is nearly half an inch
thick. it passes into tho hands of tho
designer. Thence it goes to the en-
gravcr. and finally comes to tho chaser
and burnis!icr for the finishing touches.
Other vases, less deliberately orna-
mrntcd and requiring less metal, como
cheaper. M as low a.; $50 n pair. The
effect. however, in every instance is be-
wilGCring, and were tho good King
George curious to know how tho apple
came to he inside of tho dumping. i'm
aginc his anxiety to learn how this glass
ever found Its way inside of it's tightly
fitting coat of silver had one of these
later-day marvels been exhibited before
his royal .:azc.
"Do you sec those little baby %sl:ocso''
asked tho manufacturer. as he pointed
to n pair of tiny shoes, apparently of
pure silver.
"Wcll. if You examine them carefully
you will SEQ that they have been worn.
Tho toe of one is out. and tho sides arc
fraycd with wear. They were brought
to me by u wealthy lady. They were
her baby's first shoes. and tho baby is
dead. she wanted them silver plated.
l have had the work very carefully
done. The shape is preserved exactly,
even the brca!!s, in tho seams can be
seen. They a o be Kept for ANY
length Of time. Rather IL pretty idea,
don't you think so:'
'Formcrly,' exclaimed tho manu-.
%facturcr, .tllc silvcrplaters made
molds of whatever they wanted 10 plate
when the substance YVES not q metal.
These molls wcrc covered with plum.
bago and plated. Thcn they were cut
i'll two and soldcrcd together oyer the
article they were intended to cover. We
do things better nowadays. Each man.
nfact,lrcr las his o%n secret method OF
applying tho plumbaGo to tho article tic
be plated. and the plating is done ovci
tho article at once This kind of plat.
ing is not Yatentablc, as the process has
been in rse for over half IL century III
way oranother.
sit wonld he impossible tousc the ole
mold method in our work. for two arti
clcs arc seldom the Same in size anl
shape. 1t is true that wo might Use
mclsls and turn out a gross or SO of elias.
BOTTLES. but our method is just as easy
and far simpler. Then witt, canes tho
old method would be worse than use
less. No two canes are the same ii
shape.
81 wouldn't advise you to take a drinl
of that water" added the manufacturer
as ! was leaving the factory. ''Tha,
little tank is worth $500 as il stands. L
contains that amount of gold. .Thi.
larger Il is worth 500 in coin silver
Expensive fluids. rather. After taking
q batll in one of them l fancy II mai
would have on a pretty good costume t.
play tho part OF King Midas in ~ char
aie. 1t might be rather ti,ht-fittirg