IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF ORNAMENTING CHINA, EARTHENWARE, AND GLASS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
WILLIAM MICHAEL COLLINS and ALFRED REYNOLDS, both of Charter House
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Engravers and Printers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of March, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Frederick William Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, Her
especial license that we, the said Frederick William Michael Collins and
Alfred Reynolds, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Frederick William Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, our exors,
admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ART OF ORNAMENTING CHINA, EARTHENWARE, AND GLASS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, the said Frederick William
Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, or one of us, by an instrument in
writing under our or one of our hands and seals, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what, manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Frederick William Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention to consist-
First, in preparing transfer paper, or what is commonly called pottery tissue
paper, by covering it with a size not hitherto used, for the purpose of
transferring on to china, earthenware, or glass.
Secondly, in printing or placing patterns, subjects, devices, or designs in
two or more colours on one piece of such sized or on ordinary sized transfer
paper, either from blocks or flat surfaces, somewhat after the manner of
letterpress printing or otherwise. And,
Lastly, in transferring such patterns, subjects, devices, or designs, so
printed or obtained, in two or more colours, on one piece of such prepared or
Fordinary sized transfer paper as aforesaid, on to china and earthenware, either
in the state of biscuit or glazed, and on to glass by means of such one piece
only of such prepared or ordinary sized transfer paper.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, we, the said Frederick
William Michael Collins and Alfred Reynolds, do hereby describe the manner
in which our said Invention is to be performed by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
First, we prepare our new transfer paper (when ours is to be used) as
follows: We take the ordinary pottery tissue paper now used for transferring
in the ordinary way on to earthenware, and brush it over two or three times
with a thin size, composed as follows:-Six parts by weight of French starch,
two parts of gum arabic, and one part of alum, all perfectly dissolved in hot
soft water. Each coating must be allowed to dry thoroughly before the next
is put on, and when all are perfectly dry the paper should be milled with a
strong pressure between two smooth rollers in order to give it a fine and even
surface. On this prepared tissue paper we then proceed, secondly, to print,
place, or obtain a pattern, subject, device, or design of two or more colours, by
hand drawing or in various ways from flat surfaces yielding a full body of
color or suitable varnish, as the case may be, when these substances have been
rolled on to them in the ordinary way of letter-press printing. For the
purposes of this Specification we will describe the mode as printing, and

page_text: from wooden blocks similar to those which are used in printing at the type
printing press, and on which the various parts of the required pattern,
subject, device, or design, which are to be printed in colors differing from each
other, have been drawn and cut on different pieces or blocks in the usual
manner, and the transfer paper used as of the new kind. Thus, for instance,
one way to obtain the pattern shewn at Figure 1 in the Drawing annexed,
which is for an ornamental tile, and consists of three colors, blue, red, and
yellow, three blocks would of course be required: A for the blue, B for the
red, and C for the yellow; and if this pattern is to be transferred on a china:
or earthern tile (such as. is intended here to be represented) while in the
state of biscuit the following process only will have to be resorted to, namely,
first print with the blue color from the block A on the sized surface of the
tissue paper, then with the red color from block B, and then with the yellow,
color from the block C, with proper register marks, that when the 'series is
completed the pattern may be perfect. And while the three colors are yet wet.
on the paper, we thirdly transfer them in the ordinary way on to the biscuit
tile by turning the printed side of the paper down upon the tile, pressing the
paper gently, and, when the colors have dried on the tile, by damping and
removing the transfer paper, when the tile will be ready for the hardening or
drying kiln, and afterwards to be glazed and. fired, so as to bring the colors.to.
their proper hues. But if it be required to transfer this same pattern, subject,
device, or design while the colors are wet from the prepared tissue paper on to
glazed china or earthenware, or on to glass, the surface of these articles over
which the pattern is to extend must be coated over with ordinary, varnish in:
the usual way, and when this coating is dry the tissue paper turned over upon,
it, and when the colors become dry the tissue paper is removed by damping,
as before described. Another way of dealing with the piece of transfer paper,
when the three colors have been printed upon it, as before described, is to.
allow them to dry upon it, and then to coat the tile over with the said varnish,.
and when it is nearly dry, or what is called tackey, to turn the transfer paper.
down upon it, rubbing it gently on the back, and when the varnish is dry. to.
remove the paper by damping it, as before described; or when the colors,
on the transfer paper are dry, a coat of the said varnish may be lightly.
brushed over. them, and when it becomes tackey it may be turned down.
upon the tile, and when dry the paper removed as before,. and the colors
will be found adhering to the tile and in a fit, state for being burnt in,
which process causes.the varnish to volatilize and disappear, as is well known.
Another way of dealing with our prepared transfer paper is not to roll on.
colored. inks to the blocks at all, but, merely to roll on what is called oil or

page_text: varnish first on to the block which yields the blue impression A, and having
printed that on our prepared tissue paper, then to dust on the blue color
in powder in the way well known, wiping off the surplus color, and allowing
it to dry; then to print with the like oil or varnish from the block which
yields the impression B, and dust on the red color, and lastly, to print in a
similar way from the block which yields the impression C, to complete the
series for the pattern, and dust on the yellow color; and having thus got the
three colors on one piece of prepared tissue paper, when they are quite dry
proceed to transfer them in the same manner as before described for trans-
ferring colored inks, when they have been allowed to dry on our prepared
tissue paper.
Now whereas it is evident that three blocks of stone or three sheets of zinc
prepared to receive the color as for lithographic or zincographic printing, or
other suitable flat surfaces, may be substituted for the three wooden blocks
bere described, or any combination of such surfaces may be used to print the
various colors in a regular series on the prepared transfer paper or ordinary
sized pottery transfer paper may be used instead of our said new prepared
transfer paper, the title or other article to be ornamented being varnished in
the usual way. But what we claim as new and of our Invention is the
following improvements in the art of ornamenting china, earthenware, and
glass, that is to say:―
First, the application of what is commonly called the pottery or transfer
paper, prepared by covering it with the size herein-before described, and then
passing it through rollers to make the sized surface smooth, for the purpose
of transferring patterns, subjects, devices, or designs composed of two or more
colors on to china, earthenware, and glass, in order to ornament the same.
Secondly, the printing, placing, or obtaining of patterns, subjects, devices, or
designs (which are, when transferred to and finished on the tile or other
object to be ornamented, to be of two or more colors,) on the sized surface of
such prepared or ordinary sized paper, either by hand-drawing or by means
of separate blocks, plates, or pieces, one for each different color, such blocks,
plates, or pieces to be covered either with the required colored inks or with
suitable varnish, as the case may be, rolled on in the usual way, for the
purpose of being transferred to china, earthenware, or glass, as aforesaid.
And lastly, the transferring in the various manners aforesaid of the
patterns, subjects, devices, or designs of two or more colors, so printed,
placed, or obtained on to china, earthenware, or glass, from one piece of
transfer paper.
And such our Invention, as regards the ornamenting of china, earthenware,

page_text: and glass, being, to the best of our knowledge and belief, entirely new, and
never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, nor in any of Her said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations
abroad, we do hereby declare this to be our Specification of the same, and
that we do verily believe this our said Specification doth comply in all respects,
fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent contained. Wherefore we hereby 'claim to
maintain exclusive right and privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick William Michael Collins and
Alfred Reynolds, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
second day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.